Andrew Doyle/MUNICH
A German consortium is finalising plans to use a regional jet for a "ground-breaking" series of unmanned air vehicle (UAV)test flights in controlled airspace, aimed at demonstrating techniques for minimising conflict between pilotless aircraft and other air traffic.
The group, which includes research agency DLR, EADS Military Aircraft, electronics company ESG and the German Flight Test Centre, shortly expects to receive a German ministry of defence contract for the second phase of its UAV demonstration progamme.
Phase two will see the start of flight trials using the DLR's Advanced Technologies Testing Aircraft System (ATTAS) VFW 614experimental aircraft, which will simulate UAV operation in controlled airspace under instrument flight rules (IFR).
The results will lead "to conclusions on the definition of operational procedures and improvements to the design of flight management and flight control systems for UAVs," says EADS Military Aircraft flight test technology/data analysis manager Eberhard Pohl.
"Realising the objective of having UAVs participating in general air traffic means that we will have to break new ground," he adds.
Under the plans, the fly-by-wire ATTAS will simulate a UAV within German controlled airspace, with the pilots only intervening at take-off, landing and in an emergency. Pohl says that the aircraft will fly autonomously to a pre-programmed flight plan, though a ground controller will be able to issue commands in real-time, using a datalink, to comply with air traffic control (ATC) instructions.
The aim is that ATC staff will be able to process a UAV flight through their sectors in the same way as other aircraft operating in IFR airspace. Pohl says the long-term aim is to open all airspace to UAVs, including that governed by visual flight rules.
There are no internationally recognised regulations governing UAV operation in non-restricted airspace, or their airworthiness certification. Pohl suggests UAVs should have the same safety standards as manned military aircraft, to ensure that people on the ground are not at a higher risk of UAV crashes or mid-air collisions.
Another focus will be ensuring the safe return of UAVs operating in controlled airspace following a datalink failure, he says.
Source: Flight International
