Unmanned aerial vehicles future use from conventional airports - Research Paper Example

? Unmanned aerial vehicles future use from conventional airports First Introduction Over the past few years, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs also known as drones has developed in great leaps and bounds, especially since the Iraq and Afghanistan wars where the level of danger to the deployment of US ground forces has made their use the best and safest course of action. A lot of research has also been made not only to look at increased use of these machines in the military but also possible applications in civilian and commercial aviation. These possible developments have been held back due to various technical, social and legal issues that need to be resolved before the use of UAVs can become more widespread.There are numerous non-military uses of UAVs (Moore, 2011). The use of UAVs not only in civilian applications but also at conventional commercial airfields is now not a question of “if” but “when” as the technological, commercial and other barriers that hinder the expanded use of UAVs continue to be surmounted and overtaken. Technological Aspects One of the key technological barriers to the use of UAVs in more conventional flights has been the safety of these operations. The major difficulty has been that with conventional manned air transportation the presence of a pilot who can look outside his window and see any other aircraft that is near in the same area as them and take corrective action. This drawback has not only made it difficult for the UAVs to be used in the same airspace with other craft but it has also meant that the test and training flights of these UAVs have had to have a trailing manned aircraft making it expensive to conduct such training and in a way, defeating the whole purpose of unmanned aircraft. The US Army has recently tested a new Ground-Based Sense and Avoid system (GBSAA) which was able to notify the UAVs and their pilots when there were other craft in the vicinity and warn the operators about a need to change paths when necessary to avoid collisions. The tests were all successful, with the UAVs successfully avoiding collisions and altering course as necessary (Dillow, 2012). The success of these tests now means that the plans are on course for fielding the system in 2014. The army is already surveying sites for these field tests of the system and also looking at the new means of certifying the new aviation standards that are required to ensure the safety of the system not only for other aircraft sharing the airspace as well as populations living near or around the airfields (InsideDefense.com, 2012). Social Implications When we look at the social implications of the use of drones, there has been a great deal of debate about the use of these aircraft for peacetime activities. While initially when the use of these crafts was limited to military strikes in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, the huge possibilities for their use in non-military situations – such as in crop and wildlife stock monitoring, search and rescue in dangerous weather and other conditions, fighting forest fires – has resulted in a great deal of debate about how their use would be regulated and monitored, particularly for reasons of safety. The UAV business is now valued at more than $14 billion and projections are that it will go up to $82 million and support over 70,000 jobs by 2015 (Jank & Armentrout, 2013). Another reason that has come up in the regulation of the use of UAVs has been the issue of privacy (Sengupta, 2013). UAVs can be used in monitoring border security from altitudes that would otherwise be dangerous for manned aircraft and this brings about many issues about the invasion of privacy as these UAVs are equipped with sophisticated imaging equipment that can carry out detailed surveillance and some even have capability of intercepting electronic communications (Electronic Privacy Information Centre, n.d.) These social and privacy concerns have to be dealt with before widespread use of drone technology is licensed and allowed. The same issues were raised about the Google Maps street view cameras that were introduced some time ago and do need to be carefully regulated and agreed upon with input from affected community members (Palmer, 2012). A lot of the concerns expressed were absorbed when the greater good of the Google project was seen and it is necessary for such a campaign to happen in order to promote social acceptance of the use of drones. Political Aspects The main political aspect of the use of UAVs has mainly been to look into the impact and interaction of their use with local aviation laws as well as a myriad privacy concerns. In a lot of the situations the legislation has to pay catch up with the development and the strides being made in the UAV technology. A lot of effort is now being put in ensuring that the Federal Aviation Administration stays ahead of the developments in the UAV use regulations and policies. The FAA is now actively adapting its regulations to include the requirements of UAVs and to prepare the way for the potential boom in commercial UAV development and use. There have been a lot of fears expressed about the increased use of sophisticated surveillance and its implications on the protection of Fourth Amendment rights against unlawful searches and seizures(Schaal, 2013). Although there are not many UAVs in use in the United States at the moment, the FAA expects that there will be more than 30,000 UAVs in use in under 20 years and Congress has passed an act that seeks to fast-track the integration of UAVs into the airspace system by the year 2015 (Hoffman, 2012). There has been a lot of patchy legislation in more than 30 states mainly aimed at limiting the use of UAVs as a result of privacy concerns, with a lot of the legislation on the use and operation of UAVs being left to state authorities (Davis, 2013). Conclusions In conclusion, with the reality of the impending explosion in the use of UAVs for commercial purposes there is a lot being done to prepare the ground for the safe and secure implementation of the use of this technology in a wide array of non-military applications. The major challenge appears to be the need to not only harmonize all the aviation regulations that regard the safe use and the safe operation of UAVs in the commercial airspace but to also look at the individual applications of the UAVs especially with regard to their use in high tech surveillance as well as spying operations that would fly in the face of a lot of the constitutional regulations regarding invasion of privacy as well as the need to protect not only private information but also government information and data from the all-seeing eyes of “Big Brother” up in the sky (Electronic Privacy Information Centre, n.d.). The opportunities for use of UAVs in cargo transportation and probably even in transportation of people are also being looked at in addition to the more “traditional” uses such as search and rescue, firefighting as well as many other such applications (Moore, 2011). The regulations that also have to be in place include the training of operators of the UAVs as there has been little uniformity in the development of the training programs for operating and maintaining UAVs as well as coming up with some kind of certification that takes care not just of the technological expertise but the use of this expertise in a way that is in conformity with all the legal requirements that affect safety and protect the privacy of individuals as well as private and government entities. Simulation Systems For UAVs to be used in the same airspace and to be able to use the same airports as commercial services there are a lot of developments and design changes that would have to be made in the airports and the as well as the air passageways. There would have to be separate landing and possibly separate takeoff areas for the UAVs as their requirements are different from other commercial or passenger craft. There would also be need to upgrade their Air Traffic regulations and the Air Traffic Management at the airports to incorporate the requirements of the UAV controllers. The Air Traffic controllers would also have to be trained on how to handle the UAVs as these would require a totally different configuration given that the UAVs are controlled from the ground by someone who may be very far away from the place where the craft is landing. The other major change that would need to be incorporated is the simulators in use for training pilots and those who operate planes (Biron, 2013). The simulators that are for use with UAV require a different set of skill sets and are a whole new shift compared to those that are traditionally used to train pilots for routine manned aircraft operation (RescueSim shows new HLA capability in joint UAV training simulation, 2013). The operators of UAVs have to have a totally different type of certification path from those of the manned aircraft and their background would be more of a software development base than the traditional pilot. Whereas the training of UAV operators is much quicker and much faster than that of traditional pilots, the range and types of UAVs are as different as the applications for which they are being used for. Thus the training for operating a small $300 craft used for wildlife or agricultural surveillance mightbe very different from the training required to operate a UAV that performs surveillance along an immigration/border post corridor or one that is being used to quell a riot in downtown LA (McDill, 2013). Meteorology One of the applications that most lends itself to the use of UAVs is in the area of meteorology. UAVs would be able to withstand the vagaries of even the worst of weather and they do not have the safety setbacks that normal manned aircraft have. Thus a UAV can fly straight into a storm or even a tornado and provide information or send back data about an approaching storm and enable those in the path of the storm be adequately warned and be able to take precautionary measures in advance. During the recent tornado that swept through Oklahoma, students of the Oklahoma State University worked in three teams with three UAVs to penetrate the skies and send back a lot of useful data that was very useful in monitoring the progress of the tornado. This was a pilot project that will eventually make it possible for UAVs to better monitor weather conditions at altitudes and in weather conditions that would be too dangerous for manned aircraft to operate in, collecting useful information that will improve the quality, reliability and timeliness of weather forecasting (Osborne, 2013). UAVs are also making it easier to have craft that operate like low level satellites such as the Solar Eagle DARPA’s Solar Eagle unmanned aerial vehicle which is able to remain at an altitude of 65,000 feet for periods of up to five years (Boeing, 2012). UAVs are also being used in the areas of the United States that are prone to hurricanes to fly to altitudes and heights that are currently unsafe for manned aircraft. These UAVs will eventually be able to send back vital data that will prevent loss of life and destruction of property that is occasioned by such vagaries of the weather (Stein, 2012). Rotorcraft Operations One of the most important applications for UAVs is in the area of search and rescue where flexibility and the ability to take off vertically as well as the ability to hoover are vital. Many of these operations are now done by manned helicopters that cost a lot to run and consume a lot of fuel compared to fixed wing planes. UAVs have therefore been a major boon to this area of operation and will soon be a major new tool in search and rescue operations (Polanco, 2013). The development of fixed wing UAVs has been going hand in hand with the development of rotorcraft UAVs and the development goals for this have been as exciting as the formidable results that this research and development has yielded so far. The development of UAVs, by taking off the requirement of having enough space to carry a human being has meant that they can range in size from small, almost toy like craft to huge machines that rival the size of the largest commercial manned aircraft (Coyle, 2013). As a result the cost of manufacturing as well as running and maintaining UAVs is much lower than conventional manned aircraft. This reduction in cost and size has also led to the development of some really improved UAVs that combine both the flexibility of the rotorized UAV as well as the speed and gliding ability of the fixed wing craft. These hybrid UAVs have all the features of the helicopters and all the features of the fixed wing craft and can therefore be used for a much wider range of applications (Belezina, 2013). Conclusion There are quite a slew of things that do need to be implemented before the UAVs can be incorporated into operation in the airspace currently occupied by manned aircraft, in particular the adaptation of air traffic management and air traffic control processes to cater for the new unmanned aircraft. The synchronization of the simulation and training modules for the operation of the UAVs is a key development as it will make it possible for the Air Traffic Controllers in commercial airports to adequately cater for and work with the UAVs. The huge differential in sizes of the UAVs presents other challenges to air traffic management and will most certainly mean that the UAVs will operate only in certain airports at least to begin with and get phased in to others as the facilities for handling them at other airports get adapted to their regular use and operation (Turner, 2013). The multiple uses that UAVs will also make it possible for these craft to operate even without working through the current airports or having their own special airports where there will not be a lot of need to cater for human passenger requirements. Some UAVs at present for example operate out of police departments and search and rescue organizations premises and since can be controlled from places other than the normal airports, there might be no need to have them operating strictly through the airports. The technology in use and being developed for the safe, secure and efficient operation of different types of UAVs will certainly require a change in the way airports operate and complete change in mindset of the personnel and training required to manage the landing, take-off and operation of UAVs. References Belezina, J. (2013, April 21). Hybrid RotorWing design transitions from fixed to rotary wing mid-flight. Retrieved July 17, 2013, from http://www.gizmag.com/hybrid-rotorwing-stop-rotor/27092/ Biron, L. (2013, May 2). Fast-growing field uses other platforms' tools and techniques to leap ahead. Retrieved July 17, 2013, from http://www.defensenews.com/article/20130522/TSJ02/305220017/UAV-Sims-Take-Off Boeing. (2012, December 12). Top 10 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Taking Flight. Retrieved July 16, 2013, from http://news.discovery.com/tech/robotics/top-ten-uavs-taking-flight.htm Coyle, M. (2013, May 27). Helicopter Rescue and UAV technology. Retrieved July 17, 2013, from http://www.coquitlam-sar.bc.ca/2013/05/helicopter-rescue-and-uav-technology/ Davis, D. A. (2013, May 31). State Associations Tackle Privacy UAV Issues. Retrieved July 15, 2013, from http://www.insidegnss.com/node/3594 Dillow, C. (2012, July 9). Army's Smart 'Sense and Avoid' System Key to Letting Drones Cruise Domestic Skies . Retrieved July 15, 2013, from http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-07/armys-new-sense-and-avoid-system-paves-way-drones-domestic-skies Electronic Privacy Information Centre.(n.d.). Domestic Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Drones. Retrieved July 15, 2013, from http://epic.org/privacy/drones/ Hoffman, M. (2012, September 11). U.S. UAV use raises privacy questions. Retrieved July 15, 2013, from http://defensetech.org/2012/09/11/u-s-uav-use-raises-privacy-questions/ InsideDefense.com. (2012, December 5). Army Surveys Sites to Install Ground-Based, Sense-And-Avoid Systems. Retrieved July 15, 2013, from http://www.nuair.org/news/army-surveys-sites-to-install-ground-based-sense-and-avoid-systems/ Jank, R., & Armentrout, M. (2013, April 19). Industry looks to use drones for commercial purposes. Retrieved July 15, 2013, from http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/04/29/189893/industry-looks-to-use-drones-for.html McDill, S. (2013, February 15). Hinds Eagles take to the skies with UAV training. Retrieved July 17, 2013, from http://msbusiness.com/blog/2013/02/15/hinds-eagles-take-to-the-skies-with-uav-training/ Moore, D. (2011). You Wouldn’t Believe How People are Using UAVs. Retrieved July 15, 2013, from http://www.veteransunited.com/network/7-non-military-applications-for-uavs/ Osborne, C. (2013, May 24). Students design storm chasing UAVs. Retrieved July 16, 2013, from http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/students-design-storm-chasing-uavs/20523 Palmer, J. (2012, November 15). Unmanned aircraft project leads push to civilian drones. Retrieved July 15, 2013, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20327991 Polanco, N. G. (2013, July 2). RW-Ducted Fan: A Novel Concept to Improve the Forward Flight of VTOL UAVs and Tiltrotor Aerial Vehicles. Retrieved July 17, 2013, from http://contest.techbriefs.com/2013/entries/aerospace-and-defense/3991 RescueSim shows new HLA capability in joint UAV training simulation. (2013, April 8). Retrieved July 17, 2013, from http://www.vstep.nl/news/20130408/rescuesim_shows_new_hla_capability_in_joint_uav_training_simulation Schaal, D. (2013, February 18). FAA turns its aviation oversight to unmanned drones in U.S. airspace. Retrieved July 15, 2013, from http://skift.com/2013/02/18/domestic-drones-could-mean-high-tech-surveillance-and-imperil-aviation-safety/ Sengupta, S. (2013, February 15). Rise of Drones in U.S. Drives Efforts to Limit Police Use. The New York Times. Retrieved July 15, 2013, from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/16/technology/rise-of-drones-in-us-spurs-efforts-to-limit-uses.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 Stein, A. D. (2012, July 20). Researchers Employ UAVs in Hurricane Research. Retrieved July 16, 2013, from http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=68477 Turner, A. (2013, June 18). Rockwell Collins, NASA score UAV comms first. Retrieved July 17, 2013, from http://www.airtrafficmanagement.net/2013/06/rockwell-collins-nasa-score-uav-comms-first/ Read More