U-ELCOME drone project integrates multiple service providers in tests conducted in Zaragoza, Spain

Three U-space Service Providers (USSPs) tested integrated services in the same operation through the ENAIRE U-Hub platform, as an extended part of the Common Information Services (CISP), in the Spanish city of Zaragoza.

The tests carried out in Zaragoza as part of the U-ELCOME project served to “successfully validate communications with the stakeholders involved”, said Isabel Buatas, head of Hera Drone Hub, one of the partners of the U-ELCOME project, led by EUROCONTROL. The project centres on three clusters in Spain, Italy and France to demonstrate U-space scenarios in a harmonised manner in Europe.

U-ELCOME project aims at communication between CISP and USSPs with their respective operators and communication between USSPs. The Zaragoza demonstration has served to successfully validate the security of communications.

“In this demo, an emergency use case was presented. During a routine drone flight operation, an emergency may arise and it is the authority itself, National Police, City Council, Fire Department, … that can activate a secure volume within the ENAIRE platform, as CISp (Common Information Service Provider) to be able to enter that scenario, thus allowing to communicate from the platform itself to the operators the situation so that they leave that space free”, explained Isabel Buatas.

ENAIRE, the Galician Technological Institute (ITG), Aslogic, Umiles and Primecor have participated in this milestone for air navigation in the U-ELCOME project. The tests were attended by authorities representing the Regional Government of Aragon, Zaragoza City Council, Zaragoza Air Base, National Police and the Fire Brigade.

There were also representatives of the Aragon Logistics Cluster (ALIA), Mobility City, Bluenest and ELA Aviation, who lent their gyroplane for the event. This support makes Zaragoza the ideal site to implement the U-space scenario as it has a complete ecosystem around this new mobility, including the transfer of space from the city council for 10 years to have a vertiport.

“With initiatives and tests like this one, we want to defend and promote the future service activity that drones will provide, dynamising and bringing the industrial ecosystem closer within a U-space scenario that makes it a safe scenario. Precisely, one of the objectives of the U-ELCOME project is for drones to share airspace with other legitimate users to obtain routine operations in 2026 that will generate new business models”, concluded Isabel Buatas.