Bath spinout Volant Autonomy to lead tests of pilot-free flights in Jersey

Volant Autonomy, a Bath spinout, is set to lead a new test of pilotless drones - Volant Autonomy, set up by colleagues from Faculty of Engineering & Design, is to test autonomous drones in £3.7 million field study A University of Bath spinout company is set to lead a large-scale test that could lead the way to autonomous flights. Volant Autonomy was set up in 2019 by Dr Pejman Iravani, Dr David Cleaver and Dr Jonathan du Bois from Bath's Department of Mechanical Engineering, alongside former Boeing and RAF pilot Captain Anthony Lawrenson. Using the academics' research and expertise in aerospace engineering, dynamics and control, and robotics and autonomy, the start-up specialises in risk intelligence and safety technology. It was announced this week that Jersey has been chosen as the test-bed for a £3.7million project that could lead the way for autonomous flights. The UK Government funded Agile Integrated Airspace System (ALIAS) programme will see drones being used to test cutting edge aircraft guidance technology aimed at making the skies safer for all aviation, and ultimately enabling autonomous unmanned aircraft proving a better supply-chain and connectivity to the UK and Europe. The project will use Jersey's world-class connectivity, which includes three separate 4G networks and multiple dedicated Internet of Things (IoT) networks. Volant is leading a nine-partner consortium that includes Ports of Jersey and the consortium is working with Digital Jersey to access local knowledge and connections to on-island stakeholders.