Aviationista

The U.S. Department of Justice produced a report in 2016 addressing the pros and cons of integrating unmanned aerial systems (UAS) within the national air space (NAS). With the unmanned nature of these aircraft, they are able to operate specific missions that would normally be very fatal or hazardous for humans. UAS can also operate within difficult to reach areas during natural disasters, find missing people within the wilderness, or even provide visual insight to crime scenes or other surveillance missions.  However, the issue of privacy and civil liberties remain a huge issue. This report also addressed public concerns for privacy and safety during UAS operations. The U.S. Department of Justice was in agreement that there needs to be an agreement of some sort to control unmanned aircraft issues relating to privacy. Hence why the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) implemented Part 107 regulation for drone certifications and operational protocol.  An example of successful ...

What do you think are the most important factors when selecting, certifying, and training UAS Operators? According to the Federal Aviation Administration to become a UAV pilot there are specific criteria under Part 107. These minimum requirements include being at least 16 years of age, able to speak, read, and right English, being physically and mentally fit to safely fly and operate a drone, along with passing the aeronautical knowledge exam. When selecting someone to become a UAS operator, having the FAA certificate is crucial along with possessing the appropriate knowledge base of UAS operations. All of the requirements laid out by the FAA are critical elements when selecting, certifying, and training UAS operators. How much does the size and capability of the UAS drive the requirements for crew-member /operator qualification? With more complex UAVs, the knowledge base and skills set must match the requirements for the operator. If the drone is operating with complex systems and alg...

What are hazards and risks when it comes to aviation operations? Regarding UAS hazards and risks, Barnhart, Marshall, Shappee, and Most (2016) have an excellent hazards and risks analysis tool within their book Introduction to Unmanned Aircraft Systems. In chapter 7 it focuses on the safety aspects of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) operations and how to identify and mitigate those issues. Identifying potential safety issues early on before operating the UAS provides both the drone operator and team to be alert and aware of their surrounding hazards. After potential hazards are identified it is imperative to then assess the risks of these hazards. This assessments provides the operators insights on the hazards and to be continually monitoring the operations for overall safety.  What tools can be used to mitigate risks to BVLOS operations? According to Fang, Young, and Rolland (2018) the aviation industry has begun to require detect and avoid (DAA) technology to be installed on smal...

Describe the levels of automation and how they are applied to UAS operations. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has created a framework to describe and define the levels of automation (LoA) called Autonomy Levels for Unmanned Systems (ALFUS). This framework was created to define a standard definition on autonomous potential for all unmanned systems. To give an unmanned systems a designated LoA, there are a few aspects needed to be defined. According to Marshall et al., (2011) the first aspect is to define the mission complexity of the system and measure the difficulty level. The second aspect is the measure environmental complexity. The last aspect is to assess the levels of human interaction during the mission. Once those three items are defined, a LoA can be assigned but lacks accuracy due to the overall difficulty in defining the level of mission complexity. Are there different considerations for manned versus UAS operations when it comes to UAS? Automation, ...

Underwater exploration has fascinated man for generations and will continue for generations to come. There is still so much that we do not know about the ocean and what lies beneath. Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) aim to help us dive deeper into the oceanic depths in order for us to gain some help insight. As technology continues to advance, so does our capability to go further into the oceans depths without subjecting harm to a person.  According to Petillot,  Antonelli, Casalino, and Ferreira (2019), UUVs are those vehicles that can operate without anyone onboard while operating within minimum operator interactions. There are many types of unmanned underwater systems being developed depending on the type of application the system needs to accomplish. With the future of sea exploration, UUVs provide some of the best insight without having anyone in the vehicle. This expands the capability to explore further and deeper along with possessing advanced technology and capabil...

Over the counter (OTC) medicine should not be considered lightly when taking them before a flight. Medicine alters the way a person processes things and how long it takes for them to process it, along with overall mental clarity. According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) (n.d.) there are many things one should consider before taking medication, especially before a flight. The items to consider are: what is the condition being treated, possible reaction to the medicine and then the likelihood of it being an adverse reaction.  A few of the worse OTC medications are those that make a person groggy, such as allergy medicine or sleep aids. These medicines should never be taken before flying an aircraft. The FAA has a specific list of medications that causes impairment of safe flight operations:  • Muscle relaxants  • OTC dietary supplements  • Pain medications  • Pre-medication or Pre-procedure drugs  • Sleep aids  • Any medication, prescriptio...

According to the Federal Aviation Administration (2016) Aeronautical Decision-Making (ADM) is a method for pilots to respond appropriately to stressful events through the use of risk management. Risk management is the approach of assessing hazards and risks and then making a proactive decision based on the prevalent set of circumstances. ADM is a crucial part for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) to ensure safe flight operations within national air space (NAS). The idea behind ADM is teaching UAS operators how to operate within NAS while having the capability to perform with good judgment when issues arise. This good judgment ultimately allows the operator to perform accident-free if implemented according to the FAA’s guidelines. Some of the major challenges UAS operators face with ADM and risk management that stick out to me are not having the same visibility and interaction with the UAS as a manned aircraft does. This lack of visibility and interaction makes it harder for UAS operators t...

According to Costanzi et al., (2020), Unmanned Maritime Systems (UMS) are making waves (literally) with their swift mobility while promising a significant reduction in price and overall manpower than normal status quo methodologies. UMS operators give the glider commands and in response it sends back data in real life. However, UMS while presenting a plethora of positive pros, there are a few cons associated with underwater operations. One current issue with UMS are communication disturbances due to bad underwater acoustics. While the abundance of rapidly evolving technology provides significant operating capability to a UMS, there are still issues beyond control. One suggestion to mitigate this communication issue was suggested to create a multi-domain channel that specifically transmits information through numerous devices and dispatch approaches. Moreover, Costanzi et al., (2020) suggests that testing inoperable UMS provides the means to increase reliability and performance levels t...

What do you think are the greatest challenges for integrating UAS into the NAS? One of the main challenges for integrating UAS into the NAS is the extra levels of communication and demand on ATC. Current UAS usage within NAS requires authorization for permission to operate within a controlled airspace. These authorizations are based on case-by-case scenarios with most of it depending heavily on ATC. A way to help ATC is through the implementation of UAM. UAM aims to provide safe and productive usage of UAS services within urban areas for cargo or even air passenger through autonomous operations. However, a standard operating procedure will need to be implemented when the FAA does integrate UAS into NAS for proper adherence across the board for all UAS applications.  How will UAS be incorporated into the FAA’s NextGen initiative? According to the FAA (2016) the original plan was to extend NextGen initiatives to UAS between 2016-2020. In order to safely incorporate UAS into the FAA’s...

Within ERAU’s Virtual Hub I designed a UAS for a simulated missing hiker mission. The specific system I selected was a DJI Spreading Wings UAS - Condor Octorotor. The reason I selected this was mainly for the way it looked, but also assumed the amount of rotors would provide better stability to unknown disturbances and wind turbulence. The UAS performed positively after some trial and error during the design phase. Communication range remained at a moderate level during design no matter what configurations I chose. This was due to the fact I was using the man portable GCS. The trailer GSC provided for 100% communication range but with the missions terrain and elevation I assumed it would not be a feasible choice in real life. During the mission I kept running into the issue of the UAS crashing and burning. I believe this was due to the speed that was initially set to 80 m/s. I then set the speed to 60 m/s and that appeared to be the perfect pace for the UAS as it did not overheat or cr...