3.5 - Research: UAS Integration in the National Airspace (NAS)

Introduction

     The objective of Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) is to envision an airspace system in which network-based information and automation optimize an aircraft’s operations in all flight phases. It starts from the flight planning, take-off, cruising, landing and taxiing to the gate at the end of each flight. More importantly, the system helps to reduce flight delays and maximize airspace capacity while reducing aircraft's’ environmental impacts (Government Accountability Office, 2015).

Future Growth of Aviation Industry

     The air transport is one of the fastest growing industries. Over the next 20 years, Boeing forecasts a need for 38,050 airplanes. The total value is estimated to be more than $5.6 trillion.

The aircraft industry has become more diverse, it is estimated 40 percent of new aircraft will be delivered to airlines based in the Asia Pacific region, especially China. An additional 20 percent will be delivered to airlines in North America and Europe, with the remaining 20 percent to be delivered to the Latin America, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Middle East and lastly, Africa (Boeing, 2016). These figures refer to manned aircraft only. According to Lucintel (2016), the total UAV opportunity is expected to surpass US $7 billion over the next 10 years, driven by increasing UAV demand and UAV procurement

Challenges

     Currently in the United States, overcrowding of national air space and airport capacity are the major challenges limiting the growth of the industry. At any given moment there could be

5000 manned planes in the air; this is expected to be doubled by the year 2025 (Galindo, 2016).

At the same time, the military and commercial UAVs are getting more popular each day, the existing system and air space can no longer support the projected growth of manned and unmanned aircraft for the next 20 years. In view of this situation, congress has mandated FAA to improve the NAS under the program called ‘NextGen’ to accommodate the future growth of the system.

Advantages of Next Generation (NextGen)

     According to Galindo (2016), the NextGen will open the skies in the United States and propel the growth of the industries. More importantly, the new system increases safety while reducing aviation's environmental impact. At the same time, NextGen allows more aircraft to fly closer together and from point to point safely. It further reduces delays and provides unprecedented benefits for the greener environment and the economy through the reductions of carbon emissions, fuel consumption and noise pollution. Integration of UAS and aerospace systems is also part of the NextGen agendas. The system enables a seamless and automated aircraft/ aerospace transportation architecture through the following six 'transformational' programs:

• Automatic Dependent Surveillance- Broadcast,
• Data Communications,
• System Wide Information Management,
•  NextGen Network Enabled Weather,
• NAS Voice System,
• Collaborative Air Traffic Management Technologies

Automatic Dependent Surveillance- Broadcast (ADS-B)

     The ADS-B system consists of a surveillance system that monitors various systems in participating vehicles and a data link transmitter. The system is designed to work with both aircraft and ground vehicles at the airports. Seamless integrated information from air and ground can be easily obtained by periodically broadcasts its GPS-derived position and other information, such as aircraft velocity, over the data link, which is received by a ground-based transceiver for processing and display on air traffic control facility and aircraft cockpit display units (Barson, 2009).

     ADS-B is expected to reduce the risk of midair collisions and weather-related accidents by giving pilots access to the same satellite and weather information available to air traffic controllers according to Barson (2009). To improve the safety of UAV operation in national air space, it is necessary to integrate UAVs into ADS-B system. It is very important for the manned and unmanned aircraft to detect and sense each other. More crucially, the sensing prevents and avoids possible collision if the unmanned aircraft are found uncontrollable due to lost link scenarios.

Conclusion

     The automation of ADS-B system improves safety, efficiency and enhances industries’ productivity. According to Orlandy & Orlandy (2015), pilot complacency and over reliance upon automation are to be observed closely from the human factors perspective. During the long haul flight, auto pilot is normally engaged; pilots inevitably experience inattention and boredom to the extent disregard normal checks and manual operations. It is therefore important to make-work provision to keep the pilot occupied and remain alert. More importantly, to enhance pilot’s situation awareness when abnormal situation occurred suddenly.

References

Barson, J. V. (2009). Broadcast (ADS-B)–The First Step in the FAA’s Next-Generation Air Transportation System. Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, 422 - 423.

Boeing. (2016, Jun 18). Current Market Outlook 2015 - 2034. Retrieved from

http://www.boeing.com/resources/boeingdotcom/commercial/about-our- market/assets/downloads/Boeing_Current_Market_Outlook_2015.pdf

Galindo, A. A. (2016, Jun 18). Next Generation Air Transport System. Retrieved from

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20110014967.pdf

Government Accountability Office. (2015). Improved Risk Analysis Could Strengthen FAA's Global Interoperability Efforts. Government Accountability Office.

Lucintel. (2016, Jun 18). Growth Opportunity in Global UAV Market. Retrieved from

http://www.uadrones.net/civilian/research/acrobat/1103.pdf

Orlandy, H. W., & Orlandy, L. M. (2015). Human Factors in Multi-Crew Flight Operations. Burlington: Ashgate.