“Flight termination systems (FTSs) pose one of the biggest ground risks of drone operations as the situation usually demands the drone to be taken down as fast as possible. Together with Aero EDIH and UASolutions, we managed to significantly lower the ground impact when the FTS was activated by flying towards the wind. This lowers the risk area and impact force significantly, landing the drone smoothly while protecting people and property on the ground”, says Alexander Sandström, Co-founder & CEO, Remote Aero
Challenges
Remote Aero develops fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) systems and services for demanding applications such as maritime search and rescue (including operations for SSRS). These systems operate Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) and must meet stringent safety requirements.
One critical risk identified was the potential for third-party harm in the event of a link loss between the UAV and the Ground Control Station (GCS). Under current ArduPilot configurations, a link-loss event triggers a glide landing in a random heading, which can result in uncontrolled landings at higher ground speeds. Remote Aero sought to reduce this risk by implementing a feature that ensures the UAV lands into the wind, minimizing ground speed and improving safety during emergency landings.
Solutions
Aero EDIH supported Remote Aero in developing and validating the “Land Into Wind” functionality within the ArduPilot ecosystem. The solution explored multiple implementation paths, including firmware updates and Lightweight User Application (LUA) scripting language, which offers a lower barrier for acceptance into official releases and easier integration during installation.
The LUA script was designed to execute late in the control chain, enabling natural configuration within the autopilot. When a link-loss event exceeds the defined threshold and glide mode is initiated, the script commands the aircraft to roll toward the wind heading and stabilize before ceasing steering inputs.
Development included Software-in-the-Loop (SITL) simulations using QGroundControl to validate behavior under simulated link-loss conditions. This approach allowed Remote Aero to test and refine the feature without risking hardware or operational safety.
Results and Benefits
The project successfully demonstrated that implementing “Land Into Wind” via LUA scripting is both feasible and practical within the ArduPilot framework. By ensuring that emergency landings occur into the wind, the solution significantly reduces ground speed, thereby lowering the risk of damage or injury to third parties during BVLOS operations. The SITL simulations confirmed that the script reliably detects link-loss events and adjusts heading before initiating a controlled glide landing.
This improvement enhances operational safety for Remote Aero’s UAV systems and aligns with best practices for risk mitigation in autonomous flight. Furthermore, the solution leverages open-source flexibility, enabling Remote Aero to maintain compatibility with official ArduPilot releases while customizing behavior for high-safety applications.
The project strengthens Remote Aero’s position as an innovator in UAV safety and provides a foundation for future enhancements, such as integrating wind-awareness into other fail-safe behaviors. Ultimately, this functionality supports safer BVLOS operations for critical missions like search and rescue, where reliability and risk reduction are paramount.
Perceived Social and Economic Impact
By reducing the risk of uncontrolled landings during link-loss events, this solution enhances the safety of UAV operations in public safety contexts such as maritime search and rescue. The improvement supports broader adoption of BVLOS UAV services by addressing regulatory and operational concerns around third-party risk.
In the long term, safer UAV operations can accelerate the integration of autonomous aerial systems into emergency response workflows, improving efficiency and reducing costs compared to traditional manned alternatives.
Lessons Learned
Do’s: The project underscored the importance of leveraging open-source flexibility while maintaining rigorous safety standards. It is crucial to validate fail-safe logic through simulation before field deployment, ensuring that emergency behaviors such as glide landings are predictable and effective. Using LUA scripting proved advantageous due to its ease of integration and lower acceptance threshold compared to core firmware changes.
Don’ts: Relying solely on default configurations or random heading landings is not acceptable for BVLOS missions with high safety requirements. Future implementations should continue to prioritize wind-awareness and controlled descent strategies, while avoiding unnecessary complexity that could hinder reliability or official release compatibility.
“The project helped reduce the risks associated with beyond visual line of sight operations. This is essential for future drone applications.”, says Per Bröms, Innovation Lead, Aero EDIH
