9.4 - Blog: The Future of the UAS

In this module, you are expected to create a blog post about an article centered on the future of unmanned aerial systems and where UAS technology is going to advance in the next five to ten years. It should also include aspects regarding new or modifying current regulations to aid in the implementation of the unmanned aerial systems into the national airspace. Your blog post should be 300-400 words long. Support your blog post with credible references. Note: The article should not be older than 12 months.

            With the number of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) continuously growing every day in both the military and civilian sectors, the future for UAVs is bright. In the military, UAVs are used for reconnaissance, environmental monitoring, border patrol, search and rescue operations, disaster relief, and tracking and monitoring high value targets (Zhahir, Razali, & Ajir, 2016). Within the next decade, civilian applications in agriculture, energy, utilities, mining, construction, real estate, news and media, and film production are expected to rapidly grow due to the lower costs, size, and agility of UAVs. In addition to growing applications, the UAV industry will become a multi-billion dollar industry that will also provide many people with jobs. In order for integration of UAVs into the National Airspace System (NAS) to occur, sense and avoid (SAA) technology must be incorporated into UAV systems.

            In the coming years, the FAA plans to fully integrate UAVs into the NAS. This not only takes massive amounts of time effort, it also requires proper and careful planning. New regulations will have to be developed to safely incorporate UAVs into the NAS. Currently, UAVs are restricted to 400 feet above ground level (AGL) and must remain within sight of the operator. With the rapid growth of civilian UAVs, the FAA must develop regulation concerning the use of SAA technology and beyond line of sight (BLOS) operations. The FAA cannot expect all civilian UAV operators to act responsibly all the time, and there are already many reports in the past several years about small civilian UAVs flying close to airports and manned aircraft. There have been reports of small UAVs at altitudes of 10,000 feet.

            SAA technology requires that several sensors be employed onto a UAV to collect and record data along a flight path (Zhahir et al., 2016). With SAA, the sensors on the UAV are expected to detect, identify, and avoid any obstacles or threats that could damage the UAV, a manned aircraft, or harm a civilian on the ground. Zhahir, Razali, & Ajir (2016) state that the primary challenges in the implementation of collision avoidance technology into UAV systems are their size, weight, and electrical power consumption. The payload capacities of small civilian UAVs restrict SAA technology because the sensors must be lightweight and consume low levels of power. ADS-B and TCAS have been identified as solutions for SAA technology, but ADS-B and TCAS require that other aircraft be equipped with this technology to sense other aircraft. 

            Figure 1: A simple diagram demonstrating how SAA works. Note: Adapted [reprinted] from “Current development of UAV sense and avoid system” by Zhahir, Razali, & Ajir (2016).

             The authors of this article recommend a new type of sensor development technique. “Sensor fusion offers a great opportunity to overcome the physical limitations of the sensing systems. It combines information from a number of different sensors to provide a robust and complete description of the flying environment that is rapidly changing” (Zhahir et al., 2016, pg. 3). This type of sensor is still in infancy, and it will require multiple sensors in one system to improve detection rates while also minimizing errors in tracking. Sensor fusion requires that the main sensor board operate in real time with embedded system programming. This technique will require high processing power when it comes to capturing and processing various signals from multiple sensors on the UAV (Zhahir et al., 2016). 

References

Zhahir, A., Razali, A., & Ajir, M. M. (2016, October). Current development of UAV sense and avoid system. In IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering (Vol. 152, No. 1, p. 012035). IOP Publishing.