Improved secure datalinks, dynamic flightpath replanning and better situational awareness for the remote pilot are technologies that have to be developed for the deployment of unmanned air vehicles in non-segregated airspace by 2020, according to a European Union study.
The 24-month €4.3 million ($6.25 million) project, which had its final forum in the first week of December, has identified these key UAV technologies and drawn up a roadmap for their and other systems' development and implementation. But not all technology for these critical areas has to be developed from scratch, instead existing manned aircraft systems feature widely in the UAV technology report.
For UAVs to communicate with each other and with ground controllers, secure datalinks are expected to be mandatory. These links will be based on today's systems for manned aviation but will need to be adapted to UAVs. Satellite communications will also be mandatory because in civil use UAVs will have to be able to operate beyond line-of-sight.
Another use of manned flight systems the study proposes is the adoption of existing commercial equipment such as Flarm, a product described as an active and co-operative traffic and collision-warning system. Flarm is referred to by the report as a surveillance system and such technology is described as "one of the most critical".
The third key technology area, dynamic replanning, was deemed necessary because of the potential for a flightpath conflict to suddenly appear. Technology in development for manned aviation was again identified by the study, citing the flight reconfiguration function that is being developed by another EU research project called Sofia. This function would enable the automatic redirection and landing of an aircraft at the nearest airport in the event that an attempted hijacking took place.
For navigation too, existing equipment for inertial, satellite and radio navigation are all identified as necessary. However, the report states that greater automation of these functions is needed.
According to the report the development of navigation and communication technologies must match the needs of the air traffic management system being planned by countries participating in the Single European Sky programme, also known as SESAR.
A key milestone on the 2008-2025 roadmap is certification regulations for the technologies by 2012, with their implementation from 2015. The study's UAV technology work package report notes, however, that "there are several issues that affect this roadmap, but the most important ones are the existence of the due dates for the implementation established by SESAR".
The study, which officially ends in March this year, concluded that transoceanic cargo transport flights were a promising beginning for civil UAV use, especially from coastal airports.
Source: Flight International
