For air traffic navigation provider Skyway, sharing is caring when it comes to building the infrastructure needed to support the anticipated high-volume scale-up in operations by uncrewed air systems (UAS) and other autonomous aircraft that could eventually include eVTOL air taxi services. By sharing, the company mainly has data in mind but also the pooling of expertise, as evidenced by its recently announced partnership with TruWeather Solutions to include that firm's weather data and risk-management product as part of its traffic navigation system.

According to California-based Skyway, collaboration is the key to laying the foundations for autonomous flights. “It’s all about data aggregation and how we connect this data,” explained CEO Clifford Cruz. “We don’t want to have ecosystems developing in silos to build something that everyone can use. This means a lot of close connections with partners to enable UTMs [unmanned traffic management providers] to support the business much more quickly.”

TruWeather will provide the low-altitude weather data required for new urban air mobility (UAM) operations. “Weather remains a critical component of all flight operations,” said the company’s CEO, Don Berchoff. “A data desert currently exists in low altitudes for advanced air mobility and uncrewed aircraft operations. We have been working hard to fill in the gaps.”

The FAA’s release in July 2020 of its Concept of Operations (Conops) for UAM introduced the basis for so-called Providers of Services for UAMs (PSUs), like Skyway, to support the air traffic navigation requirements for autonomous aircraft. “This is the glue for the autonomous operations, and piloted aircraft will also be able to connect to the digital infrastructure based on exchanging data,” Cruz explained. “The PSUs aggregate the data [from aircraft] and ensure its fidelity.”

According to Brown, the FAA could have provisional standards agreed to and in place for unmanned traffic management (UTM) operations by 2023, although the full rollout of autonomous operations will likely take up to around 2030. He expects a market environment in which there will be multiple air navigation service providers and that the leading companies will be those that work well with others, sharing their expertise.

Skyway says that the scope of the connectivity and data points its technology delivers will be ready to support passenger- and freight-carrying eVTOL aircraft operations, including those that will enter service with pilots on board. The company’s API-based machine-to-machine interfaces mean that there is no need for graphics screens to show flight data, and it has developed the systems to be agnostic and able to work with other UTM service providers. “We built this in a way that makes room for competition [between PSUs]," said Cruz, "and we are now working with eVTOL aircraft manufacturers to understand their communications requirements and how we connect data for everything including flight booking systems and vertiports.”

The Skyway team includes individuals with long-standing backgrounds in both aviation and cybersecurity. That is significant, stressed Cruz, because the secure exchange and storage of flight data will be critical to the safety and success of autonomous flight operations.

In addition to the FAA, the company is engaging with state, county, and local city leaders to prepare the way for advanced air mobility services to launch in multiple communities across the U.S. “When we talk to partners, we’re giving them the call to action to be part of the future and collaborate,” Brown concluded.

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