ScaleFlyt Geocaging: safe and secure long-range drone operations

Thales ScaleFlyt Geocaging secures long-range and Beyond Visual Line Of Sight (BVLOS) drone operations with real-time flight display in an easy-to-use mobile application. This solution enable small to medium Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) operators to reduce ground and air traffic risks, while limiting Flight Termination System (FTS) use. It is complementary to geofencing or geo-awareness applications.

This Geocaging capability is part of the ScaleFlyt solutions family for drone operators that delivers a set of products and services that natively meet current and future requirements related to the challenges of drone operators: compliance with new EASA regulations, safety modules, data links, fleet management, and integration with traffic management systems.

When operating in prohibited areas or going beyond their authorized zone, drones may cause harm to surrounding aircraft, people or property. To mitigate these risks, an independent geo limitation for drones (Geocaging) decouples the system from any other device on the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). This function operates in both horizontal plane and vertical axis to define a 3D operational flight area. It introduces complementary positioning sources for applications that require integrity and availability beyond what can be provided by regular GPS or geofencing solutions.

To protect people or sensitive infrastructure on the ground, and to avoid collision with aircraft, Thales has developed solutions which lower ground risk and air risk class. The solutions comply with the highest levels of aeronautical standards and will facilitate the granting of authorizations by National Aviation Authorities (NAA).

The Thales ScaleFlyt Geocaging solution is an independent implementation from the flight controller that:

• Ensures safety against out-of-area flight in accordance with European regulations,

• Simplifies the pilot's task with audible and visual alerts,

• Reduces margins with respect to adjacent risks by locating the limits with a GNSS receiver using the GPS satellite constellation, instead of visual surveillance and reducing detection and reaction times,

• Ensures beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights through automatic operation.

The integration of the ScaleFlyt Geocaging function in the UAV is achieved by connecting the geocaging add-on to the power supply and to the FTS (Flight Termination System). This installation will allow you to easily create the cage for your operation with dedicated software (Google Earth Pro or Soarizon). The previously defined cage will then be integrated to the Geocaging add-on through our mobile application and with the supplied RF transmitter connected to the mobile device (smartphone or tablet).

This integration will ensure that your drone will never fly outside the defined cage and that in case of flight near the limits of the cage, the add-on will send awareness alerts to the mobile application. It is complementary to geofencing solutions.

The ScaleFlyt Geocaging solution is composed of:

• A "Geocaging Add-on" to be integrated to the drone, connected to the drone's Flight Termination System (FTS), itself independent of the drone's flight control system. Two parts are embedded in the UAS: the main board (13.6 x 35 x 70mm) and a GPS receiver (38 x 38 x 11mm) with a weight of 37 grams.

• A mobile application and its USB RF dongle that communicate independently with the Geocaging card, allowing the user to check the proper functioning of the system and to receive alerts. The Geocaging mobile application has been designed to run on an Android device, version 7 or higher with a screen size of at least 7" and with a USB OTG port allowing access to the USB RF dongle provided.

Download the product brochure