NUAIR selects AirMap as UTM provider at Griffiss test site

ROME, N.Y. — The Syracuse–based NUAIR Alliance and Griffiss International Airport in Rome have selected AirMap to provide UAS traffic management (UTM) services at the Griffiss New York UAS test site.

They made the announcement at the New York UAS Symposium held earlier this week at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona and at the New York UAS test site at Griffiss International Airport in Rome.

UAS is short for unmanned aircraft system. A UAS includes a drone and equipment used to control its flight. A drone is also referred to in the industry as an unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV.

In its Thursday news release, NUAIR describes Santa Monica, California–based AirMap as a global UTM platform. It will provide UTM services to “visualize, manage, and support” drone operations at the Griffiss test site.

NUAIR Alliance is short for the Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance.

Syracuse–based NUAIR Alliance is a nonprofit coalition of more than 200 private and public entities and academic institutions working together to operate and oversee unmanned aircraft system (UAS) testing in New York, Massachusetts, and Michigan. NUAIR supports the New York UAS test site at Griffiss.

NUAIR and AirMap’s partnership “creates new opportunities to advance the research and development of technologies for UAS, which can attract new, permanent businesses to the region,” per the release. AirMap has offices across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific.

AirMap will launch a New York office to support NUAIR’s mission and efforts to advance UTM technology, NUAIR said.

Partnership purpose

NUAIR Alliance is currently building the nation’s “first and only” UTM 50-mile test corridor for beyond visual line-of-sight testing (BVLOS).

The $30 million project is an “important milestone as NUAIR advances the research, development, and deployment of leading-edge technologies to support its mission to safely integrate UAS into the nation’s airspace.”

The AirMap partnership will provide “enhanced” UTM capabilities for ongoing drone operations.

The partnership complements “CNY Rising,” the region’s economic-development blueprint.

How it works

The AirMap UTM platform will “power” NUAIR’s core UTM services, allowing traffic controllers management of airspace data, authorizations, and real-time air traffic. AirMap will also enable communications between UAS service suppliers (USS) for the exchange of “safety-critical airspace information” between NUAIR and other USS.

AirMap also brings “demonstrated expertise in low-altitude airspace management, deconfliction, and authorization worldwide” to use advanced UAS concepts such as BVLOS, remote ID, and counter-UAS.

“NUAIR Alliance is excited to bring in AirMap to power the test corridor with leading-edge UTM services,” Major General Marke (Hoot) Gibson, CEO of the NUAIR Alliance, said in the release. “Their global expertise is essential in accelerating the work we’re doing to advance UAS technologies. “

“AirMap works to support and enable advanced drone operations with leading UTM technologies,” Ben Marcus, AirMap co-founder and chairman, said in the NUAIR release. “We share in New York state’s vision, and we’re proud to partner with NUAIR in integrating drones safely into the national airspace system.”

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com