Emitel completes network to monitor BVLOS drone flights at Polish airports

Emitel SA has completed a project to build a network for monitoring beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone flights at eight Polish airports. 

The Drone Labs project run by Emitel focuses on testing various scenarios for the safe commercial use of drones. Emitel engineers designed and built a network consisting of two hardware elements: transponders mounted directly to drones, which send a wireless signal during flight, and ground antenna receivers, which receive and process the signal transmitted by the transponders. Additionally, the network runs special software that synchronises the operation of transmitters and receivers. Such a constructed network allows for monitoring the position of drones in the air in real time, as well as collecting and later analysing technical data from the flight. 

“After more than a year of work on the Emitel Drone Labs project – thanks to tests and cooperation with many partners – we have developed a clear vision of solutions ensuring effective and safe performance of drone missions,” said Jarosław Niechcielski, Director of the Office of Regulation and Development of External Relations, supervising the Emitel Drone Labs project.

In September 2024, Emitel completed the first two stages of BVLOS mission tests. The flights took place in a special network built by the company. During some of the flights, the drone with a load of almost 30 kilograms covered a route in five minutes that traditional ground transport would cover in good weather conditions in over an hour. 

Emitel will next be organising fully autonomous test flights, in which the drone carries out the mission along a previously set route without the active participation of the pilot.