Canada Advances Drone Traffic Management with Phase 2 Trials

A consortium led by AeroVision Canada, Inc., along with principal partners ANRA Technologies and ClearSky Connect, has been selected by Transport Canada, the Canadian aviation authority, and NAV CANADA (the Canadian air navigation service provider) to deliver a Phase 2 trial of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) Traffic Management (RTM).

The first phase of RTM trials concluded in 2022 and provided many observations to advance RTM in Canada and inform the aims of future RTM activities. This Phase 2 effort will further refine and evaluate the requirements for RTM services for future commercial operations in a suburban environment.

AeroVision is the project lead and RPAS service provider that will conduct trial operations in the Halifax area with a combination of use cases, including RPAS package delivery while using RTM services.

“We assembled a team that will provide technologies to advance the development of performance and safety assurance requirements identified in the Transport Canada and NAV CANADA Concept of Operations,” said Trevor Bergman, CEO of AeroVision Canada. “Our team will deliver services that are key to establishing an RTM system for Canada, starting in the Halifax region, and has the support of local government.”

This trial aims to prove theoretical concepts for developing an RTM system and provide Transport Canada with the resulting data to inform the performance level requirements for RTM service provisions.

“As advancements in drone technology continue to redefine aviation, air traffic management must also evolve for the safe and successful integration of RPAS into Canadian airspace,” said Ryan Coates, Executive Director of the RPAS Task Force at Transport Canada. “Continued collaboration between industry, the ANSP and government will help us understand the capabilities and limitations of state-of-the-art technologies and provide vital information for developing sound safety rules and regulations.”

 “The second phase of trials will offer crucial experiential learning for the development of the Canadian RPAS Traffic Management system, enhancing the safe integration of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems,” said Alan Chapman, co-chair of the Trials Executive Steering Committee (TESC) and Director of RPAS Traffic Management at NAV CANADA. “Integrating third-party services and capabilities with NAV CANADA's centralized services, will ensure airspace safety while collaboratively advancing new use cases, including those that require Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations,”

ANRA Technologies will be the lead RTM Service Provider (RTSP), leveraging its international experience and ability to integrate its traffic management system with its Flight Information Management Service (rFIMS) for a complete, end-to-end RTM system.

“ANRA was there at the beginning when RPAS traffic management research started in 2015. Today, we are finally seeing the first indications of a move towards commercialization,” said Amit Ganjoo, Founder and CEO of ANRA. "We are proud to be selected as a consortium partner supporting Transport Canada’s and NAV CANADA’s pursuit of RTM.”

ClearSky Connect is a Supplemental Data Service Provider that provides command and control (C2) technology that enables longer-distance flight operations using various technologies.

Other technology providers include OneSky (second RTMSP) and TruWeather for weather services.