Page 12 - World Airnews Magazine October Edition 2020

DRONES DRONES

in many others should pave the way
prisingly to some, more complex: The suddenly appearing from behind a in common airspace – especially over there is simply a for regular delivery

environment is less predictable, and parked car and darting across the built-up areas and within congested complete lack of flights to equivalent

special sensors are required to replace road, whilst running after a runaway airspace – remains a problem world- relevant legisla- regions. As these

the role of human eyes in the aircraft. ball, is an extremely difficult “sense- wide. Major regulatory authorities are ti on. regular services
In this regard, technology has also and-avoid” problem to solve. On the working around the clock to address It is understand- become more prev-
been catching up; even many consum- other hand, this type of unexpected this problem, and a number of poten- able that avia- alent and the reliabil-

er-grade, hobby-level drones are now event is much less common in open tial solutions have been proposed. But tion regulators ity of the systems

equipped with a set of sensors that airspaces (even congested ones), and authorities remain reluctant to allow may feel uneasy are demonstrated

detect obstacles and ensure collisions with suitable sensors the available regular unmanned flight to take place to adopt and on a continual basis,

are avoided. Avoidance is carried out reaction time is usually longer, while in controlled and congested airspace, support the use one can expect de-

autonomously by the drone, without the avoidance options are simpler to requiring operators to follow often of such new, po- livery flights to more

any pilot intervention required. The execute than those available to a car lengthy processes to obtain the neces- tentially invasive densely populated

capability (and possibly reliability) of operating in confined spaces. With sary authorisation to do this. technology. The regions, and then

these sensors will have to be expand- the advent of more advanced artificial The legal requirements to achieve the solution is for finally within busy air

ed if the intention is to detect other intelligence incorporating neural aforementioned are primarily gov- the developers routes.

aircraft when the drone is operated networks and machine learning, auto- erned by national regulatory author- and operators

beyond visual line-of-sight, especially matic oversight of unmanned aircraft ities and the immediate state of their to prove that Legislation should

within congested airspace. is steadily approaching the level of regulations, creating uneven barriers it could be be matured along-

While the problem of sensing potential dependability required for fully auto- to unmanned operations in view of beneficial, safe side these develop-

collisions is being overcome by better, mated flight. multi-national programs. For example, and effective by ments and should be

more widely available low-cost sen- There are, however, two much more countries like Rwanda are already establishing confidence in the technol- A LIKELY WAY FORWARD simplified to allow

sors, solutions for automatic avoid- challenging obstacles to overcome allowing regular long-distance UAV ogy over time. One potential solution As demonstrated by the small selection unfettered unmanned cargo flight opera-

ance has also progressed significantly. before unmanned aircraft will start to operations (see the Zipline example), to achieve the aforementioned is of examples highlighted here and the tions within reasonable timeframes, similar

A comparison may naturally be drawn approach the wide range of applica- while it is impossible to get permission to initially stick to intercity routes, many more reported on in the news on to that required for manned aviation.

to the work done by the developers of tions currently seen as science fiction for any type of commercial drone and remain far from heavily-built-up an almost daily basis, the technology This should include the development of

self-driving cars. What is interesting to - those being current Legislation and operations in many other countries. In regions, and also stay clear of major of unmanned aviation will forge ahead. supporting processes and paperwork that

note is that, while the 3D environment Acceptance by Society. fact, in 2020 there were 27 countries air routes. Deliveries of goods to city We will see more applications of smaller enable regular drone delivery services,

of flight at first appears to be a more • Legislation: Immediate challenges that had either effectively banned outskirts and along predefined air drones used for the delivery of emergency including task planning and filing of Flight

challenging one, the reality is that it towards establishment of regular drones or made it almost impossible routes (perhaps specifically designated supplies in isolated areas - probably Plans.

is more predictable and simpler to unmanned airborne cargo operations to get permission for private opera- for unmanned flight operations) to over ever-increasing distances and on a CONCLUSION

control when compared with a typical are largely headed by the obligato- tors and/or commercial companies to test such concepts and help evalu- more regular basis - continuing the trend

“urban road” scenario. The biggest ry regulatory framework governing obtain permission to operate drones. ate potential solutions would be far already set in some African countries, such In conclusion, as the novel utilisations of

challenge facing self-driving cars is in unmanned flight operations. Most While some countries took a delib- easier to establish. This would also as Rwanda. Due to the legislative chal- drones keep on expanding and technology

dealing with completely unexpected, notably, the seamless integration of erate decision to ban smaller drones act as a confidence-building exercise, lenges, it is likely that these experiments races ahead to satisfy this demand, there

random events. For example, a child unmanned and manned aviation with- due to, for example, security concerns, leading to expansion of the operation- will initially be limited to areas that are is potential for an ever-increasing chasm to

grow between legislators and operators.

al envelope and exploration of more isolated enough to minimise the potential The COVID-19 pandemic has stressed

adventurous options. risks to people on the ground and the need for the rapid development and

• Acceptance by Society: The final other aircraft, or through, for example, deployment of cargo delivery drones,

obstacle that of acceptance by society establishment of publicised operational which will require regulatory support
is a very real barrier that can only corridors for these drones. to see this novel use of the technology
be overcome by continuous demon- Most of the more regular drone delivery become a regular, safe option. An incre-

stration of reliability and safety. Each services (where implemented) are still mental confidence-building development

incident involving UAVs, regardless of occurring over relatively short distances. and demonstration program will be the

whether it is the fault of the vehicle, However, it is likely that much longer dis- safest and most effective means to prove
operator or someone else, represents tances, such as delivery from the mainland to regulators and the general public that
a setback in this regard. to isolated islands, or between isolated the technology can be trusted and fielded

islands, or across large stretches of un- “within the real world”. Not only will this

populated areas such as deserts or arctic

One can expect that certain applications regions, could be demonstrated in the have to be done at a national level, but

may never (or only very far into the future) very near future. As these smaller demon- due to the potential international reach
reach general acceptance. For example, strations solve the technological problems of many future large cargo drones, there

no matter how safe unmanned aircraft around safety, reliability, communications, will have to be some measure of legislative

are shown to be, it is unlikely that future route planning, obstacle sensing and harmonisation to ensure that such aircraft
passengers will feel safe in an aircraft with avoidance, redundancy, automation, on- may operate cross-border and within

no pilot on board. board decision-making through artificial foreign airspace.

In other areas, acceptance is already intelligence, etc., and demonstrate that The development of new enabling tech-

here; as an example, the use of smaller such drones can be operated at equivalent nologies to make our world a safer, better

drones for photography, surveys and even safety levels to manned aircraft, one can and more effective place will continue and

last-mile medical deliveries have already expect an increase in the development cargo drones is but one such technological

gained significant acceptance in many and fielding of larger drones carrying advancement that has emerged from the

countries. heavier payloads over longer distances on wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Long

As the potential for disaster increases, a regular basis. after this debilitating period in our history

for example operations that may involve Legislative restrictions should start to has been forgotten, cargo drones will still

heavy unmanned cargo aircraft operating decrease as technology matures and re- be providing essential services delivering

into airports located in or near urban areas, lated operations are shown to be reliable freight, post, medical supplies and other

goods to every corner of the globe. This
more work will be required to demonstrate and repeatable. Initial drone deliveries

consistent safe operation to the point that to remote areas and over unpopulated is what we foresee; the technology is

such operations will be accepted by society regions, under strict oversight (operating already largely in place (or fast on track)

at large. within experimental drone flight classes), to support such an initiative with the firm

support from aviation regulators. Q
World Airnews | October 2020 World Airnews | October 2020
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