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Sensors and Communication Simulation for Unmanned Traffic Management
David Carramiñana1, Iván Campaña1, Luca Bergesio1
1Information Processing and Telecommunications Center, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
|February 12, 2021
Summary
This study introduces an agent-based simulation platform for Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) systems. The simulator accurately recreates complex drone operation scenarios, overcoming limitations of real-world testing.
Area of Science:
- Aerospace Engineering
- Computer Science
Background:
- Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) systems are crucial for integrating drones into airspace.
- Current testing methods for UTM systems are costly, limited, and difficult to repeat.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop an agent-based simulation platform for evaluating UTM systems.
- To simulate UTM information sources and actor interactions for system-level assessment.
Main Methods:
- Implemented a microservice architecture for an agent-based simulation platform.
- Modeled UTM actors (drones, pilots, ground control stations), communications, and sensors.
- Incorporated simulation of contingencies like communication failures.
Main Results:
- The platform successfully simulates drone trajectory, control, and command and control links.
- It accurately models drone detection by surveillance and mobile communication networks.
- Complex scenarios, including unexpected events, were truthfully recreated.
Conclusions:
- The proposed simulation platform effectively mitigates the disadvantages of real-world UTM testbeds.
- This agent-based simulator provides a scalable and repeatable method for UTM system evaluation.

