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Breaking down the barriers to UAS deployment

Alan CornerHeliosLondon, 13 October 2011

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About Helios…

• Helios is an independent management and technical consultancy to the aerospace, transport and telecommunication sectors

Our Customers• Regulators• Service providers• Airspace users• Industry

Our Capabilities• Policy and strategy• Institutional reform and

regulation• Business and operational change• Technology innovation• Procurement support• Safety and resilience• Business and market strategy

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Introduction

• Setting the scene• The demand for commercial UAS operations• Barriers to take-off• Tackling the barriers:

• Top down• Bottom-up

• Conclusion

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If UAS are so good, why aren’t the skies filled with them?

• The commercial exploitation of UAS has been slow, despite them providing an opportunity to reduce the cost and improve the efficiency for many types of operations traditionally conducted by manned aircraft

• There are many issues which must be resolved before the full benefits for commercial operations can be realised

• Without clear direction or precedence, regulators are naturally cautious (although some are more forward thinking than others!)

• The current approach to approving commercial UAS operations is thorough but inevitably slow

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The demand for UAS services is increasing

• UKTI estimates:• $31 billion UAS market

over the next 10 years• UK claiming a $1.8b

market share

Teal Group Corporation 2010

European Market Estimation , Purdue University

• UAS have reached flight maturity• Supporting a range of

applications• Suited to repetitive tasks

over an extended duration

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Potential barriers

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Safety

Safe UAS operations

UAS operation desired

Operational concept defined

Airworthiness approved Flight crew

authorised Access to airspace

Risks identified and

mitigated

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Airworthiness and type certification

For UAS >150kg, the European airworthiness requirements stipulated in European Regulation (EC) No. 216/2008.

This states that the design and manufacture of a UAS must be in accordance with the relevant certification specifications as for manned aircraft and must be issued with its own certificate of airworthiness and permit to fly.

Smaller UAS (<150kg) are the responsibility of the national regulator.

The UK CAA has published guidance in CAP 722

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Crew licensing and human factors

The issue of training and licensing of UAS pilots requires resolution

• The entire concept of operations for the piloting of UAS is different to that of manned aircraft

• The role of the human in UAS operations must be considered

International agreement is required to exploit the full benefits of UAS

At a national level, the UK CAA has approved one organisation to provide ‘recognised’ training for some VLOS operations

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Communications

The integrity of UAS command and control is key to safe operation

Spectrum is becoming an increasingly expensive commodity

There is no dedicated spectrum for UAS, so operators must compromise between the intended range, bandwidth, latency and immunity to interference – this also prevents challengers in the approvals process

The issue will be discussed at the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2012

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ATM integration

Different types of airspace present different challenges

To realise their full potential, UAS will eventually need approval for operations in all types of airspace –this will be a long process:

• Not considered by ICAO until Aviation System Block Upgrade 3 (2028+)

• SESAR and NextGen and a ‘more known and trajectory-based operation’ will aid integration

Early access to defined but non-segregated airspace could enable some UAS operations sooner

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Public perception

Media coverage of UAS has tended to be negative

Improving public perception requires a concerted effort by the UAS industry

The use of UAS in more ‘positive’roles would improve public perception

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The top down approach …

Excellent work is already underway to address some of the challenges

• ICAO UASSG, EUROCAE WG73, RTCA• ASTRAEA, Air4all, INOUI• Learning lessons from other users (including the

military)

But what else can be done to bring commercial UAS to market more quickly to meet the requirements of the user (or potential) of UAS?

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The bottom-up approach…

• Progressively approve ‘lower risk’ operations supported by a suitable safety case etc.

• Build on the work carried out by, for example, the UK CAA

In parallel and in coordination with some of the ‘top down’ initiatives:

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The bottom-up approach…

• Regulators, users and other stakeholders (ANSPs, other airspace users etc) work actively together to create a suitable ‘safety case’ for agreed ‘types’ of operation

• Operations are considered within the ATM context and safety established in line with recognised practice, e.g.• EC regulations 550/2004 , 2096/2005, 482/2008

• Eurocontrol Safety Regulatory Requirements (ESARRs)

• EUROCAE ED-78A, SAE ARP4671

• Consistency of approach for ‘pilot’ operations can provide coordinated evidence gathering to support operational, performance and system requirements

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Defining ‘types’ of operation

• How will it operate? (VLOS, EVLOS, BVLOS, reversionary procedures etc)

• Where will it operate? (airspace classification, cross border operations etc)

• Other issues that might impact safety including size/mass of the platform, density of population etc

Agree and ‘categorize’ common characteristics related to how a UAS might need to access airspace and the barriers that need to be overcome to enable it to do so. For example:

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For example…

Size How Where Example operations

Small VLOSUrban areas and within all

classes of airspace

Police, fire services,

photography etc

Small to large BVLOSRemote areas in primarily Class

G airspace

Surveillance of volcanoes,

arctic, wildlife

Small EVLOS/BVLOSRemote/low density areas in

primarily Class G airspace

Agriculture, buildings,

pipelines, border surveillance

Large BLOS

Remote/low density areas in

airspace classes A-C and cross-

border

Large cargo

Small to large BLOS

Long range over remote areas

in all airspace classes and

cross border

Border surveillance, fisheries

protection

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An evolutionary approach…

• Establish a formal process to capture evidence and lessons learned• Evidence could support more complex approvals

• Use results to:• Influence regulation• Prioritise and focus the design of technologies currently being

developed by programmes such as ASTRAEA

• Increased utilisation will help improve public perception

• The UK is well placed to support this approach

A more evolutionary approach – more akin to the development of manned aviation?

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Conclusions

• UAS offer promising environmental, cost and efficiency benefits for a wide range of commercial applications

• A number of barriers need to be overcome – these can be tackled through a combination of a top down and bottom-up approach

• Increased ‘lower risk’ operations will help us learn lessons and influence regulations, requirements etc.

• Public perception will improve as utilisation increases

• The UK is well placed to drive this forward: good airspace; a forward-thinking regulator and ANSP; established manufacturers and programmes such as ASTRAEA

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Thank youfor your attention

Alan Corneralan.corner@askhelios.com