Through its SYSRED H24 units and the Airspace Operational Coordination Department, ENAIRE is coordinating more than 30 drone operations carried out by law enforcement agencies and related to the state of emergency that was decreed due to COVID-19.

The added value of EGNSS (Galileo and EGNOS) for drones was the focus of a special session organised by the European GNSS Agency (GSA) at this year’s World ATM Congress in Madrid on 12 March, at which representatives from several projects spoke about how they are benefitting from the European space programme.

Today, RPAS operations are usually limited to segregated airspace or visual line of sight conditions, and operators and manufacturers rarely integrate certified avionics on-board. However, for RPAS to operate autonomously with other airspace users in a shared airspace volume, certified avionic equipment will probably be needed. This represents a great opportunity for GNSS augmented services, like EGNOS.