UAS Air Traffic Management System Announced
A diagram displaying each component of LATAS. Photo: PrecisionHawk Inc.
Unmanned aerial systems manufacturer PrecisionHawk Inc. and Aerial Data Processing and Analysis Co. announced LATAS, Low Altitude Tracking and Avoidance System, aimed at safely integrating UAS into the national airspace.
The automated traffic control system provides tracking and avoidance for all unmanned aircraft in the air with real-time flight data obtained over cellular networks. LATAS is a small, lightweight device designed to be plug and play or integrated into UAS circuitry during manufacturing.
“The development of LATAS is based around the idea that we can use existing technologies at a low cost and weight and avoid the creation of an entire new system,” says Tyler Collins, LATAS creator and director of business development at PrecisionHawk. “We need more advanced computer systems to deal with the technology side, and reversely we need the technology side to work within traditional safety methods to provide the FAA with a safety-first solution.”
Current solutions to UAS air traffic management require greatly expanding infrastructure and ground-based radar systems, according to a company press release. LATAS uses preexisting infrastructure and allows users to request, track and verify all flight operations from a central location and automatically report all flight data to the Federal Aviation Administration reliably using cellular networks as slow as 2G.
“Cheaper, smaller and more commonly used UAVs, those are the ones flying in the approach paths,” says Collins, who tested the first LATAS prototype last summer using his home 3-D printer and a hobby quadcopter. “LATAS is a viable solution to reward both sides, giving pilots a way to know where UAVs are before they become a safety concern.”
