ANRA Technologies, a provider in integrated airspace, mission management and delivery systems for uncrewed aircraft, announced its engagement in live drone flights over Japan, showcasing its airspace management and drone delivery software platforms as part of a project led by NEDO (National Institute of New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization) to develop a drone traffic management system for multiple drone operators to fly in the same airspace safely.
As a key participant in the NEDO Drones and Robots for Ecologically Sustainable Societies (DRESS) Regional Demonstration project, ANRA Technologies, together with BIRD INITIATIVE, NEC Corporation, All Nippon Airways (ANA) and other partners, are showcasing drone operations and relevant use cases in Wakkanai City in Japan using ANRA SmartSkies™ airspace and delivery management software platforms. Over the past few years, NEDO has been conducting R&D on integrated traffic management to create a blueprint for a nationwide traffic management system. This project aims to develop various functions and systems to ensure that the National Airspace System safely integrates uncrewed aircraft. Demonstrations in this project include drone-based logistics, infrastructure inspection and disaster response use cases.
In decentralized UTM, it is vital to coordinate and negotiate the airspace used between operators to avoid collisions between drones. The project utilizes automatic negotiation AI technology, which is being researched and developed with RIKEN and Industrial Technology Research Institute, and digital twin technology, which is being researched with the National Institute of Informatics.
As part of the project, ANA, in cooperation with Municipal Wakkanai Hospital and Ein Pharmacy, is experimenting with prescription drug delivery using a drone to remote disconnected areas.
For this project, ANRA’s SmartSkies™ CTR UTM platform is connected to a central Flight Information Management System (FIMS) and exercises both federated and centralized UTM architectures. Additionally, the project is leveraging the SmartSkies™ Delivery platform connected to the drones, providing an entire ecosystem for ensuring the drones will safely and efficiently deliver medicine and other vital supplies.
ANRA’s delivery software provides a network that enables seamless drone deliveries by managing orders, inventory, and provisioning products – then safely operates the drone within our UTM network. ANRA’s delivery software incorporates its airspace management technology to enable safe flight routing for the drone while providing tracking and status updates to the customer on our mobile app. ANRA’s solution connects all the necessary stakeholders by providing vital information and data exchanges for compliant and efficient delivery operations. The complete solution is hosted and deployed in secure cloud infrastructure based in Tokyo.
The participation of drone operators such as ANA in this test will demonstrate the need and importance of a drone traffic management system and the effectiveness of relevant security measures put in place for this deployment.
The ANRA team is excited to be a part of this project and is looking forward to sharing the results and key findings with all relevant stakeholders over the next few months.
