Autonomy Research for Civil Aviation Toward a New Era of Flight (2014) / Chapter Skim
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3 Barriers to Implementation
3 Barriers to Implementation
Pages 31-43
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From page 31... ...
• Regulation and Certification Barriers -- Airspace access for unmanned aircraft -- Certification process -- Equivalent level of safety -- in adaptive/nondeterministic IA systems Trust • Additional Barriers -- issues Legal -- Social issues Each of these barriers overlaps with one or more of the others, and efforts to overcome these barriers will not proceed in isolation one from the other. For example, the technology barriers tend to overlap with the certification barriers because advanced civil aviation technologies cannot be deployed operationally unless and until 1 The committee did not prioritize the barriers; they are listed alphabetically within each group.
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From page 32... ...
TECHNOLOGY BARRIERS Communications and Data Acquisition Barrier Statement: Civil aviation wireless communications are fundamentally limited in bandwidth, and the operation of unmanned aircraft in the NAS could substantially increase the demand for bandwidth. Wireless communications and data acquisition are foundational to the NAS.
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From page 33... ...
Communications is also a key vulnerability for cyberphysical systems. Radio hackers have used air traffic control frequencies to give pilots false commands.10 Communications systems are of increased importance for UAS because they provide the link to the human operators.
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From page 34... ...
This requires an understanding of how these systems sense and perceive internal and external data and the rationale by which the system arrives at its output decision. Existing adaptive/ nondeterministic algorithms have not been widely applied to safety-critical civil aviation applications in part because of the lack of a mature process for designing, implementing, and testing such algorithms.
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From page 35... ...
Critical analysis to define the appropriate functional allocation of the roles between the systems and the humans will be essential to avoid design pitfalls that would, in effect, require the human to be the ultimate fail-safe mechanism if the autonomous elements fail. Effective integration of IA systems into the NAS will require consideration of the impacts of these operations on all stakeholders, including legacy aircraft and systems.
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From page 36... ...
System Complexity and Resilience Barrier Statement: IA capabilities create a more complex aviation system, with new interdependencies and new relationships among various operational elements. This will likely reduce the resilience of the civil aviation system, because disturbances in one portion of the system could, in certain circumstances, cause the performance of the entire system to degrade precipitously.
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From page 37... ...
A 2012 NITRD workshop report directly addresses the complexity issues and notes that the technical means to design and test complex engineered networked systems do not yet exist.16 That report points to the need to develop the ability to design networks of IA vehicles and humans that demonstrate increased flexibility, robustness, resilience, and extensibility even as the operating environment, technology, and applications change over time. The DSB report cautions that "current designs of autonomous systems, and current design methods for increasing autonomy, can create brittle platforms, and have led to missed opportunities and new system failure modes when new capabilities are deployed.
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From page 38... ...
REGULATION AND CERTIFICATION Airspace Access for Unmanned Aircraft Barrier Statement: Unmanned aircraft may not operate in nonsegregated civil airspace unless the FAA issues a certificate of waiver or authorization (COA)
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From page 39... ...
The unique operational characteristics and flight performance of unmanned aircraft require UAS-specific ATM procedures and technologies.25 Certification Process Barrier Statement: Existing certification criteria, processes, and approaches do not take into account the special characteristics of advanced IA systems. Certification of aircraft and other civil aviation systems is critical to maintaining safety, especially in the midst of growth and/or changes in the operating environment.
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From page 40... ...
Developing new regulations, policies, procedures, guidance material, and training requirements, however, is lengthy and resource intensive, especially when new technologies involve expertise that is not currently resident in the staff of the responsible FAA offices. However, this situation has been encountered and overcome in the past as other revolutionary new technologies, such as fly-by-wire flight controls and composite materials, were introduced into civil aviation.
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From page 41... ...
IA systems can enable the operation of unmanned aircraft with reduced dependence on the remote crew and less need for highly reliabile, real-time communications. The current air safety regulatory framework implicitly assumes that the "system intelligence" resides exclusively in the human component of the system, primarily the pilots and air traffic controllers.
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From page 42... ...
have been managed: As confidence in the reliability of engines and other aircraft systems has grown, the FAA has granted air carriers the authority to operate twin-engine commercial transports along routes with flight segments that are increasingly distant from airports to which such aircraft could be diverted in the case of an engine malfunction en route. ADDITIONAL BARRIERS Legal Issues Barrier Statement: Public policy, as reflected in law and regulation, could significantly impede the degree and speed of adoption of IA technology in the NAS.
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From page 43... ...
Most people do not know how air traffic is routed or coordinated. Nor do they know the technical challenges that had to be overcome to assure the safety of civil aviation as new technologies such as fly-by-wire flight controls and composite materials came to play vital roles in the design and operation of commercial transports.
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