A SESAR demonstration project recently conducted a series of successful flights with an unmanned helicopter and a newly developed airborne “detect and avoid system” at Den Helder airport. The flight trials, which took place in December 2015, were carried out by partners in the ATM Innovative RPAS Integration for Coastguard Applications (AIRICA) project with a view to showing the feasibility of using drones for coastguard activities in non-segregated airspace. 

Project partners Schiebel, the Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR), the Netherlands Coastguard and the Royal Netherlands Air Force ran several scenarios during which an unmanned helicopter with a newly-installed detect and avoid system “unexpectedly” encountered an intruder aircraft. The system then determined in real time the corrective action to ensure the necessary separation from the intruder aircraft.

The demonstration showed the maturity of drone technology for use in coastguard operations, such as search and rescue operations, fisheries control, border control and maritime safety.

Jan-Floris Boer, Netherlands Aerospace Centre NLR, said: “The AirScout DAA system enabled the successful first overland flight of a remotely piloted aircraft system beyond visual line of sight in The Netherlands.”

Edwin van der Pol, Head of Operations, the Netherlands Coastguard, said: “In the future we hope to use unmanned systems for our search and rescue operations. These trials are important to achieve regulations for bringing RPAS into non-segregated airspace.”

Chris Day, Head of Capability Engineering at Schiebel: “This demonstration is another positive step towards unmanned air systems gaining access to a broader range of airspace.”