DFS takes leading position in the UTM world by investing in Unifly

Oliver Pulcher, Director Corporate Development, International & UAS Affairs (VE) of DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH explains: “Technological trends such as automation, artificial intelligence, digitization have a significant influence on the services DFS provides today. DFS' strategic aim is to be proactive in dealing with new technology trends and markets. For this reason, we have been successfully pushing the safe and fair integration of drones into the airspace for several years. An ATM system for drones, known as UTM for Unmanned Traffic Management, will be an essential part of our services in the future. The Unifly UTM technology will be an important part of the future DFS UTM system in Germany, which is currently under development. By acquiring a stake in Unifly, DFS is significantly strenghtens its position in the UAS environment.”

“From our point of view, Unifly has the best system functionalities of all UTM providers currently in the market.” Oliver Pulcher continues. “ In 2017, we conducted a detailed analysis of various UTM software vendors. A direct comparison showed that the Unifly UTM system offered the best overall functionalities for DFS, and they were ready. Global presence, strong network and market-ready product. We believe that Unifly is best-in-class software vendor. It has the most advanced UTM functions, which meet the high requirements for data protection, safety, security and hazard prevention. It has a safety first philosophy, conforming to the Global Data Protection Regulation with local hostings of data and distributed systems.”

“Unifly has a wide range of experienced aviation industry experts, including air traffic controllers, software engineers and trained pilots. The UTM team with the best connections to ANSPs across the global, participation and development of standards through involvement in leading industry projects and discussions with agencies relevant to UTM, such as ICAO, EASA, NASA, EUROCAE and so on. Unifly is the only UTM provider that has numerous contracts already signed with ANSPs across four continents. It is approved for low-altitude Authorization and Notification Capabilities, called LAANC services in the US.”

“Unifly has won numerous tech start-up awards since its foundation in 2015. Unifly is attractive from a financial point of view, too. Because it offers a wide range of services for customers from government agencies, corporations, to commercial customers and private individuals, all around the UTM value chain. Again, DFS' strategic aim is to be proactive in dealing with new technology trends and market. With Unifly as part of the DFS family, we believe we are ready for the future.”

Marc Kegelaers, CEO of Unifly says: “Giving drones fair and safe access to the airspace requires a new platform, a new infrastructure that serves the needs of all stakeholders and not just the stakeholders of the aviation industry. DFS was our first customer. With their background as an air traffic controller, and their experience in deploying the Phoenix tracking technology at a very large scale, DFS were the first to understand that Unifly could serve as the backbone of a national system to manage all drone traffic. We are very proud and excited about DFS becoming an important shareholder of Unifly.”