Example
To illustrate the operational capabilities of the ADEX framework, a reference implementation is provided based on a typical BVLOS drone operation alongside an airport and UTM environment. In this scenario, multiple systems—including Flight Information Displays (FIDs), Detect and Avoid (DAA) systems, and Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) platforms, are integrated with ADEX directly and connect to sources independently to ingest real-time ADS-B surveillance data.
In this example, display providers are able to select which data-sources they want to ingest based on criteria published to the directory. For example, they may have an availability threshold, or require connection to sensors that are inspected by the regulator (such as those at airports). This architecture allows software designers to build custom rules to suit their specific application, rather than relying on cloud services that are unwilling or unable to release this information.
4DSKY has integrated ADEX with 2 types of server (aviation sensors):
1. uAvionix Pingstation 3 – offering ADS-B (1090mhz), UAT (978mhz) and timestamping suitable for MLAT. This is an integrated unit with sensor and antenna fully integrated and contained in a weather proofed IP67 case.
2. Jetvision Airsquitter – offering ADS-B (1090mhz), UAT (978mhz) or Flarm (868mhz), and timestamping suitable for MLAT. This sensor must be placed indoors, with antennas installed outdoors.
In addition, 4DSKY has integrated this into several clients, including Drone ground control station software (Distributed Avionics/ Windracers, and Skydrones), UTMs (Drone Cloud and Anra), and an open-source FID (OpenFID). Two examples are provided below:
Below is an workflow diagram from end-to-end that describes how the process works:
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