Project number: 9.902.60008 

Cooperation partners involved: 

Frequentis

APB-Corporation GmbH

AIRlabs Austria

In recent years, AIRlabs Austria has made significant progress in the field of unmanned aerial systems. By successfully bringing together two consortium partners, Frequentis AG and APB-Corporation, pioneering concepts were developed and laboratory tests for ‘Beyond Visual Line of Sight’ (BVLOS) were carried out. This success manifested itself in the successful application for a railway project in cooperation with the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB). 

The authorisation of automated UAV flights from a hangar requires an in-depth examination of operating procedures and the prevailing local conditions. The ‘Automated UAV flights from a hangar’ project described below aims to create 3D representations of the flight routes that contain specific data on UAVs and the hangar.  

But how can ‘automated and hangar-based drone flights over rail infrastructure’ be guaranteed in the future?  This question was addressed in detail in the final report of the project, which contributes to a deeper understanding of the topic.   

Project objectives and context  

The project aims to deepen the competence and experience for risk analyses of automated BVLOS flights and to gain an improved understanding of automated drone flights and their limitations (including regulatory requirements, weather conditions and technical aspects).  

Project implementation and achievement  

After selecting two possible flight routes for this automated flight of an unmanned aerial vehicle, all relevant geographical and technical information was collected and integrated into a model. Competing data was revised and re-verified. The resulting model was used for the submission to Austro Control GmbH.  

Project results and conclusions  

To summarise, the partners have successfully managed to create a detailed model for UAV flight routes. The collaboration with the partners involved resulted in deepened expertise in the field of risk analyses and a better understanding of the challenges related to automated drone flights. The result of this project has been summarised in the following video: 

Outlook and recommendations  

This acquired knowledge should be utilised in future projects and flight operation scenarios. Regular training and updates of the model are recommended to improve the safety and efficiency of UAV flights. In this way, the safety and efficiency of automated UAV flights can be guaranteed.  

You can find more details on the adjustments made in the enclosed final technical reports (available in German)