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THE ACHIEVEMENTS

In 2022, the Cluster’s drone sector remained the leading drone community in Europe and continued to expand with over 280 members (compared to 220 in 2021).

With over 70 actions carried out, half of which were for the common good of 2 regions, the Cluster has striven to support its members by taking into account both the aeronautics and environmental regional strategic roadmaps.

Within the framework of promoting the ecosystem, the Cluster’s Drone day with the theme, “Meeting Prime Contractors”  was held in March 2023. The event featured information sessions on drone news, an information session led by prime contractors about their operational needs and B2B meetings during which nearly 120 participants and 18 prime contractors exchanged ideas about tomorrow’s solutions.

Alongside this annual leading event, the strategic drone sector invested in 24 other national and European events to promote the knowledge and expertise of its members.

 

Dans le cadre de la mission de soutien à l’innovation des membres, quelques actions notables 

Under the aegis of the cluster’s mission of supporting member innovation notable actions include:

 

  • The European TINDAIR (Tactical INstrumental Deconfliction And in flight Resolution) project, financed by the SESAR program which concluded in December, 2022. Coordinated by INNOV’ATM, the purpose of this project is to set up very large scale demonstrations on urban air mobility, highlighting tactical deconfliction. The successful implementation of 4 flight demonstrators enabled to validate compelling results on conflict detection and resolution at the tactical and strategic levels, emergency management or deployment of essential services such as monitoring, network identification and traffic information.

  • Forest fire technical workshop in Nîmes (9-10/11/2022)

In collaboration with Nîmes Métropole, the Cluster organized this workshop that gathered 50 participants and 10 moderators from the civil security world. It enabled members to discover the future civil security drone label with a focus on three themes but also to better understand the operational challenges in order to provide technological solutions adapted to the field.

 

  • In the defence field, the Cluster provided support for the ALTISS project under the aegis of the European Defence Fund (EDIDP).

Coordinated by the company, Magellium, the ALTISS project (Autonomous Light Intelligence & Surveillance System), which has a budget of 2.9 million euros, aims to develop an automated swarm of long endurance drones for intelligence purposes. The project covers the study, design, prototyping and testing of an autonomous intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance system.

 

As part of promoting member development, the Cluster provides support to members of the ADIF – professional federation of manufacturers of French drones – with the goal of pooling procurement and production. In a second phase, its objective was to pool expertise and production resources which resulted in setting up a drone “Factory” in France. In December, 2022, the work concluded with the drafting of a summary report.

 

SELECTED WEBINARS AND EVENTS

  • Nov. 22 – Day focused on the role of biosourced materials in the aeronautics, space and drone sectors:  3 round tables on solutions, one round table with end user testimonials and 80 participants.

  • Nov. 22 - Drones in support of territories: days organized by CEREMA during which members presented their solutions to benefit public authorities. 

  • Fév. 23 – Transport Innovation Agency Forum (AIT). Aerospace Valley was a jury member for the Propulse Air  awards. The Cluster’s participation in this event enabled to strengthen its activities with national organizations dedicated to air mobility.

 

FOCUS EUROPE

For more than 20 years, the European Union has supported the development of the industry with already over 300 drone projects funded for nearly 900m€. With its network, the cluster has contributed to the creation of a new European project: AI4Hydrop under the aegis of the Horizon Europe research and innovation funding scheme.

One of our members, Sopra Steria, joined the consortium to meet the challenge of the massive deployment of drones in urban areas creating a safe shared air space. Thus AI4HyDrop aims to develop an AI generic conceptual model which will automate the approval of flight demands by analyzing flight plans, and taking into account the mechanisms of prioritization and fairness,   local rules, legislation and the constraints or availability of the air space structure.

Aerospace Valley is the heart of the aeronautics, space, defense and drone reactor of the greater South-West.

We have been wholeheartedly supported by the Aerospace Valley team since 2015, in particular on innovative projects in which public funding authorities did not believe.

In  very concrete terms, the biggest contracts won by our company were achieved through the Cluster’s competitiveness actions: the meeting with a major actor who has become our client following a mission abroad organized by the Cluster, 2 winning call for projects which we learned about via Aerospace Valley.

In addition to this support, notably through project accreditation, the ecosystem provided by Aerospace Valley enabled us not only to meet different high quality suppliers but also to develop promising projects in the agricultural sector.

Patrice Rosier – Co-founder Reflet du Monde

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PROJECTS AND ACTIONS UNDERWAY SINCE MARCH 2023 AND TO COME:

MORE RELIABLE

Driven by Aerospace Valley in 2021, the CERTUS project - CERTify Unmanned Systems aims to promote the conditions for setting up the first drone certification platform in France in the Greater South West. 

Designed around a drone-accredited laboratory and a flight test center, this project enables manufacturers to carry out industry-standard compliance tests in France: tests dedicated to mechanical, vibration, acoustic, climatic, physical-chemical, and electromagnetic qualifications.

The Cluster provided support throughout the project: from contacting aeronautics qualification laboratories and test centers in our regions in 2022 to supporting a consortium of members (writing applications and letters of support);

Another ambitious initiative is underway in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region on the U-Space theme and air risks: developing safety bubbles around airport platforms to foster the deployment of cargo and passenger drone safely.

 

LESS NOISE

The drone market is increasingly mature hence there will be more and more  of them. It is critical to tackle the issue of noise generated to provide solutions and ways to reduce it.

BRINDLE - BRuit INduit par les Drones Légers (Noise caused by light drones) is an Aerospace Valley initiative which has been designed to be a framework program with a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary approach to the issue of noise.  

The Cluster brought together a panel of academic experts and companies who wish to provide knowledge and expertise in order to establish a series of innovative projects focused on three main objectives:

  • Defining the studies to carry out on noise in a cross-disciplinary way with the Cluster’s ecosystems of excellence: SMP: innovative materials to absorb noise and limit vibrations, PEE- work on optimizing the acoustic performance of propellers, EDIA/SEC: trajectory optimization.

  • Simulating the impact of noise generated by drones

  • Working on limitation solutions

 

Since its launch in November, 2022, 4 brainstorming sessions have taken place with around ten mainly French partners: 12 potential partners (ISAE, ONERA, Université Gustave Eiffel, Institut P’, Capgemini, Airnova along with ENAC, DGAC/STAC, 4D Pionneer (additive manufacturing for propellers). Companies outside of the Cluster have also been consulted (Wing, ID2MOVE) with precious feedback.

Stating in 2023, innovative projects will be launched in the following fields: studies of noise generation and its sources, propagation, social and environmental impacts and reduction means.

 

MORE ENGAGED

The Cluster is committed to supporting the deployment of swarm drones and artificial intelligence. Together, the latter could be invaluable tools to expand environmental engagement.

In March 2023,  Aerospace Valley initiated and organized a day dedicated to AI for aeronautics, space and drone applications.

Two round tables helped promote the development of several innovative projects including two drone projects for the benefit of the planet: 

• AgroSwarm: developing the use of a fleet of drones for agricultural applications (fertilizers, seeds, treatment) to optimize inputs and minimize operating costs today blocked by the constraint one drone- one pilot

• CrisiSwarm Map: using a drone fleet in crisis management to map areas impacted by a major crisis.

Finally in the civil security field following a workshop on forest fires in 2022, innovative projects and structural partnerships supported by the Cluster will soon be completed in the coming months.