Towards accurate 5G assisted management of UAV swarm crowded urban airspace

Low-altitude Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) flight operations are regulated by safety protocols provided by aviation authorities, particularly in the vicinity of crowded airspace e.g. airports. With a fast-growing market for and penetration of commercial UAVs, the possibility of UAV intrusions within controlled airspace is expected to increase, despite these regulations. At lower altitudes, this increases the risk of UAV collisions with aircrafts, or interference from any other undesirable UAV activity near airports like Vancouver International Airport (YVR), the second busiest airport in Canada. This project will develop a novel system for accurate localization of UAVs utilizing existing 5G network equipment and infrastructure deployed across UBC campus. The proposed research will consider both 3-dimensional (3D) mobility of individual UAVs in crowded urban airspace, and UAV swarm. The project will culminate in an optimal design of 5G based enhanced unmanned aerial system (UAS) traffic management (UTM) system architecture that uses legacy interfaces for detecting and identifying UAVs. This includes development and testing of 5G enabled detection framework for flying UAVs at low-altitude, which requires in-flight authentication and authorization.

Faculty Supervisor:

Walter Merida

Student:

Partner:

Vancouver International Airport

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services; Transportation and warehousing

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program: