Nokia and the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) have collaborated to develop a new ecosystem to support regular commercial use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in the country.

With the new UAS ecosystem, the UAE will allow businesses and government agencies to operate drones in a secure environment.

Dubai government security network operator Nedaa will also develop a new network for mission-critical services within the GCAA regulatory framework.

Nokia Middle East Market Unit head Bernard Najm said: “The UAE is committed to making Dubai the smartest city in the world, and UAVs are expected to play a critical role in this process by supporting a wide variety of smart city services.

“This collaboration with the GCAA, the first of its kind in the world, gives us a unique and extensive test bed where we can trial and refine our UAV traffic management system, and shape the future of UAV management overall.”

The new ecosystem is powered by Nokia’s UAV traffic management (UTM) concept, which is being developed to manage drones in cities and provide automated flight permissions, no-fly zone control and beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) capabilities.

The UAS ecosystem will also serve as a testing ground for various drone applications.

It can monitor airspace and flight paths, and by establishing no-fly zones it will be able to share data between UAVs, operators and air traffic controllers.

Recently, Nokia established and developed a UAV test facility at Twente Airport in the Netherlands.