Experiments with drones continue for Leonardo in the field of "Advanced Air Mobility", with the aim of accelerating the introduction of these aircraft into the skies and contributing, starting from Italy, to the development of innovative services to support citizens. In detail, the company, in collaboration with the Municipality of Turin and with D-Flight (a company of the ENAV group, in partnership with Leonardo and Telespazio), has launched a series of tests, authorized by ENAC (National Civil Aviation Authority), to transport with an electrically powered drone weighing 130 kg of a load of 25 kg.
The project, called “Sumeri: Si Salpa!”, Took place in Turin and is the first in Italy and among the first in the world to see a remote piloted system with these characteristics fly in an urban context. It represents a significant step towards a new model of air logistics transport and is part of a series of experiments that will allow, in perspective, to transport hundreds of kilos on routes up to 50 km with aircraft control modes beyond the line of sight of the pilot (Beyond Visual Line of Site - BVLOS).
“This is an initiative that expresses Leonardo's vision to make cities more functional, sustainable and ecological through new technologies in the unmanned and logistics fields, to be used even in emergency situations such as those of recent months. Artificial intelligence and automation are, together with our systemic capabilities and aeronautical skills, the main tools that Leonardo makes available to enable, in total safety, new and effective types of aerial operations ”, comments Laurent Sissmann, SVP Unmanned Systems at Leonardo. “A warm thanks goes to the Municipality of Turin, protagonist of many pioneering solutions in this field. We are also particularly grateful to ENAC for its support in this process of technological and business innovation in compliance with the safety and security requirements envisaged by the regulations. Finally, it is with great satisfaction that we see D-Flight grow, welcoming the functionalities of the platform in experimentation ”.
The high load capacity, combined with a high level of automation of the aircraft used and advanced services for air traffic management are among the factors that will enable the development of innovative logistics services in an urban context, with benefits for citizens for speed in deliveries, costs and, above all, for the reduction of pollution thanks to electric propulsion.
"The experience of the Sumeri project has allowed ENAC to implement the innovative risk analysis methodologies provided for by the regulations for drone operations, to the specific case of the logistic transport of goods in urban areas which is one of the crucial types of services for the development of urban and advanced air mobility in Italy ”, says Alessio Quaranta, ENAC General Manager. "This project is fully part of the national initiatives for the development of this innovative type of mobility at the service of the territories that ENAC has been carrying out for some time together with the Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport, the Ministry for Innovation and Digitization and with the active support of the major national stakeholders, including Leonardo. A model that we hope to be able to export to Europe. "
“Urban air mobility is one of the spearheads of our innovation mandate, one of the tough domains for the smart city in terms of technology maturation, and at the same time a great boundary that we want to contribute to advance in the field of urban experimentation. Among the most interesting use cases, freight transport declined to the multimodal approach of the last urban mile, or an innovation with high
positive impact for the city, the environment and citizens. Today I am very happy to see the experimentation of the Sumeri project effectively begin, the result of the international collaboration of our Torino City Lab ecosystem and of Leonardo as leader of this project on air mobility ", declares Marco Pironti, Councilor for Innovation of the city of Turin.
The demonstration also saw the use of the D-Flight platform, which, in addition to the QR code registration and release services, experimented with the applications for mission planning and activation of the pilot's position via mobile app, showing, again once, efficiency, innovation and, already now, a real capacity to respond to future European regulations on U-Space, the airspace dedicated to unmanned aircraft. D-Flight, also testing its contribution on vehicles weighing over 25 kg, confirms itself as one of the first operational U-Space platforms in Europe, thanks to which traditional aviation and remotely piloted aircraft will be able to coexist in the airspace. The gradual introduction of new drone-based services will allow rapid and sustainable development of an already growing sector.