We know drone technology has changed the game when it comes to every other industrial application.

We know because our friends at research company Drone Industry Insights have released countless reports on the steady growth of the markets for drones that are used in remote sensing and related industries (like mining, survey and mapping as well as construction; agriculture; security, media production and several other industries where drone technology has made operations safer, faster and less costly.

Delivery and passenger services have been touch-and-go though. Of course, drone logistics companies like Zipline, Wingcopter have thrived, especially in medical drone logistics in Africa, where they have bridged the transport gap that had existed between healthcare facilities and far-flung communities for a long time.

But it is also true that these drone companies and others have found it easier to operate in rural Africa because air traffic is between very little and none at all the density of human life below the drones has not caused headaches for drone companies and aviation regulators.

The situation is totally different when it comes to drone flying in urban settlements packed with human life. Then, all sorts of laws and precautions come to life.

That is why we are cautiously optimistic that there could be hope for the future of drone technology in urban areas – if all these announcements for new unmanned aerial systems traffic management solutions coming to the fore are anything to go by.

Recently, it was the turn of ANRA technologies and Eve Air Mobility to announce that they would be launching vertiport management systems and support infrastructure at vertiport facilities worldwide.

First up, ANRA Technologies: the Washington DC-based provider of uncrewed vehicle mission management and operations solutions announced the launch of its Vertiport Management System (VMS), which it reckons a significant milestone in managing Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) Urban Air Mobility (UAM) aircraft operations at vertiport facilities across the globe.

Announced at the Dubai Air Show, VMS is a web-based software platform designed to adapt to various aircraft, vertiports, and locations. The technology plays a pivotal role by intelligently exchanging real-time data with all the necessary services to facilitate the safe arrival and departure of UAM aircraft.

It will cater for all VTOL aircraft, whose increasing autonomy has raised the demand for services to ensure safe and efficient vertiport operations is rapidly increasing, ANRA says.

“While many vertiport providers are busy building the physical infrastructure and conceptualizing the passenger experience, ANRA has developed the digital layer,” stated Amit Ganjoo, Founder and CEO of ANRA Technologies. “VMS facilitates intelligent operational and safety decisions by seamlessly connecting with various systems at the vertiport, aircraft, and the broader AAM ecosystem.”

The company added that its new technology fulfils the requirements by NASA, which emphasized in its Vertiport Automation, Software Architecture and Requirements report, that vertiports must enhance collaborative decision-making, scheduling, airspace management, demand capacity balancing, and service synchronization to prevent congestion and guarantee safety and compliance across the UAM network.

“The VMS microservice architecture allows it to support multiple vertiport designs, is aircraft agnostic, and integrates with current commercial air traffic management (ATM) systems,” the company statement said.

“Using ANRA’s airspace management services, UAM operators can now efficiently plan and execute their flight operations from pad to pad, supported by a comprehensive suite of services, including:

• Real-time vertiport resource status and reservation requests.
• Resource schedule for vertiport resource availability.
• Reservation and clearance requests for inbound and outbound flights.
• System checks to verify status of outbound flights.
• Live telemetry for monitoring aircraft data of inbound and outbound flights.
• Micro weather services.
• Live surveillance data for nearby aircraft.
• Integration with broader UAM traffic management systems.”

Meanwhile, Urban Air Mobility ecosystem services provider Eve Air Mobility has signed a Letter of Intent with Swedish-based vertiport developer Kookiejar, for the latter to use the former’s Urban ATM (Air Traffic Management) system to support vertiport operations in Dubai. 

The agreement marks Eve’s first Urban ATM footprint in Dubai, with Kookiejar becomes the company’s tenth Urban ATM customer and fifth vertiport customer as Eve continues to grow its global customer base.

The agreement comes as Kookiejar, along with its local partner Air Chateau, is preparing to showcase Dubai’s first state-of-the-art vertiport hub facility with eight parking pads and a FATO at Al Maktoum Airport in Dubai South.

Eve’s Urban ATM has been adopted as part of Kookiejar and Air Chateau’s grand vision for Dubai, which is a phased implementation program in which networks of vertiports will be connected via Eve’s Urban ATM system to support safe and scaled Urban Air Mobility (UAM) operations that provide a path to commercialisation by 2026.

“Urban air mobility relies on infrastructure within the lower air space as well as accessible take-off and landing spots – vertiports,” said Rob Weaver, Urban ATM global business development lead at Eve Air Mobility.

“Eve’s Urban ATM solution provides an integrated suite of software that will enable an efficient and predictable eVTOL ecosystem. In Dubai, we are looking forward to working with Kookiejar as they combine expertise in both ground and air infrastructure to design a flexible, sustainable and reliable vertiport network.”

In developing its Urban ATM software solution, Eve enlisted the support of Atech, a fellow sister company under Embraer’s aegis; which develops air Traffic Control technology and system integration software.

“By leveraging decades of experience in one of the largest Urban Air Mobility operations of over 1,500 air taxi operations per day in Sao Paulo, the helicopter capital of the world, Eve’s Urban ATM system gives us the edge to integrate our Vertiports here in UAE and enable ANSPs to increase urban airspace capacity,” said Wassaf Akhtar, chief technology officer at Kookiejar.

“This will provide equitable airspace access on our network of vertiports for eVTOLs.”

Kookiejar is already working with stakeholders in Dubai to craft out routes that eVTOLs will take within existing VFR corridors that helicopters use today with its partners Vertiport Hub at Air Chateau and Dubai South. 

The goal is to have eVTOLs operate seamlessly with existing commercial air traffic management systems and the UTM systems, thus enhancing Dubai’s position in the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) industry.

From before take-off to after landing, the urban air environment will count on integrated systems, services and technologies being developed by Eve to support eVTOL operations alongside UTM systems and many other airspace users.

In future, the advancement of infrastructure and regulation will rely on these network management services to enable autonomous flight.