Delivery drones are seen midair during a demonstration whereby drones from various companies flew in a joint airspace and were managed by an autonomous control system in Haifa, in an open area near Hadera, Israel March 17, 2021.
The skies above the Israeli town of Hadera were abuzz with delivery drones on Wednesday as national authorities tested a central control room for safely coordinating the small pilotless aircraft with each other as well as with helicopters and planes.
The popularity of the low-flying, cheap drones and their potential for transporting anything from pizzas to prescription drugs between houses and businesses, has sparked fears of mid-air collisions or crashes that might cause casualties on the ground.
“This is an opportunity for the regulators to learn what is needed to establish delivery drones as a daily reality, and for the drone operators to learn what is expected of them in turn,” said Hagit Lidor of the Israel Innovation Authority, one of several state agencies involved in the test.
In the first live trial of a 2-year test phase launched in January, rural Hadera’s airspace was turned over to 5 private firms that flew drones on criss-cross runs designed to test the responses of a control room in the city of Haifa, 56 km (35 miles) away.
To keep the drones – which went up 20 at a time – no more than 120 metres (yards) above ground and no less than 60 metres (yards) apart, the control-room staff sent alerts and rerouting orders to their operators electronically.
Lidor said “for the first time, we are managing airspace as a single entity, synthesizing drone operators with established civil and military aviation.”
She also noted that regulated commercial drone deliveries in Israel were unlikely before 2023, when the testing is set to end and relevant matters like legislation would have to be addressed.
Organizers announced that planes or helicopters were not a planned part of Wednesday’s trial but may be involved in a follow-up in June. Piloted aircraft more commonly seen at low altitudes around Hadera are crop-dusters and paragliders. The drones were told to steer clear of these by at least a 1 km (half a mile).
All of the drones were equipped with parachutes, to ensure safe landings should they suffer malfunctions, Lidor concluded.
