Test: Drones monitor the fence of Braunschweig-Wolfsburg Airport
- Braunschweig-Wolfsburg Airport sees great potential benefits for various applications
- volaer.io provides the overall solution for clearance and future safe integration into controlled airspace
- Close coordination with the responsible departments of the state government of Lower Saxony
- More intensive use planned in regular operations at the airport
In bright sunshine, the starting signal was given for a close cooperation in the field of Urban Air Mobility at the research airport on January 21, 2020. Flughafen Braunschweig-Wolfsburg GmbH and volaer.io GmbH (Braunschweig) carried out fully automated (BVLOS) drone missions for fence monitoring at the airport for the first time.
Michael Schwarz, managing director of Flughafen Braunschweig-Wolfsburg GmbH, is excited about the new project at the research airport: “The use of drones is very interesting for us, as we can imagine its operation for various commercial and operational uses. Drone missions at the airport could improve workflows and save costs in the long term.” For the test phase, it is particularly important to have the entire process chain take place for the first time – with necessary coordination with the tower and traffic management.
For Michael Gieselmann, Managing Director of volaer.io GmbH, it is the beginning of a long-term strategy. In Mr. Schwarz, we have found a partner who has recognized the added value and benefits of drone missions at the airport and wants to work with us to ensure that the cooperative and safe integration of unmanned into manned aviation is accomplished. The Braunschweig location with its surrounding industrial, SME and also research partners as well as the German Federal Aviation Authority offers ideal conditions. Close cooperation with the authorities in Hanover and all parties involved made it possible to achieve this important milestone, which will provide impetus for further projects beyond Braunschweig.
volaer.io GmbH, founded in December, bundles all drone activities within the OECON Group (Braunschweig). The competences for software development as well as product and project management in the UAV sector, which have been available within the OECON Group so far, will be concentrated in the new company in the future.
In the future, volaer.io will operate a digital booking and management platform for drones and, together with partners in metropolitan regions, will offer its customers a locally available large network of drones. These can then be booked for case-by-case use for individual drone missions.
Fields of application supported by volaer.io include aerial reconnaissance and assessment of the situation for rescue forces, monitoring of industrial terrain boundaries, maintenance and inspection of infrastructure facilities, and coverage of agricultural and forestry areas.
