What’s going on? 

Today marks a significant milestone as the Port of Antwerp-Bruges (POAB) officially launches D-Hive, a drone network of 6 Drone-in-a-Box systems spread across the ports 120km². This D-hive network will execute up to 18 automated drone flights per day throughout the POAB.  

Why is this important? 

Flying drones in a seaport can be particularly challenging, especially when operating beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS). Drones must share the airspace with planes, helicopters, and other drones, while avoiding obstacles like cranes, ships, wind turbines, high-voltage pylons, chemical factories, and other critical ground infrastructures. 

To allow such an ambitious project to receive the necessary operational authorisation from the Civil Aviation Authorities, SkeyDrone developed the “BVLOS framework” a regulatory framework that safely integrates drones into challenging airspaces like the POAB.  

This “BVLOS framework” will now serve as a blueprint for the future U-space airspaces, for which the Port of Antwerp Bruges will once again be an early adapter. 

Why Should I care? 

The successful completion of this project is a significant achievement for D-Hive and a testament to the safety and effectiveness of SkeyDrone’s BVLOS Framework. This framework has been recognized as a “safe to fly” risk-mitigating framework, opening the door for many other drone operators to conduct scalable BVLOS flights in congested airspaces and high-risk environments, outside of U-space. But it also proves that SkeyDrone is ready to become one of the early U-space service providers.

D-Hive is a realisation of the 6th Network, a consortium created by DroneMatrix, Proximus and SkeyDrone.