The 2020 African Drone Forum comprises a Symposium, Expo and Flying Competitions, which will take place in Rwanda. The Symposium and Expo will be taking place in Kigali from February 5 to 7, 2020. Competitive flights will commence on February 8, 2020.

The 2020 African Drone Forum Expo offers a platform for the drone industry, including global logistics experts, start-ups, drone pilots, engineers and media, to showcase their innovations and state-of-the-art technology for cargo drone deliveries, and outline strategies for the future.

Astra at ADF 2020

In an effort to support and accelerate UTM integration, the African Drone Forum will facilitate discussions between African civil aviation authorities and UTM service providers and allow demonstrations of service provision using drone data from the Lake Kivu Challenge (LKC) Flying Competitions. Eligible UTM companies will display their technology and services using live data from the LKC flying competitions.

As the number and complexity of drone flights increases, several conditions will be necessary to foster safe, secure, efficient, affordable, and resilient operations, in either segregated airspace or through integration of drones in national airspace systems.

Services can include some or all of the following (from the draft EASA opinion on U-Space Regulation, RMT.0230: high level regulatory framework for the U-Space):

• E-identification service;
• Geo-awareness service;
• Flight authorization service;
• Traffic information service;
• Tracking service;
• Weather information service; and
• Conformance monitoring service.

Minimum UTM requirements include live drone tracking through Remote Identification (Remote ID) via either direct broadcast1 or network publishing2 to allow integrating a range of Remote ID options such as:

• ADS-B; using uAvionics Ping 1090i and pingStations;
• Low-Power Direct RF, Unlicensed Integrated C2;
• Networked Cellular; using devices such as the Unifly BLIP;

Optional features include:

• Integration of ATM radar data or Mode A/C/S transporter;
• Remote ID via satellite;
• Low-Power Direct RF [p. 10, FAA UAS ID ARC];
• Dynamic geo-fencing;
• Separation service: strategic and tactical conflict and collision avoidance;
• Weather service integration;
• Flight planning.

Astra is looking forward to our participation in the UTM trials and showcase at ADF2020.