We talked to Ally Ying Liu, Founder and CEO of ARCGine Technologies, about her vision on the industry challenges and involvement in GUTMA
“AAM has a huge potential market, which is hard to cash out due to the lack of airworthy and scalable operations. We disrupt the traditional architecture of small and medium-sized UAVs with an intelligent architecture combining a light-weighted Detect and Avoid system with an airborne computer and a human-over-the-loop operation system on existing cellular network. The whole idea is to make this type of operations safe, regulated and profitable.”
What is ARCGine and what is its role and involvement within GUTMA?
ARCGine Technologies is a pioneering Advanced Air Mobility Solution Provider in China, focusing on the AAM operational environment initially in Fire Emergency Response, Energy and Utilities inspection areas. Backed with a light-weighted Detect and Avoid system (DAA) and an operation platform, ARCGine enables small and medium-sized UAVs to safely fly Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS).
As one of the newest members of GUTMA, ARCGine joined GUTMA to collaborate with members worldwide to establish a safe, implementable and interoperable operational environment for advanced air mobility and to lead the innovations and technologies to the direction of improving people’s daily lives. Thus, standard harmonization and promoting best practices are the primary purposes related to our involvement with GUTMA.
According to you, what are the biggest industry challenges at the moment?
Traditional drone service business has reached its limitation due to the lack of safe, scalable and regulated Beyond Visual Line of Sight operations for industrial customers.
Most existing applications of Advanced Air Mobility are perceived as nice to have rather than must-have by customers. Besides establishing a universal UTM system that fits all, we should also identify a few areas to formulate association standards, such as Fire Emergency Response and Energy & Utilities inspections, so as to mature the first group of must-have use cases for customers.
A word about the need to be working along the full ecosystem/value-chain?
Differently from autonomous vehicles on the ground, which have an enormous traffic volume and commercial ecosystem to evolve and iterate new technologies, Advanced Air Mobility is a new industry starting from zero. Thus, GUTMA Members across the value chain may consider integrating vertically to deliver value to the pioneering customers and gain revenue to balance the huge R&D investment at the current stage.
ABOUT ALLY YING LIU
Ally Ying Liu is the founder and CEO of ARCGine Technologies. Ally is a visionary entrepreneur with a combined background in aviation and wireless communication. She was the R&D manager of Boeing Research & Technology in China, and successfully dealt with technology implementations in ATM, connectivity, autonomy, aviation manufacturing and sustainable aviation fuel areas. She led Boeing’s R&D collaboration with CAAC ATMB, COMAC, universities and commercial companies since 2015. Before that, she led a team of engineers in Ansys Inc., focusing on communication, navigation and surveillance areas, and participated in writing three academic books published by Science Press etc. She holds an EMBA degree from College Park, University of Maryland, a Ph.D in antennas and microwaves from Xidian University, a Master’s degree in wireless communication from Chalmers University of Technology and a Bachelor’s degree of telecommunication engineering from Huazhong University of Science & Technology.
ABOUT ARCGINE TECHNOLOGIES
ARCGine Technologies was founded in 2022 by Ally Ying Liu. Its offices are currently located in Beijing and Zhuhai, China. The founder and co-founders are from Boeing, Beihang University and AVIC with an average of 15 years of aviation experience.
ARCGine’s mission is to focus on UAM data services and industry solutions, technologically ensure safety and participate in policy, regulation and standard formulation. It has the vision to save lives and property and fly over the good life. The company defines its value as Integrity, Service, Agility, Innovation, Quality, Safety, Trust and Respect. ARCGine’s technology roadmap in the next 5 years is targeted towards a Low-altitude Airspace Traffic Management Platform which is universal, safe, controllable and with an all-weather autonomous flight core module.
Official website: https://www.arcgine.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/arcgine/