INTA AND UAVS: New Technologies for the Future. Unmanned aircrafts.

By Pablo Rodeiro Rañales and Sergio Dopico Arnoso (4th year ESO)

(After a visit to the INTA facilities in Rozas, we're presenting the second part of the article published on June 8th 2016, called 'The Drone Industry in Galicia')

Since the taking off of the first aircraft by the end of the XIX century or beginnings of the XX until now many things have changed. The first aircrafts used to fly just a few metres from the ground, were piloted at least by a pilot and they were very little self-sufficient concerning fuel. Today, the situation is completely different and the models which are trying to get a place in the world of aviation are unmanned aircrafts, which can travel long distances and don't even need any crew on board to be piloted.

In a recent visit to the INTA installations near Lugo to investigate this new centre of development that the Xunta de Galicia, together with private enterprises, has promoted, we became aware that the future of aviation is probably in the hands of these aircrafts.

INTA.

It all began when INTA was installed on the old aerodrome in Rozas, close to the city of Lugo in Galicia. INTA (National Aerospace Agency in Spain) is a public investigation organism which focuses on everything related to aviation and the aerospace field.

INTA has been working in Rozas for 5 years and, as a result of it, the Xunta de Galicia thought that this sector could be profitable in the future. Therefore, after contacting companies dedicated to the world of aviation, they have released the Civil UAVs Initiative, through which they intend to transfrom the installations in Rozas in a center for the development of unmanned aircrafts (drons) or, in other words, RPAs (remote piloted aircrafts) for civil applications.

INDRA and INAER are the private companies which have been chosen to launch the Civil UAVs Initiative (with unmanned air vehicles) project, which has developed its first stage along 2016 with the construction of a new control tower and hangar. In order to start the project, a system called 'public purchase of innovative technology' has been carried out. Its aim is encouraging investigation on I+D+I. It means that all purchased items must have been developed by the companies themselves.

Most INTA employees have a university degree. There are aeronautic engineers, physicists, biologists and technicians. Each one works on its assigned field of investigation.

The concrete projects INTA has been developing up to now have been based on the two types of aircrafts they have: two Aviocars and one Stemme. Both of them are manned aircrafts at the moment.

One of the Aviocars focuses on the study of the surface of the Earth by means of remote sensing (sensor technologies). The aircraft flies and the sensors get information about the reflection of sunlight, extracting conclusions about the analyzed surface: temperature, damage on vegetation, and so on. Later, this information will help make decisions about, just as an example, how to replant a piece of land after a fire. Many studies of this kind have been made in large wood areas in Europe or in the Spanish Aznalcóllar mines after the ecological disaster which took place in 1998, etc.

The other one is focused on the atmosphere. It enters the clouds and studies how the ice is formed inside. It's important because that may cause problems to aircrafts. By using a weather radar, which has been mounted here, they give information about what's happening in the cloud so that it won't mean any threat to the crew. They are investigating the formation of ice, what kinds of ice there are, etc. On the Internet, you can watch a really interesting chapter of the Spanish programme 'Comando Actualidad',which is called Poking Clouds. It was filmed here using this aircraft.

Three examples of unmanned aircrafts.

They have carried out several studies which are displayed and explained in English in the posters below.

                   

INTA has three models of unmanned aircrafts today: Alo, Siva and Milano.

Alo is a lightweight observation air vehicle, short range, and has 55kg maximum take-off weight. It was used in a very interesting experiment which consisted in installing a radiometer on the aircraft fuselage in order to get information of the temperature in the investigated area by means of infrared.

The hottest and coldest spots were identified. This technology allows to detect a fire at its very start, for instance, and even follow the culprit. A group of investigators from León would like to mount a radiometer on an Alo in order to analyze a city when it will be allowed. At the moment it isn't because there's no legislation available yet and unmanned aircrafts can't fly anywhere. The aim of INTA is that unmanned aircrafts will be granted permission to fly in the same air space as manned aircrafts. When it's allowed, they want to fly over a city in winter when everybody has the heating on. They will be able to identify the buildings which aren't well insulated in thermal terms and inform the owners so as to save energy.

In this poster, you can see the three models of unmanned aircrafts.

The, INTA also has the model Siva (integrated system of aerial surveillance), which is larger. It's a medium range aircraft with 300kg maximum take-off weight. Now, it's here in the hangar. And, to end, INTA has the largest one: Milano, which hasn't flown yet. It's being developed in Madrid and it won't take long until its first take-off. Here, they hope it will come in spring to start its first flights.

All these aircrafts are unmanned and the pilot is on the ground. They are piloted the same way as manned aircrafts but the control station is on the ground and the pilot is there too.

Examples of missions carried out. INTA roles.

Milano will be combined with the atmospheric aerial platform in the future. This atmospheric aircraft was flying on the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull a few years ago, in 2010. It was the reason why a large part of the European air space was closed with millions in losses to the airlines which were involved in cancellations of flights. On that occasion, some maps were drawn in order to show the area covered with volcano ash as well as the areas considered dangerous for flights. There was a black zone which no manned flight could enter because it was considered dangerous and there was a red one about which the technicians were doubtful. The only aircraft to fly in all Europe was one which belonged to INTA, the atmosphere Aviocar. It flew on the area and verified the situation wasn't so bad. The next day, Europe opened its air space to flights. You can't fly in places which are considered dangerous with a manned aircraft but you can do so with an unmanned one. INTA would like to mount sensors of that kind on Milano so that in the case of a similar catastrophe, they can fly it and test what will happen.

Another relevant use of unmanned aircrafts took place when the disaster of the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The only aircraft to fly over it and take measures of the radiation was a Global Hawk from NASA. NASA to the USA is the same as INTA to Spain. INTA is smaller but...

Another relevant role of INTA, apart from investigation, is working as consultants for the administration on the field of the legislation which will have to decide where these aircrafts will be allowed to fly in the future. It is advising the European Union on these issues. Nowadays, the legislation is very restrictive, you are allowed to fly almost nowhere. INTA, in Rozas, has an airstrip of 1200m x 45m and it segregates air space, that's to say, it keeps this space so that just unmanned aircrafts can fly here. The EU and the legislators don't want to share the same air space between manned and unmanned aircrafts because they don't know what may happen. Nevertheless, INTA has already tried this in Salamanca to prove that it's possible and they can share the same air space safely. The idea is that, in 5 or 6 years, an aircraft will fly from here to Salamanca or Madrid. The controller will talk to the aircraft pilot thinking that he will be there but he wonn't, he'll be here, piloting it from the ground control station.

In addition, INTA is also in charge of certifying the security of aircrafts in Spain. Once a year, they test the aircrafts so that they get the 'Airworthiness Certificate'. To get it, the machines have to endure extreme situations in order to test their reaction and certify that they are in good conditions and they are safe for flight.

Just as a curiosity, we must mention that the identity cards used in Spain have been developed by INTA as well.

Drone flying.

In the world of unmanned aircrafts, electronics plays a very relevant role as unmanned aircrafts are piloted from the computers installed in the ground control station.

Amongst all the facilities which are being developed at Rozas, a new control tower has been built. One of the future goals of INTA aims at piloting the unmanned aircrafts from it. Now, it's empty but the technical bid specifications are being arranged so that the materials needed to pilot the aircrafts from it can be purchased.

Apart from investigation, another target of INTA is that all enterprises which want to fly and develop their aircrafts, come here. For that reason, they offer their installations for rent too. INTA is an investigation organism which belongs to the state and depends on it and, therefore, their budget comes from the national budget but, at the same time, they also look for other income. They are 'very unusual public servants' in the words of Andrés Méndez, an INTA worker: 'We get our salary from the state but, at the same time, we have to try and catch the interest of other companies to come here so that we can grow and get some additional funding'.

At the moment, a small enterprise has contacted them but they hope to attract bigger ones in the future. Representatives from INTA are presenting the center in Europe, announcing that it will be fully operative by 2018 and any firm that wants to will be able to come and work here. There's going to be a radar up on the tower, which is going to guide (when it's permitted) the aircrafts to the coast, to Ribadeo. The companies will also be able to develop and test their aircrafts here. As well, in the meantime, until the legislation is passed, they will be able to fly their devices here. The perimeter of the area is 4 x 3 kms, where the interested companies will be watching how their aircrafts work. 'This is like a kind of race. In about 2 years, when the legislation allows unmanned aircrafts to fly all over the world, the enterprise which is in the best position will have a profitable future', says Andrés Méndez.

You have to follow several steps in order to pilot an aircraft of this type:

In the first place, you have to get a private pilot license, then you have to get a commercial pilot license and so on. An unmanned aircraft pilot (drone pilot) is exactly the same. Even if you want to fly one of those small drones sold at large stores like Mediamarkt, for instance, you need a license too. You can't get to a store and just say: 'I'm going to buy this Phantom and I'm going to record my house from the air'. You mustn't do that, it's not allowed.
The flying club next to the INTA installations offers courses to get this license. They cost about 600 euro. First you have to get that license and, afterwards, you can aim at piloting bigger aircrafts but you have to go to another center to get the license. The drones you can find for sale are aircrafts below 25kg. The ones here are much bigger.

One of the two firms operating here in the future. INAER or INDRA, wants to open a school for dron pilots here. INDRA is devoted to electronics in general and to the one based on aircrafts in particular. INAER is in charge of the crews and the equipment for maritime rescue and their aircrafts.

We'd like to thank Andrés F. Méndez who showed us around the INTA installations and explained everything in detail. We are very grateful to INTA as well for allowing us to visit the center.

Below, you can watch two videos:
A little video of the visit to the INTA installations with a few explanations.

VIDEO 1:
INTA and UAVs, unmanned aircrafts:
The future of aviation.

VIDEO 2:
This is an amazing example of what you can do by means of a drone. It shows Piornedo, already dealt with in another article in the e-journal, totally covered with snow, recorded from high above from a drone.
Nice view of Piornedo from the air.

And, if you're interested in this topic, you can visit the INTA website to get deeper information. To visit it click INTA

MORE INFORMATION ON THE FOLLOWING LINKS (IN SPANISH).

http://www.civiluavsinitiative.com 

http://www.eurodron.es/blog/79_Civil-UAVs-Initiative-una-apuesta-del-gobiern.html 

http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/lugo/lugo/2016/06/05/ingeniera-aeronautica-economista-dos-fisicastalento-femenino-crear-ciar/0003_201606L5C12991.htm

http://www.eldiario.es/hojaderouter/tecnologia/hardware/drones-RPAS-funcionamiento-inteligencia_artificial_0_328968201.html

http://es.gizmodo.com/como-son-y-para-que-se-usaran-los-nuevos-drones-del-eje-1723670954

FONTS USED IN THIS ARTICLE:

Photographs:

Milano (image):

http://www.infodefensa.com/wp-content/uploads/MILANO_INTA.jpg

Logo INTA:

https://contemporaneanworld.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/inta.gif 
Ground control: 
http://media.lavozdegalicia.es/scale.phpi=/default/2014/01/28/0012_201401L28C5F1jpg/Foto/L28C5F1.jpg&w=465px

Siva (army):

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--JKTVURlX--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/1385377497213623473.jpg

Siva (reparation):

http://images.eldiario.es/hojaderouter/CfakepathIMG2705JPG_EDIIMA20141128_0014_14.jpg

Alo Feijoo:

http://www.aerobcn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/xunta_rozas.jpg

Civil UAVs Initiative:

http://www.homsec.es/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/CIVILUAVINITIATIVE-390x205.jpg

Works on control tower:

http://elprogreso.galiciae.com/sites/default/files/styles/660x385/public/imagenes/2015/CHA2212P12F1.JPG?itok=rmDR0P_y

Finisehd control tower:

http://www.lavozdegalicia.es/sc/x/default/2016/07/31/00121469998263099327342/Foto/.jpg

Flying club general view:

http://aerosar.es/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/P1010645-1024x576.jpg

Music in the video:

It was downloaded from a site which provides noncommercial licenses under Creative Commons Atributions:  
 

http://audionautix.com/index.php

Theme 1:  

http://audionautix.com/Music/RP-DirtRoadTraveler.mp3

Theme 2:  
The Inner Eye by rocavaco (c) copyright 2014 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/rocavaco/45497 Ft: Kirkoid, Javolenus, Rob Walker, Hector Thillet

Theme 3: 

http://audionautix.com/Music/EpicTVTheme.mp3