Objectives

U-ELCOME project is aiming at the fully scalable market uptake of U1 and U2 U-space services through a set of tests and demonstrations in various operational environments and European locations. To do so, U-ELCOME develops, tests and demonstrates SESAR solutions in various across 15 locations distributed in Spain, Italy and France.

Combining digital and physical infrastructure capabilities, U-ELCOME aims to set up, deploy and demonstrate up to Technology Readiness Level 8 the following SESAR solutions:

• U-space U1 — foundation services: the main objectives of which are to identify drones and operators and to inform operators about known restricted areas. With the deployment of U1, more drone operations are enabled, especially in areas where the density of manned traffic is low. The U-space foundation services include e-registration, e-identification and geoawareness.
• U-space U2 — initial services: the main objective is to support the safe management of beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations and a first level of interface and connection with ATM/ATC and manned aviation. With the deployment of U2, the range of operations at low levels will increase, including some operations in controlled airspace. Drone flights will no longer be considered on a case-by-case basis, and some BVLOS operations will become routine. The U-space initial services will include at minimum the following: tactical geo-fencing, emergency management, strategic deconfliction, weather information services, tracking, flight planning management, monitoring, traffic information, drone aeronautical information management and procedural interface with ATC.

U-ELCOME project builds on the outcomes of the previous European projects bridging from research, through
industrialisation to implementation; at the same time the U-ELCOME project works in compliance with Regulation 2021/664 on a regulatory framework for the U-space and related amended 2017-373 and 923/2012 regulations. UELCOME relies on real U-space systems, which are in operation or to be deployed by ENAIRE, ENAV, D-Flight and Thales during the execution of the project.

The U-ELCOME demonstrations integrate the U-space ecosystems with existing ATM systems, and to each other. The U-space capabilities and U1 and U2 services of the pre-operational U-space ecosystems will be demonstrated in several live use cases in various operational environment, which represent the most typical missions for both business and civil authority use such as Medicals and Goods deliveries, Inspection flights, aerial works in urban and sub-urban environment, controlled and uncontrolled airspace.

To do so, U-ELCOME uses a scalable U-space architecture enabling information exchange and coordination among Uspace Service Providers (USSPs) and the Common Information Service Provider (CISP), as well as between USSPs, CISP and ATM using interoperable standards. This will allow for automated drone traffic management and situational awareness among all U-space stakeholders.

The project, working in close cooperation with EASA and other international and national authorities and organisations, will also contribute to the consolidation of standardisation and regulatory requirements of the proposed U-space services to further accelerate the deployment of relevant U1 and U2 services and U-space operations.