Unmanned Airspace has published coverage of Vigilant Aerospace Systems’ use of FlightHorizon TEMPO during a public safety exercise in Williston, North Dakota. The Oct. 15 article examines how shared aircraft tracking data could support emergency response coordination when crewed and uncrewed aircraft operate in the same area.
The coverage highlights Vigilant Aerospace’s ongoing partnership with the University of North Dakota (UND) John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences. It follows the progression from airspace management at UND Aerospace’s Gorman Field to demonstrations and emergency preparedness exercises at Camp Grafton and Williston. Together, these activities provide opportunities to evaluate airspace awareness software in operational training environments.
A Shared View of Aircraft Activity
The article describes how FlightHorizon TEMPO used radar and Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) In inputs during the Williston exercise to display aircraft tracks on a single map. That shared view helps participating organizations understand nearby aircraft activity as they evaluate procedures for coordinating aerial operations.
The Sept. 29–30 exercise gave participants an opportunity to explore these capabilities before an emergency requires multiple organizations to work together. Vigilant Aerospace connected the surveillance inputs to a portable, secure system configured for the exercise. The software associates observations of the same aircraft from different sensors and displays the resulting tracks together.
This application reflects a practical requirement for public safety operations: responders need visibility into aircraft activity beyond their own aircraft. A shared display can provide a common reference for organizations bringing different aircraft, responsibilities and operating procedures into the same response area.
Building on Field Training with UND Aerospace
Unmanned Airspace places the Williston demonstration within a partnership that began at Gorman Field in January 2025. The article also references April’s Camp Grafton exercise, where participants explored airspace awareness during search-and-rescue training.
At Camp Grafton, participants worked through missing-person scenarios involving ground responders and crewed and uncrewed aircraft. A command trailer served as a coordination point, while FlightHorizon software provided live airspace information. The subsequent Williston exercise extended that work into another setting for evaluating emergency response coordination.
These exercises also give Vigilant Aerospace opportunities to learn directly from responders. Working alongside participating organizations helps identify how aircraft tracking information can fit into existing procedures and what users need from a shared airspace display.
Ground-Based Software for Airspace Awareness
FlightHorizon TEMPO is ground-based airspace management software that supports fixed installations and portable deployments. It uses multiple surveillance inputs to present nearby aircraft activity through a shared interface. Supported inputs include radar, ADS-B In, Remote ID and aircraft telemetry, depending on the deployment configuration.
The software also supports data logging and historical replay for reviewing airspace activity. These capabilities provide tools for examining events after a flight or exercise and supporting subsequent training discussions.
Read the full Unmanned Airspace article and Learn more about the recent North Dakota exercises.
About Unmanned Airspace
Unmanned Airspace is a specialist news and information publication covering uncrewed aircraft traffic management, counter-drone systems, urban air mobility and space traffic management. It is published and edited by aviation journalist and consultant Philip Butterworth-Hayes.
About UND Aerospace
The University of North Dakota’s John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences provides education and research in aviation, atmospheric sciences, earth system science and policy, and space studies. The school operates one of the largest civilian aircraft fleets in North America.
Vigilant Aerospace is the leading developer of multi-sensor detect-and-avoid and airspace management software for uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS or drones). The company’s product, FlightHorizon, is based on two NASA patents and uses data from multiple sources to display a real-time picture of the air traffic around a UAS and to provide automatic avoidance maneuvers to prevent collisions. The software is designed to meet industry technical standards, to provide automatic safety and to allow UAS to safely fly beyond the sight of the pilot. The software has won multiple industry awards and the company has had contracts and users at NASA, the FAA, the U.S. Department of Defense and with a variety of drone development programs. Visit our website at www.VigilantAerospace.com