The John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences (UND Aerospace) has partnered with Vigilant Aerospace Systems to use the company’s drone safety software and airspace management system, FlightHorizon.
As part of the one-year agreement, Vigilant will provide training for UND Aerospace students and faculty, with full integration of FlightHorizon into the program’s operations and research.
Officials note that the initiative aligns with UND Aerospace’s commitment to advancing UAS traffic management (UTM) and C-UAS measures, areas increasingly relevant in light of recent drone sightings near critical infrastructure in New Jersey.
FlightHorizon uses NASA-patented technology to provide detect-and-avoid (DAA) alerts during Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations. By integrating multiple sensors, machine learning, and data sources, the software delivers real-time situational awareness to allow drone pilots to identify nearby aircraft and avoid potential collisions through visual and auditory alerts, Vigilant officials said.
According to Paul Snyder, director of UND’s UAS program, the technology complements UND Aerospace’s existing suite of counter autonomy and UAS (C-UAS) tools, including 360° day/night cameras and radar systems made by the US-based company DeTect.
“The software that Vigilant Aerospace provides can easily integrate with the hardware that we’re using and will create a common operating picture that enables us to fuse hardware and data from DeTect radars and other sensors into one screen,” Snyder said.
For more information: VigilantAerospace.com, UND.edu
