UAS integration into the NAS

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has developed a roadmap in order to find a solution to the ever growing National Airspace System (NAS) safety issues.  The FAA's roadmap addresses policies, procedures, regulations, and technologies that will be needed in order for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) to safely fly within the NAS.  The plan is to implement the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) system in stages between 2012 and 2025.  The goal of the NextGen system is to alleviate the stress and ensure the safety of the increased air traffic and introduction of UAS within the NAS.  According to the FAA's Destination 2025:

"NextGen is a series of inter-linked programs, systems, and policies that implement advanced technologies and capabilities to dramatically change the way the current aviation system is operated. NextGen is satellite-based and relies on a network to share information and digital communications so all users of the system are aware of other users' precise locations (FAA, 2013)."

The implementation of advanced sense and avoid technologies is the main focus on the manned aviation spectrum of the NextGen system.  For the NextGen system to work, all aircraft operating within the NAS will have to be able to effectively maintain a safe distance from each other, called self-separation.  As what is described as the backbone of the NextGen system, Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B), will move Air Traffic Control from radar based system to a satellite derived aircraft location system.  The requirement for ADS-B is planned to be implemented in the United States by January 1st, 2020 (Davidson, 2013).  ADS-B periodically broadcasts data such as, position, altitude, identification, and velocity about the aircraft through an onboard transmitter.  Other aircraft equipped with ADS-B and ATC will be able to see and interpret that data in order to maintain safe distances.

The difficulty that the FAA is facing with integrating UAS into the NAS is ensuring the UAS has the same level of safety that a manned aircraft has.  Without an actual pilot onboard, a UAS will have to utilize sensors in order to “see” objects in the sky.  The integration of ADS-B aboard a UAS will help with aircraft to aircraft position locations, but the ADS-B system does not sense other objects such as buildings, mountains, or trees.  Furthermore, the technology is too bulky and heavy to efficiently be installed in small UAS.  In order to match the safety of a manned aircraft, sense and avoid technology is going to have to be developed and successfully implemented into UAS before the FAA can approve the safety of the aircrafts.

The main human factor that is foreseeable in the future is the lack of training of UAS pilots.  Manned aircraft require extensive training not only to operate the aircraft safely, but to increase awareness of their surroundings.  As more people are getting into the hobby due to a large sUAS influx recently, the lack of skill in pilots is becoming even more apparent.  The public is seeing these sUAS as toys and not the dangerous aircraft that they are.  The FAA can mitigate this issue with a licensing program to fly UAS.  Different classifications can help in reducing the requirements to specifics of the aircraft (size, technology, distance, etc.).  There are already restrictions upon flying model aircraft, but they are loosely regulated and ignored all too often.  If pilots have to earn their right to fly while being taught safe practices, they will be less likely to break the rules and fly dangerously.


References

Davidson, J. (2013, September 23). ADS-B Requirements Coming Into Effect . Retrieved June 20, 2014, from universalweather.com:http://www.universalweather.com/blog/2013/09/ads-b-requirements-coming-into-effect/

FAA. (2013). Integration of Civil UAS in the NAS Roadmap. Retrieved June 20, 2014, from faa.gov: http://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/uas/media/UAS_Roadmap2013.pdf