A group of organisations has launched a project to strengthen security in the use of drones.
Connected Places Catapult (CPC) has joined with Cranfield University and Belfast based cyber security start-up Angoka in the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Authentication System (UASAS) project.
It has been backed by funding from UK Research and Innovation’s Future Flight Challenge, which is part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.
The project will contribute to the use of drones in public services and the private sector, inlcuding in areas such as search and rescue, protecting national infrastructure and environmental monitoring.
CPC said it will focus on protecting the communications in controlling and flying drones, which could be at risk of being hacked and hijacked, through the creation of an authentication system as a trusted identification service. This would support organisations in ensuring that drones fly into the right zones and without adverse effects on other parties.
The LongOps project will develop innovative robotic technologies
Britain and Japan have signed a research and technology deployment collaboration to help automate nuclear decommissioning and aspects of fusion energy production.
A world-leading alliance, it will see new robotics and automation techniques applied to both fusion research and to decommissioning nuclear facilities in Japan and the UK.
The £12M UK-Japanese robotics project, called “LongOps”, will support delivery of faster and safer decommissioning at TEPCO’s Fukushima Dai-ichi reactors in Japan and at Sellafield in the UK, using long-reach robotic arms.
This four-year research collaboration will be funded equally by UK Research and Innovation (“UKRI”), the UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (“NDA”) and Japan’s Tokyo Electric Power Company (“TEPCO”).
LONDON, UK. and GLASGOW, SCOTLAND – January 20, 2021 – ANRA Technologies, a leader in integrated airspace management, today announced its participation in the CAELUS project, a consortium led by AGS Airports that will develop and trial the UK’s first national distribution network using drones to transport essential medicines, blood, organs, and other medical supplies throughout Scotland.
The AGS led consortium, which brings together 13 organisations, successfully secured £1.5 million from the UK Industrial Strategy Future Flight Challenge Fund to demonstrate how autonomous drone technology can enhance access to essential medical supplies, particularly in rural parts of Scotland.
The CAELUS (Care & Equity – Healthcare Logistics UAS Scotland) project started on 1 December and will involve live drone flight trials. In addition to developing the ground infrastructure needed to recharge the drones and the systems to control them while flying, a key aspect of the project will be