Angoka plays central role in bringing air traffic corridors to the UK

Northern Ireland cybersecurity specialist Angoka will play a centre stage role in a transport revolution.

The Belfast firm has partnered with a number of projects in the UK Research and Innovation’s Future Flight Challenge where air traffic corridors in the south of England have been designated for drones and unmanned aircraft. Angoka supplies the hacker-proof security for automated, teleoperated and unmanned aircraft using these corridors.

Angoka chairman Steve Berry, explained: “We have all seen those movies where they have highways of flying ‘cars’ in the sky, zipping effortlessly across cities. These are now becoming a reality and Angoka is at the heart of the revolution.”

The projects, which include parterning PORTAL, ALIAS and Skyway, are part of the Future Flight Challenge which is now in phase three following significant progress.

The Future Flight Challenge aims to bring together technologies in electrification, aviation systems and autonomy to create new modes of air travel.

Angoka’s innovative technologies are unique to remotely operated vehicles and drones that are used for commercial and logistic purposes, including unmanned medical deliveries, site inspections, geographical surveys, search and rescue operations, and emergency services support.

Yuri Andersson, CEO of Angoka Ltd, continuied: “Our company’s role in ensuring the robustness and security of the communications between connected devices is central to the successful, safe and secure operation of automated, teleoperated and unmanned aircraft. We are moving faster than ever towards the commercialisation of automated flight across many sectors ranging from search and rescue to logistics and traffic management. Angoka’s communications protocols critically ensure that the information passed between the aircraft and the operator is secure and cyber resilient.” 

Gary Cutts, Future Flight Challenge director at UK Research and Innovation, added: “This phase of Future Flight is not just about developing new forms of air vehicle. It’s also about developing the cross-cutting technologies needed to support unmanned airspace systems. Angoka, by collaborating with companies in project ALIAS and in project PORTAL, is working to combine the best emerging technologies needed to allow uncrewed aircraft to integrate safely into the existing airspace system. They are forging a path to create a future airspace that will benefit us all.”