Shanghe's low-altitude air traffic management system takes flight

Staff reporter

A new low altitude air traffic management and service system launched in Zhuhai will be able to explore market needs, assist in formulating solutions and enhance proactive detection, recognition and response capabilities for unplanned flights by drones and low-flying aircraft.

Launched by mainland tech firm Shanghe Technology's all-space intelligent system service platform, the system is the first of its kind to be launched on the market and an important milestone in smart city management.

The launch on Sunday was attended by local officials including Zhuhai's party secretary Chen Yong and chairman of the Standing Committee of the Zhuhai municipal People's Congress Pan Jiang.

Shanghe said its system differs from general monitoring systems in three areas.

Firstly, it is designed from a consumer's perspective in system architecture rather than solely from a manager's, and is better at identifying market needs and pain points to find solutions. Unlike a general monitoring system which manages existing applications, Shanghe's system can create new application scenarios, it said.

Secondly, it enhances proactive detection, recognition and response capabilities for unplanned flights unlike a general monitoring system which relies on users voluntarily reporting flight plans, and lacks the ability to regulate unplanned flights.

Thirdly, it digitalizes low-altitude environment management, generating flight routes through data computation and provides airspace coordination solutions for temporary and emergency flight events.

It also offers pre-flight route conflict predictions, in-flight conflict warnings, and resolution suggestions to ensure safe and efficient low-altitude operations.

At the event, Shanghe signed strategic cooperation agreements with several companies, including radar product and service provider Zhongan Reida (Beijing) Electronic Technology and telecom giant China Telecom's (0728) Zhuhai branch.

Looking ahead, Shanghe hopes to integrate low-altitude management systems between the mainland and Hong Kong to enable cross-border flights in the Greater Bay Area.

Shanghe chairman Jacqueline Kang Junjun earlier said the firm would develop a separate system for Hong Kong that uses EU aviation standards and would connect it with the mainland system to resolve signal transmission issues.

Kang hopes to achieve cross-border flights by the second half of the year or next year. She added that its system in Zhuhai serves as a "model" for the mainland market while expecting its Hong Kong system could become a "model" for the international market.