A global lobby group for the unmanned air vehicle sector has been bolstered with the addition of two Spanish research organisation to its ranks.
Created in May, the International Consortium of Aeronautical Test Sites, which all share expertise in UAV technology, includes organisations from Canada, the USA, France and the UK.
ICATS members share a fear that rule-makers will strangle the nascent sector with excessive red tape and are pushing for a harmonised approach across the world.
Speaking at Farnborough, Silvia de los Santos, head of research and development and innovation at one of the two new Spanish recruits the Villacarillo, Spain-based Air Traffic Laboratory for Advanced Systems (ATLAS), said: “Joining ICATS will open possibilities of collaboration between ATLAS and the rest of the members, such as research and development on experimental UAV projects in different countries.”
It is joined in the organisation by counterparts at the CATUAV Tech Centre near Barcelona.
And her comments were echoed by one of the leading lights within ICATS, Oklahoma secretary of science and technology Dr Stephen McKeever. “ICATS represents the first such collaboration between nations to share data on unmanned systems.
"We think this is a great step forward for the UAS community and we hope it will be a vehicle by which we will be able to unify regulations across international boundaries," he says.
Founder members comprise the CESA UAV test and service centre, Bordeaux, France; Oklahoma State University, USA; the National Aeronautical Centre, Wales, UK; and the Unmanned Aerial Systems Centre of Excellence, Quebec, Canada.
Source: Flight Daily News
