More about the GEO 2.0 system

DJI has announced an update to its virtual fence technology in Europe. The Geospatial Environment Online (GEO, Spatial Environment Online) 2.0 system will be available in 32 European countries with a new type of spatial designation around airports, the creation of which was helped by the Altitude Angel drone service platform in the United Kingdom.

Following the incidents at London's Gatwick and Heathrow airports, DJI responded by developing the GEO 2.0 application, which creates a three-dimensional "bow tie"-shaped security zone around the airports. This adapts much better to the shape of the landing and takeoff paths of the machines than the previous circular virtual fence.

GEO 2.0 also uses complex polygonal protection zones around other highly protected facilities. This customized modification is available in the 13 countries in which DJI's GEO system has already operated, as well as in 19 other European countries that previously did not have such an advanced virtual fence system.

According to a DJI statement, the GEO transformation will even include temporary flight restrictions (Temporary Flight Restriction, TFR) required in the event of high security risk events or natural disasters. Data for these will be provided by Eurocontrol.

DJI's collaboration partner is Altitude Angel

Towards the end of 2018, DJI announced similar changes to its Virtual Fence system in the United States and also changed data providers: instead of AirMap, PrecisionHawk became its data provider.

And for its European customers, DJI chose Altitude Angel as its data provider instead of AirMap. The UK-based company will be tasked with providing the system with accurate, real-time and relevant spatial data for airports, temporary flight restrictions and other sensitive areas in all 32 European countries.

Last year, DJI worked with Altitude Angel on Operation Zenith, a large-scale Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) test at Manchester Airport.

"DJI definitely wants to assure its partners that safety will remain the primary concern during the developments of the European drone industry, which developments serve to enable the use of drones in new and new areas. The introduction of state-of-the-art safety services will help the public and drone pilots alike in more and more countries," said Christian Struwe, DJI EMEA Specialist.

European air traffic control must also be able to integrate advanced future technologies, such as robot-controlled flight or flying beyond the line of sight of the drone pilot, without placing additional burdens on hobby drone pilots and professional drone pilots who have already flown millions of safe and useful flights finally. Altitude Angel supports this vision and provides the reliable air traffic data necessary to realize it.

Richard Parker, founder and CEO of Altitude Angel, said: We are honored to partner with DJI on this major GEO development and look forward to working together on other important projects. We work hard to provide the best data and drone service to our customers around the world, and we are pleased that DJI is evaluating our protection platform, the Guardian platform, which enables our users to fly safely and have extended airspace availability.

For more information, see 5 Technologies Improving Drone Safety

More information about GEO 2.0 can be found here .