The Austrian Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology has awarded subsidies for the construction and operation of test infrastructure for drones through the program Take-Off to a consortium of 24 partners, led by the university FH Johanneum.
FH Johanneum presented a multi-site concept that comprises six levels, covering research and development, validation and practical deployment across different degrees of technological maturity. This allows testing of a variety of drone applications such as flight dynamics properties in challenging weather conditions in the Alpine area, flight operations in cities and the monitoring of critical infrastructure such as energy networks, said the Minsiter Andreas Reichhardt.
Through the project, the ministry can coordinate with representatives from the research institutions and industries on the national implementation of the new common European rules on drones published by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).