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Effects of Communication Modality on Pilot-Controller Coordination during a Simulated m:N Operation

The last decade or so has seen growing interest in new control paradigms and concepts of operation for uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) in which multiple aircraft are piloted remotely by a single or relatively small number of people. Referred to as “one-to-many” and “many-to- many” (alternatively, “multi-operator, multi-vehicle”)—and frequently expressed as the corresponding ratios, 1:N and m:N—such novel configurations of aircraft and the people who manage them are seen as critical to the path to future operations involving UAS. Examples of industry domains interested in these control paradigms are small package delivery services utilizing small UAS and passenger-carrying, short-range “Urban Air Mobility” (UAM) operations. Stakeholders in such operations have identified communication and coordination of flight activity with air traffic controllers (ATC) as a barrier to operations. In contrast to present-day flight operations, in which a pilot communicates with one ATC on one radio frequency for one aircraft, multi-vehicle operations potentially entail a significant increase in pilot task load for management of comms. New concepts, such as UAS Service Suppliers (USSs) and Providers of Services to UAM (PSUs), have been proposed to address the known bottleneck for Air Traffic Management (ATM) presented by multi-vehicle operations. While progress has been steadily made over years developing USSs and PSUs, it is generally expected that initial UAM operations will rely on traditional voice-over-radio communication with ATC for purposes of ATM. The current study was a human-in-the-loop simulation that had participants, each possessing a Private Pilot License, act as the ground-based pilot-in- command for multiple vehicles in a hypothetical UAM service in the San Francisco Bay Area. The experiment utilized a 2-by-3, within-subjects design in which the pilot’s Vehicle Load (4 vs. 12) and Comm System (Voice, Datalink, and a Hybrid) were manipulated. The task given to pilots was to use the Comm System to coordinate flight activity for all aircraft with appropriate controllers, having to obtain departure and arrival clearances at “vertiport” facilities and transition clearances for any intermediate airspaces along the route. Pilots were additionally responsible for compliance with vectoring instructions issued by ATC. Subjective workload questionnaires (NASA-TLX) were administered following each experimental trial. Screen recordings of the pilot’s Ground Control Station (GCS) and audio recordings of trials were subsequently coded to obtain performance metrics: response times and error rates. Presented in this paper are results related to pilot responses to vectoring instructions issued by ATC. Workload was found to be significantly higher in the 12-Vehicle condition compared to the 4-Vehicle condition, nearly maxing out the NASA-TLX overall workload scale. There was no significant difference made by the Comm System on workload ratings. Pilots’ response times to communications were fastest in the Voice condition, although overall “service time” for compliance was shorter in Datalink and Hybrid conditions in most cases. Errors by pilots were frequent in both Vehicle Load conditions, most perniciously when using the Voice system. The results of this study suggest tradeoffs in advantages and disadvantages of the three comm systems. Recommendations for communication system design are provided taking the tradeoffs into account.

urban air mobility↗

Human Factors Impact of Different Ramp Controller Scheduling Advisories for ATD-2 Surface Metering in a Human-in-the-Loop Simulation

A human-in-the-loop (HITL) simulation took place in 2019 at NASA Ames Research Center’s Future Flight Central, an airport simulator with a full-scale 360-degree view that showed real-time airport operations at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW). The HITL was part of the NASA/FAA Airspace Technology Demonstration 2 (ATD-2) project which involves an on-going field demonstration at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT). In the field demonstration, metering on the airport surface takes place with one of the goals being to reduce runway queue length by holding aircraft at the gate during busy times, thereby reducing fuel burn and CO2 emissions. This goal has been successfully accomplished at CLT by showing Ramp Controllers when to release aircraft at the gate so as to reduce aircraft waiting in the queue. Among the questions that the current simulation at DFW was designed to address were, "Which types of advisories to the Ramp Controllers work best, those that show a ±2 minute window for a release time from the gate, or a ±5 minute window for an arrival time at the spot (where Air Traffic Control takes over) or both?" and "How do these different types of advisories affect Ramp Controller workload and situation awareness?" Another question was, “Does a ramp that is less restrictive than the one at CLT affect compliance with these advisories?”

Bonny K Parke↗

Developing Urban Air Mobility Vehicle Models to Support Air Traffic Management Concept Development

To support Urban Air Mobility (UAM) research efforts at NASA, the Airspace Target Generator (ATG) software used in the FutureFlight Central (FFC) air traffic control tower simulator is undergoing updates to support physics-based UAM vehicle models. A process was developed to integrate UAM vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft into the fixed-wing ATG modeling environment without significant change to the underlying equations of motion and vehicle model database. The VTOL aircraft models were converted from a six degrees-of-freedom (6-DOF) representation into a four degrees-of-freedom (4-DOF) representation for integration within ATG. Three vehicle designs from the NASA Revolutionary Vertical-Lift Technologies (RVLT) project were selected: a lift-plus-cruise (LPC) aircraft model and quadrotor, electric-powered (QEP) 1-seater and 6-seater models. With the LPC model comprised of a nonlinear force and moment build-up, and the QEP models comprised of linearized stability derivatives, two separate processes were developed to convert the lift, drag, and propulsion characteristics of each model into the ATG model database. Key aircraft performance characteristics including climb, cruise, and descent performance were preserved during the conversion process. Because ATG simulates fixed-wing aircraft through ground taxi and takeoff to approach and landing, acceleration command algorithms were developed to model the vertical takeoff and vertical landing phase of UAM operations. A strategy was then developed to transition the aircraft model to- and from- the new control mode.

urban air mobility↗

Four-dimensional guidance problem with control delays

This paper, assuming steady wind and zero sideslip, presents a discrete-time mathematical model to obtain a control law and three-dimensional flight path to guide an aircraft in a given time from a given initial state (position, velocity and heading) to a prescribed final state subject to the constraints on airspeed acceleration, and pitch and bank angles of the aircraft. For ease in implementing the control law, the control inputs are assumed to be delayed and are applied in a sequential fashion. The guidance problem is formulated as a discrete nonlinear optimal control problem with time delays in dynamics and a cost functional of Bolza form. With a quadratic penalty function to handle terminal constraints on velocity and heading, a solution technique to the control problem based on conjugate gradient algorithm is investigated. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the applicability of this approach to solution of a terminal area guidance problem in an automated air traffic control environment.

Nagarajan, N.↗

Apex Reference Manual 3.0 Beta

Apex is a toolkit for constructing software that behaves intelligently and responsively in demanding task environments. Reflecting its origin at NASA where Apex continues to be developed, current applications include: a) Providing autonomous mission management and tactical control capabilities for unmanned aerial vehicles including an autonomous surveillance helicopter and a simulation prototype of an unmanned fixed-wing aircraft to be used for wildfire mapping; b) Simulating human air traffic controllers, pilots and astronauts to help predict how people might respond to changes in equipment or procedures; and c) Predicting the precise duration and sequence of routine human behaviors based on a human-computer interaction engineering technique called CPM-GOMS. Among Apex s components are a set of implemented reasoning services, such as those for reactive planning and temporal pattern recognition; a software architecture that embeds and integrates these services and allows additional reasoning elements to be added as extensions; a formal language for specifying agent knowledge; a simulation environment to facilitate prototyping and analysis; and Sherpa, a set of tools for visualizing autonomy logic and runtime behavior. In combination, these are meant to provide a flexible and usable framework for creating, testing, and deploying intelligent agent software. Overall, our goal in developing Apex is to lower economic barriers to developing intelligent software agents. New ideas about how to extend or modify the system are evaluated in terms of their impact in reducing the time, expertise, and inventiveness required to build and maintain applications. For example, potential enhancements to the AI reasoning capabilities in the system are reviewed not only for usefulness and distinctiveness, but also for their impact on the readability and general usability of Apex s behavior representation language (PDL) and on the transparency of resulting behavior. A second central part of our approach is to iteratively refine Apex based on lessons learned from as diverse a set of applications as possible. Many applications have been developed by users outside the core development team including engineers, researchers, and students. Usability is thus a central concern for every aspect of Apex visible to a user, including PDL, Sherpa, the Apex installation process, APIs, and user documentation. Apex users vary in their areas of expertise and in their familiarity with autonomy technology. Focusing on usability, a development philosophy summarized by the project motto "Usable Autonomy," has been important part of enabling diverse users to employ Apex successfully and to provide feedback needed to guide iterative, user-centered refinement.

Freed, Michael A.↗

Assessment of a National Airspace System Airborne Rerouting Tool

This paper presents the assessment of a National Airspace System airborne rerouting tool. The tool implements NASA’s Dynamic Weather Routes concept for wind-corrected flying-time savings during convective weather activity. A description of the system, as applicable to the entire United States airspace is provided, and results are presented demonstrating benefits of such a system from various Centers and airlines’ perspectives. Three cases for selection of reroute-return capture fix, which prevent unrealistically large controller clearances are presented. Results are shown for potential time- and fuel-savings (over 134,000 minutes and 4.2 million lbs. of fuel for over 35,000 proposed reroutes) and sector congestion reduction (over 121 hours in congested sectors) for all 20 Centers. The data used were for 30 days with highest delays attributable to convective weather from April to October of 2014. Other results show the evaluation of the maneuver or reroute start point (a parameter representing the amount of coordination time needed), which highlight the need for a controller-pilot data link. A data link would help achieve higher savings. The results for persistence time, beyond which the time-savings dwindle quickly, help determine the maximum coordination time required for each Center. Finally, an assessment from a current National Operations Manager at the Air Traffic Control System Command Center of the FAA is documented. Those suggestions could improve the efficiency of the air transportation system, especially with the expected improvements in the traffic flow management infrastructure. Currently, one industry partner and one airline are assessing this technology for commercial operational use.

Benefits Assessment↗

Effectiveness of advanced fuel-conservative procedures in the transitional ATC environment

The real time simulation (involving both the pilot and the air traffic controller) of fuel conservative approaches, profile descents, and four dimensional area navigation to assess the effectiveness of the procedures is discussed. Generally, results indicate some difficulties with the procedures tested in a mixed traffic environment and point to the need for computer assistance for effective implementation of candidate procedures.

Tobias, L.↗

DARPA/USAF/USN J-UCAS X-45A System Demonstration Program: A Review of Flight Test Site Processes and Personnel

The Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems (J-UCAS) program is a collaborative effort between the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), the US Air Force (USAF) and the US Navy (USN). Together they have reviewed X-45A flight test site processes and personnel as part of a system demonstration program for the UCAV-ATD Flight Test Program. The goal was to provide a disciplined controlled process for system integration and testing and demonstration flight tests. NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) acted as the project manager during this effort and was tasked with the responsibilities of range and ground safety, the provision of flight test support and infrastructure and the monitoring of technical and engineering tasks. DFRC also contributed their engineering knowledge through their contributions in the areas of autonomous ground taxi control development, structural dynamics testing and analysis and the provision of other flight test support including telemetry data, tracking radars, and communications and control support equipment. The Air Force Flight Test Center acted at the Deputy Project Manager in this effort and was responsible for the provision of system safety support and airfield management and air traffic control services, among other supporting roles. The T-33 served as a J-UCAS surrogate aircraft and demonstrated flight characteristics similar to that of the the X-45A. The surrogate served as a significant risk reduction resource providing mission planning verification, range safety mission assessment and team training, among other contributions.

Cosentino, Gary B.↗

Assessment of Delivery Accuracy in an Operational-Like Environment

In order to enable arrival management concepts and solutions in a Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) environment, ground-based sequencing and scheduling functions were developed to support metering operations in the National Airspace System. These sequencing and scheduling tools are designed to assist air traffic controllers in developing an overall arrival strategy, from enroute down to the terminal area boundary. NASA developed a ground system concept and protoype capability called Terminal Sequencing and Spacing (TSAS) to extend metering operations into the terminal area to the runway. To demonstrate the use of these scheduling and spacing tools in an operational-like environment, the FAA, NASA, and MITRE conducted an Operational Integration Assessment (OIA) of a prototype TSAS system at the FAA's William J. Hughes Technical Center (WJHTC). This paper presents an analysis of the arrival management strategies utilized and delivery accuracy achieved during the OIA. The analysis demonstrates how en route preconditioning, in various forms, and schedule disruptions impact delivery accuracy. As the simulation spanned both enroute and terminal airspace, the use of Ground Interval Management - Spacing (GIM-S) enroute speed advisories was investigated. Delivery accuracy was measured as the difference between the Scheduled Time of Arrival (STA) and the Actual Time of Arrival (ATA). The delivery accuracy was computed across all runs conducted during the OIA, which included deviations from nominal operations which are known to commonly occur in real operations, such as schedule changes and missed approaches. Overall, 83% of all flights were delivered into the terminal airspace within +/- 30 seconds of their STA and 94% of flights were delivered within +/- 60 seconds. The meter fix delivery accuracy standard deviation was found to be between 36 and 55 seconds across all arrival procedures. The data also showed when schedule disruptions were excluded, the percentage of aircraft delivered within +/- 30 seconds was between 85 and 90% across the various arrival procedures at the meter fix. This paper illustrates the ability to meet new delivery accuracy requirements in an operational-like environment using operational systems and NATCA controller participants, while also including common events that might cause disruptions to the schedule and overall system.

Air Traffic Scheduling↗

Air Traffic Management Response to Vertiport Closure

Increasing quantities of urban air mobility operations requires consideration of various contingencies associated with novel operational tempos and airspace management practices. This paper explores a contingency scenario in which a single vertiport closes unexpectedly during high tempo operations. Dynamic re-planning is explored as a function performed both by operators using common operating procedures and through emergency assistance from air traffic control. Implications for airspace capacity, infrastructure requirements, and vehicle energy reserves are discussed.

UAM↗

Considerations for an Integrated UAS CNS Architecture

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center (GRC) is investigating revolutionary and advanced universal, reliable, always available, cyber secure and affordable Communication, Navigation, Surveillance (CNS) options for all altitudes of UAS operations. In Spring 2015, NASA issued a Call for Proposals under NASA Research Announcements (NRA) NNH15ZEA001N, Amendment 7 Subtopic 2.4. Boeing was selected to conduct a study with the objective to determine the most promising candidate technologies for Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) air-to-air and air-to-ground data exchange and analyze their suitability in a post-NextGen NAS environment. The overall objectives are to develop UAS CNS requirements and then develop architectures that satisfy the requirements for UAS in both controlled and uncontrolled air space. This contract is funded under NASAs Aeronautics Research Mission Directorates (ARMD) Aviation Operations and Safety Program (AOSP) Safe Autonomous Systems Operations (SASO) project and proposes technologies for the Unmanned Air Systems Traffic Management (UTM) service.There is a need for accommodating large-scale populations of Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) in the national air space. Scale obviously impacts capacity planning for Communication, Navitation, and Surveillance (CNS) technologies. For example, can wireless communications data links provide the necessary capacity for accommodating millions of small UASs (sUAS) nationwide? Does the communications network provide sufficient Internet Protocol (IP) address space to allow air traffic control to securely address both UAS teams as a whole as well as individual UAS within each team? Can navigation and surveillance approaches assure safe route planning and safe separation of vehicles even in crowded skies?Our objective is to identify revolutionary and advanced CNS alternatives supporting UASs operating at all altitudes and in all airspace while accurately navigating in the absence of navigational aids. These CNS alternatives must be reliable, redundant, always available, cyber-secure, and affordable for all types of vehicles including small UAS to large transport category aircraft. The approach will identify CNS technology candidates that can meet the needs of the range of UAS missions to specific air traffic management applications where they will be most beneficial and cost effective.

Templin, Fred L.↗

Considerations for an Integrated UAS CNS Architecture

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Glenn Research Center (GRC) is investigating revolutionary and advanced universal, reliable, always available, cyber secure and affordable Communication, Navigation, Surveillance (CNS) options for all altitudes of UAS operations. In Spring 2015, NASA issued a Call for Proposals under NASA Research Announcements (NRA) NNH15ZEA001N, Amendment 7 Subtopic 2.4. Boeing was selected to conduct a study with the objective to determine the most promising candidate technologies for Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) air-to-air and air-to-ground data exchange and analyze their suitability in a post-NextGen NAS environment. The overall objectives are to develop UAS CNS requirements and then develop architectures that satisfy the requirements for UAS in both controlled and uncontrolled air space. This contract is funded under NASAs Aeronautics Research Mission Directorates (ARMD) Aviation Operations and Safety Program (AOSP) Safe Autonomous Systems Operations (SASO) project and proposes technologies for the Unmanned Air Systems Traffic Management (UTM) service.There is a need for accommodating large-scale populations of Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) in the national air space. Scale obviously impacts capacity planning for Communication, Navigation, and Surveillance (CNS) technologies. For example, can wireless communications data links provide the necessary capacity for accommodating millions of small UASs (sUAS) nationwide? Does the communications network provide sufficient Internet Protocol (IP) address space to allow air traffic control to securely address both UAS teams as a whole as well as individual UAS within each team? Can navigation and surveillance approaches assure safe route planning and safe separation of vehicles even in crowded skies?Our objective is to identify revolutionary and advanced CNS alternatives supporting UASs operating at all altitudes and in all airspace while accurately navigating in the absence of navigational aids. These CNS alternatives must be reliable, redundant, always available, cyber-secure, and affordable for all types of vehicles including small UAS to large transport category aircraft. The approach will identify CNS technology candidates that can meet the needs of the range of UAS missions to specific air traffic management applications where they will be most beneficial and cost effective.

Templin, Fred L.↗

Systems and methods for monitoring traffic on industrial control and building automation system networks

Technologies relating to monitoring communications traffic to detect potential attacks on industrial control system networks and building automation system networks are described herein. In an embodiment, a monitoring device receives a plurality of communications from a control network. The monitoring device transmits the communications to a computing device. Based on the communications, the computing device generates a listing of devices that communicated by way of the control network over a period of time, and computes a volume of traffic between each pair of devices in the listing of devices. The computing device then outputs a graphical user interface (GUI) by way of display, the GUI comprising data indicative of the computed volumes of traffic, which may be indicative of a potential attack on the control network.

Jenkins, Chris↗

Conceptual design and simulator implementation of an automatic terminal approach system

The pilot-machine interface with aircraft automation to increase the safety and utility of single-pilot IFR (instrument flight rules) operations is addressed. An automatic terminal approach system (ATAS), that uses stored instrument approach data to automatically tune aircraft radios and control the aircraft autopilot, was conceived as a means of improving this critical interface. The ATAS automatically flies instrument approach procedures, including the missed approach, and provides for easy pilot interaction to accommodate air traffic control radar vectors and altitude assignments. A research prototype of an ATAS was developed to the extent necessary for a simulation implementation and piloted evaluation. The development of the ATAS concept and the software algorithms is described.

Hinton, D. A.↗

Static and Motion-Based Visual Features Used by Airport Tower Controllers: Some Implications for the Design of Remote or Virtual Towers

Visual motion and other visual cues are used by tower controllers to provide important support for their control tasks at and near airports. These cues are particularly important for anticipated separation. Some of them, which we call visual features, have been identified from structured interviews and discussions with 24 active air traffic controllers or supervisors. The visual information that these features provide has been analyzed with respect to possible ways it could be presented at a remote tower that does not allow a direct view of the airport. Two types of remote towers are possible. One could be based on a plan-view, map-like computer-generated display of the airport and its immediate surroundings. An alternative would present a composite perspective view of the airport and its surroundings, possibly provided by an array of radially mounted cameras positioned at the airport in lieu of a tower. An initial more detailed analyses of one of the specific landing cues identified by the controllers, landing deceleration, is provided as a basis for evaluating how controllers might detect and use it. Understanding other such cues will help identify the information that may be degraded or lost in a remote or virtual tower not located at the airport. Some initial suggestions how some of the lost visual information may be presented in displays are mentioned. Many of the cues considered involve visual motion, though some important static cues are also discussed.

Ellis, Stephen R.↗

Conflict Alerts for Aircraft Conducting Visual Approaches

It is common for aircraft to conduct visual and instrument final approaches to a single runway or multiple parallel runways. Useful, nonexcessive safety alerts on aircraft conducting visual approaches are helpful to air traffic controllers, though pilots are responsible for separation with the preceding aircraft. A variety of visual approaches to various runway configurations are studied, and a set of safety alert thresholds is proposed. Fast-time simulations with recorded real-world air traffic data of mostly visual approach flights are performed on a prototype tactical separation assurance system for terminal airspace. Alerts are generated -- with both the standard separation thresholds and the proposed safety alert thresholds -- and compared with those from the Conflict Alert (CA) functionality in the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS). The results show that the number of Mode-C Intruder alerts generated was reduced 76% as compared to STARS CA. The nuisance alerts generated by assuming visual to be instrument approaches was reduced by 92% when the proposed safety alert thresholds were used and visual approaches were assumed.A set of safety alert thresholds, which allow safety alerts to be provided to the controllers for aircraft conductingvisual approaches to a single runway or multiple parallel runways, has been proposed based on input from SubjectMatter Experts as well as visual approach procedures and common practices. The goal is to maximize the thresholdswithin the guidance of the procedures and common practices and to minimize the number of nuisance alerts and totalnumber of alerts with the support of flight intent information. Tests have been performed using a recently developedprototype tactical separation assurance system for terminal airspace, called Terminal Tactical Separation-AssuredFlight Environment (T-TSAFE). The input was a full day of air traffic data from Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) TRACONwith most arriving flights conducting visual approaches. The results compare favorably with those of the ConflictAlert (CA) functionality of the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS).When fast-time simulation experiment was performed using T-TSAFE with all arriving flights assumed to conductinstrument approaches, the expected large number of separation alerts were observed. When compared with STARSCA, the conflict pairs common to both T-TSAFE and STARS CA was only 21% of the total STARS CA alerts. As aresult, the nuisance-alert rate for STARS CA was estimated to be about 70%, which is comparable to a similar previously estimation of 80% nuisance-alert rate for CARTS (Common Automated Radar Terminal System) CA. The Mode-CIntruder (MCI) alerts were also reduced by 76% as compared to STARS CA.Examination of the common conflict pairs between T-TSAFE and STARS CA shows that they are valid separationconflicts with good alert lead times for T-TSAFE. However, many of them would still be considered nuisance alertsif the aircraft were conducting visual approaches. This was confirmed by another visual approach fast-time simulationT-TSAFE experiment, in which all DFW arriving flights were assumed to be on visual approaches and our proposedsafety alert thresholds were used and tested. The result of the experiment showed that the number of non-MCI alertswas less by 92% as compared to the number when all DFW arrivals were assumed to be conducting instrumentapproaches. The common conflict pairs involving aircraft conducting visual approaches to parallel runways werereduced by 93% as well. Thus, the flight intent information and the safety alert thresholds are effective in reducingnuisance alerts.T-TSAFE can thus provide separation and safety conflict alerts seamlessly in the real-world environment of mixedterminal operations with arriving flights of both visual and instrument approaches. Compared with STARS CA, TTSAFEhas fewer false alerts, larger alert lead time, and larger alert thresholds. While the nuisance alerts are reducedsignificantly with the safety alert thresholds, further work is needed to study if the alert lead time for safety alerts issufficient.

Tang, Huabin↗

Functional Allocation Approach for Separation Assurance for Remotely Piloted Aircraft

A functional analysis framework is employed with the objective of exploring the separation assurance function for the remotely piloted aircraft system. The architecture of the remotely piloted aircraft system—highlighting several of the component systems and the functions resident onboard the remotely piloted aircraft and in the ground control station—is described to provide the context for understanding the complexity of the said system for a detailed functional analysis. The interactions between the agents of the separation assurance function belonging to the air traffic service provider, remotely piloted aircraft system operator and remotely piloted aircraft are described. Separation assurance by air traffic control, remain well clear by the remotely piloted aircraft system and collision avoidance onboard the remotely piloted aircraft are briefly discussed. The functional analysis framework is illustrated by relating the agents to the actions of (a) acquiring the surveillance information, (b) checking for conflicts, (c) creating the solutions for resolving conflicts and (d) implementing the conflict resolution solutions. This example is offered as a template by which a more detailed functional analysis of this and other functions could be developed. The architecture of the remotely piloted aircraft system is described to aid this process.

functional analysis↗

Functional Allocation Approach for Separation Assurance for Remotely Piloted Aircraft

A functional analysis framework is employed with the objective of exploring the separation assurance function for the remotely piloted aircraft system. The architecture of the remotely piloted aircraft system—highlighting several of the component systems and the functions resident onboard the remotely piloted aircraft and in the ground control station—is described to provide the context for understanding the complexity of the said system for a detailed functional analysis. The interactions between the agents of the separation assurance function belonging to the air traffic service provider, remotely piloted aircraft system operator and remotely piloted aircraft are described. Separation assurance by air traffic control, remain well clear by the remotely piloted aircraft system and collision avoidance onboard the remotely piloted aircraft are briefly discussed. The functional analysis framework is illustrated by relating the agents to the actions of (a) acquiring the surveillance information, (b) checking for conflicts, (c) creating the solutions for resolving conflicts and (d) implementing the conflict resolution solutions. This example is offered as a template by which a more detailed functional analysis of this and other functions could be developed. The architecture of the remotely piloted aircraft system is described to aid this process.

Functional analysis↗