Test flight by Quantum Systems in Feilenmoos

The startup Quantum Systems successfully carried out its test flight in Feilenmoos. As part of the FreeRail funding project, autonomously operated drones are to be used in the future to automatically record vegetation close to the track and storm damage along the Deutsche Bahn network.

The FreeRail project was funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure. It shows that the development of three-dimensional mobility is becoming more and more important. The startup Quantum Systems from Munich would like to use a vertical take-off long-range drone to collect various sensor data along a rail test route, together with its project partners geo-konzept GmbH from Adelschlag, the Technical University of Ingolstadt, the city of Ingolstadt and Deutsche Bahn Fahrwegdienste GmbH from Berlin. So far, the constantly growing vegetation and damage along the Deutsche Bahn route network have been controlled and maintained by people. This is a time-consuming and challenging task, because the rail traffic should of course not be disturbed during this control work.  

The goal of FreeRail is to lay the foundation of a future fully automated drone-based system for digitized vegetation control and registration of damage after severe weather events along the Deutsche Bahn network by February 2022. The start-up incubator for three-dimensional mobility brigkAIR supports the funding project and thus lays the necessary foundation for the important test flights.  

These flight tests take place in the Ingolstadt region. The first step was a test flight at the former parachute dropping point in Feilenmoos for demonstration and acceptance purposes. In addition to the employees from Quantum Systems, brigkAIR and Airbus, representatives from the Drone Innovation Hub of the German Armed Forces were also present at the test flight. Everything was in the focus of air traffic control: Various maneuvers were shown and system tests were also carried out to check communication with the tower. In the next step, a test flight is carried out outside the field of vision in order to then aim for tests over railway lines.