“As part of our technology development for minimising risk to third party airspace users, we are now fitting SIAM to all our aircraft, including aircraft we build for our customers,” said Mark Xavier, Director and Chief RPAS Pilot at V-TOL. “As the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of the aircraft flying within RAAF controlled airspace (CTR), we are permitted to fit such technologies to our aircraft.”

Recently, a Goshawk II Surveyor – an electric fixed wing aircraft weighing less than 7 kilograms – was fitted with Relmatech’s SIAM (Secure Integrated Airspace Management) technology to conduct some routine survey operations. “Thursday’s RPAS operations, consisting of two flights of 2 hours and 1.5 hours duration, were carried out under V-TOL’s current Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) and RAAF permissions,” Xavier added. “It was our first commercial operations using SIAM under standard operating conditions – an event we and Relmatech believe to be a world first. That these operations took place 1.5 nautical miles from the main runway of Australia’s largest active RAAF base during normal F-18 and C-17 operations is also of significant importance.”

“Because the SIAM feed from an operating RPAS can be viewed in real-time over the web, SIAM enabled Amberley ATC to have greater situational awareness of V-TOL’s RPAS operating within their active CTR,” said Philip Hall, Founding Director and CEO of Relmatech.

The landmark flights come just a week after V-TOL demonstrated SIAM to representatives of Defence Industries and the Department of Science, Information Technology and Innovation, Queensland. In that demonstration, V-TOL had two RPAS flying at the same time in their training area.

“SIAM offers a viable and robust solution to the critical issues confronting regulators and manufacturers responsible for ensuring the safety of low-flying RPAS,” Hall says. 

“With SIAM, RPAS and their operators can be identified and their permissions verified – and, where necessary, restricted,” Hall adds. “SIAM can determine whether the flight to be undertaken is restricted to Line of Sight or permitted for Beyond Line of Sight, and then oversee the flight accordingly. These and other capabilities, including separation assurance and collision warning, ensure that RPAS can be safely operated within an integrated managed airspace.”

Relmatech has lodged a world-wide patent application for SIAM.