Drone tech could become a £2billion industry for NI economy, conference hears

The advanced air mobility (AAM) sector could be worth up to £2billion in exports for the Northern Ireland economy, a Belfast conference has heard.Delegates attending Belfast-based cyber security specialist ANGOKA’s first AAM summit also heard that nearly one million unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAVs) or drones could be in daily commercial and service use before 2030 across the UK.

Highlighting that UAVs were no longer a futuristic proposition, ANGOKA chief technology officer Shadi Razak, said: “The future of AAM for commercial, defence and blue light usage is now upon us.

“Now we need to quickly prove the reliability and safety of these drones and the systems and frameworks within which they can operate.”

The ANGOKA conference, hosted by KPMG in its Belfast headquarters, explored advancements in air mobility and connected societies and published the findings of a three-year study on the threat landscape which drones and UAVs will have to safely navigate. A hacking demonstration to illustrate this landscape and how ANGOKA can mitigate for all eventualities using its secure communication technology was successfully completed.

Chris Brown, KPMG partner, aviation strategy and global chair, AAM and future of flight said Northern Ireland is well positioned to benefit from the emerging sector.

“Investing in a new ecosystem to support AAM will involve significant coordination of effort and investment, but will bring a range of benefits to the people, businesses and communities of Northern Ireland,” Mr Brown explained.

"However the export potential exists if we can replicate our existing success in the traditional aerospace supply chain, add our cybersecurity expertise to the export mix, and attract an aircraft original equipment manufacturer.”

Mr Brown compared the cost of building roads, railways and bridges to the significantly lower investment required for the installation of controlled air corridors. He considers the sector has the potential to be worth £2bn in exports.

ANGOKA’s role in securing these air corridors and the UAVs using them, known as Uncrewed Traffic Management systems (UTMs) is now acknowledged as central to the successful deployment of the new transport technologies.

Mr Razak says his company’s role ensuring the accuracy and security of the communications between devices is central to the successful, safe and secure operation of automated, teleoperated and UAVs.

“We are moving faster than ever towards the commercialization of automated flight across many sectors ranging from search and rescue to logistics and traffic management,” he added.   

ANGOKA has a proven record of creating impenetrable security systems to protect driverless road vehicles and UAVs. In March this year, two commercial vehicles controlled by a remote operator in Oxford travelled on open roads throughout Oxford and London City. During the journey they were repeatedly subjected to hacking attempts all of which were unsuccessful due to the fitted ANGOKA cyber security system.

The Belfast firm has partnered with a number of projects in the UK Research and Innovation’s Future Flight Challenge including Skyway in the south of England, a 165mile (256km) drone corridor - the world's longest, have been designated for drones and unmanned aircraft. ANGOKA supplies the future-proof security for automated, teleoperated and unmanned aircraft using these corridors.