NUAIR works with Virginia firm to improve security, reliability of drone corridor from Syracuse to Rome

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — It’s a collaboration to install infrastructure throughout New York’s 50-mile unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) corridor between Syracuse and Rome.

Syracuse–based NUAIR is working with Reston, Virginia–based AURA Network Systems (AURA).

NUAIR is short for the Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance. The nonprofit focuses on UAS operations, aeronautical research, safety management, and consulting services. 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.

The collaboration is utilizing AURA’s secure command-and-control (C2) communication links that provide voice, data, and navigation capabilities for the aviation industry, per a NUAIR news release.

To enhance the commercial viability of UAS, drones require capabilities that enable safe flight farther than pilots can see, referred to as beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS). AURA’s wireless network will provide “real-time, reliable” communications that UAS need to conduct safe BVLOS operations.

“Having AURA’s network throughout our 50-mile UAS corridor unlocks a whole new level of commercial drone operations,” Ken Stewart, CEO of NUAIR, said. “When pilots are flying drones beyond visual line of sight, they need real-time, reliable communications that ensure safe operations, and AURA provides that kind of reliability. NUAIR continues to pave the way for advanced, commercial drone operations, and AURA’s technology will allow us to help even more companies integrate economically viable and scalable drone operations.”

“Thanks to NUAIR’s expertise and leadership, Central New York has become an ideal place to integrate and launch commercial UAS operations, providing countless business sectors with the resources necessary to integrate drones into daily operations so they can better serve their customers and communities, while also decreasing their cost of operations,” AURA CEO Bill Tolpegin said.

While it was designed to facilitate both manned and unmanned aviation, AURA’s private-network customization for the specific needs of the UAS industry will help “unlock the true commercial viability of drones by providing the essential components for safe BVLOS operations,” per the NUAIR release.

Those components include “ultra-reliable, secure, and real-time” communications. NUAIR and AURA are currently surveying the optimal placement for AURA’s C2 infrastructure and plan to have the system installed and functional by the end of 2021. The collaboration will emphasize how AURA’s services and equipment will meet Federal Aviation Administration standards, allowing the safe integration of UAS and C2 communications into the national airspace.