双语｜英国将建立世界上最大的自动化无人机高速公路

UK set to have world's biggest automated drone superhighway

图片来源，BBC

未来两年内，英国将成为世界上最大的自动化无人机高速公路的所在地。

The UK is set to become home to the world's largest automated drone superhighway within the next two years.

这些无人机将用于164英里长的连接城镇的Skyway项目，包括剑桥和拉格比(英格兰中部的城市)。

The drones will be used on the 164-mile Skyway project connecting towns and cities, including Cambridge and Rugby.

这是商业部长Kwasi Kwarteng将于周一公布的2.73亿英镑航空业融资计划的一部分。

It is part of a 273m funding package for the aerospace sector which will be revealed by Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng on Monday.

其他项目包括无人机向锡利群岛发送邮件和向苏格兰各地运送药物。

Other projects include drones delivering mail to the Isles of Scilly and medication across Scotland.

Kwarteng先生将在范堡罗国际航展上宣布这一消息，这是2019年以来首次举行的国际航展。

Mr Kwarteng is to announce the news at the Farnborough International Airshow - the first to be held since 2019.

他将表示，这些资金将“帮助航空业抓住世界向更清洁的飞行形式过渡时存在的巨大增长机会”。

He will say the funding will "help the sector seize on the enormous opportunities for growth that exist as the world transitions to cleaner forms of flight".

潜在用途

Potential uses

英国电信无人机总监戴夫·潘克赫斯特（Dave Pankhurst）告诉英国广播公司，Skyway正在将英国各地正在进行的试验规模扩大。

Dave Pankhurst, director of drones at BT, told the BBC that Skyway is about scaling up trials that have been taking place around the UK.

英国电信（BT）是参与合作的伙伴之一。

BT is one of the partners involved in the collaboration.

他说：“这种无人机的功能已经存在了相当长的一段时间，但对于其发展成为我们社会的组成部分并发挥其应有的作用而言，它还处于初级阶段。”。

"This drone capability has existed for quite some time, but is in its infancy in terms of being actually part of our society and being a usable application," he said.

“因此，对我们来说，这是朝着这个目标所迈出的重要一步。这将带来很多机会。”

"So for us, this is about taking a significant step towards that point. It's going to open up so many opportunities."

Skyway的目标是在2024年年中之前连接雷丁、牛津、米尔顿·凯恩斯、剑桥、考文垂和拉格比上空的空域，并将获得超过1200万英镑的收入。

Skyway aims to connect the airspace above Reading, Oxford, Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Coventry and Rugby by mid-2024, and will receive more than 12m.

政府总共有1.055亿英镑的资金将专门用于与“整合航空系统和新型车辆技术”相关的项目，包括无人机等无人驾驶飞行器（UAV）。

A total of 105.5m of the government's funding will be specifically for projects relating to "integrated aviation systems and new vehicle technologies", including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) such as drones.

这些项目包括一项计划，使用无人机定期向锡利群岛提供邮件和药品，并在苏格兰各地分发药物，从而有可能使一些癌症患者能够在当地社区接受治疗。

These projects include a plan to use drones to provide regular deliveries of mail and medicine to the Isles of Scilly, and to distribute medicines across Scotland, potentially enabling some cancer patients to be treated in their local community.

图片来源，阿皮安

NHS已经尝试使用无人机将化疗药物从朴茨茅斯运送到怀特岛。

The NHS has trialled carrying chemotherapy drugs from Portsmouth to the Isle of Wight using drones

航空技术公司Altitude Angel的首席运营官克里斯·福斯特（ChrisForster）表示，这条高速公路有很多潜在用途。

Chris Forster, chief operating officer of aviation technology company Altitude Angel, said there were a lot of potential uses for the superhighway.

他说：“无论是物流企业，还是警察相关需要，以及医疗疫苗和血液样本等的医疗运送，都有进入这一领域的真正需求。”。

"Whether it be a business doing logistics, all the way to the police and medical deliveries of vaccines and blood samples, there's a real demand to have access to this airspace," he said.

“我们在非洲做了一些项目，那里的道路基础设施不适合地面车辆，所以疫苗由自动无人机运送。”

"We've done a few projects in Africa where the road infrastructure was not good for ground vehicles, and the delivery of vaccines was provided by automated drones."

安全和验收

Safety and acceptance

该技术利用在高速公路沿线安装的地面传感器，实时查看无人机在空域中的位置。

The technology utilises ground-based sensors installed along the highway which provide a real-time view of where drones are in the airspace.

然后，这些数据由交通管理系统----一种无人机的空中交通控制系统----进行分析，该系统引导无人机沿着其路线飞行，并避免碰撞。

This data is then analysed by a traffic management system - a sort of air traffic control for drones - which guides them along their routes and avoids collisions.

威斯康辛大学布里斯托尔分校（UWE Bristol）航空航天工程副教授史蒂夫·赖特（Steve Wright）表示，对于无人机坠毁的最大担忧不是在无人机处于空中的时候，而是在起飞或者着陆期间。

Steve Wright, associate professor in aerospace engineering at UWE Bristol, said the biggest concern regarding crashes does not come when the drone is in the air, but during take-off or landing.

“这是关于飞行的第一步和最后一步，”他说。“问题是当你与人相距10英尺时会发生什么。这就是我花时间担心的那一点。”

"It's about the first and last bit of the flight," he said. "The problem is what happens when you're 10 feet away from people. That's the bit I spend my time worrying about.

“当它飞到空中时，我知道它很稳定，不会撞到什么东西。”

"When it's up in the air I know it's stable and it's not going to hit something.

“人们正在考虑将包裹从空中放下 - 换句话说，你要让无人机远离人群。有很多非常聪明的人在制定飞行计划，要（让无人机）刻意避开建筑区域。”

"People are looking at lowering packages down from the air - in other words you keep the drone well away from people. There's lots of very bright people out there working on flight plans that deliberately avoid built-up areas."

图片来源，皇家邮政

英国皇家邮政表示，希望有一支由500架无人机组成的机队将邮件运送到英国偏远的社区

The Royal Mail has said it wants a fleet of 500 drones to carry mail to remote UK communities

潘克赫斯特表示，该项目正在与英国民航管理局（CAA）合作，以确保安全。

Mr. Pankhurst said the project was working alongside the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to ensure safety.

“他们作为一个组织的工作方式是基于证据的，”他说。“在这个行业，安全是最重要的，但重要的是，没有监管机构的真正签署批准，一切都不会发生（指项目就无法开展）。”

"The way they work as an organisation is very evidence-based," he said. "Safety is just paramount in this industry, but importantly, nothing happens without the regulator actually signing it off.

“CAA（英国民航管理局）是所有这些未来飞行项目的一部分。它是所有这些活动的一部分，验证进度并确保它们是安全的。”

"The CAA is part of all of these future flight projects. It is part of all of these activities, validating the progress and making sure they're safe."

他说，该公司的研究表明，如果人们知道无人机提供了一项重要的服务，他们更有可能接受无人机。

He said its research showed that people are more likely to accept a drone if they know it is providing an important service.

克兰菲尔德大学（Cranfield University）高级讲师西蒙·裘德（Simon Jude）表示：“如果人们知道无人机的用途，他们的认知和态度可能会改变。如果是紧急医疗支持，你可能会因此而更容易接受（无人机的）噪音。

Simon Jude, senior lecturer at Cranfield University, said: "People's knowledge and attitudes might change if they know what that UAV is being used for. If it's an emergency medical support, you're probably going to be a lot more accepting of the noise.

“那么，如果你有多个无人机，或者作为农业用途，你可能会得到大量的无人机同时收集和保存数据，会发生什么呢？”

"So what happens if you get multiple UAVs, or an agricultural use where you might get a number of drones collecting and saving data all at once?

“我住在一个乡村，一个非常安静的地方，忽然出现（如无人机的）一些噪音，这可能比你在一个城市或一个有很多其他噪音的市区更让我恼火。”

"I live in a rural location; a very quiet location and it might annoy me more than if you were in a city or an urban landscape where there's lots of other noise."

资料来源 Tom Gerken 翻译 JC

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