Inside Unmanned Systems provides actionable business intelligence to decision-makers and influencers operating within the global UAS community. Features include analysis of key technologies, policy/regulatory developments and new product design.
Issue link: https://insideunmanned.epubxp.com/i/668560
28 unmanned systems inside April/May 2016 validate that this is, indeed, the level of safety that can be achieved and, with a positive result, that a certain level of safety might be demon- strated," Brooks explained. "The FAA can take that exact research and use it to substantiate approval of the UAS operations because the re- search is still solid—just done independently." Early Adopter PrecisionHawk was one of the first companies to take advantage of ASSURE's research capa- bilities. In fact the Raleigh, N.C., firm began working with North Carolina University (NCU), one of ASSURE's core institutions, roughly three years ago. By the time the COE decision was announced in May 2015, the two organiza- tions had already flown some 80 to 100 hours, working on agricultural applications and air- space integration. The company also has a sepa- rate Pathfinder project with the FAA to develop aircraft standards and operational procedures for extended line-of-sight operations—an effort that necessarily looks at airspace surveillance and sense and avoid technologies. When North Carolina became ASSURE's lead for developing tools to test UAS surveil- lance systems, PrecisionHawk signed on as one of ASSURE's early commercial members. Formalizing its research efforts, it committed some $300,000 of data, technology and flight time to ASSURE's surveillance criticality proj- ect, wherein the test methodologies will be developed. Within that effort PrecisionHawk is working on its Low Altitude Tracking and Avoidance System, or LATAS, which the com- pany hopes will enable drone tracking, collision avoidance and flight planning by transmitting real-time f light data across existing cellular networks. "We do believe that it will require robust re- search and testing to prove not only the sophisti- cation of the technology but also the sophistica- tion of the concept of operations," said Thomas Haun, vice president of strategy for Precision- Hawk and an ASSURE board member. "When we're talking about extended visual line of sight, and beyond visual line of sight flight—those are not simple things. And so only through robust research do we believe that we'll actually find an appropriate solution." Business Case Through participation in ASSURE's surveil- lance criticality project PrecisionHawk, and other firms like Rockwell Collins, get feedback and gain insight as UAS surveillance technol- ogy, standards and operational concepts evolve. "They get to know that their technology, that LATAS, is comparable to other solutions. That it is being evaluated against the standards and the new standards that are being developed," said Kyle Snyder, NCU's director of aerospace research and development and the lead on the surveillance criticality project. What PrecisionHawk learns during the pro- cess helps inform its work on LATAS. "There are many folks who are very interested in consensus-based standards that are perfor- mance-style requirements rather than prescrip- tive-style requirements. I don't know that they would choose our system or another system," Haun said. "What we look for is that, if there are performance requirements that are created, that our technology is capable of meeting those per- formance requirements." FAA's involvement with ASSURE helps it stay informed about developments with LATAS and any other projects, Haun said. "By being a Center of Excellence for the FAA, ASSURE now has a direct link to communicate The Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence (ASSURE) is comprised of twenty-two of the world's leading research institutions and more than a hundred leading industry/government partners. "IT'S PRETTY SIMPLE CALCULUS FOR US. Our business does not exist in the future if there isn't UAS integration." Thomas Haun, vice president of strategy for PrecisionHawk