A local Reading company, Altitude Angel, could be the key to companies like Amazon to start widespread drone deliveries as early as 2019.
NATS, the UK’s air traffic services provider, and fast-growing UK-based drone traffic management solutions company Altitude Angel, have entered a strategic partnership that lays the foundation for a future whereby drones and manned aircraft could safely co-exist in the UK’s busy skies.
The two organisations have entered a long-term partnership to develop unmanned traffic management solutions that can be integrated and interact with conventional air traffic control. This shows a shift in industry understanding of the need for more collaboration between manned and unmanned air traffic management experts in order to increase situational awareness amongst all airspace users and their downstream service providers.
The partnership between NATS and Altitude Angel will drive the integration of drone flight and operational data with information and systems involved in managing manned aviation. Merging the two information streams will increase situational awareness amongst all legitimate airspace users and provide the digital foundations necessary to allow air traffic controllers to engage with drone operators.
What this means for the likes of Amazon is that they’ll have to integrate Altitude Angel’s tracking technology into their drones. Whilst using a third party tracking solution might not be Amazon’s preferred route it’s not unreasonable for them to integrate with NATS chosen technology.
5 Responses
Until people are killed when a drone falls to the ground.
There goes the silence.
More tech to provide more useless crap…..
Mass delivery by drones will not come, battery technology will kill this as any decent weight parcel will consume a lot of power from the drone, max probably two deliveries from one drone over a given range. Right now, drones cannot legally operate out of sight of the operator, end of its the law! There is no chance of drone operating near sensitive areas; airports / over peoples heads; they need to have a safe route in and out; where failure would not result in damage!
The latest FBA in Manchester is less than 1/4 mile from the runway of the airport.. great for bringing stock in from Hong Kong.. but you are not going to get a drone in the air anywhere near an airport.. a service called geofencing is already in place.. a drone will be disabled and land if it approaches this area..
Imagine if some clever far eastern type made a home geofencing unit, one that would not allow drones near your house.. !! May sell like hot cakes so you can keep them away…
The major thing to watch here is big brother, governments (UK) are not hampering this as the drones of Amazon will be video equipped (already confirmed) and images captured will be used for all sorts..
Its more data, this can be used for whatever and is the asset of the owner, great way for councils to reassess council tax, see who has built a bedroom in their shed!
Google images is already taking photos on every street, this will have them in greater detail than satellite images!
Its never just been about parcel delivery.. Amazons next market place is Chemists.. delivery tablets/medicines etc..
Every seen how many chemists are around your local GP’s?
Watch that space!
and there was me wondering if Amazon could drop a new SMEG fridge freezer and NEFF hob off via Prime drone… meanwhile back on the jumbo jet that weighs 70 tonnes.. doh
For the military, drones are being developed that fly in a swarm. They communicate with each other, they can work out the best route to deliver payloads to multiple targets, and they will be able to design in flight their own attack strategies depending on what is encountered when they get there. Such is the development of AI.
All this is not that far removed from delivery drones. It will come. Laws will be changed to accomodate new technologies. In fifteen to twenty years it will be an everyday occurance for households to have drone deliveries and we wont think anything of it. I cant see what all the fuss is about. It will come and there isnt a thing we can do about it.