Altitude Angel powers access to UK skies as Airspace User Portal goes live

London, UK: Altitude Angel’s GuardianUTM O/S platform, which is emerging as the world’s most comprehensive solution for enabling drones to be integrated safely into the sky, has today been enabled at six airports in the UK – including one of Europe’s busiest, London’s Heathrow Airport.

The product powers NATS’ Airspace User Portal (AUP), which will revolutionise the process through which drone users can request permission to fly in otherwise restricted airspace, by simplifying it beyond all recognition.

Rather than writing a letter or phoning the airport or air traffic controllers to request permission weeks in advance, AUP can give users simplified access.

This advancement comes at a time when airports and air traffic controllers are having to deal with a growing number of requests from drone pilots who wish to use drones in airspace which is normally off-limits, but which the law permits access to if permission is secured (such as the Flight Restriction Zones, or Control Areas). By making this process electronic, the UK can open its skies to increasingly sophisticated drone operations, such as on-airfield inspections of aircraft by drone, or even railway inspections and deliveries in areas off the airfield, but within the control zone.

By connecting airports, air traffic controllers, security services and drone pilots, as well as offering automated decision-making and quicker turnaround times, it enables NATS to lay the foundations for fully automated drones in the coming years, and truly open millions of square metres of the UK’s airspace for drone business.

Richard Parker, Altitude Angel, CEO and founder, said: “We’re excited the AUP system, powered by our GuardianUTM O/S platform, is now live and ready to take requests from drone pilots to operate within the restricted airspace in and around six of the UK’s busiest airports.

“This is not just about drones, it’s about unifying airspace. AUP is a world leading single-point request and authorisation tool which will help NATS process an increasing number of requests using automation, electronically, and in a scalable manner. The UK’s airspace management is complex, and often multiple agencies need to be involved in granting permission.

GuardianUTM O/S supports all the functionality required to deliver national drone traffic management capability to any country which wishes to safely unlock the potential of drones.”

For airports, or those who manage flight authorisations, understanding/knowing which drones have been approved to operate in the restricted airspace has several obvious benefits, not least being able to identify rogue operators.

By providing a common platform and the option to integrate with emerging drone-defence and detection systems, this roll-out enables the potential to mitigate against another ‘Gatwick’, and help to provide the safeguarding airports need, while enabling the drone industry to flourish.

About Altitude Angel:

Altitude Angel is an aviation technology company delivering solutions which enable the safer integration and use of highly automated drones into airspace. Through its airspace management platform, GuardianUTM O/S, they deliver the essential software foundations which enable national deployments of U-Space compatible and UTM services, safely unlocking the potential of drones and helping national aviation authorities and air navigation service providers to establish new services to support the growth in the drone industry. 
 
The foundation components of GuardianUTM O/S are also available to enable third-party UTM developers to incorporate enterprise-grade data and services into their UTM solutions.  
 
Altitude Angel’s developer platform is open and available to all at https://developers.altitudeangel.com.  
 
About GuardianUTM and GuardianUTM O/S:

GuardianUTM enables drone manufacturers and software developers to connect into a rich, dynamic source of accurate, authoritative and relevant information to support geofencing, while offering enhanced UTM capabilities such as a single interface to multi-country flight authorisation.
 
The system is being deployed by NATS, the UK’s main air navigation service provider, and was demonstrated as part of ‘Operation Zenith’ in 2018, offering enhanced airport safeguarding and automated approvals to fly in controlled airspace. Altitude Angel is now bringing online functionality to enable drone pilots anywhere in the world to get 1-click access to controlled airspace through a standard interface.
 
It’s companion product, GuardianUTM O/S, supports all the functionality required to deliver national-grade drone traffic management capabilities to any country that wishes to safely unlock the potential of drones.