SkyGrid: Helping UAVs take the skies

SkyGrid

Zehra Akbar, VP, Strategy and Operations, SkyGridZehra Akbar, VP, Strategy and Operations
The drone industry is growing at an exponential rate and the wide adoption of UAVs within different verticals, from agriculture to logistics, is giving us a glimpse into the future. The day isn’t far when hundreds of drones will take to the skies and conduct multiple operations, all while working in sync with manned vehicles.

While such a vision is promising, there are certain challenges associated with navigating an unmanned vehicle through busy and complex airspace. Operators have to timely monitor weather shifts, maintain separation from other aircraft, avoid buildings and construction cranes, and factor risk from the ground. At scale operations cannot be achieved if we continue to manually plan drone flights.

SkyGrid is solving the industry’s biggest challenge of integrating drones into the global airspace and executing autonomous operations. By leveraging 100 years of aviation expertise from Boeing and specialisation in AI from SparkCognition, SkyGrid strives to make urban air mobility a reality. The company facilitates safe and drone missions such as surveillance, inspections, deliveries, and others. It is also working towards enabling air taxis in the future. “We envision a future where millions of drones coexist in the same airspace as manned vehicles, conducting a wide range of missions autonomously," Zehra Akbar, VP, Strategy and Operations at SkyGrid.

In an interview with CIO Applications magazine, Zehra describes how SkyGrid utilizes blockchain and AI to deliver a next-generation airspace management system to their clients.

We envision a future where millions of drones coexist in the same airspace as manned vehicles, conducting a wide range of missions autonomously," Zehra Akbar, VP, Strategy and Operations at SkyGrid.


Could you talk about your core technologies in detail and how do they help in decision making?

Our AerialOS is built on advanced AI technology to help maintain the safety and security of airspace. AI algorithms can analyse crucial data required to make a safe flight, such as airspace traffic, weather forecasts, roadway traffic, and vehicle performance, among many others, to automatically generate optimal flight plans and autonomously route and re-route flight paths as conditions change. The system mandates airspace compliance by monitoring, predicting, and adapting to changes in airspace traffic, environmental conditions, and vehicle performance. SkyGrid’s automated workflows make it easy for businesses and users to carry out remote multiple missions, including surveys, waypoint and multi-drone operation, without any prior training.

Equipped with SparkCognition’s DeepArmor product, SkyGrid is the first airspace management system to enable AI-powered drone protection. By deploying AI-powered security directly onto drones, the DeepArmor product safeguards drones from zero-day attacks during flights.

At the core of SkyGrid lies digital ledger technology (DLT) that ensures the immutability and audit ability of the system. Blockchain technologies allows the platform to have an immutable log of all operations. We have built a private blockchain system to protect the integrity of any information, such as pilot, flight, and drone data, stored within our application. This approach enables a secure, tamper-proof record of all unmanned flights for both drone operators and aviation authorities.

Smart contracts are used to ensure that only mission safe drones take flight. User specific private keys ensure that the system is guarded against unauthorized use of drones. Concisely, DLT provides regulators and organizations with the level of trust, safeguards, and traceability that aerial operations must maintain.

Who are your typical clients? How can they get access to SkyGrid’s Aerial OS platform?

We work with several various industries. We provide solutions to local and international regulators and ANSPs, public safety organizations and a wide range of enterprise customers, from logistics to oil & gas.

We also have an application, SkyGrid Flight Control, available to recreational and enterprise customers. Anyone can access the SkyGrid Flight Control app by downloading it from the App Store. You can use the application to plan routes, check relevant weather data for your drones, get LAANC authorization, conduct remote drone operations and AI based object detection, all available in one unified platform. The application has certain add-on features that enterprise customers can unlock through a paid license. Additionally, depending on the requirements of our clients, we offer them web, mobile, and iPad instances of SkyGrid’s solutions, geared towards solving their challenges.

Could you please provide a real-life use case of SkyGrid’s drone technology and how it helped one of your clients?

Drones have the power to transform human lives. Our project with Austin Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is an example of this. We partnered the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in Austin to conduct multi-drone search and rescue operations in Austin’s green belt. SkyGrid platform was used to provide a quicker and cheaper way for first responders to get eyes on the search area and the condition that the civilian might be in.

In such an operation, our system can automatically divide a search area between a given number of drones and generate the optimal flight path requires for a given altitude. First responders can use SkyGrid’s instance to autonomously launch multiple drones into the airspace to instantly search a large area and use video feed or AI based object detection to locate a person or any object on the group. Using drones for such missions is cheaper, quicker, and safer.

  • SkyGrid platform was used to provide a quicker and cheaper way for first responders to get eyes on the search area and the condition that the civilian might be in.


What have you envisioned for the future of SkyGrid, and how does it aim to impacts the aviation industry?

SkyGrid is constantly working to expand and enhance its offering. As part of our long-term goal, we envision widening the scope of drones to do other operations as air regulations expand.

We are also engaging across the industry to advance the aerial mobility ecosystem. An example of this is our Space Act Agreement with NASA to be part of the Advanced Air Mobility National Campaign. Together, we will define when, where and how to safely and securely integrate manned and unmanned vehicles in our national and global airspace.

SkyGrid

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