Enhancing Drone and Air Taxi Flight Operations with Meteomatics' Weather Data
Technology Category
- Analytics & Modeling - Digital Twin / Simulation
- Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms
Applicable Industries
- Aerospace
- Agriculture
Applicable Functions
- Maintenance
Use Cases
- Agricultural Drones
- Digital Twin
Services
- Drone Operation Services
- System Integration
About The Customer
Unisphere is a Germany-based company that specializes in intelligent solutions for automated flight operations. Its operations management platform, NOVA, is used by leading BVLOS drone operators and air taxi companies. The platform supports piloted and fully automated flight operations with its unique simulation technology, which creates a digital twin for each individual flight. Operational analytics provided by the platform offer a data-driven foundation for strategic decision making in planning vertiports and designing air taxi services. This is achieved by analyzing the impact of weather conditions on future flight operations based on historical weather data.
The Challenge
Unmanned aerial vehicles such as drones and future autonomous air taxis lack an onboard pilot who can respond directly to weather changes and impacts. The response to weather changes is instead controlled by software and autopilot. This necessitates the availability of live weather data during a flight and weather forecast data for safe and efficient pre-flight planning. If the weather poses increased or unacceptable flight risks, the flight route or departure time needs to be adjusted accordingly. This challenge is further complicated by the need for industries without aviation expertise, such as agriculture, logistics, traffic management, and surveillance, to operate drones safely and efficiently in a commercial context.
The Solution
Unisphere has developed the NOVA Operations Management Platform, a digital co-pilot for commercial drone operations. The platform increases the level of automation and enables professional drone operators to map and standardize their flight operations for efficient and safe scaling. NOVA Cast, one of the platform's solutions, offers forecasts for flight simulations up to one week in advance. This allows flights to be simulated early using a digital twin, evaluating various weather parameters and their influence on the feasibility of a flight. If certain weather parameters exceed the preset limits of the vehicle, this is identified in the simulation in advance, allowing for better flight time or an alternative route planning. NOVA Aware, another solution, supports daily weather briefing and flight scheduling with a forecast period of 48 hours. To function properly and stay up-to-date, the software requires permanent access to high-resolution weather data in real time and in the desired format. Unisphere chose Meteomatics' weather API for this purpose due to its accuracy and other impressive features.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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