UAS Safety: Unmanned Aerial Collision Avoidance System (UCAS)

Abstract

Lack of safety and regulatory framework currently prevent the routine use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) within the U.S National Airspace System (NAS). Demonstrating a level of safety equivalent to that of manned aircraft will allow UAS to fly and interoperate in civil airspace. An unmanned aerial collision avoidance system (UCAS) designed to communicate and interact with the traffic alert collision avoidance system (TCAS) implemented on manned aircraft is proposed. Considering intruding aircraft equipped with TCAS as cooperating aircraft, UCAS will also be able to sense, detect, and avoid non-cooperative aircraft through the use of sensor technology. Simulation and analysis has been carried out to generate a safety metric quantifying the safety of the UCAS system. A Monte Carlo simulation has been performed for a set of outer loop state variables to generate the probability of a near midair collision. A second encounter model is carried out to show the benefits of incorporating the mitigation strategy selected, in this case the collision avoidance capabilities. An existing case study is analyzed to demonstrate the value of the model and the efficiency of the system