Flygteknik 2010 Oct 19

MIDCAS – Sense and Avoid for UAS

Bengt-Göran Sundqvist, Saab AB

Mid Air Collisions

Combat training

2002 Überlingen

2006 South America

LUNA (UAV) over Afghanistan

Layers of Protection Against Mid Air Collisions

Strategic Conflict Management Procedures Regulations Flight plans

1.

2.

3.

Separation Provision Responsibility of ATC or the pilot

depending on airspace class and flight rules

“Don't scare others!”Collision Avoidance

This ultimate responsibility for avoiding collisions lies always with the pilot.

Mainly performed by the pilots ability to “See & Avoid”, i.e. the pilots eyes and his/hers ability to perform the correct decision and correct action.

“Don't scrape paint”

“The MIDCAS mission is to demonstrate the baseline of solutions for the UAS Midair Collision Avoidance Function (including separation), acceptable by the manned aviation community and being compatible with UAS operations in non-segregated airspace by 2015”

MIDCAS mission statement

MIDCAS scope has been defined with due consideration for the views of the main European stakeholders: EASA, EUROCONTROL, EUROCAE WG73

The project is designed with focus on 3 main tracks with high level of interaction and interdependency:1. Progress on Standards for S&A2. Design of a generic S&A function to be tested in simulations3. Design of a S&A demonstrator to be tested in flight

Scope of MIDCAS

The generic system shall support all UAS:• with maximum take off weight > 150 kg• in all airspace classes• operated according to Instrument Flight Rules • during both Visual and Instrument Metrological Conditions• during Day and Night operation• during enroute flight (include different types of manoeuvring such as climb, descent and turning).• above 3000ft with respect to ground• in congestion expected according to operation • operated according to the rules of the air

MIDCAS Contract

EDA is the contracting agency for the MIDCAS project on behalf of the contributing members (CM) Sweden (lead)

Germany

France

Italy

Spain

Approx 50 MEuro budget – biggest single project within EDA Contract signed at the Paris Air Show, June 2009 with an industry

consortium of 13 partners from the 5 nations Project started 15 Sep 2009 and will run for 4 years

European Defense Agency

MIDCAS Schedule

Func. Designincl S/W

Implementation Design Verification Formal Verification& AW Testing

Flight TestManagement

CER PDR CDRMIDCAS

Demo

H/W Design Modification& Integration

Simulator TestSystems Eng.

Increment 1

Functional Flight TestsSensor Flight Tests

2010 2011 2012 2013

Non-segr Flight

Increment 2

Sensor H/WSystem H/W 1 (manned)

System H/W 2 (UAV)

Demonstrator SE

Sim development

1 2 3

1

Standardization support

Concept SE

Project management and Technical coordination

H/W Design

Tests in simulators

Tests in manned a/c

Functional Design

Systems Eng.

Tests in UAS

Management

Workshop withStakeholders

Assessment SEFunctional SE

Increment 3

Increment 4a

2

S&A Flights

Incr 4b

1 2

4

Normal System Engineering

1. Customer states: USER needs2. Concept of operation (CONOPS) and High level requirements

(HLR) are derived3. CONOPS + HLR + Standards are used to derive lower level

requirements and allocate these to design.4. Validation of requirements are performed in each step5. Verification of implementation at each integration step against

req on that level.6. Validating final product (design) against USER needs.7. Cash in.

But MIDCAS is not that easy! We lack• Well defined USER and thus user needs• Standard for S&A for UAS.• A product (the demonstrator will not fulfill the standard)

MIDCAS System Design Validation & Verification Process

Questions and current studies

A major aspect is quantification of qualitatively expressed “requirements”•ICAO Annex2 “Rules of the air”:

'pass well clear’ ‘head-on’

• ‘Compatible levels of safety as manned aviation’• ‘Good airmanship' • ‘TCAS compatibility’• ‘Nuisance free’• ‘Increased workload’

Sensor de-risking flight tests

Purpose is to gather data to be used for: development of image processing

algorithms sensor models for simulation

Two different types of sensors have been integrated into the nose of a CASA C-212 test aircraft

two visible band (EO) cameras one infrared (IR) camera

EO IR

Key issues

• Standardization support• Stakeholder workshops

Acceptance of requirements and solutions

• Feasibility Systems Engineering

Functional Design Validation of Requirement and concept

Demonstrator design Produceability

• Safety• Planned UAV flight in non-segregated airspace including discussions of the safety case with the Civil Aviation Authorities

Incremental approach with feedback from simulations, and test to the concept, requirement and design.

Questions!

Alenia Sky-Y

CASA 212

Manned and unmanned demonstrators