Revolution Aerospace Australia (RevAero) were awarded a Round 1 - Emerging Aviation Technologies Partnership Program Grant.
On the 7th of November, Revolution Aerospace (RevAero) was awarded a Round 1 – Emerging Aviation Technologies Partnership (EATP) Program grant from the Commonwealth Government, to undertake a project that seeks to Enable Regional Aerial logistics and Air Taxi Operations with Unified Traffic Management. The value of the grant is approx. $5.3 million, and the project is scheduled to commence in November 2022 and be completed by June 2024.
The RevAero mission of “Benefitting society through revolutionary advances in autonomous systems technologies” is strongly aligned to the purpose of the EATP program, which was established to explore the utility of emerging aviation technologies to address community needs, particularly in regional Australia.
Through the collective experience of the RevAero team in the autonomous systems sector, particularly Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS – or drones) and UAS Traffic Management (UTM), RevAero has identified several enabling technologies that will be fundamental to the deployment and scaling of emerging aviation technology across regional Australia.
The project seeks to accelerate the maturity of two critical technological enablers that are necessary for the distribution of people and product at scale to benefit the Australian economy. These two enablers are:
1. Detect and Avoid (DAA) – an on or off-board capability that allows the detection, tracking, and avoidance of other aircraft within the vicinity of the drone.
2. Unified Traffic Management – a contemporary traffic management system that leverages global UTM innovations (focused on UAS) designed to separate and deconflict a mix of drones, air taxis, and crewed platforms in an integrated traffic environment (i.e., a Unified Traffic Management system).
These technologies are key to enabling scalable, safe, efficient, and equitable airspace use in an integrated manner (i.e., integration of all aircraft types in all classes of airspace). The project is designed to maximise opportunity for Australian emerging aviation technology researchers, developers, and manufacturers into the future by solving regulatory barriers through advanced, safe, and globally informed enabling technology – developed in Australia.
RevAero are leading a consortium of world-recognised industry partners in the emerging aviation technologies sector, including:
· Thales Group - A global leader in new technologies for aerospace, space, defence, security, and transportation markets.
· Volocopter – The pioneer of urban air mobility has eleven years of development experience and over 1,500 successful test flights to its name. Volocopter’s family of eVTOL aircraft will offer passengers (VoloCity and VoloRegion) and goods (VoloDrone) swift, secure, and emission-free connections to their destinations.
· Trusted Autonomous Systems- A leading autonomous and robotic cooperative research centre (CRC) in Australia facilitating trusted and effective cooperation between humans and machines.
The project will take place in the Whitsunday Coast, Melbourne and RevAero's headquarters in South-East Queensland.
For further information on the project, queries can be sent to eatp@revn.aero