TUD presents its research findings on collision avoidance between drones and aircraft in shared airspace

Air-Take-Off is a research project that is delving into how unmanned aircraft systems can be safely integrated into civil aviation. Its findings are also relevant to the use of drones in disaster zones, including operations during wildfires.

Drones are opening up a wide range of new possibilities for mobility and logistics concepts. At the same time, as they become more pervasive, ensuring their safe integration into existing civil airspace is becoming increasingly important. The “Air-Take-Off” research project at TUD Dresden University of Technology has therefore made it its mission to investigate how manned aircraft and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) can safely interact with one another and how potential conflicts in the airspace can be avoided.

A key focus of Air-Take-Off is the development of solutions for detecting and locating drones, as well as for automated conflict avoidance. The project investigates various technological approaches for reliably determining the position and flight behavior of aircraft and for identifying potentially critical situations at an early stage. The full project report will be published when the project concludes in October.

“Air-Take-Office has allowed us to develop and test various components to explore the safe interaction of manned and unmanned aviation under real-world conditions. These technologies enable us to address a wide range of applications scenarios and make a lasting contribution to improving air traffic safety,” says Prof. Hartmut Fricke, Chair of Air Transport Technology and Logistics at the "Friedrich List" Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences and project leader.

Technologies for safe drone operations

Part of the research focused on the cooperative detection of aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), such as drones, based on transmitted position data using standard transponders such as Mode S or Remote ID. The researchers also delved into non-cooperative detection: Camera systems can automatically detect and distinguish between airborne objects such as aircraft, drones, birds, and balloons, while also estimating their distance. Based on their airspace readings, UAVs have access to sufficient data to avoid other airspace users using the technology developed at TUD.

Applications in disaster response

A further focus was the development of an aircraft-based transport and deployment system for UAVs. This system allows a manned aircraft to transport a drone to a designated operational area and launch it there. Such applications could, for example, support operations in hard-to-reach disaster areas from the air, including firefighting efforts during wildfires or the delivery of relief supplies to areas that are otherwise difficult to access. This application concept also gave rise to the project name: Air-Take-Off.

Enabling seamless communication

Operating manned aircraft and unmanned drones in close proximity requires reliable communication, which was another focus of the research. The scientists compared various wireless communication technologies, including Wi-Fi and cellular networks. This is particularly important when considering applications in disaster-struck areas, where the reliability of ground-based networks may no longer be guaranteed. In such cases, the manned aircraft can serve as an access point for the drone, which has already been achieved using a 5G campus network.

Living lab at Kamenz airfield

Kamenz airfield serves as an important test site for research into autonomous air mobility. The facilities available there include a mobile 5G campus network, a competence center for autonomous flight, not to mention TUD’s Cessna 172 research aircraft, which serves as both a technology and test platform.

Background: “Air-Take-Off” research project

The “Air-Take-Off” research project started in June 2024 and will run until October 2026. It has already received approximately EUR 2.1M in funding through the 2021-2027 ERDF/JTF Research and Development Funding Program. The project partners include the Chair of Air Transport Technology and Logistics, who leads the project, as well as the Chair of Aircraft Engineering, and the Vodafone Chair for Mobile Communications Systems at TUD.

Contact

TUD | Chair of Air Transport Technology and Logistics
Prof. Hartmut Fricke, Project leader
Email: