
Certiflight has taken an important step in the development of the technology
with which it intends not only to increase air safety, but also to certify
flight data and possible incidents, by means of reliable and non-manipulable
data and images.

To demonstrate the feasibility and functionality of the project, Certiflight has
carried out its first public demonstration flights at the Drones Beyond trade
show in Bari on October 25 and 26. The tests were followed live by the experts
attending the congress as well as spectators on the street.

<Picture
  src='/img/posts/bari-flight-test-public.jpg'
  alt='Public of the Certiflight flight tests'
/>

The tests comprised the inspection of a canal and the assessment of a simulated
road accident. This video explains in less than two minutes the test flights
performed.

<VideoPlayer src='bari-flight-tests-web' />

## First flight test: Canal inspection

The first test carried out was an inspection mission of a canal. The aim was to
simulate the identification of debris that could harm the environment.

During the test that involved 20 minutes of flight, the drone flew at a height
of 45 meters, following a constrained flight path in a very narrow corridor. The
mission was fully automatic, involving the transfer of command between two
pilots in order to cope with contingencies. The operation was conducted in a
very challenging environment, considering especially the electromagnetic
spectrum of interference, explained the project coordinator Alberto Mennella.

<Picture
  src='/img/posts/bari-first-person-view-fiera-congresos.jpg'
  alt='Remote pilot view of the flight'
/>

Certiflight's technology works through the UTM box, a small device that is
placed on board the drone and does not interfere in any way with the command and
control.

The technology is based on a payload that goes on the drone and has been
developed by Certiflight, a project co-funded by EUSPA, the EU Agency for the
Space Programme. The first prototypes of the UTM box and the software platform
were tested in these tests.

<Testimonial picture='/img/posts/alberto-mennella.jpg'
  author='Alberto Mennella'
  position='Certiflight Project Coordinator'>

This payload exploits the new navigation authentication message of Galileo. Our
idea in this project is to exploit this new authentication signal with the
combination of other technologies as blockchain for providing a new service that
has been also theorized and standardized by in the UTM and U-space.

</Testimonial>

Mennella expects this new service of Galileo, with the addition of the new
technology provided by Certiflight, can play an important role in the near
future. Certiflight brings interesting additional features because provides
authenticated positions that can be trusted and adding a security layer against
spoofing.

The data collected by the payload, such as photographs, video or any kind of
information about the flight, can be used as the basis of potential legal
evidence for a new category of services. **For example, in this test, we could
prove that the drone was maintained well clear of the nearby CTR of the Bari
airport.**

## Second test flight: Accident investigation

For the second test flight a car accident was simulated, a situation in which it
is important to freeze the scene, obtaining photographs taken at a specific
time, which will be used later for forensic analysis such as measurement of the
distance and other data that can be used by the local authorities for the
investigation.

In this scenario, the key aspect is to be able to demonstrate before a Court of
Justice that the evidence was gathered in a particular place, date and time. For
that purpose the drone needs to have the UTM box on board, with its embedded
OSNMA receiver, and has to be connected to the Certiflight platform, to
guarantee that data is genuine at the very origin.

<Picture
  src='/img/posts/bari-accident-simulation.jpg'
  alt='Simulation of a car accident'
/>

The added value offered by Certiflight in this scenario is that the data
collected by the drone at the crash site is processed in this certified service
platform. The processed data is stored in a blockchain node. Therefore, the data
is unalterable in the future. The key aspect is that the security chain of data
is preserved and nothing is corrupted. **This is Certiflight’s key value
proposition since the implementation for this kind of services provide legal
evidence of facts that is not possible otherwise.**

Once the drone takes the necessary images and data. The platform created a 3D
model stored in a digitally signed PDF. The report generated includes all the
points of interest and their relative measurements, enabling the authorities to
use the report as a remarkable legal evidence for further analysis.

From the final user perspective, the authorities in charge of the accident
investigation, the data acquired using a drone is of a much higher quality than
what is possible with a ruler on the ground for measuring a scene of the
accident, is non-tamperable and has much better probative value.

## Conclusions

The tests were a success and the partners of Certiflight have got excellent
feedback from the attendees to the Drones Beyond event. _"We tested if the
mechanism of the insertion of drones in a procedural way inside air traffic was
feasible. There are still some gaps to overcome, but I think that this is a very
good experience for everybody,"_ concluded Menella.

One of the key challenges to be faced is the weakness of the signal
transmission, especially in cities, because there is a lot of interference, but
Certiflight expects this gap to be solved eventually in the remaining of the
project.



Certiflight has taken part in the Drones Beyond 2023 congress held at the Fiera
del Levante in Bari. In its third edition, Drones Beyond has proposed as its
main topic “Unfolding Innovative Aerial Services for the Smart City”.

The Certiflight consortium has chosen this scenario to present to the public the
first prototype of the UTM box and the Certiflight software platform. The
Certiflight UTM box uses the Galileo OSNMA service to authenticate the flight
tracks of drones and ultralight aircraft inside VLL airspace.

The UTM box was integrated with U-space services provided by the Italian U-Space
service provider d-flight, a partner of Certiflight. Similar integrations will
be implemented and tested with the other two USSP that are partners of the
Certiflight consortium, Unifly and Upvision.

<Picture src='/img/posts/utm-box.jpg' alt='The Certiflight UTM box' />

In addition, the data was also acquired in real time by the Certiflight platform
prototype that processed the authenticated tracks and the data collected by the
camera during the flights to generate a certified flight report, including the
flight parameters and the data processed.

To test this setup, we performed two flights:

- A BVLOS flight to perform a simulated inspection of a channel in an urban
  environment near the limits of the Bari airport CTR. During this test we
  demonstrated the utility of Certiflight to ensure that no airspace
  infringement took place during the demonstration.
- A flight over a simulated traffic accident to gather legally binding evidence
  by producing images with a certified timestamp and location, thus ensuring
  that they correspond with the accident being investigated.

With these demonstrations, the Certiflight consortium have showed that their
proposed solution is adequate to achieve the goals established in the project.

<Picture
  src='/img/posts/drones-beyond-group.jpg'
  alt='Partners of the Certiflight consortium'
/>

Drones Beyond 2023 has focused on understanding the applicability of drones in
different operational sectors and as a tool for public administration. During
these two days, panels and keynote speeches discussed different topics and a
series of live tests have been performed.



<Picture src='/img/posts/drones-beyond.jpg' alt='Drones Beyond 2023 banner' />

Certiflight project will be present in Drones Beyond 2023, which will take place
on 25-26 October, at the Fiera del Levante in Bari.

DTA (Aerospace Technology District) and the Municipality of Bari host this
event, supported by Eurocontrol and Urban Air Mobility Initiative Cities
Community (UIC2) and the patronage of ANCI.

In its third edition the Drones Beyond proposes as its main topic **“Unfolding
Innovative Aerial Services for the Smart City”**.

The first edition of Drones Beyond in 2021 presented technologies and solutions
in the field of Advanced Air Mobility and Innovative Aerial Services through
demonstration of UAS in a real operational environment, the Grottaglie airport
and the surrounding areas.

In November 2022, the second edition took place in the Fiera del Levante area,
with the title "Urban Air Mobility: evolution and perspectives.

Drones Beyond 2023 will focus on understanding the applicability of drones in
different operational sectors and as a tool for public administration. During
the two days, panels and keynote speeches will discuss different topics and a
series of live tests and demonstrations of drone services will be performed.

Certiflight will be present in two of the operations that will be carried out
during Drones Beyond:

- Inspection of the Lamasinata urban canal to identify obstacles to the natural
  flow of water and detect pollution and environmental risks.
- Traffic accidents investigation

The event is free and open to the public, subject to registration, which can be
done on the
[official page of the event](https://www.dtascarl.org/drones-beyond/).



Certiflight has attended the Airspace Integration Congress held from 25 to 27
September at IFEMA, Madrid. This is the international air navigation congress
that brings together the best professionals in the sector.

Certiflight's objective is to improve air safety and for this purpose it uses
Galileo OSNMA feature to certify the flight tracks of drones and ultralight
aircraft inside VLL airspace. Therefore, to make this project visible and to
know the latest developments in the air navigation sector, Certiflight has been
present and exchanged views with different agents within the industry.

Certiflight accompanied EUSPA (European Union Agency for the Space), the
granting agency of the project. Ernesto Llorente a representative of EUSPA
described Certiflight as _“an ambitious project that is creating a whole
ecosystem to establish reliable communications and reliable positional
navigation through the authentication of OSNMA and the technology of
blockchain”_.

<Picture
  src='/img/posts/certiflight-partners-in-airspace-integration-congress.jpg'
  alt='Partners of the Certiflight project in the EUSPA booth at the Airspace Integration Congress'
/>

Representatives of Certiflight, such as Alberto Menella, project coordinator and
Innovation Manager of partner Topview, Jakub Karas, CTO of UpVision and Manuel
Oñate, CEO of EuroUSC España, attended the event.

<Testimonial
  picture='/img/posts/manuel-onate.jpg'
  author='Manuel Oñate'
  position='Certiflight Communication and Dissemination Manager'
>

The Airspace Integration Congress is the perfect opportunity to meet with
aviation professionals to present them our proposed solution since they are our
future clients and potential industry partners.

</Testimonial>

Certiflight's presence at this congress is important because it highlights the
latest trends related to the field of air navigation, bringing together more
than 130 countries and encompassing all professionals in the air navigation
industry.



On August 29, 2023, Certiflight partners presented preliminary design results to
the project officer and reviewers. The Critical Design Review (CDR) is the third
major milestone of the project. Its objective is to ensure that the system
requirements and Concept of Operations (CONOPS) of the Certiflight solution are
defined and the platform specification is ready to start the development.

## Key outcomes

The main outcomes of the CDR are:

- A clear understanding of the users’ needs, market opportunities and the
  regulatory environment applicable
- The first results of the technical studies undertaken
- The definition of the CONOPS of the Certiflight operations
- The definition of the System Architecture
- The establishment of the system requirements
- And finally, the analysis of the Business Model of the Certiflight service

These outcomes make up a valuable input that makes it possible to start the
development and prototyping stage of the project.

<Picture
  src='/img/posts/certiflight-critical-design-review-group.jpg'
  alt='Participants in the CDR meeting'
/>

## Technical studies

The meeting started with the presentation of the results of the key technical
studies carried out since the beginning of the project:

- GNSS and GSD algorithms, including the Authenticated Position Propagation
  (APP) and the GNSS Spoofing Detector (GSD) services
- e-Conspicuity and automated separation algorithms
- U-space regulation compliance and standards

## Architecture, requirements and CONOPS

After the coffee break, the partners described the key design decisions adopted
for the development of the solution, following the established engineering
practices. These include the selection of the hardware and software design,
interfaces required with users and data service providers, and the alignment of
the requirements with the users’ needs.

## Business Model

The next section of the meeting was devoted to the presentation of the
preliminary Business Model for the Certiflight service, offering an overall
perspective on the market needs and potential of the Certiflight concept, the
added value of the proposed solution and the potential business models.

## Feedback from the users' survey and the Advisory Board

The partners shared the results of their efforts to get feedback from users,
service providers, authorities, regulators, and other stakeholders.

We will use this feedback to guide our communication and dissemination efforts,
and to identify where we need to improve the understanding of our solution by
the community.

The meeting took place from 9.30am to 16.00pm at the EUSPA headquarters in
Prague. Attendees were present both in person and online via streaming.



We held the first Certiflight Advisory Board in Naples, Italy, on May 17.

The event brought together about 50 experts, including representatives of the
European Commission, EUSPA (EU Agency for the Space Programme and funder of the
Certiflight project), ENAC (Italian National Civil Aviation Authority),
EUROCONTROL, drone associations, pilots and general aviation, as well as the
project partners.

The purpose of the meeting was to illustrate the project broadly to the
stakeholders first and then discuss its objectives and solution design.

Taking turns at the table, the experts discussed on panels about the project's
challenges and the surrounding ecosystem, such as the planned development of the
U-space, the use of Galileo OSNMA service and blockchain and the concept of
Smart Contracts.

<Picture src='/img/gallery/img-0462.jpg' alt='First panel' />

Another key part of the meeting was to analyse the impact of Certiflight on
safety, society and economy.

The workshop had constant interactive discussion aimed at collecting
stakeholders’ feedback, even through specific real-time polls and the explorary
survey, [which we invite to fill up](/survey).

The consolidated data will be presented in a dedicated document and will be of
great value for the further definition of the Certiflight services. In
conclusion, the statement that best sums up the spirit of the meeting is
“Certiflight is the project that is putting all the pieces together”, expressed
by Carmen Aguilera, from EUSPA. This strengthen the role that Certiflight has
among other relevant research projects funded by the European Union.

According to a participant in the Advisory Board:

Another key part of the meeting was to analyse the impact of Certiflight on
safety, society and economy.

The opinion and concerns of the attendees -who formed a broad group with a deep
knowledge of the problems that Certiflight intends to solve- were gathered. The
workshop had constant interactive discussion aimed at collecting their feedback.

Attendees took several surveys in real time to express their opinions on the
Certiflight concept and goals. The consolidated data will be presented in a
dedicated document and will be of great value for the further definition of the
Certiflight services.

In conclusion, the statement that best sums up the spirit of the meeting is
“Certiflight is the project that is putting all the pieces together”, expressed
by Carmen Aguilera, from EUSPA.

According to a participant in the Advisory Board:

<Testimonial
  picture='/img/posts/pawel-korzec.jpg'
  author='Pawel Korzec'
  position='CEO and founder - Droneradar'
>
The Certiflight project certainly responds to legislative and compliance needs of U-space. In the area of integration with Galileo OSNMA, the project will solve the problem of detecting areas where someone intentionally spoofs the satellite signal. Thanks to Certiflight, it will be possible to mark areas potentially at risk of fraud in UTM/ATM systems. On the other hand, Certiflight provides credibility to the process of archiving and storing historical flight data. This will be particularly important in the case of large-scale operations, when one of the parties: a client, a third party, a person ordering a service, a prosecutor, an investigator will need reliable data on flights performed (historical data). Importantly, Certiflight via Smart Contracts, will enable electronic signing of U-space events, understood as complex flight plans, geographical zones, telemetry, etc.

In a nutshell, the Certiflight project performs the function of ensuring data
consistency and reliability. In today's world full of cybercriminals, this
project seems extremely necessary. I keep my fingers crossed for the
implementation.

</Testimonial>

The Advisory Board took place from 10.30am to 16.30pm at the Reale Yacht Club
Canottieri Savoia in Naples and attendees were present both in person and online
via streaming.

<Picture src='/img/gallery/img-7348.jpg' alt='Family photo' />

To see more images from the Advisory Board Meeting,
[click here](/documentation/gallery).



On 21st of March, the representatives of EUSPA, the project consortium and the
two technical reviewers, met in Prague to discuss the preliminary design of the
Certiflight solution. The objective of the meeting was to agree on design
choices and better understand their implications, as those will be the basis for
the coming technical work of the project.

![Preliminary Review Meeting attendants](/img/posts/certiflight-preliminary-review-meeting-group.jpg)

The document D2.1 'User requirements and use case definition' triggered the
discussion among partners and reviewers. The project fundamentals and the use
cases presented in the document were debated in depth during the meeting
focusing on the reviewers' comments.

The ten use cases identified in the document were considered representative of
the added value of Certiflight in both business and safety needs of the users.
Among them we can mention last mile delivery, organic agriculture, port
surveillance, illegal fishing, airport runway inspection and traffic accident
investigation. The existence of so many use cases is the best sign of
Certiflight potential to further develop the concept of U-space as an exciting
new frontier for aviation.

The meeting has been also the occasion to provide an overview of ongoing
activities such as the development of communication materials, the selection of
suitable algorithms for spoofing detection and for automated separation. In
parallel, the partners have advanced the market analysis and preliminary
business model for Certiflight.

Following this successful meeting, Certiflight proceeds towards the next project
milestone: the Critical Design Review for whichsystem requirements, CONOPS and
platform specification have to be defined.

## Certiflight comes at the right time, according to EUSPA

The EUSPA Expert Monitor, Pere Molina, stressed that Certiflight project comes
at the "right time" because it "takes advantage of the current maturity of the
technology", but also adds innovation because it introduces "blockchain in the
authentication process".

<Testimonial
  picture='/img/posts/pere-molina.jpg'
  author='Pere Molina'
  position='EUSPA Expert Monitor'
>

It is outstanding how drone technology has evolved: some fifteen years ago, it
was all misbelieving; then total hype came afterwards, and we are now seeing how
the technology finally reaches its plateau, fueled by U-Space consolidation and
technology maturity. In this respect, Certiflight is timely as it proposes a
service within U-Space, based on available authentication mechanisms through
Galileo. It therefore leverages the current maturity of the technology, and adds
some more into it by introducing blockchain into the authentication process.

The project currently faces important milestones. The consultation of its
stakeholders is of paramount importance, and it will help shape the product and
trigger development activities. As an expert monitor for the EUSPA, I'm happy to
witness the progress of the project and help steer the activities to pursue its
final goal: the unleashing of the whole Galileo potential for advanced
applications.

</Testimonial>



## What is Certiflight

On Novemeber 23, 2022 took place the Kick-Off Meeting that marks the official
start of the Certifilght “Certified E-GNSS remote tracking of drone and aircraft
flights” project, a 30-month Innovation Action that aims to develop and test a
digital service for the generation of certified reports of flight tracks and the
flight logs of UAS and GA aircraft, especially for safety-critical and
commercially valuable applications.

The service will also be included in the USSP/UTM service provider’s software as
commercial Recording Service. In addition, the recorded tracks may be useful for
law enforcement, for instance sanctions for airspace infringement, as well as
for possible accident or incident investigations.

The core of the system is a Digital EGNSS/IoT Device installed on UAS and
General Aviation manned aircraft, equipped with an OSNMA Galileo/EGNOS enabled
receiver, capable to guarantee the authenticity of their position information at
the origin, without the possibility to be counterfeited or spoofed. Tracking
information is encrypted and once transmitted to the Certiflight platform is
permanently stored by automation software to an unalterable blockchain private
node.

<Testimonial
  picture='/img/posts/alberto-mennella.jpg'
  author='Alberto Mennella'
  position='Certiflight Project Coordinator'
>
    The CERTIFLIGHT project represents a very exciting challenge, as its aim is to ensure the “chain of trust” of information generated by drones and leisure aircrafts accessing the U-space airspace that it is expected to become very congested in the next years. 
With the advent of drones as mass-market and professional-market phenomenon, in the Open and Specific Categories, it is important to ensure that the related tracking data generated are trustful enough to be used both as payment mechanisms (for example, a trustful tracking system can be used as billing mechanism for Clients and UAS operators for charging drones’ missions based on the effective hours of flight) and trustful logging system. 
For this reason, CERTIFLIGHT aims at filling this gap through the implementation of a Certification platform for payload data and remote tracking generated by drones that can be used by UAS Operators, their Clients and Authorities as Auditing System.

The Positioning and time information of drones is ensured at the very origin,
through the Galileo OSNMA service which represents the “missing piece of the
puzzle” for this application. On the other side, the Blockchain technology
guarantees that each information stored in the platform cannot be altered or
being modified in the future.

Finally, our CERTIFLIGHT platform lays the foundation for a new class of
business services for UAS Operators but also to address the challenges of the
new paradigm of autonomous drones’ operations where the boundaries among drones
Constructors, Operators and Pilots (if any) might be source of future legal
disputes.

</Testimonial>

## Project information

The project is coordinated by TopView s.r.l., a technology oriented SME and
includes in its consortium companies and organisations with a proven track
record in the U-space sector such as D-Flight, UpVision, Unifly, Distretto
Tecnologico Aerospaziale, TA, The Sara Project, TuDelf, Way4WARD, Aria United,
EuroUSC España and EuroUSC Italia.

Certiflight was presented to the call HORIZON-EUSPA-2021-SPACE-02-53: EGNSS
applications for the Digital Age and became one of the projects selected by the
European Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA). The project starts in November
2022 and will have a duration of two and a half years (30 months) after signing
the Grant Agreement no 101082484.

<Picture src='/img/posts/euspa.svg' alt='EUSPA logo' width='320' />


Certiflight news

This video explains in less than two minutes what the Certiflight test flights were about

Certiflight successfully completes the first flights of the software platform and UTM box prototypes

Drones Beyond 2023 hosts the first demonstration of Certiflight

Certiflight participates in the Airspace Integration Congress, which brings together the best air navigation professionals

Certiflight completes its preliminary design phase with a successful Critical Design Review meeting

Certiflight First Advisory Board meeting

Certiflight reaches its first major milestone, the Preliminary Design Review, in the EUSPA headquarters

Certiflight Kick-off meeting