AIRmarket & Pegasus: A Collaboration to Advance the Canadian Remotely Piloted Aircraft System Traffic Management Sector within Alberta

AIRmarket and Pegasus have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore a potential collaboration of technologies to yield mutual benefits for both companies. 

Pegasus is rapidly emerging as a global leader in both autonomous aircraft systems, regulatory development, and the safety testing required for the new aerospace sector to emerge. The company currently has Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) testing projects running in partnership with the Federal government, the Government of Alberta and Global aerospace manufacturers to define the next stages of autonomous aircraft and sensor development.

AIRmarket is also emerging as a leader in the Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS, also known as drones) Traffic Management (RTM) industry, working to bring a fully integrated RPAS management system into Canadian airspaces. The company also has numerous programs centered around BVLOS testing with Transport Canada and TC Energy, and has partnered with TELUS to bring cellular service into the RTM scope and RTM into the TELUS network. 

This partnership fits into the RTM / Digital Conspicuity envelope. The joint exploration of an aircraft Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) (Pegasus) and a RTM service supplier (AIRmarket) promotes a shared understanding of the technology integration that the Canadian RPAS Industry will face going forward. This partnership showcases the mutual benefits and plans to demonstrate how local partnerships will enable acceleration of an RPAS & RTM ecosystem in Canada, creating a Canadian-made solution. This partnership also starts to position Edmonton (and northern Alberta) as a center of knowledge for the emerging unmanned aviation sector. 

Pegasus and AIRmarket currently have a pre-existing relationship as they jointly sit on multiple working groups, which include:

• RTM Action Committee (RTMAC) 
• Service Supplier Sub Working Group (SSSWG) 
• Remote ID Sub Working Group (RIDSWG)

The partnership’s immediate objective is to conduct trials with onboard Detect & Avoid (DAA) systems integrated within an RPAS Traffic Management framework. An example of this at work is Transport Canada’s recent calls for crisis response BVLOS usage, which could be a use case that is co-developed by Pegasus and AIRmarket. 

In addition, the vision of the partnership is the integration of RTM services into the Albertan and Canadian market. Northern Alberta is a prime location to bring this vision into the forefront. With a rich supply of natural resources and the need for inspection of critical infrastructure, advanced cellular infrastructure, an abundance of class G uncontrolled airspace, and Northern Alberta being the “gateway to arctic”, there is massive potential from this partnership. Both parties are excited to collaborate to bring innovation to the Albertan and Canadian aviation market.  

Here’s what Pegasus COO John Hryniw and AIRmarket CEO/CTO/Founder Lindsay Mohr had to say about the partnership: