The IMPETUS (Information Management Portal to Enable the inTegration of Unmanned Systems) focuses on the analysis of future information management requirements for the safe and efficient integration of unmanned systems into the lower airspace (below 150 meters). For this purpose, technologically and economically feasible services for flight preparation and execution will be developed and implemented experimentally.

Both in Europe and globally, an increase in the use of unmanned aerial vehicles can be expected in the coming years. However, in order to ensure the trouble-free and parallel operation of manned and unmanned aviation, an integrated traffic management solution is necessary that deviates from the traditional approach of air traffic control. With this in mind, the EU is promoting the development of U-space, a European traffic management solution for unmanned aerial vehicles.

In order to ensure a scalable, flexible and economically successful system, IMPETUS is evaluating the use of so-called microservices within the U-space. In contrast to conventional, monolithic software development, modularization contributes to the fact that individual adaptations can be implemented with less effort, since the overall system is not affected by changes. In addition, individual modules can be scaled according to capacity and demand, resulting in a more efficient use of resources.This requires the description of a holistic system architecture and clearly defined interfaces. Furthermore, it enables the simultaneous integration of different data sources and service providers. However, the design also needs to consider high latency, which can result from the necessary data exchange routines in a distributed IT-system.