Kristen Smith
The Federal Aviation Administration has awarded Reliable Robotics a contract to conduct in-flight test and evaluation of the company’s detect and avoid system, or DAA, which includes advanced air-to-air radar.
The flight tests will begin in 2025 in cooperation with the Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership, an FAA-designated test site for uncrewed aircraft systems, Reliable Robotics said Friday.
DAA will be installed on a drone to demonstrate how the system can help ensure the UAS maintains a safe distance from and avoids collision with other aircraft in controlled and uncontrolled airspace – a capability critical to the safe integration of UAS in the National Airspace System. The technology’s alert and maneuvering guidance feature for remote pilots during in-air conflicts will also be evaluated.
Reliable Robotics will gather flight data and share it with the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics’ special committees to help validate new standards for advanced DAA systems.
“Compliance to consensus-based technical standards is critical to reducing certification risk and ensuring interoperability,” said Juerg Frefel, co-founder and chief technology officer at Reliable Robotics.
The company secured the contract following its demonstration of an uncrewed Cessna C208B Caravan operation in 2023. It also performed another flight of the aircraft as part of the FAA Urban Air Mobility Airspace Management Demonstration project.
