The skies are increasingly crowded with drones — as the recent panic about sightings of the flying machines in New Jersey demonstrated — but government technology is trying to fix that.
Involi, an 8-year-old tech firm that focuses on air surveillance, has launched what it calls a Low Altitude Surveillance Supplemental Data Service in Dallas. The new service provides surveillance data for manned and unmanned aircraft, according to a statement from the company.
The move comes as air safety consumes a good part of the national spotlight.
One of the main ideas behind the Involi effort is dealing with BVLOS, or beyond visual line of sight, flying for drones, including those used for public safety, health care and delivery. Retail deliveries via drone stand as an especially active issue in Dallas.
As the Involi statement put it, “situation awareness in crowded skies is fundamental for BVLOS drone operations, to avoid risk of air encounters.”
The new Involi.live offering is what the company calls an “air traffic detection platform” via which drone operators can “detect low-altitude airplanes and helicopters.” Such information can lead to aborted missions.
The web-based tool is free to use.
It also offers access to other data such as ICAO codes — which indicate locations of flight operations — and position, altitude, speed, aircraft ascent and descent, and tracking. Users of the tool can create traffic alerts for aircraft entering specific areas.
"As the drone industry takes flight, we’re proud to be the pioneers in building the infrastructure that enables safer drone operations with enhanced situational awareness,” said Manu Lubrano, co-founder and CEO of Involi, in the statement. “And this data is equally important for optimizing airport operations on the ground.”
Involi says it pulls data from its proprietary network of air traffic receivers around the Dallas area, with coverage eventually expanding to “many other cities around the country,” according to the statement.
New Drone Surveillance Program Gets Off the Ground in Dallas
As more police agencies and other operations turn to drones, the skies are increasingly crowded with the machines. Involi’s new platform, now operating in Dallas, uses real-time data to help keep those skies safe.
