{"title":"Modular Modelling of Ground and Air Risks for Unmanned Aircraft Operations Over Congested Areas","authors":"M. Ortlieb, Jan Konopka, Florian-Michael Adolf","doi":"10.1109/DASC50938.2020.9256411","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/DASC50938.2020.9256411","url":null,"abstract":"Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) operations in Europe are possible under the so-called Open, Specific and – in the future – Certified Category. The Specific Category is inherently coupled with the Specific Operation Risk Assessment (SORA) as Acceptable Means of Compliance (AMC). We leverage the existing methodology of SORA as an AMC to propose a novel method for high risk operations over congested areas with a modular data-driven approach. Due to the amount of data and risk classes involved, this is a difficult problem, which requires the fusion of the available information in order to generate feasible solutions. Hence, we propose an approach, which employs heterogeneous geospatial data sets from dissimilar sources to derive metrics for operational risk. Aircraft and mission specific parameters, as well as regulatory requirements are modeled into each risk layer. This process allows for highly accurate and multi-dimensional models of risks associated with the intrinsic mission parameters. As a potential application, we evaluate the effect of high-dimensional risk models on the UAS path planning process of risk-minimal paths in realistic scenarios. We demonstrate the proposed method using commonly available APIs to derive 3D risk maps based on a variety of data classes. Test results show that comprehensive mission and vehicle specific risk data bases covering areas greater 100 km2 can be generated on consumer hardware within a sub-hour timeframe.","PeriodicalId":112045,"journal":{"name":"2020 AIAA/IEEE 39th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC)","volume":"119 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127813105","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Optimal Control Techniques for Heterogeneous UAV Swarms","authors":"Sami Mian, J. Hill, Zhihong Mao","doi":"10.1109/DASC50938.2020.9256688","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/DASC50938.2020.9256688","url":null,"abstract":"Heterogeneous Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) swarms offer unique opportunities for solving multi-robot missions, but also introduce novel implementation challenges. In our study, we develop Heterogeneous Decentralized Receding Horizon Control (HD-RHC) for swarm management in search & rescue missions. This new technique builds upon existing multiagent UAV work, but adds the capacity to manage a fleet of heterogeneous, diverse robot platforms that are equipped for different mission capabilities. Through high-fidelity simulation (AirSim), we derive an optimal controller, develop a method to find optimal weights for a specific mission focus, and provide a path to physical system validation. We analyze the efficiency and performance of HD-RHC controller, and discuss different ways this new method can be integrated into mission-management scenarios.","PeriodicalId":112045,"journal":{"name":"2020 AIAA/IEEE 39th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC)","volume":"120 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128782424","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Collaborative Situational Awareness for Conflict-Aware Flight Planning","authors":"S. Paul, S. Patterson, Carlos A. Varela","doi":"10.1109/DASC50938.2020.9256620","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/DASC50938.2020.9256620","url":null,"abstract":"In autonomous air-traffic management scenarios of the future, manned and unmanned aircraft will be able to safely navigate through the National Airspace System, independent of centralized air-traffic controllers. They will do this by sharing critical data necessary for maintaining standard separation with each other. Under such conditions, every aircraft must have sufficient knowledge about other aircraft sharing the airspace to operate safely. In this paper, we specify a safe state of knowledge that is necessary for aircraft to operate safely in the absence of a centralized air-traffic controller and present a distributed knowledge propagation protocol to attain this safe state. This protocol can be used by network-connected aircraft to achieve collaborative situational awareness for cooperative flight planning. We identify certain system conditions necessary to guarantee two correctness properties for our protocol – safety and progress. We use the TLA+ Specification Language to formally specify our protocol, the correctness properties, and the conditions necessary to guarantee the properties. Using the formal specifications, we also provide mechanically-verified proofs of the correctness properties in the TLA+ Proof System.","PeriodicalId":112045,"journal":{"name":"2020 AIAA/IEEE 39th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC)","volume":"27 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115575458","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Terminal Area Size and Switching Technique Analysis for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Operations","authors":"Sagar Kc, D. Jack","doi":"10.1109/DASC50938.2020.9256485","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/DASC50938.2020.9256485","url":null,"abstract":"Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) need to be able to comply with the Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 ‘see and avoid’ requirement. Detect and avoid (DAA) is an essential enabler for integrating UAS into the National Airspace System. A DAA system is a suite of sensors, trackers, and alerting and guidance algorithms that assists a remote pilot in maintaining separation from airborne traffic. Previous works have focused on operations transiting to and from Class A or special use airspace. More recent efforts have defined DAA system requirements for operations in and around the airport terminal environment. In continuation of this effort, this paper defines the DAA Terminal Area (DTA) size and switching technique for the DAA Well Clear (DWC) volume while transitioning between en route and the terminal area.","PeriodicalId":112045,"journal":{"name":"2020 AIAA/IEEE 39th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC)","volume":"101 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115635497","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Performance Analysis of the Avionics Power Line Communication by Stochastic Network Calculus","authors":"Ruowen Yan, Qiao Li, Huagang Xiong, Yuanjun Zuo","doi":"10.1109/DASC50938.2020.9256669","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/DASC50938.2020.9256669","url":null,"abstract":"Applying Power Line Communication (PLC) technology in avionics provides an excellent solution for providing low aircraft weight, high transmission speed, high stability and good shielding performance. Avionics system designers had promoted some pioneering projects such as the EC FP7 TAUPE project to apply PLC based interconnections. Although many PLC electronic parts could be available due to technology success in in-home Local Area Network applications, requirements for safety and complicated avionics environment has been asking for more mature and advanced PLC solutions. We propose Stochastic Network Calculus (SNC) as a theoretical tool to analyze the performance of airborne PLC networks. First, we modeled an airborne PLC system with OFDM modulation in the physical layer and mixed CSMA and TDMA modulation in the Medium Access Control layer. Secondly, considering the randomness of traffic arrival process in the airborne PLC networks, the stochastic envelop curve is used to describe this process. Finally, we get the queue delay and backlog performance of traffic with different priorities in the network by using the theory of minimum plus convolution algebra in Stochastic Network Calculus to provide statistical Quality of Service (QoS) for actual airborne PLC networks. The evaluation method of Stochastic Network Calculus takes into account both the reliability and randomness of the communication network, which provides some references for the future design of avionics communication systems.","PeriodicalId":112045,"journal":{"name":"2020 AIAA/IEEE 39th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC)","volume":"73 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115327736","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Kevin J Monk, Jillian Keeler, R. Rorie, Garrett G. Sadler, Casey L. Smith
{"title":"UAS Pilot Performance Comparisons with Different Low Size, Weight and Power Sensor Ranges","authors":"Kevin J Monk, Jillian Keeler, R. Rorie, Garrett G. Sadler, Casey L. Smith","doi":"10.1109/DASC50938.2020.9256615","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/DASC50938.2020.9256615","url":null,"abstract":"The present study evaluated the performance of UAS pilots under four simulated low size, weight, and power (SwaP) sensor ranges: 1.5nmi, 2.0nmi, 2.5nmi, and 3.0nmi. Nine active-duty UAS pilots responded to scripted DAA conflicts against non-cooperative intruders while flying a simulated RQ-7 Shadow at varied speeds along a pre-filed flight path in Class E airspace. Findings revealed a linear effect of sensor range on alerting time and separation performance, with nearly every DAA well clear (DWC) violation and all Near Mid-Air Collision (NMAC) events occurring below 2.5nmi. Response time differences at these reduced ranges were negligible due to the high frequency of warning-level alerts that require an immediate response. Since caution alert duration was truncated to some degree by each tested declaration range, pilots were often unable to coordinate their avoidance maneuvers with ATC prior to their uploads. Nonetheless, the 2.5nmi range allowed minimum alerting times that were sufficient for acceptable pilot performance. These findings will inform DAA system requirements for UAS with alternative surveillance equipment and aircraft performance capabilities. Implications on DAA display and sensor requirements are discussed.","PeriodicalId":112045,"journal":{"name":"2020 AIAA/IEEE 39th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC)","volume":"42 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127320429","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Strategic Deconfliction of Heterogeneous Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles using Direct Trajectory Optimization","authors":"Min-guk Seo, A. Tsourdos","doi":"10.1109/DASC50938.2020.9256652","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/DASC50938.2020.9256652","url":null,"abstract":"This paper deals with a strategic deconfliction of heterogeneous multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) via trajectory optimization. A trajectory optimization problem for multiple UAVs with different specifications is defined with constraints to accomplish deconfliction between UAVs and avoidance against obstacles in the environment and the objective function to minimize the total control effort of the UAVs. The takeoff and landing times of UAVs are considered as optimization parameters and the optimization problem is constructed with multiple phases defined with take-off and landing times of UAVs. Gauss pseudospectral optimization method considered in this paper decides not only the guidance commands for UAVs but also the take-off and landing times of UAVs by determining the durations of phases to minimize the objective function. A case study is performed to illustrate how a given strategic deconfliction problem is defined as a trajectory optimization problem for Gauss pseudospectral optimization method and to show the example result of the strategeic deconfliction with trajectory optimization.","PeriodicalId":112045,"journal":{"name":"2020 AIAA/IEEE 39th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC)","volume":"304 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124332256","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Tor T. Finseth, M. Dorneich, N. Keren, W. Franke, S. Vardeman
{"title":"Designing Training Scenarios for Stressful Spaceflight Emergency Procedures","authors":"Tor T. Finseth, M. Dorneich, N. Keren, W. Franke, S. Vardeman","doi":"10.1109/DASC50938.2020.9256403","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/DASC50938.2020.9256403","url":null,"abstract":"Graduated stress exposure aims to alleviate the negative effects of stress on task performance during high-stress conditions. Skills are practiced in increasing stress conditions that approximate the operational environment. Practice continues until stress resilience and task proficiency are achieved. The use of virtual reality (VR) for inducing a stress response has increased in popularity in recent years. The ability to simulate operational tasks could create training based on graduated stress exposure. However, more research is needed to verify that stress levels can be effectively manipulated in the virtual environment during training, and that the VR training task accurately replicates the existing task procedure. The objective of this study was to investigate the creation of different VR stressor levels from existing emergency spaceflight procedures and validate three distinguishable stressor levels (i.e., low, medium, high). Experts in spaceflight procedures and the human stress response helped design a VR spaceflight environment and emergency fire task procedure. A within-subject experiment was conducted using the three stressor levels. Sixty-one healthy participants completed three trials in VR to locate and extinguish a fire on the International Space Station (VR-ISS). Self-assessment was implemented for each stressor level; NASA Task load index, Post Task Stress Reaction scale, Free stress scale, Positive and Negative Affect Scale, and Short Stress State Questionnaire were used for assessment. The results suggest that the stressors can induce different, distinguishable, levels of stress in trainees for use in graduated stress exposure training.","PeriodicalId":112045,"journal":{"name":"2020 AIAA/IEEE 39th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC)","volume":"60 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121688550","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Small UAS Demand Estimation","authors":"S. Ayyalasomayajula, Kleoniki Vlachou, Lei Zhang","doi":"10.1109/DASC50938.2020.9256571","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/DASC50938.2020.9256571","url":null,"abstract":"Under the UAS Traffic Management (UTM) program, NASA is investigating procedures to enable routine small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) operations. Whereas safety and operations studies under UTM require sUAS trajectories, only a few sUAS flights are currently operational under permission from the FAA. Consequently, there are no large datasets of sUAS flight trajectories to conduct high fidelity simulations and analyses to understand different aspects of sUAS operations: regulations, safety, security, business models, risk, etc. To this end, demand for sUAS missions was estimated using socio-economic analysis and subject matter expert input. This paper describes the methodology, the demand estimates of two example applications of sUAS, and a case study to demonstrate the utility of the estimates.","PeriodicalId":112045,"journal":{"name":"2020 AIAA/IEEE 39th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC)","volume":"45 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121952477","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Validation of UAS Command and Control Link Switchover Internetworking and Security Requirements","authors":"T. Kilbourne, A. Roy, F. Wieland","doi":"10.1109/DASC50938.2020.9256775","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/DASC50938.2020.9256775","url":null,"abstract":"As the aviation community integrates Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the National Airspace System (NAS), one of the technical issues that must be handled concerns the Command and Control (C2) Link from the remote pilot Control Station (CS) to the UAS. The C2 Link can switch between carriers during the UAS mission. For example, the link may switch from a terrestrial network to a satellite-based communications network (SATCOM), or from one terrestrial network to another. Requirements for interworking and security of the C2 Link switchover between two point-to-point Line of Sight (LOS) links, switchover between LOS terrestrial C2 Link and a SATCOM network, and switchover between Radio Line of Sight (RLOS) terrestrial C2 Link and a commercial terrestrial cellular network have been developed, and this paper discusses the validation of those requirements.","PeriodicalId":112045,"journal":{"name":"2020 AIAA/IEEE 39th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC)","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124993174","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}