The Österreichische Bundesbahnen (ÖBB) and the listed technology company Frequentis have started an “innovation cooperation”. They are now working together on hangar-based, automated drone operations in Austria.
This is intended to promote routine out-of-sight automated drone flights, the companies announced on Tuesday. The focus is on preventing incidents from routine maintenance flights.
Drones must inspect the infrastructure
Frequentis wants to lay the foundations for further innovations in drone technology. The ÖBB hopes that the cooperation will lead to flight permits to carry out automated drone flights in order to have an even better overview of the routes. This includes early detection of infrastructure damage, natural hazard management and track availability. Another topic is disaster management.
In practice, the execution of so-called BVLOS flights – “Beyond Visual Line of Sight” – is both administratively and technically challenging and still one of the “exotics” among drone flights, according to the companies. That is why the collaboration was established. The goal is a better understanding of automated drone flights and their limitations in terms of official requirements, weather and topography.
“Intensive test run” is imminent
It is about working out all aspects for the approval of automated flights. Experience must be gained through “intensive trial runs” over the next 12 months.
“This cooperation is an important step for us,” says Johann Pluy, board member of ÖBB-Infrastruktur AG. “With the help of BVLOS flights, we not only increase the safety of our systems, but we can also perform more tasks more often and at a lower cost in the future.”
“The drone ecosystem is currently growing rapidly and the number of commercial application areas is constantly increasing,” explains Norbert Haslacher, CEO of Frequentis. “We are pleased to test the operational feasibility of hangar-based, automated drone flights for forward-looking rail operations in Austria together with our customer ÖBB.”
Source: Krone
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