The EC-SAFEMOBIL project, initiative that belongs to the VII Framework Programme for R&D of the European Commission led and coordinated by CATEC and the University of Seville in the field of unmanned aerial systems (UAVs) and robotics, continues advancing its research and has achieved another milestone in this field. The project team has developed in recent days a pilot project which has led to the first landing of an unmanned aircraft on a three dimensions moving platform using a cable and without GPS. This experience paves the way for the implementation of this kind of landing UAS on vehicles such as boats or land vehicles.

Landing tests have been performed on the facilities of ATLAS Flight Test Center for testing unmanned aircraft, ascribed to FADA-CATEC and located in Villacarrillo (Jaén). These are the only facilities in Spain that have been designed specifically to test light unmanned aircrafts.



The EC-SAFEMOBIL project seeks to develop new technologies of multivehicle cooperation using unmanned aerial systems (UAS), specifically new methods of accurate position estimation and motion control that will make UAS and ground autonomous systems more secure and reliable for a wide range of applications such as disaster management, search and rescue (especially under extreme conditions), security and other missions that involve human risk.

Besides landing an UAV on moving surfaces, the project is developing other new technological demonstrators, such as the launch of an unmanned aerial vehicle from a manned one or tracking several ground vehicles using multiple unmanned aerial systems with the ability to avoid collisions.