Situation Awareness and Guidance for RPAS Operations (SAGRO)
On Thursday 27th July, a public dissemination event was held within the Faculty of ICT at the University of Malta. The purpose of this event was to disseminate the results of a research and innovation (R&I) project entitled SAGRO (Situation Awareness and Guidance for RPAS Operations) to the general public.
This was a Research and Innovation (R&I) project – funded by the Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST) – whose aim was to develop technologies to enable Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (also referred to as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or ‘drones’) to fly safely in the presence of other manned or unmanned aircraft. The project was carried out as a collaboration between Idox Health (formerly 6pm) and the Institute of Aerospace Technologies (IAT) at the University of Malta.
The event started with a short speech by Prof Ing. David Zammit Mangion (the Director of the Institute of Aerospace Technologies) who welcomed the guests on behalf of the University of Malta and gave an overview of the activities of the IAT. Then, the audience was addressed by the MCST Director of R&I Programmes Dr James Foden who spoke about R&I Funding Opportunities through MCST. Dr James Foden also read a short message on behalf of Parliamentary Secretary Hon. Silvio Schembri who was unable to attend the event.
Following these introductory speeches, speakers then proceeded to explain the research carried out in the project, with presentations by Mr. Roger Archer and Mr. Robert Grech from Idox Health, and Mr. Kevin Theuma and Dr Ing. Jason Gauci from the IAT.
The event was well attended by representatives from various sectors of the aviation industry in Malta, MCST, the National Aerospace Centre (NAC), students and the press.