ENAIRE tenders the development of its U-Space platform for two million euros

ENAIRE has published on its contracting portal the tender for the development of its U-Space platform in Spain, with a budget of two million euros.

This development will allow ENAIRE to be prepared to provide U-space services for the automated management of drone operations beyond line of sight in specifically designated spaces called "U-space airspace", and specifically, to centralise the CIS (Common Information Services), which are essential to safely support drone operations once the new U-Space European Regulation enters into force in January 2023.

U-space is the European concept for the automated management of drone operations, based on a set of digital servicesAs a supplier of CIS, ENAIRE will be the sole facilitator of operational information and data, and interface between conventional air traffic service providers and U-Space service providers, which are the entities that will provide these services to the end user: the drone operator.

In accordance with the "single CIS Provider" architecture of the U-space regulation, ENAIRE's U-space platform will be among the first developments in U-space systems in Europe to differentiate and centralise the CIS, making this endeavour a first not only in Spain, but internationally as well.

Designed to offer a full U-Space service to users, ENAIRE's U-Space platform guarantees that the tests needed to validate the different types of drone operations expected - commercial, professional, leisure, emergency, and security - will be carried out. It will also allow ENAIRE initially, in the absence of U-Space operators, to provide U-space services to end users in U-space airspaces.

With this tender, ENAIRE, in addition to allowing Spain to comply early with the U-space implementing regulation, will safely provide for the automated management and integration of drone operations into the airspace, allowing the drone services market to grow in Spain.

The launch of this platform represents a continuation of ENAIRE's successful previous initiatives, namely ENAIRE Drones (drones.enaire.es) and ENAIRE Planea (planta.enaire.es), to integrate the management of drone traffic nationwide.

What is U-space?

The last few years have seen an exponential growth in the demand for drone operations, driven by new drone applications.  This makes it necessary to have a highly specific and digitised set of services that can be used to safely and efficiently integrate the automated management of a large number of simultaneous drone operations in the same portion of airspace.

The European Commission took the political initiative in late 2016 to establish and deploy the concept of automated management of drone operations, called U-space, in the European Union.

U-space will enable all kinds of drone operations, from the simplest (taking photos while walking along a field) to the most complex (operations in high-density urban environments), integrating them safely into the same airspace that is used for the conventional operations that are now managed by air navigation services.

The various U-space services will be phased in during the coming years. As concerns the technological innovation and development needed to deploy and support the U-space concept, the European Commission is relying on the SESAR programme of the SESAR Joint Undertaking, which is part of a large-scale project that is being undertaken to demonstrate the safe deployment of the technologies needed for U-space services.

On 24 February, the EASA Committee approved the Commission Implementing Regulation on the Regulatory Framework for U-space, which will come into force on 26 January 2023, and in the next few months, EASA will publish a set of additional supporting regulatory proposals.

ENAIRE U-Space initiatives in Spain

Nationally, the "2018-2021 Strategic Plan to Develop the Civil Drone Sector in Spain", drawn up by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda through the DGAC, in 2018 identified ENAIRE as the agency responsible for the effective and orderly implementation of the U-Space system.

ENAIRE has carried out several tests to integrate drones. Of particular importance is the DOMUS project that ENAIRE led in 2019. This U-space demonstration consisted of exercises where real drone flights combined with manned aircraft were tested in controlled and uncontrolled airspace. It was the first demonstration in Spain in a real drone management setting using U-Space services, which showcased this Spanish initiative in Europe.

ENAIRE is involved in European projects as a founding partner of the European Commission's SESAR Joint Undertaking public-private alliance. This group researches and tests these airspace concepts involving drones by using applications that will help to manage urban air mobility (UAM), and which will include, among others, parcel deliveries and air taxis in cities. Shifting certain activities to drones will mean a sharp reduction in the emissions of polluting gases compared to land transport methods.

In order to test how to integrate drone traffic into our airspace, ENAIRE is currently working in European consortiums that will demonstrate the viability of the UAM concept. Of note are the CORUS-XUAM, AMU-LED and Uspace4UAM projects, which will conduct various exercises in Spain, namely in Casteldefells in Barcelona, Santiago de Compostela, and Villacarrillo in Jaén, respectively. 

About ENAIRE

ENAIRE is the air navigation service provider in Spain.

As a company of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda, it provides en route control services for all flights and overflights from five control centres in Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Gran Canaria and Palma, as well as approach services to every airport in the country.

In addition, 45 control towers receive ENAIRE's communication, navigation and surveillance services, and 21 airports, including the country's busiest, rely on its aerodrome control services.

ENAIRE is the fourth most important European air navigation service provider, and, in a clear commitment to the Single Sky initiative, belongs to international partnerships such as SESAR Joint Undertaking, SESAR Deployment Manager, A6 Alliance, iTEC, CANSO and ICAO.

ENAIRE is the official provider of aeronautical information in Spain