The Future of UAS

Integration of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) into the national airspace (NAS) for social and economic, i.e., commercial, reasons is a much-talked about and pressing issue.  Developing policies and procedures that support an acceptable level of safety for UAS without negatively impacting current commercial operations in the NAS is a significant undertaking.  Accordingly, the biggest advancements in UAS technology in the next five to ten years will come from the civilian sector in the form of UAV traffic management and control in the NAS.

"The FAA has maintained its stance that safe UAV integration cannot take place without a UAV reporting system in place" (UAS Vision, 2015, para. 3).  The emergence of unmanned aerial systems in recent years has given rise to increasing concerns about these systems’ SAA capability as UAS begin to share the same airspace as manned aircraft.  Current radar technologies and ADS-B reporting systems are unable to locate and track drones due to their small size and low altitudes.  This make is difficult for air traffic controllers to manage commercial and hobbyist drone operations.

PrescionHawk has proposed an unmanned traffic management (UTM) system called LATAS.  LATAS, which stands for Low Altitude Tracking and Avoidance System allows beyond-line-of-sight control using the existing cellular network.  LATAS can be integrated into an unmanned aerial vehicle's (UAV) circuit during manufacturing.  As an automated air traffic control system LATAS has an onboard system that provides two-way communication for flight planning, tracking and avoidance for every drone in the sky using real-time flight data transmission based on existing world-wide cellular networks.  The development of LATAS is based around the idea that we can use existing technologies at a low cost and weight, and avoid the creation of an entire new system.  By developing this automated air traffic control system, each platform has the intelligence to transmit its location and altitude in real time, which is sent to air traffic controllers and pilots in aircraft cockpits while reporting back to the FAA.

Implementation of an unmanned air traffic management system will permit safe integration of UAV into the NAS, a key requirement of the FAA, and open the skies for commercial operations.

Reference

UAS Vision. (2015, January 13). PrecisionHawk's Low Altitude Tracking and Avoidance System. Retrieved from http://www.uasvision.com/2015/01/13/precisionhawks-low-altitude-tracking-and-avoidance-system/

UAS Use: Precision Agriculture

     The world population is estimated to reach more than 8 billion by the year 2024 (Worldometers, 2015).  As such, one of the challenges in the near further will be how to grow enough food to feed everyone in an efficient and cost effective manner.  The world’s farmers will be expect to

produce substantially more food on the same amount of land while using fewer resources.  The view from above is vastly different than from the ground when it comes to the assessment of crop health.  With the ability to cover large amounts of acreage in a cost effective manner, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) represent a revolutionary technology for data collection and analysis with the potential to dramatically increase food production with efficient monitoring of crops and management of resources.

     Precision agriculture or site-specific crop management is a strategy for crop growth that focuses on managing individual small parcels of a field instead of treating the entire field uniformly in a “one size fits all” approach.  Unmanned aerial vehicles offer a relatively simple and cost effective means of acquiring high resolution data to assist the farmer in monitoring and managing crops.  Machines including UAVs typically perform tasks that are dull, dirty, and dangerous.  In this regard, certain tasks in agriculture such as crop observation and management may require frequent or long and monotonous actions, or expose an individual to potentially harmful chemicals or hazardous conditions.  The UAV relieves much of the burden from the human by being able to work easily, repeatedly, and efficiently in most any condition.  UAVs also offer the advantage over ground based vehicles in that they are not impeded by unfavorable terrain such as mud that may preclude or hinder ground vehicle.  UAVs are very agile with the ability to hover, manoeuver, and cover large areas in a precise manner.  Most importantly, UAV are able to approach crops very closely to collect information on a much more detailed level and provide higher resolution images when compared to satellite imagery.

     High resolution data such as normalized difference vegetative index (NDVI) collected by the UAV will be invaluable to the farmer in maximizing food yield, obtaining information regarding plant health, nutrient management, drainage assessment, water application, and insect or pest infestation, and developing strategies at any time of the growing season.  In this regard, aerial mapping by the UAV can be used to gather data about crop yield or field status, while aerial surveillance offers information over time to help assess crops for disease and other conditions.  Although the initial cost of a fully equipped UAV platform with payload sensors can be quite significant, the vehicle provides a long term cost saving over a manned aircraft, and the data provided by the UAV to assist the farmer in crop monitoring and resource management will be priceless.

References

Vroegindeweij, B.A., van Wijk, S.W., & van Henten, E.J. (2014). Autonomous Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Agricultural Applications. International Conference of Agricultural Engineering. Retrieved from http://www.geyseco.es/geystiona/adjs/comunicaciones/304/C02980001.pdf

Worldometers. (2015). Population. Retrieved from http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/

UAV Sense and Avoid Technology

      With a primary focus on safety, a transition from accommodation to integration of UAS into the national air space (NAS) is a high priority of the FAA.  However, unlike the typical manned aircraft operating in the NAS, which contain sophisticated and well-defined “detect, sense, and avoid” (DSA) avionics for ensuring safe separation between aircraft, most UAS do not carry electronic identification signaling systems.  In this regard, current technology fails to provide UAS with the same level of safety and compliance with FAA regulations as manned aircraft.  Furthermore, many UAS operate in close proximity to the ground where tall buildings, mountains, trees, and other obstacles pose a potential problem for safe operations.  For UAV without DSA the absence of a pilot on board who would see and avoid such objects emphasizes the critical nature of the FAA's requirement for DSA technology in UAVs that operate in the NAS.  As such, the task of detecting, sensing, and avoiding aircraft for safe operation in the NAS without disrupting current air traffic control procedures is of primary importance in the integration of UAS into the NAS.

Detect, Sense, and Avoid

     Currently, separation of manned aircraft in the NAS is controlled by air traffic controllers (ATC) that continuously monitor aircraft operations and larger commercial aircraft carrying traffic alert and collision avoidance systems (TCAS) that perform cooperative DSA functions with smaller aircraft equipped with conventional transponders.  Very large UAV such as the Global Hawk or the Reaper may be configured to support transponders, but the size, cost, and power drain of such a system is generally prohibitive for use in small UAS operations (Gerold, 2006).  As such, current UAS operations in the NAS is limited and tightly controlled by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).  Aside from model aircraft operation, all unmanned aircraft require FAA authorization to operate in the NAS.  For public operations (governmental) the FAA issues a Certificate of Authorization (COA), for civil operations (commercial) the FAA issues a Section 333 Exemption, and for research and development the FAA issues a Special Airworthiness Certificate (SAC) in the experimental category (FAA, 2015).

     “Whether a sense-and-avoid system uses electro-optical cameras, laser radar (LIDAR) devices or transponders, the challenge is to make the devices small and light enough to be deployed on small UAVs” (Marshall, 2013, par. 8).  Various solutions to the problem of DSA functions in UAVs include techniques that use radar, visual observers, and manned chase aircraft.  Spearhead by a group of European countries and 11 industrial partners one ambitious effort under way in remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) is the development of an integrated system for UAVs called the Mid-Air Collision Avoidance System (MIDCAS) (Marshall, 2013).
     Other possible solutions such as ground-based sense and avoid (GBSAA) may offer a near-term alternative to line-of-sight before transitioning to Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) and the satellite-based Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) due for implementation between 2012 and 2025.  The ground based sense and avoid system utilizes a 3D radar system and algorithms in cooperation with ATC and the UAS ground control station (GCS) to determine if there is a danger of collision and notifies the UAV pilot when their aircraft is on a collision path so an evasive action such as altering the flight path of the UAV may be undertaken (Lopez, 2012).  ADS-B is a next generation satellite based global positioning system (GPS) avionics surveillance technology incorporating both air and ground aspects.  The ADS-B system automatically transmits position and velocity data to the ATC that allows the ATC to monitor and separate aircraft in a more efficient and precise manner than current radar based technology.  Since ADS-B utilizes GPS signals it expands surveillance to areas radar is unable to cover (Universal Avionics System Corp., 2013).  Although still under research, GBSAA and ADS-B provide the potential for an acceptable level of DSA for UAS in the near future.

References

Federal Aviation Administration. (2015). Unmanned Aircraft Systems. Retrieved from http://www.faa.gov/uas/

Gerold, A. (2006, November 1). UAV: Manned and Unmanned aircraft: Can they coexist? Avionics Today. Retrieved from http://www.aviationtoday.com/av/issue/feature/UAV-Manned-and-Unmanned-Aircraft-Can-They-Coexist_6115.html#.VAktHEtJXM0

Lopez, T. (2012, July 5). Radar to allow UAS to fly in national air space. Military News. Retrieved from http://www.military.com/daily-news/2012/07/05/radar-to-allow-uas-to-fly-in-national-air-space.html

Marshall, P. (2013, July 12). The tech that will make drones safe for civilian skies. GCN. Retrieved from https://gcn.com/articles/2013/07/12/drone-uav-sense-and-avoid-technologies-civilian-airspace.aspx

 

Puma UAV Serves Double Duty

The Puma AE is a fixed-wing, front propeller driven, small all-weather unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by AeroVironment and designed for land and water operations.  As of August 2013 over 1100 Puma had been placed in service with the U.S. Army.  Provided with electro-optical (EO) and infrared (IR) camera as well as a lightweight mechanical gimbaled payload, the Puma AE is well-equipped for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting data (ISRT).  A Global Positioning System (GPS) provides accuracy and reliability, and the ground control station (GCS) allows for manual or programed GPS-based autonomous navigation with a communication range of 15 km.  (AeroVironment, Inc., 2015).

 The Puma’s airframe is constructed of rugged materials to withstand harsh conditions, but is light enough to be carried and hand-launched by a single individual.  The Puma has a maximum altitude of 10,000 feet and a maximum speed of 83 km/h.  The Puma’s modular design allows for the integration of various payloads to meet the requirements of military missions or civilian operations.  With a flight time of over 2 hours, the Puma provides adequate time for take-off, landing, and extended operations (Army-technology.com, 2015).

With an estimated commercial and recreational market worth $11 billion dollars by 2020, and with military budgets being reduced, defense companies are turning to the civilian market as an opportunity for added revenue.  The commercial market offers potential applications in data collection and analysis in agriculture, mining, construction, utilities, humanitarian efforts, and law enforcement to name a few.  According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) at least 10 defense firms, including AeroVironment, have requested or received section 333 exemptions to operate UAVs in the national airspace (NAS). In this regard, the Puma was one of the first UAVs to be issued an exemption by the FAA in 2013 to fly across arctic waters to support oil spill response and wildlife surveillance.  At present, at least three entities have plans to use the Puma for commercial operations including WinTec Arrowmaker, Inc., for infrastructure inspection, and Cambervision for aerial data collection (Divis, 2015).

The Puma offers the advantage of a rugged, water proof design that permits operation in all weather conditions for land or maritime utilization.  Furthermore, its light weight and ability to be carried and hand launched makes the Puma a low cost UAV when compared to larger UAV, having versatility with cross-over applications in military and commercial data acquisition.  The Puma offers the advantage of speed and efficiency to cover large areas of terrain, however being a fixed wing UAV the Puma does not offer the benefit of hovering that may be advantageous for bridge and structural inspections.  But, as indicated by Divis, “These platforms, however, are seldom intended to be a companies’ only flight option” (p. 19).  The Puma is a proven military platform and is making inroads into the commercial market.  As such, any apparent limitations in Puma are mitigated through the use of alternative unmanned aerial vehicles. 

References

Army-technology.com (2015). Puma AE (All Environment) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), United States of America. Retrieved from http://www.army-technology.com/projects/puma-unmanned-aircraft-system-us/

Divis. D. (2015, September/October). Defense Firms find commercial foothold. Inside Unmanned Systems, 18-28.

AeroVironment, Inc. (2015). UAS: RQ-20A Puma AE. Retrieved from http://www.avinc.com/uas/small_uas/puma/