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The pioneering project integrating drones into air traffic control

Piloted aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, drones... How do we make sure that all of these aircraft can fly in the same airspace without colliding? At Odense airport, Denmark, full-scale tests are being carried out.

In partnership with the European Commission

READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/04/13/the-pioneering-project-integrating-drones-into-air-traffic-control

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Transcript
00:02Manned aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, drones.
00:06How can we ensure that all these aircraft fly in the same airspace without colliding?
00:11Tests are currently being carried out at Odense HCA International Airport in Denmark.
00:17Its test centre brings together cutting-edge technology and start-ups working in both the commercial and defence sectors.
00:24Here, the airspace of tomorrow is being prepared through the NextGen project.
00:28Today, you are not allowed to fly both a drone and an airplane in the same airspace.
00:34That's what we are actually trying here, to pioneer, to integrate drones and man air traffic.
00:40So, with the sensors we have, with the radar from the project, we know where everyone is in a very
00:45big area.
00:46We are a mirror of how it could be in Europe in five or ten years.
00:55In a world undergoing rapid geopolitical change, time is of the essence.
01:01Coordinating aircraft and drones of different sizes, uses and ranges is essential for defence, the urgent transport of materials or
01:09the surveillance of critical infrastructure.
01:13August's company has installed a drone box at the airport.
01:16Eight sensors capable of detecting anything flying within a radius of over 15 kilometres.
01:23So, drones are transmitting radio signals and the antennas are listening for those.
01:29And with those, we can find out the position of the drone, how high it is, how fast it's flying,
01:34as well as the position of the pilot.
01:37Our system detects a drone two times every second, so it's quite fast.
01:45At this airport, staff also have access to an app that displays the real-time location of each drone and
01:51pilot, as well as flight history.
01:57The total budget for the project exceeds 9 million euros, 40% of which has been funded by the European
02:04Union's cohesion policy.
02:11The airport grounds are home to around 15 specialist companies and the University of Southern Denmark's UAS Drone Centre,
02:18which analyses the project data and works closely with the companies.
02:25Experiment, crash and learn is their motto.
02:29The good thing about this platform is that everything is exposed, so if I want to integrate something on it,
02:34I can do it right away.
02:35If we crash our drones, I can replace everything from hardware to the arms itself and then have it up
02:41and flying in the afternoon as well.
02:45The global drone market is estimated to be worth 59 billion euros and is set to exceed 127 billion by
02:532036.
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