A Pivotal Year for UAV Technology Adoption – sUAS News – The Business of Drones

The start of the year is always rife with predictions for 2024 (Bath Rugby to win the Gallagher Premiership anyone?!).

Here are ours for the future of Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs):

1. 900,000 drones operating in UK skies by 2040.
2. Further adoption of SORA methodologies will accelerate the number and complexity of BVLOS operations within the UK.
3. High integrity ground-based surveillance feeds will become available for Detect And Avoid solutions.

Okay, so item 1 is not strictly our prediction (credit to PwC as we’ve written about previously and certainly not a prediction confined to 2024). Fortunately, we are far better at engineering than soothsaying.

Increasing the scope of operations of uncrewed aerial vehicles is a hot topic for 2024. What we can clearly see are the benefits of the continued evolution of UAV technologies, regulations and operations. Searching #dronesforgood highlights examples of how drones already benefit our communities and our environment. From deliveries to remote areas, to environmental monitoring and protection, to taking over dangerous operations, the civil use of drones is having a positive impact.

National Aviation Authorities worldwide are developing regulations to enable emerging uncrewed aviation technologies. Central to these efforts is maintaining the impressive safety record of the commercial aviation industry.

Here in the UK, the Civil Aviation Authority have published their pathway for moving from segregation of UAVs to full integration with current airspace systems. According to NATS‘ Safety & Sustainability Director, Dave Curtis , when introducing their new platform for integrated traffic management, OpenAir:

“eVTOL aircraft and mass drone operations [are] set to transform our skies in a way we haven’t seen for a hundred years”.

Airspace integration will unlock the huge potential of this industry. Enhanced capabilities will result in new collaborations and as a result, further applications not yet conceived.

What does “increasing the scope of operations” mean?

Ultimately it means full integration into the existing airspace system. This represents a significant technical and regulatory challenge which is being approached through incremental advancement.

Right now it means increasing UAV operations from SORA’s ARC-b (Air Risk Classification) to ARC-c. Whilst there are nuances in the application of the risk classification, the headline difference is the ability to operate over busier ground space and / or in busier air space. Volant’s VIA shows the difference between an ARC-b and ARC-c operational area – a clear visualisation of the leap in potential operations. In short, ARC-c capability translates into significantly increased airspace access enabling viable commercial BVLOS operations.

Moving operational capability from ARC-b to ARC-c will require enhanced technological capabilities, specifically:

• A Detect And Avoid (DAA) capability meeting SORA Medium Tactical Mitigation Performance Requirements (TMPR).
• A surveillance source which enables detection of 90%+ aircraft in a detection volume, which ensures collision avoidance with a crewed craft.

Traject is our DAA system developed to Medium TMPR with an RTCA DO-396 compliant ACAS sXu core. To achieve ARC-c compliance requires system development to Specific Assurance Integrity Level (SAIL) IV. Our DO-178C DAL-D level approach to software development meets or exceeds SAIL IV for all SORA criteria.

We will use our development and integration experience to work with you to achieve a DAL-D level integration.

Whilst Traject has been developed with a core of unchanging functionality to ensure compliance with the ACAS sXu specification, we understand that integration is bespoke to each customer platform.

We will:

• Engage with you, to understand your requirements of your DAA system.
• Plan our approach to integration with you, ensuring integration activities will produce the evidence required by your NAA.
• Work with you to implement that plan, as a joint project team with a common goal.
• Provide a verification pack bespoke to your platform.
• Support rapid roll out of the technology in response to your business requirements.

NAAs are currently in the “accommodation” phase of UAV policy development and our prediction for 2024 is that the rate of progress toward full airspace integration will only accelerate.

For more information about Volant Traject, get in touch here or visit our website www.volantautonomy.com