UAS in the NAS
Aaron L. Stone
ASCI 530 Unmanned Aerospace Systems
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
4/10/17
The tremendous growth seen within the unmanned aerospace
systems (UAS) industry has created a unique situation on how to introduce and integrate
the numerous variations of UA platforms into the National Airspace System (NAS).
UAS platforms primary are configurations such as fixed wing and rotorcraft type
aircraft but also can include hybrid type aircraft as well. The ability to
further classify types of UAS platforms has been structured into five groups
based upon max gross operating weight, normal operational altitude, and
airspeed (Austin, 2010) .
The integration of UAS platforms into the NAS must be
accomplished without negatively impacting: the current operators, existing
system capacity, and safety. Additionally, the role that UAS has within the NAS
must not increase the risk to the aviation community, the airspace, or any
individuals or property any more then currently exists (Huerta, 2013) . The UAS industry
must significantly address and establish a standardized design specification
roadmap for all UAS platforms in compliance with current Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) testing when applying to receive an airworthiness
certificate. This requirement will be vital for the integration of UAS aircraft
into the NAS because this will require that the same safety standards and operating
procedures are followed per the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR). This will help
ensure all aircraft that operate within the NAS are doing so under the same
guidelines and regulations.
Issues in communications continue to remain as one of the
many barriers to NAS access (Hackenberg, 2014) . Traditional methods
commonly used for communications and identification purposes are radar,
electro-optic/infrared, transponders, traffic alert and collision avoidance
system (TCAS), automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B), global
positioning system (GPS) satellites, and radio frequency spectrum (Public
Intelligence/NASA/UAS/NSA, 2013) . Current methods used to control UAS aircraft are line-of-sight
(LOS), beyond line-of-sight (BLOS) using primarily the electromagnetic spectrum
in various ways, and pre-programmed autonomous flight operations (Public Intelligence/NASA/UAS/NSA, 2013) .
The “see and avoid” operations that are used for collision
avoidance protection between manned aircraft will likely become the “sense and
avoid” capability used for self-separation between UAS and other aircraft.
Continued research must be done to provide a better understanding on the
application of a “ground based sense and avoid” station along with an “airborne
sense and avoid” system and how the different UAS platforms will affect the NAS (Huerta, 2013) . A major concern
that is being researched is ways to improve the UAS data-link latency,
continuity, and performance issues from dropped or lost signal communications. Data-link
security concerns are just another example of the many challenges that the UAS
industry is facing while integrating into the NAS.
References
Austin, R. (2010). Unmanned aircraft systems: UAVs
design, development, and deployment. Chichester, UK: John Wiley &
Sons, Ltd.
Hackenberg, D. (2014,
March 26). NASA/NTRS. Retrieved from NASA/NTRS:
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20140008851.pdf
Huerta, M. P. (2013,
November 13). FAA. Retrieved from FAA:
https://www.faa.gov/uas/media/UAS_Roadmap_2013.pdf
Public
Intelligence/NASA/UAS/NSA. (2013,
November 08). Retrieved from Public Intelligence:
https://info.publicintelligence.net/NASA-UAS-NAS-Integration.pdf
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