The Unmanned Systems Research Laboratory (USRL) of the Cyprus\nInstitute\u2019s Climate & Atmosphere Research Center (CARE-C) is the first in\nCyprus and one of the first in Europe to be granted with Operational\nAuthorizations for Fixed-Wing and Multirotor Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)\nunder the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Operational Authorizations have been issued by the Department of\nCivil Aviation of Cyprus to be used in the ‘Specific’ category of operations. This\naccomplishment demonstrates the USRL’s compliance with the relevant parts of EU\nRegulation 2019\/947, and it permits UAS operations beyond visual line of sight\n(BVLOS). It should be noted that both Operational Authorizations were granted\nfor UAS that were fully designed and developed by USRL, in terms of their\nairframes, software, firmware, and hardware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the provisions of the relevant Notifications to Airmen (NOTAMs),\nthe ‘specific category’ Operational Authorizations are valid for use in Cyprus,\nincluding in the private paved runway and overhead airspace operated by USRL\nnear Orounda, as well as the National Park of Athalassa in Nicosia (NOTAMs). Additionally,\nvia a dedicated EASA mechanism, the USRL is now able to transfer the specific\nauthorization to fly in other countries in the European Union as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The USRL is a flagship facility dedicated to the research and\ndevelopment of cutting-edge technologies in the field of UAS. Through its\nactivities, it supports efforts to address pertinent challenges related to\nclimate change and air pollution by providing high-quality observations of atmospheric\npollutants and other relevant parameters. Taking advantage of its own private runway and\ndedicated airspace, USRL performs regular unmanned flights in Cyprus to\ndocument and contrast the long-range transported pollution from Europe, Africa\nand West Asia, as well as the dust aerosols from the largest desert regions in\nthe world, such as Sahara and the Middle East. USRL also supports the Cyprus\nDepartment of Forests with the provision of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)\nservices for the strengthening of its existing system in the management of\nforest fires. Additionally, USRL employs its UAS fleet in a variety of imaging\napplications, including 3D reconstruction of complex terrains and monuments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The accomplishment of the Operational Authorizations is yet another\ntestament to the unique value brought by USRL, which is recognized widely in\nCyprus, and abroad, with recent international activities including an\nexpedition in Cape Verde coordinated by the European Space Agency, and an\nongoing campaign in the Amazon rainforest. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Unmanned Systems Research Laboratory (USRL) of the Cyprus Institute\u2019s Climate & Atmosphere Research Center (CARE-C) is the first in Cyprus and one of the first in Europe to be granted with Operational Authorizations for Fixed-Wing and Multirotor Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) under the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The Operational Authorizations have been issued…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,19,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyi-news","category-research-campaigns","category-technology","category-18","category-19","category-5","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usrl.cyi.ac.cy\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usrl.cyi.ac.cy\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usrl.cyi.ac.cy\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usrl.cyi.ac.cy\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usrl.cyi.ac.cy\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3193"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usrl.cyi.ac.cy\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3195,"href":"https:\/\/usrl.cyi.ac.cy\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3193\/revisions\/3195"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usrl.cyi.ac.cy\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usrl.cyi.ac.cy\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usrl.cyi.ac.cy\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usrl.cyi.ac.cy\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}