Status: 07/15/2021 3:03 p.m.
Delivering parcels, inspecting wind turbines: The possible uses for aerial drones are diverse, but difficult to implement in practice. The concept is now being tested at the Port of Hamburg.
Pedestrians and drivers will have to be prepared for the fact that in a few years’ time they will have to share sidewalks and roads with autonomous parcel robots and self-driving cars. A few weeks ago, Germany was one of the first countries to pass comprehensive legislation aimed at regulating autonomous driving. But, according to the Federal Government’s wish, Germany should not only be at the forefront in this area.
The airspace should also be able to be used commercially in the future using modern drone technology. With an action plan, the federal government wants to establish drones as an everyday mode of transport in just a few years and make them a German export hit.
Drone test field in the Port of Hamburg
Until then, however, there are some open questions to be clarified: Airports paralyzed after drone sightings have repeatedly shown that the accident-free integration of “UAS” (“Unmanned Aircraft Systems”) into civil air traffic is one of the greatest challenges before the Technology can be used extensively.
How this could actually work will be tested in the Port of Hamburg in the coming months. It is the first nationwide test field for a drone airspace in Germany. The state-run Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS) and Droniq GmbH, a participation of DFS and Deutsche Telekom, want to find out how drone flights are “easy, safe and in coordination with manned air traffic”, announced the companies involved. The Federal Ministry of Transport is funding the project with just under half a million euros.
Blueprint for drone flight rooms
DFS and Droniq GmbH will practically explore in a test area of around ten square kilometers how drone flights are “easy, safe and in coordination with manned air traffic”, they said.
In the spatially delimited airspace of the port, according to the idea, “special rules and procedures coordinate drone traffic and enable drone flights to be carried out quickly, safely and without lengthy approval efforts – even outside the pilot’s range of vision”.
At the end of the day there should be a “blueprint for the establishment of regular drone airspace in Germany”, according to the Ministry of Transport.
Commercial drones, a growth market
According to an industry study by the Unmanned Aviation Association, there are currently more than 430,000 drones in circulation in Germany. At 45,200, the number of commercially used aircraft is significantly lower than that of private aircraft, which are mostly used as photo drones or as toys.
But since 2019 the number of commercially operated drones has more than doubled (plus 138 percent), while the number of privately used drones has declined (minus 14.5 percent). By 2025, the number of commercially operated “UAS” is expected to triple to 132,000.
According to the study, commercial drones can be used primarily for surveying. Drones are also increasingly being used to inspect buildings and infrastructures such as wind turbines and high-voltage lines.
The Federal Government sees new applications in its action plan, for example in traffic monitoring on roads and waterways, in the exploration of landscapes as well as in disaster control and logistics: parcels could be delivered by drone, components could be transported between production plants.
Federal funding program
In March of this year, the Federal Ministry of Transport launched a new funding program to advance applications and concepts for unmanned aviation. More than eleven million euros are available for the program. According to Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU), the aim is for drones to become “a natural part of innovative mobility solutions”.
They are “inconspicuous helpers” who make many things possible and easier in the future and could open up a “new dimension” in aviation. Scheuer expects the current plan for the Port of Hamburg to give himself a boost for his plan to make Germany an international pioneer in drone technology: Now, drone innovations Made in Germany are being brought out of the niche and into the air, according to the minister.