44
unmanned systems
inside
Spring 2014
In Europe, manufacturers and
operators of unmanned aerial
vehicles must navigate a complex
regulatory landscape, as studded with
obstacles as the terrain over which
their aircraft fy. Anyone wanting to
enter this market must be ready to
peel back layers of documentation
and jump through diverse political
hoops. But a handful of optimistic, or
perhaps just stubborn, researchers
and entrepreneurs are building the
sector from the ground up, while
lawmakers do their best to keep pace.
To
say that the European unmanned
aerial vehicle (UAV) industry has
drawn a crowd may be understating things. Ac-
cording to Paris-based UAV International, the
non-profit association representing European
UAV manufacturers, the European Union
(EU) counts more than 1,000 "approved and
authorized" civil UAV operators within its bor-
ders. Others put that number at closer to 1,400.
Then again, some caution about overstating
the numbers. Speaking about the UAV-based
mapping sector, one of Europe's optimistic UAV
entrepreneurs, Peter Cosyn, co-founder of Bel-
gium's Gatewing, points out, "There are proba-
bly about 30 companies in the EU, Russia, Asia,
and the Americas that really profile as a manu-
facturer of mapping and surveying (unmanned
aircraft systems) and consist of more than just a
guy with an idea and a prototype."
So, just what does approval and authorization
imply in Europe?
Regulatory Environment: Too Much
or Too Little?
Governmental authorities in various EU coun-
tries have shown great interest in the use of
UAVs, especially in the context of internal secu-
Europe's uav
Experience:
Diversity in search of harmony
air
by Peter Gutierrez