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    Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems
    Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems
    Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems
    Ebook130 pages1 hour

    Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems

    By Carmine Cifaldi

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    About this ebook

    Security is the main objective of civil aviation. How safe is safe, that is to say, when something can be considered safe, is a question that concerns all human activities. The integration of human-powered aircraft in the civil aviation system is based on the principle that the existing level of safety must not be compromised by the use of these aircraft. The book briefly discusses the risks inherent in the operation of remotely piloted aircraft, discusses the concept of risk, analyzes the security implications of operations, and, in particular, addresses the category of remotely piloted aircraft weighing less than 25kg , provides some guidance on how to conduct an assessment of the risks that could be caused by their use, in order to verify their suitability for operations.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherYoucanprint
    Release dateSep 29, 2016
    ISBN9788892629813
    Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems

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      Book preview

      Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems - Carmine Cifaldi

      assessment.

      PART I

      INTRODUCTION

      Aircraft capable of flying without the need of a pilot on board are starting to become more and more familiar, they represent one of those technological evolutions destined to become a daily habit. These aircraft are not a new phenomenon, indeed, the origin dates back to the mid-1800, but their utilization, for many years, was being confined almost exclusively to the military field, where they have found use, especially, in those, so-called 3D, operations, i.e. dull, dirty and dangerous operations.

      Remotely piloted aircraft in the civil market are relatively recent, the early 2000 can be considered the beginning of the civil development.

      They are, now, increasingly imposing in the world of civil aviation, by virtue of the ability to act as a substitute, or to work side by side with existing means, and, also, to carry out missions, otherwise nearly impossible, by the traditional means, and with operating costs significantly lower.

      In the last years, a relentless evolution has characterized the remotely piloted aircraft design, the technologies are undergoing radical and rapid changes. The miniaturization process, along with the development of high performance sensors, is giving a significant impulse to the development, in particular, of the segment of small unmanned aircraft. Although the small dimensions, such remotely piloted aircraft can incorporate features very advanced, reliable and, at the same time, cheap.

      There is a general expectation, that this new kind of aircraft will enter into the daily practice and will be able to influence more and more, in the coming years, the way to deal with many aspects of our lives. They promise to provide sustainable and effective solutions for a wide range of societal exigence, they are already used in surveillance activities, crop monitoring, cartographic surveys, territory checking. The economic benefits of the services are driving the growth.

      The demand for new services, private and public, is growing, but also the industry’s ability to respond to the exigence, by producing unmanned aircraft at cost increasingly affordable. The scale of the potential market is difficult to predict. According to industry sources, the global budget is expected to rise from the current $5.2 billion to about $11.6 per year in 2023. Recent researches estimate that the European market could amount to about 10% of the global market of the civil aviation. NASA researchers estimate the skies will grow more crowded below 500 feet, and roughly 2.7 million of commercial drones are foreseen flying by 2020.

      The number of services that they could provide, are destined to increase rapidly in all the sectors: security; environmental monitoring, aerial mapping, search and rescue, traffic road surveillance, critical infrastructure monitoring, as well as, in communications, by providing emergency radio links. It is expected that they would be used in the transportation of small parcels, and could contribute to provide emergency relief in disaster areas.

      The underlying technology, as in many other sectors in continuous evolution, is reaching a good level of reliability.

      The acceptance by the community depends on many factors, but the main is, essentially, the risk perceived. An inappropriate, or improper, use might create hazards to people overflown or to other aircraft sharing the same air space.

      This technology, indeed, began to be used even before that its impact on the existing aviation system had been evaluated, this has induced a certain perception that a proliferation of unmanned aircraft might result in an increase in the risk; but, a perception of risks too high might hamper the development of the market. For which, there is the need to safely manage the unmanned operations.

      However, the integration into the existing aviation system in a safe manner, at low altitude, now, and progressively in all the classes of airspace, and even in congested environments, is an objective that requires necessarily the ability of the unmanned aircraft to be as safe as the corresponding manned aircraft and to comply with the civil aviation rules. Although the technologies that should allow the remotely piloted aircraft to operate in all the classes of airspace are developing rapidly, such technologies are not yet fully available, and this shortfall has an impact on the civilian market development.

      Currently, the market is dominated by small unmanned aircraft of mass less than 25 kg, and the multi-rotors types represent over 85% of the overall share. The operations are, for the most part, limited to flights in visual line of sight conditions (VLOS), in uncontrolled airspace below 500 ft AGL, or in segregated airspaces.

      Different terms are used to define the aircraft without a pilot on board, the most common term, for the general public, is drone. The term unmanned aircraft is considered by EASA, to indicate any aircraft operated or designed to be operated without a pilot on board, for which, the remotely-piloted aircraft (RPA) constitute a subcategory of unmanned aircraft.

      The term remotely-piloted aircraft system (RPAS) is used by ICAO to emphasize the fact that they are distributed systems, in which the pilot carries out his duties and exercises its functions through the use of a variety of communication systems that allow command and control of the remotely piloted aircraft. The ICAO Circular no. 328 defines the remotely-piloted aircraft system as a set of configurable elements consisting of a remotely-piloted aircraft, its associated remote pilot station(s), the required command and control links and any other system elements as may be required, at any point during flight operation.

      The Document ICAO n. 9854, "The Global Air Traffic Management Operational Concept" states that an unmanned aerial vehicle is a pilotless aircraft, in the sense of Article 8 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, which is flown without a pilot-in-command on-board and is either remotely and fully controlled from another place (ground, another aircraft, space) or programmed and fully autonomous.

      The remotely-piloted aircraft present different weights, shapes, geometries and characteristics, but all fall within the definition given by ICAO. The ICAO Annex 7 recognizes many types of aircraft, but these do not differ whether they are manned (pilot on board) or unmanned (without pilot on board). An aircraft is any machine that can derive support in the atmosphere from the reactions of the air other than the reactions of the air against the earth’s surface.

      The Italian Navigation Code, at art. 743 - Concept of aircraft , introduces in the definition of aircraft the notion of remotely piloted aerial vehicle: "aircraft shall mean any machine designed for the transportation by air of persons or property. Remotely piloted aerial vehicles are also considered aircraft, as defined by special laws, ENAC regulations and, for the military, by decrees of the Ministry of Defence.

      Having the remotely-piloted aircraft systems, the status of aircraft, they are subject, like every other aircraft, to comply with the aviation rules in force, in all domains (Airworthiness, Operations, Flight Licensing and Rules of the Air), in particular, in Europe, with the current provisions of the European regulations, or, for the RPA with a mass not exceeding 150kg, those issued by the Member States.

      To satisfy the market interest to operate unmanned aircraft as conventional aircraft, the RPAS shall fully integrate in the airspace according to the well-defined system of rules of the Civil Aviation. But, there is no automatic right of access to airspace, the integration will be subject to the ability to demonstrate that RPAS operations would not have a negative impact on the other users, this implies satisfying an equivalent level of compliance with the rules and procedures applied for the conventional aircraft.

      The RPAS shall be able to operate in accordance with the rules governing the manned aircraft and meet the requirements applicable to the class of airspace within which they intend to operate. However, the achievement of such a compliance appears not easy.

      For the compatibility with the way manned aviation operations are carried out, the integration in the airspace cannot result in changes in the current airspace management

      The remotely-piloted aircraft systems introduce into civil aviation many complexities, the fact, that they are distributed systems, i.e. that they cannot function without the support of all elements, brings challenges, that are new to the current manned regulations.

      The operational differences need to be fully addressed: the remote pilot does not get the same sensorial and environmental cues of on-board pilot. The dependence on a data link, for the control and command of the aircraft, requires that the

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