VITAS Project updated
In the long term, the Innovative Air Mobility (IAM) sector is expected to contribute to the improvement of healthcare services in hard-to-reach and sparsely populated areas. This is particularly relevant in the case of the so-called “emptied Spain”, where the increasing average age of the population poses significant challenges that our society should address.
The VITAS Project (Sustainable Intelligent Aerial Transport Vehicle for Medical Supplies) is a project within the Innovative Air Mobility sector that seeks to address these challenges through research in innovative technologies enabling future healthcare logistics solutions in the “emptied Spain” using UAS (Unmanned Aerial System) operated from automated vertiports and 5G IoT satellite communications.
The consortium of companies working on the project includes PILDOLABS, FUVEX, and SATELIOT. These are leading SMEs in their respective fields that complement each other to address the project’s technological challenges. The VITAS project’s research will focus on the following areas:
- Vertiports (led by PILDOLABS): Design and development of a Software as a Service (SaaS) for automating operations in vertiports, including research in automatic detection systems for non-cooperative aircraft.
- Drones (led by FUVEX): Designing a Vertical Take-Off and Landing Unmanned Aerial System (eVTOL UAS) optimized for healthcare logistics.
- Communications (led by SATELIOT): Research in satellite communication systems for autonomous drone Beyond Visual Line of Sight operations (BVLOS).
The VITAS project budget is set at 2.9 million euros, with a duration of 2 years. The project will be financed by CDTI (Center for Technological Development and Innovation), which has expressed confidence in the consortium by selecting the VITAS Project under the Aeronautical Technological Program (PTA) for SMEs in 2023. These grants are part of the actions and investments outlined in the National Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan, receiving funding from the “Next Generation EU” funds, including the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Mechanism.
In 2024, PILDOLABS, which leads the development and implementation related to vertiports’ automatization software, has consolidated significant progress in this key component of the infrastructure for air mobility. The tasks carried out have included:
- Closing of technical specifications: finalization of the technical documents detailing the minimum characteristics necessary for vertiports air traffic automatization software, including their operational and technological requirements.
- Advanced instrumentation on land: design and development of a prototype system of cameras and GNSS technology to monitor critical aspects such as collaborative and non-collaborative air traffic detection and quality of GNSS signal, with emphasis on interference monitoring.
- Operational management of airspace: definition of technical and operational specifications for safe flight corridors, based on automated procedures and monitoring tools that minimize risks, in areas close to vertiports.
- Development of a vertiport air traffic management digital twin: construction of a virtual simulation of the vertiport, used to test different operational scenarios. This approach makes it possible to optimize both the design and the associated processes, improving overall efficiency and reducing implementation costs.
With these activities, PILDOLABS aims at promoting that vertiports are not only functional and safe, but also scalable and economically viable. This work places the vertiports as a central pillar for the development of air mobility, contributing significantly to the sustainability and digitization of health transport, in line with the global objectives of innovation and efficiency.
