Unmanned Aerial Systems, Both Military and Civilian, Sharing US Civil Airspace: Assessing the Implementation Challenges of Civilian UAS (Thesis Sample)

Unmanned Aerial Systems, Both Military and Civilian, Sharing US Civil Airspace:
Assessing the Implementation Challenges of Civilian UAS
By
Student Names
A Research Project
Submitted to the Worldwide Campus
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
of Course ASCI 490, The Aeronautical Science Capstone Course,
for the Bachelor of Science in Aeronautics Degree
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
January 2016
Abstract
The growing purview of UAS (unmanned aerial systems) has not only resulted to opportunities, but also challenges that are exposed to both the federal government agencies and the ideal implementation of civil UASs in civil airspace. Drones (Military UAS) have highly dominated this sector of aviation hence being among the key challenges facing the smooth implementation of private UAS. ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) has been mandated with the task of controlling unmanned aerial systems and vehicles for quite a while. There exist ample literature on military UAS as compared to that of private UAS, hence elevating the chances of not coming up with an apt solution to the challenges facing the integration of private UAS, with US Civil airspace been a key concern. However, the sharing of US civil airspace by both civilian and military UAS has brought forth several security concerns, in addition to privacy, regulatory, safety, and insurance issues, hence being additional key challenges to this integration. However, another Modernization and Reform Act 2012 was promulgated by FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), with the intent of alleviating the capacity and safety of UAS and general aviation operations. This project has assessed various factors contributing to the lagging situation in the implementation of private UAS in the United States civilian airspace. Sufficient literature has equally been offered as a way of assessing these challenges. Furthermore, possible recommendations and solutions to such challenges have been offered in this paper.
Unmanned Aerial Systems, Both Military and Civilian, Sharing US Civil Airspace:
Assessing the Implementation Challenges of Civilian UAS
Introduction
Integration of civilian UAS into the national airspace system is an intricate concern facing the creators and regulators of aviation policies. This is a concern that needs a convincingly precautious and conventional approach of study. The history of UAS dates back to more than 9 decades ago, just after the First World War (Keane and Carr, 2013). Later in the 1990’s, UAV systems were highly accepted and gained interest in the super power nations, particularly as military tools. By the early 2000’s the need for UAV became more apparent, with their use being diversified into different sectors. The notion of military and private UAS sharing the airspace in their operations has highly been mitigated by the passing of FAA’s (Federal Aviation Administration) Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, which sought to elevate the capacity and safety of UAS and general aviation operations, as stipulated by Hunter (2012). On the other hand, this integration continues to pose myriad challenges linked with national security concerns, particularly taking terrorism into contemplation. The importance of this study lies within the need to have UAS occupying the US civil airspace more than ever. Additionally, the project has evaluated the uses of UAS technology, assess the safety, privacy, security, insurance, and regulatory issues linked with the integration of UAS in the US Civil airspace. The capacity of this project has widely assessed the issues linked with the integration of private UAS into the United States national airspace, and eventually offered various recommendations on the issue.
Assessing challenges linked with Private UAS Integration
Limited number of institutions of higher learning offering Aviation courses
In his study to access the development of a commercial Pilot Program and thorough aviation management plan, Borowiec (2003) challenges several universities to adjust their courses curriculum and integrate careers in Airport/Aviation management, commercial piloting as well as UAS technologies. For instance, the researcher quotes Texas being among the states with very limited number of higher learning institutions covering the same. Therefore, with this proposal being instigated throughout the United States, the current study believes students would come up with various resolutions to the challenges facing apt implementation of civilian UAS in the U.S. civil airspace. It is therefore a recommendation that the United States invests more in aviation and aeronautical learning institutions as a way of alleviating these challenges as well as coming up with apt solutions.
Implementation challenges linked to Societal and political acceptance
In their study on the use of UAS on civilian missions, Blyenburgh et al. (2011) assessed some of the civilian UAS integration challenges associated with to Societal and political acceptance. The researchers argue that both societal and political acceptance of private UAS has posed great threat in the proper integration of private UAS in the united states civil airspace, citing that utilization of private UAS in the surveillance missions is highly controversial. From a political perspective, the researchers argue that issues concerning the violation of human rights and protection of private data have taken a political dimension hence posing great threat and challenge to swift integration of these private UASs.
Alternatively, from a societal perspective, issues concerning the safety and dangers posed by these private UASs have been highly assessed skeptically by the general public. From this perspective, it is worth noting that the societal reception of private UAS in various domestic missions is highly reliant upon conviction in the technology of the mechanized control hubs as well as the availed information regarded private UASs (Blyenburgh et al, 2010). Therefore, the current study proposes additional and more intense assessment on the reception of private UAS by the general public as an approach of eliminating any societal barriers associated with the proper integration of civilian UAS in the United States civil airspace. Such proposed further studies should highly examine and offer a difference between the "affected population" and potential individual users”, in order to disclose asymmetric data and come up with political suggestions on the same.
Safety Issues and Challenges
The National Airspace System (NAS) is mandated in enhancing air transportation in addition to coming up with policies governing operation of such aircrafts. As stipulated by Wiebel and Hansman (2005), "is the compilation of processes, policies, aircraft, infrastructure, and personnel that compose the national air transportation system of the United Sates." The integration of unmanned aerial systems into an initially manned-systems territory has brought forth several safety concerns, inclusive of system’s reliability, ground collisions as well as air collisions. The operation of UAS within the ATC (air traffic control) system is way too different from the traditional manned systems of flight in the sense that UASs control and prevention of traffic are functionally diverse. From a traditional perspective of air traffic and aircrafts control, ATC uses a radio to issue a command to the pilot; hence the pilot responds accordingly and avoids the chances of a likely collision (Wiebel and Hansman, 2005). What is more, in manned aircrafts the pilots employ two techniques in detection and avoiding aircrafts: either through TCAS (Traffic Collision and Avoidance System), which assesses the local air traffic transponders to the altitude of the unit and alarming in case of a potential collision, or by visually identifying a potential collision (Harlem 2012). If UAS were to avoid collisions, they should possess equal abilities to identify-and-avoid such possibilities just like in manned aircrafts.
Literature confirms existence of several experiments on UAS control tests, from entirely independent flight to those directly dependent on human operators, in addition to a range of traffic surveillance approaches inclusive of plain eyesight or ATC (Wiebel and Hansman, 2005). Furthermore, Billingsley (2006) confirms that TCAs tend to considerably minimize the danger of mid-air crashes for the Global Hawks, a huge UAS exploited chiefly by the Navy and Air Force. In spite of the prevention approach utilized, Wiebel and Hansman (2005) argue that "there is a likelihood of having all UAVs that operate within the boundaries of airways and on the same flight levels as current traffic at both high and low altitudes. This may either be provided by air traffic control or by a form of active collision avoidance by the UAV system" (p.77). The prerequisites defining the "identify-and-avoid" aptitude should be translated into MPS (Minimum Performance Standard). Furthermore, DeGarmo (2004) argues that such "MPS should be sensitive to and flexible enough to account for the range of UAS types, missions, and operating environments" (p.68). Owing to the fact that both civilian and military UAS flights will in most cases cross national and international borders, it is imperative for such systems to adopt international regulations governed by an international for the purposes of guaranteeing uniformity. For instance, ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) would be aptly suited body to regulate both private and military UAS in order to achieve excellent integration of both systems.
Currently in the United States civil aviation, international UAS operations are still facing safety challenges due to discrepancies and contradictions between governments and states over UAS operations as stipulate...