Drones are the fastest growing sector of the aviation industry, with worldwide sales expected to top US$6 billion this year.
Dr. Reece Clothier, leader of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems team at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, said the communication system his team has designed allowed air traffic controllers to verbally interact with drones which allowed for integration into the current traffic management system.
"They sound exactly like a normal pilot," Clothier said. "The objective is to make unmanned aircraft appear and interact as seamlessly as possible in the air traffic management system."
On board the unmanned aircraft, radio transmissions are converted into digital messages that the software developed by Clothier's team can interpret. And then, the air traffic controllers can decide on an appropriate instruction or reply.
Clothier said the drones would be able to monitor air traffic control chatter and listen out for their call sign, as pilots currently do.
By Ruchi Singh
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
