Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Flight Planning as a Service

The BFPaaS objectives are closely linked to the current procedures developed for UAV BVLOS flights control within the frame of EU U-Space program. In principle, the drone operator is responsible for his /her operations security, that especially in the pre-flight phase, requires detailed knowledge of the terrain profile along the planned route  which is crucial for security reasons. Poland is one of the leading countries in EU if it comes to BVLOS flights, but at the current stage there are no solutions available in the market allowing drone pilots to assess properly the terrain profile related risk, especially in areas where update data are not available.  Other Countries will follow shortly.  

The objective is to simplify the current process  to request a flight permission, just by submitting the flight details from a mobile phone application – even just by drawing a line on the map- with possibility to automatically calculate and provide the terrain profile along the selected route.

There are few groups of users who would surely benefit from the new service, ranging from individual certified UAV operators (quite large community and growing fast), through infrastructure operators using UAV for regular surveys up to HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical Services) using terrain profiles in planning of medical helicopter flights in low altitude/low visibility and Air Navigation Services providers, formally responsible for eTOD (electronic Terrain Obstacle Database) data availability.

The new service could also add value to users not linked to aviation. For example, updated terrain profiles play an important role in radio planning done by telecom operators, currently using costly visual Line of Sight check in the field to verify possibility of microwave links use.

BFPaaS elevation data repository is to be periodically updated by products resulting from Copernicus Sentinel 1 radar data interferometry processing, providing updated terrain profiles and adding value as compared to currently used solutions, mostly based on SRTM digital elevation model. The benefits are: