Autonomy Research for Civil Aviation Toward a New Era of Flight (2014) / Chapter Skim
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1 Autonomous Capabilities and Vision
1 Autonomous Capabilities and Vision
Pages 12-19
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From page 12... ...
In short, civil aviation is on the threshold of potentially revolutionary improvements in aviation capabilities and operations associated with IA systems. These systems, however, pose serious unanswered questions about how to safely integrate these revolutionary technological advances into a well-established, safe, and efficiently functioning NAS governed by operating rules that can only be changed after extensive deliberation and consensus.
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From page 13... ...
BOX 1.2 Increasingly Autonomous Systems A fully autonomous aircraft would not require a pilot; it would be able to operate independently within civil airspace, interacting with air traffic controllers and other pilots just as if a human pilot were on board and in command. Similarly, a fully autonomous ATM system would not require human air traffic controllers.
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From page 14... ...
BOX 1.5 Operators In this report, the term "operator" generally refers to pilots, air traffic controllers, airline flight operations staff, and other personnel who interact directly with IA civil aviation systems. "Pilot" is used when referring specifically to the operator of a crewed aircraft.
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From page 15... ...
The concept was originally developed during the Vietnam era to describe and advocate effective air combat tactics. An autonomous system, be it human or machine, first observes by sensing or acquiring information about the environment from other relevant sources.
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From page 16... ...
In addition, autonomous aircraft would not necessarily be unmanned, in that properly equipped aircraft would be able to operate autonomously even with a crew and/or passengers on board. Accordingly, it would be more accurate and more useful to define an autonomous aircraft as "an aircraft that does not require pilot intervention in the management of the flight." This slightly altered definition suggests a policy that focuses on assuring the safety of unmanned aircraft operations without the presumption that safety will necessarily require continuous oversight by an onboard or remote pilot.
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From page 17... ...
was the first commercial transport to include a full-authority digital fly-by-wire flight control system, which allowed it to be equipped with flight envelope protection. Virtually all large commercial transports, including business jets, now incorporate digital fly-by-wire flight control systems.
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From page 18... ...
The array of missions has expanded to include air-to-ground combat and rapid resupply transport. Advanced features comprise increasingly sophisticated autonomous capabilities, including contingency management so that the aircraft can continue operations even if, for example, communications are lost or aircraft flight characteristics are degraded by damage.
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From page 19... ...
Air Traffic Management The committee's vision for increased autonomy in ATM is that air traffic controllers, traffic flow managers, and other personnel will be better able to perform existing, proposed, and potential tasks because the IA systems that they use will provide guidance and aid for the requisite tasks, monitor their performance and that of the entire system for predictors of failure, and provide functionalities that heretofore could only be provided by humans, thereby increasing the efficiency of operations in the NAS.
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