Page 17 - Spring 2025 Electron

Industry News Industry News

FIRST UK DRONE ASSURED NEW GNSS REFLECTOMETRY

NAVIGATION AND SAFETY SYSTEM REVOLUTIONISES

SYSTEM FOR RAILWAYS ENVIRONMENTAL REMOTE SENSING

Network Rail, in partnership with drone advisors It is envisaged that the new system will lay the Master of Science phD student Aukit Regmi of the of floods and storms to improve preparedness and
Drone Major Limited, is pioneering the UK’s first foundations for a fully operational drone network for University of Oulu (Finland) has developed an response).
drone assured navigation and safety system for monitoring and maintaining Britain’s 20,000 miles of innovative approach to environmental remote
Reference: Regmi, A., ‘Dual Circularly Polarised GNSS-Reflectometry
railways. railway tracks and infrastructure. sensing that utilises the reflection of Global for Remote Sensing of Land and Sea Surfaces’, University of Oulu,
Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals from the 19th. March
Existing response processes will by drones operating Robert Garbett, Founder and Chief Executive of Drone
Earth’s surface.
beyond the visual line of sight using an advanced Major Limited, states:
‘Digital Tethering’ concept that assures the safety The research employs a cost-effective GNSS
“ Drones represent enormous opportunities
of the drones’ flight behaviour and reduces risks to reflectometry system (GNSS-R), which uses a
across a huge number of industries. Network Rail’s
those on the ground. specially designed antenna and commercial GNSS
initiative as a ‘first mover’ in trialling our Digital
receivers to record both direct and reflected GNSS
The Digital Tethering system, first tested on the Tethering concept sets an example worldwide. In
signals, enabling the determination of reflective
Severn Valley Railway, employs a navigation solution the UK it presents an opportunity to fully modernise
surface properties by means of signal-to-noise ratio.
that incorporates artificial perception and highly our rail infrastructure, deliver a faster, safer, more
accurate ground-based beacons, enabling reliable effective and efficient service for customers and GNSS-R measurements examine surface properties
autonomous navigation providing real-time and ultimately drive growth for the whole of the UK. “ across different seasons and conditions. Sea ice
precise positioning of the drones, particularly in areas thickness, for example, is estimated by observing the
Reference: West, P., ‘Network Rail trials first-of-its-kind Drone
where GPS/GNSS signals are unstable or inaccessible. Navigation and Safety System’, Electronic Specifier, 31st. March total height difference between GNSS interferometric
It has been specifically designed to improve safety reflectometry results and sea level data from the
and increase the efficiency of UAS operations during Finnish Meteorological Institute. Changes in the GNSS
railway monitoring and inspection tasks. signal passing through multi-layer ice are observed
in the reflected GNSS parameter enabling ice
thickness measurement.
The relative permittivity of the open sea and land is
measured by utilising the change in electromagnetic
wave polarisation of reflected GNSS signals. The
practicality of direct measurements with the GNSS-R
system is tested using a drone in various remote
sensing scenarios.

Potential applications envisaged for the system
include climate change monitoring (provision of
timely data on the impacts of climate change, such
as sea level rise and ice melt), agriculture (measuring
soil moisture to help farmers optimise irrigation
and improve crop yields), maritime navigation
(monitoring sea level and ice thickness to improve
maritime safety and route planning), and natural
disaster management (predicting and monitoring

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