By Jordan Pillet
As part of the launch of ScaleFlyt Remote ID, Thales and Skyports Drone Services jointly conducted tests in Singapore on September 20th 2023. The purpose was to demonstrate Thales’s ability to conduct real-time tracking of drones. The event highlighted two use cases.
Shore-to-ship deliveries – One of the first operational use cases of this kind in the world. In Singapore, this test bed for drone technologies is supported by MPA (Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore) at Maritime Drone Estate (MDE). These flights took place in September 2023 with Skyports Drone Services and a recording was transmitted to audience members during the event.
Reservoir Inspection – On the demonstration day itself, the Singapore Thales team performed a technology demonstration with two drones simulating a reservoir inspection mission.
The expertise of our partner: Skyports Drone Services
Skyports Drone Services is a UK-based drone airline. The company partners with leading drone manufacturers to provide expert drone operations for businesses and communities around the world. Skyports Drone Services’ second office and APAC HQ is located in Singapore, where the company provides remote Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations for delivery, surveillance and monitoring use cases. Some of Skyports Drone Services key operations in Singapore include its ship-to-shore delivery operations and its work with the Public Utilities Board to monitor reservoirs and waterways.
Thales & Skyports Drone Services: a collaboration built on the same vision
Thales and Skyports Drone Services are both committed to advancing Singapore’s drone services market to enable the use of drones to be scaled so that its benefits reach more businesses and communities. In that respect, both companies complement each other’s value proposition.
At Thales we believe in the long-term benefit of BVLOS drones operation in order to scale up businesses and are endeavouring to develop technological offerings that achieve this goal. Our ScaleFlyt Remote ID helps track and identify drones and other users operating in the same airspace, providing critical awareness.
Skyports Drone Services deployed their ST Engineering DrN-35 aircraft, a multirotor drone authorized to fly BVLOS in Singapore for specific flight missions. Two of Skyports Drone Services ground staff performed aircraft checks at the take-off site. Aircraft controls were then handed over to remote pilots located at the company’s Remote Operations Centre at Seletar Aerospace Park, approximately 20km from MDE.
Thales personnel were involved to check on the installation of ScaleFlyt Remote ID on Skyports Drone Services aircraft and real-time tracking was monitored over ScaleFlyt digital platform. Manuj AGARWAL, APAC Head of drones programme, commented that the exercise “is a true demonstration of the capability of ScaleFlyt Remote ID to conduct safe and secure real-time tracking of drones anywhere in the world.” The outcome of the flight with ScaleFlyt Remote ID was in line with Thales and Skyports Drone Services expectations and the purpose of the product, namely to track in real time the path of the drone.
If we use one word to describe this event, it would be “progress”.
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