54 unmanned systems
inside
January/February 2016
AIR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
North Carolina State
University is leading
research into whether
the surveillance and anti-
collision systems being
used for manned aircraft
can be safety used for
unmanned systems.
Pictured clockwise
from left: Researcher
Darshan Divakaran
launches a Precision
Hawk Lancaster aircraft,
the Digital Harvest
fight team confer
before a test fight of
the Yamaha RMAX,
the RMAX prepares
for a crop spraying
training mission, Forrest
Magraw of Bosh
Technologies launches
a Super Swiper UAS.
Center: Chip Berniard
from Trimble launches a
UX5 aircraft donated by
the frm to the ASSURE
Alliance.
Photos courtesy of North Carolina State University
"If we have a system that we want to test, how
do you test it?" Cathey explained "…The opera-
tional framework is going to give us the set of
conditions, and maybe multiple different opera-
tional configurations, that we try to fly. It says
'here is what this case looks like' and 'here's how
we're going to fly to test that case.'"
Cathey and his University of North Dakota
colleague Mark Askelson will use the framework
to test sense and avoid solutions—that is technol-
ogy or procedures aimed at preventing collisions
in the air and on the ground—an essential ele-
ment of beyond line-of-sight operations.
New Ideas Welcome
The research teams will assess a wide range
of ideas including ground-based sense and
avoid systems and those that would require un-
manned aircraft to carry new equipment. One
example of the later is an idea that got a lot of
attention in 2015—using ADS-B transponders
sized down for UAS. (ADS-B stands for Auto-
matic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast, a
tracking system used for manned aircraft.)
Firms that are developing cloud-based solu-
tions are invited to participate, as are those with
ideas for UAS air traffic control or changes to
procedures. ASSURE is particularly, but not
exclusively, interested in f light-ready systems.
New approaches will be considered, they said,
as will systems that are promising but whose
equipment may only be at the breadboard or
prototype stage.
"We would love to be able to test that technol-
ogy with the idea that, if it proves out, then you
go to the next step," Cathey said.