Primoco UAV SE, a Czech company that develops and manufactures the One 150 UAV, successfully flight tested the simultaneous control of multiple unmanned aircraft from one control station at their airport in Písek Krašovice on 20 October 2021.
The One 150 unmanned aerial vehicle is equipped with a highly advanced control system that enables simultaneous control of multiple unmanned vehicles at the software and hardware level. This feature is useful for users requiring simultaneous operation of multiple aircraft to accomplish a flight mission. An example of this is the deployment of rescue and security forces to search for missing persons in distress. The deployment of more aircraft enables a shorter time to search the required area and therefore faster provision of assistance. Control from a single ground control station also allows a high level of flight safety to be maintained.
The Primoco UAV One 150 aircraft were fitted with Sagetech’s ADSB In/Out Mode S secondary radar transponders during the flight test and demonstrated their capablity of mutual position tracking independent of the ground control station. Radek Suk, Chief Pilot of Primoco UAV SE, summarized the tests as follows: “We have been preparing for the flight tests for a long time and in co-operation with our partners we have managed to verify that our One 150 aircraft allows simultaneous and safe control of two or more assets. Due to the advanced automation of flight functions, control of multiple aircraft by a single pilot is possible, although this activity understandably requires a higher level of attention. For the tests we used two factory One 150 aircraft, namely OK-X045Y and OK-X053Z. The entire system functioned without faults throughout the tests and allowed safe and completely stable control of both aircraft.
Flight validation of the new UAV capability allows for the future combination of control of multiple types of aircraft using the same communications system. This makes possible to combine different platforms without having to have a separate control station for each of them. The entire solution has been verified and complies with the new European Union rules for the operation of UAVs. Ladislav Semetkovský, the company’s CEO, also took part in the flight tests: “Verifying the ability to control multiple aircraft from a single ground station opens up new possibilities in rescue and security deployments. For military users, a similar capability also offers the use of the concept of swarming. Thanks to the very high quality on-board equipment of our aircraft, we have once again confirmed that Primoco UAV One 150 represents the most advanced aircraft in its category on the market. I would like to thank our partners, UAV Navigation from Spain, Radionor from Norway and Sagetech from the USA for their perfect co-operation. We have been able to verify additional competence in real operation beyond the ongoing STANAG 4703 certification tests and thus meet another of the requirements that our customers are interested in.”
The Czech company Primoco UAV develops and manufactures the civilian and military unmanned aircraft One 150. These are aircraft capable of flying completely independently according to programmed flight plans, including fully automatic take-off and landing. One of the key features of the aircraft is its exceptional endurance, able to spend more than 15 hours in the air non-stop at a cruising speed of 100-150 km/h which represents a range of up to 2,000 km. With a maximum take-off weight of 150 kg and a payload of 30 kg, the One 150 can be used for a wide range of deployments in both civil and military operations. The company’s aircraft are currently used on three continents for inspections of product pipelines and distribution networks in the energy sector, ensuring border and coastal security, monitoring fires or in search and rescue operations. Primoco UAV SE is a publicly traded company on the Prague Stock Exchange market.
