Enhancing UAS Pilot safety by terminal and airport shared information situational awareness

Abstract

Numerous parties have a desire to operate Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs)1 and small UASs (known as “sUAS”) in the complex terminal environment and on the airport surface. New and increasingly available surveillance technologies, data link driven controller instructions such as D-TAXI, and access to NAS system information via SWIM (System Wide Information Management) are potential means to enhance the ability of the UAS Pilot in Command's (PICs) to integrate and operate safely in the terminal environment. Vendors directly connected to SWIM feeds can receive ASDE-X data from equipped airports. Vendors also connect to other NAS data feeds for flight planning, airport status, weather information, and traffic flow management initiatives. These data feeds are transitioning to new formats consistent with international standards. All of these information streams are able to provide the Remote PIC with better Situational Awareness (SA) and the ability to better understand the relationship of their aircraft to other aircraft movements; all of which will assist in maintaining the efficiency of NAS operations as well as the speed and tempo of airports operations. Future airport area surveillance information sources from ADS-B and from Ground Based Sense and Avoid (GBSAA) solutions are also emerging. Enhanced vision technologies for Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) are being deployed to support reduced visibility operations. Additionally, autonomous technologies are being researched to control aircraft movement on the airport surface. Specific pilot alerts are being developed for surface events, such as conformance to taxi path, failure of other aircraft to hold for crossing clearances, or intersection encroachments. This paper provides an integrated view of how these emerging technologies can be leveraged to support the Remote PIC and the UAS operations in congested terminal airspace and on airport surface operations.