PrecisionHawk said that it was awarded two patents for its unmanned drone program. | Stock Photo
PrecisionHawk said that it was awarded two patents for its unmanned drone program. | Stock Photo
PrecisionHawk, Inc. has said that it has received two patents for technologies that it developed in the unmanned aircraft system traffic management (UTM) field.
The patents to the projects that PrecisionHawk has named ‘Automated Unmanned Air Traffic Control System,’ are intended to facilitate collision avoidance between unmanned drones and manned aircraft, the Raleigh-based company said in an Aug. 11 press release.
The drone achieves this by transmitting real-time flight data from its database to a UTM server before takeoff and while in-flight, the company said in the release. The second patent allows drone operators to avoid collisions by transmitting their flight plan to the closest air traffic control authority before a flight to see if there are potential conflicts.
Allison Ferguson, director of Airspace Research, the aim of the project is to allow manned aircraft to co-inhabit airspace with drones in a safe manner.
“It’s clear that the more you know about the real-time environment you’re operating in, the more safely and efficiently you can operate,” Ferguson said in the press release.
Alerts Sign-up