Highway UAV Centralized Control System Practice
This article studies a centralized UAV control system for highway scenarios, addressing pain points in highway drone applications, ensuring safe and compliant operations to enhance effectiveness and facilitate intelligent highway upgrades.
With rapid UAV technological advancements and intensive national/provincial policies promoting highway drone use, UAVs are increasingly applied in highway construction, management, maintenance, operations, and service. UAVs offer broad monitoring coverage, flexibility, spatial independence, and rapid deployment. They enable on-site aerial footage collection, efficient operations in complex environments (e.g., bridges, slopes), effectively resolving challenges and advancing highway industry development.
However, widespread adoption has exposed critical issues: flight safety hazards, insufficient operational coordination, underutilized UAV resources, and inefficient manual operations. Additionally, China's Interim Regulations on Unmanned Aircraft Flight Management (effective January 2024) intensifies oversight, making compliance a top industry priority.
Thus, this research develops a centralized UAV control system to resolve application challenges, ensure safety/compliance, enhance outcomes, and drive intelligent highway transformation.
I. Research Necessity
(I) Strengthened National UAV Regulations
The Interim Regulations designate airspace above highways as controlled zones, requiring aviation authority approval for flights. Key provisions include:
Mandatory real-name registration and liability insurance
Flight restrictions above 120m true altitude
Emergency response plans and 24-hour safety incident reporting
Pilot licenses required for non-micro/light drones
Flight permits required outside designated zones
As China's first UAV-specific legislation, these regulations mandate compliant operations as a prerequisite for applications.
(II) Highway-Specific Management Challenges
Current UAV use lacks coordination:
Fragmented Planning: Segmented deployments with diverse UAV models/platforms hinder centralized oversight and resource scheduling.
Safety Risks: Manual operations cause inefficiencies, incomplete coverage, collision hazards, and data leakage during offline transfers.
Resource Underutilization: Independent procurement by road maintenance, policing, and monitoring departments prevents UAV/data sharing, causing redundancy.
(III) Emerging Highway UAV Requirements
Highway operators demand:
Comprehensive Oversight: Full supervision of UAV assets, airspace, pilot credentials, flight status, and data.
System Integration: Embedding UAV capabilities into business workflows for seamless operations.
Data Sharing: Real-time data transmission to business systems and cross-department resource sharing.
Automation: Scheduled autonomous flights replacing manual operations for safety/efficiency.
II. Global Research Status
Domestic (e.g., Zhongkeyuntu's EasyFly Cloud, DJI's Dock) and international systems (e.g., UgCS, MdCockpit) exist. However, most lack highway-specific customization, limiting applicability.
III. Methodology & Innovations
(I) Methodology
Developing a centralized UAV control system integrating:
Autonomous operations
Real-time monitoring
Multi-channel video streaming
Remote control
The system connects UAVs/airports/payloads, providing end-to-end management (mission planning, automated flights, data analytics) and open APIs for business system integration.
(II) Innovations
Unified Control: Centralized UAV access and full-process services (routing, automation, data management).
Smart Dispatch: Remote command/control with zero on-site personnel.
Data Synergy: Real-time data sharing across business systems.
Multi-Scene Application: Deep integration for emergency response, patrols, and inspections.
IV. Architecture
A SaaS-layered design:
Perception Layer: UAVs/airports/payloads
Data Layer: Stores video, images, flight logs, weather, no-fly zones
Service Layer: Routing, mission control, live streaming, remote operations
Capability Layer: HD maps, 2D GIS, video streaming
Integration Layer: API-based business system connectivity
Application Layer: Supports emergencies, patrols, inspections
Presentation Layer: PC/mobile interfaces
V. Functional Design
(I) Management System
Route Management: Planning/compliance assurance
Mission Control: Automated/hybrid task scheduling
UAV Monitoring: Real-time tracking, weather/no-fly alerts
Live Streaming: Multi-drone video feeds
Remote Control: Payload/drone adjustments
Data Management: Storage/analysis/sharing
Device Control: UAV/airport/payload health monitoring
No-Fly Zone Mgmt.: Geofencing integration
Pilot Mgmt.: License/task performance tracking
(II) Flight Control App
Device pairing
Task execution
In-flight monitoring/alerting
Live video viewing
Manual control (speed/altitude/return)
Data uploads
No-fly zone queries
(III) SaaS Integration
Business systems access functionalities via:
APIs: For data/control capabilities
Embedded UI: Pre-built control interfaces
VI. Key Technologies
Autonomous Operations:
Conflict-free scheduling with auto-detection
Airport-controlled automated flights or app-guided semi-autonomous missions
Real-Time Monitoring:
Live GIS tracking and path replay
Multi-Channel Streaming:
RTMP/HTTP-FLV protocols for low-latency transmission
Remote Control:
Dual-mode operation (monitoring/remote control) with exclusive user authentication
VII. Case Study: Guangdong Highway Group
The system supported high-precision mapping via:
Real-time UAV positioning
Air-space-ground integrated surveillance
Live streaming for emergency coordination
By resolving fragmentation and ensuring compliance, the system enables efficient, full-scenario highway UAV applications with significant scalability value.
