The UK will establish its first commercial corridor in Reading next year.

BT, along with Altitude Angel, and several UK tech start-ups has been chosen by UK Research and Innovation to deliver ‘Project XCelerate,’ a key Future Flight Challenge project.

In summer 2021, the consortium will perform flight trials along an 8km-long corridor to “demonstrate how drones can operate safely in the same airspace as manned aviation.”

The project will highlight key use cases across a number of industries, including healthcare, emergency services, and infrastructure, with the aim of accelerating the adoption of fully automated drones in unrestricted UK airspace.

Project XCelerate aims to “widen the use of UTM systems by providing a framework which towns, cities, organisations and networks can follow in order to ‘open up’ portions of the sky.”

BT said that the consortium is “powerfully placed to realise the world's first live commercial automated BVLOS flight zone in which any compatible vehicle can connect into and fly within safely.”

Gerry McQuade, chief executive of BT’s enterprise unit, said that while drone numbers continue to rise, there’s an urgent need to safely integrate commercial drones into global airspace alongside manned aviation.

“BT’s role in the consortium is to bring world-leading drone expertise together and to provide the secure and resilient mobile network connectivity, as well as our drone detection services,” added McQuade. “The power of EE’s 4G and 5G networks will ensure commercial drones remain connected for greater situational awareness, accurate positioning and to avoid collisions – ensuring that they can be operated safely and responsibly across UK skies.”

Richard Parker, chief executive and founder of Altitude Angel said: “Project XCelerate is bringing together experts and world leaders in their respective fields, something we’re very proud and excited to be a part of. Our Arrow technology is truly ground-breaking and the key enabler to the project and we’re pleased to be deploying it for maximum benefit in the UK first.”

Drone technology experts from Dronecloud, HeroTech8, and Skyports, alongside cyber security provider Angoka, and end user experts SkyBound Rescuer and DroneStram, are also part of the project team.

The consortium will explore key use cases including using drones to assist the emergency services, for example during road traffic collisions and search and rescue missions.

By using 3D mapping, drones can aid police forensics teams when responding to road traffic collisions and can help locate missing persons during search and rescue missions.

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