Technicians are monitoring the flight status of drones at Chongqing Yongchuan Daan General Airport on February 20, 2025. (Photo by Luo Bin/Visual Chongqing)

Chongqing - A high-tech test took place above the Chongqing Yongchuan Daan General Airport recently.

Over 100 drones of more than 10 varieties created an intelligent flight network in a 5 km × 5 km three-dimensional airspace. Logistics delivery took place at the 80-meter level, environmental monitoring at 160 meters, power grid inspection at 260 meters, and full-area surveillance at 300 meters. These drones worked in conjunction with more than 800 virtual drones managed by the intelligent integrated management service platform "Jiutian Hangyu," completing China's first-ever real-time flexible conversion and safety core technology verification test for low-altitude airspace.

The verification test, held on February 20, was led by Aerospace Times Low Altitude Technology Co Ltd, a China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation's Ninth Research Institute subsidiary. Despite being only three months old, the company is leveraging the airspace resources at Yongchuan Daan Airport to build China's first comprehensive low-altitude safety testing ground, integrating testing and evaluation, scenario validation, and standard formulation.

China's low-altitude economy is accelerating, yet it faces challenges, including the absence of digital flight regulations, incomplete infrastructure, outdated control technologies, and difficulties managing rogue drones.

The verification test adopted an innovative model combining real and virtual aircraft with nearly a thousand participating aircraft.

More than 40 companies, including leading domestic firms such as DJI and SF UAS, jointly validated four key technologies: digital airspace dynamic management, low-altitude safety real-virtual integration simulation verification, multi-configuration high-density large-flow flight real-time control, and low-altitude airspace management and safety control integration.

Using real-virtual fusion technology, the Jiutian Hangyu platform built an intelligent supervision network covering a 5 km × 5 km area. This enables dynamic airspace resource allocation, intelligent risk early warning, and a complete emergency response process. In the future, the platform will explore high-density flight control with a capacity of 20 aircraft per square kilometer. This will create an open system with instant, free, and integrated flight, significantly reducing airspace approval time.

"This is not only a showcase of technological innovation but also an intelligent exploration of multi-dimensional urban governance across agriculture, emergency response, culture and tourism, industry, and scientific research," said a representative on the site.

The Aerospace Times Low Altitude Technology Co Ltd is expected to conduct multiple test flights and establish a series of standards, regulations, and institutional systems within the year to guide the development of Chongqing's low-altitude industry. The results of these demonstration tests will be promoted citywide, laying a foundation for the large-scale development of this industry.

Additionally, the test site will be open to companies within the related industry chain for technical verification, accelerating the commercialization of applications across more than ten areas, including logistics, urban governance, and emergency response.

(Yang Yongqin and Luo Bin, reporters from Chongqing Daily, contributed the Chinese version of this report.)