1.
UAS and their Use
Unmanned Aircraft Systems
(UAS) has become a major support for defense services both in war as well as
during peace time. The UAS consists of the unmanned aircraft and the associated
ground operational control and support system. The military UAS finds extreme
useful application in both intelligence gathering as well as arms dropping in
hostile areas where manned aircraft deployment is considered dangerous. A
concept of military operation of UAV is shown in figure - 1. The military UAVs
are normally operated in segregated air space (military airspace) and thus do
not confront with civil aviation. Military UAV being state aircraft are
self-certified by the military themselves and their operational safety is
governed by the defense aviation safety plan (DASP) formulated by each
countries defense organization.
Figure - 1: Concept of Military UAV Operation
In civil sectors also,
UAS is gaining momentum to dominate in the surveillance, emergency or quick and
urgent air transportation as well as homeland security. UAS is a broad term
applicable to UAV, RPV as well as common name ‘drones’. Drones have become very
attractive with great usefulness and additionally supported by low cost, low
risk and off the shelf availability.
2. ICAO and Civil
Aviation
Post World War,
realizing the great potential of air transportation for transferring people and
cargo over long distances at short time, US government invited 55 countries to
participate for a discussion at Chicago in 1944. The International Civil
Aviation Organisation (ICAO) was formed by 55 countries who met in Chicago in
1944 to promote international air
transportation. ICAO was
formed to promote international air navigation and to foster planning &
development of international air transportation. Today ICAO has 197
member states.
ICAO
was officially formed on 04 April 1947. The Chicago convention adopted a preamble, 96 articles and 18 Annexures. These
articles form the basis of International Air Law and the annexures define International
Standards and Recommended Practices (ISRP). Airworthiness Document No. 9670,
ICAO was released for manned aircraft.
There
are two prerequisites for the introduction of an airworthiness
regulatory system for all member countries of ICAO (Refer: Airworthiness Doc
9670, ICAO)
a) The
provision in the basic law of the state for a code of airworthiness
regulations and the promulgation thereof, and
b) The
establishment of an appropriate State Entity with the necessary
authority to ensure compliance with the regulations, known as Civil Aviation
Authority (CAA).
This
authority (like DGCA in India) only can issue certification and
permission for flight operations.
2.1 ICAO Circular
328 for Unmanned Aircraft System
The unmanned aircraft system
are in use for several decades in many countries. However, looking at the
potential growth and possibility of flying of manned and unmanned aircraft in
the national airspace in very near future, ICAO at its 37 General Assembly meeting
in 2010 addressed regulatory issues on UAS and proposed a circular on Unmanned
Aircraft System.
This circular was approved
and released in 2011 as ICAO Cir 328/AN/190/2011. The circular Based on Chicago
Convention and uses the same standards as manned aircraft. All ICAO annexures
are made applicable to UAS.
It was felt that a Remotely Piloted
Aircraft System (RPAS) may be considered to consist of an unmanned aircraft and
a set of additional configurable elements of following items:
ü associated
remote pilot station(s)
ü command-control
links
ü software
ü health
monitoring
ü ATC communications
equipment
ü a
flight termination system
ü launch
and recovery elements
ü RPAS
operations: in ATS airspace subject to authorization
ü Segregated
airspace established by AIP (Aeronautical Information Publication) and /or
NOTAM (Notice to Air Men) issued by Civil Aviation Authority of the country
Comments from member States on this
circular, particularly with respect to its application and usefulness, would be
used to finalise the operational procedures.
2.2 Regulatory Issues with UAV
Regularity issues to be
considered while permitting UAV operation in National Air Space (NAS) require
to address following points:
a)
Safety
and Security of the UAS
b)
Issues
of Co-lateral Damage
c)
Airworthiness,
Continued Airworthiness and Environments
d)
Operations,
Maintenance and Licensing of UAV
e)
Air
Traffic Management (ATM)
3. Library Congress Study - 2016
To harmonize rules of drone operation presently existing
in 12 countries (Asia and Europe) and the European Union Commission and make
proposal to integrate rules for all drones, following issues were surveyed:
•
Regulations of drones based on weights
•
Agency of Implementation of Regulation (CAA or others)
•
UAS Registration and Labelling
•
Flight authorisation procedure
•
UAS operators qualification
•
Operational requirements
•
Real time supervision system and UAS cloud
The survey produced wide variations in the
approach adopted in these countries.
4. Existing Regulations in some Countries
4.1 FAA Task Force Recommendation Nov 2015
FAA Aviation Rulemaking Committee made mandatory for small UAV owner
(AUW from 250 gms to 25 Kg) be
registered with effect from 21 Dec 2015 if the UAV is to fly in NAS (National
Air Space). The UAV owner will be given
a unique identification mark and all UAVs owned by him should display his identification
mark on the UAV while flying.
The UAV need not be
certified, however the flyer/owner
must be registered and thereby obey operating rule under VFR (visual flight
rules) condition. The concept is to prevent small & model Aircraft
as well as UAV flying not to endanger
NAS.
Federal Aviation Administration FAA Part 107 issued on 21 Jun 2016 gives
operation limitations. Further on 18 Dec 2107 at the request of U.S. national security andlaw enforcement agencies, the FAA using its existing authority under Title 14 of Code of Federal Regulations has restricted drone flights up to 400 feet within the lateral boundaries of the DOE (Department of Energy) installation sites.
operation limitations. Further on 18 Dec 2107 at the request of U.S. national security andlaw enforcement agencies, the FAA using its existing authority under Title 14 of Code of Federal Regulations has restricted drone flights up to 400 feet within the lateral boundaries of the DOE (Department of Energy) installation sites.
4.2 EASA Civil Drone Regulation
a) Categories and Proposal
1)
Low
Risk (Open) – Requires no prior authorization for operation
2)
Medium
Risk (Specific) – Requires authorization from competent authority (based on
risk mitigation plan)
3)
High
Risk (Certified) – Requires certification; Both UA and RP need to be approved
by CA for operation
b) Regulation Release
•
Prototype
Regulation was published in August 2016.
•
Public
Consultation Period expires on 15 Sep 2017
•
Final
regulations will be submitted to EU (European Union) by the end of 2017.
4.3 Air Transport Circular UAS – DGCA, India
Draft UAS Regulatory Circular issued
by Directorate General of Civil Aviation, (DGCA), Government of India on
21.04.2016
a) UAS Classification
Mini
< 2 Kg
Micro
: 2- 20 Kg
Small
: 20 – 150 Kg
Large
: > 150 Kg
a)
UIN (Unique Identification Number)
1)
All
Unmanned Aircraft will require UIN
2)
UA
Operator permitted to fly > 200 ft, in Temporarily Segregated Area
3)
Validity
of UA Operational permit 2 years
4)
Sale/disposal
of UAS with UIN must be informed to DGCA
5)
Other
than micro UAV, all UAV RP (Remote Pilot) should have license
6)
UAS
to be maintained as per manufacturer approved procedure
7)
Operator
shall inform local Administration, ATS (Air Traffic Service) , BCAS (bureau of
Civil Aviation & Aerodrome office for
operation indicating date, time and place.
5. Discussion and
Conclusion
The UAVs are
employed in segregated areas at present, but there is a consensus views within
the aerospace industry that the time is ripe when both manned and unmanned
aerial vehicles will share the common air space. Thus the process of
integrating the manned aircraft and UAV in the National Airspace has to be
accepted and regulated. Thus, there is a needs to regulate the operation of UAS
in one hand and at the same time the UAS themselves have to be certified to be
airworthy by regulatory organizations.
On the airworthiness
certification front the issues arise are
a)
Design standards to be followed for certification of UAV
b)
Reliability and Robustness of the UAS as well as the ground
control stations
c)
Command Control and Guidance in the event of data link
failure.
On the regulatory front
issues arise are
a)
UAS mission and mission criticality
b)
Air Traffic Management for interoperability of UAS and manned
aircraft in common airspace
c)
Collateral damage in the event of UAS failure during flight
Many countries and regulatory bodies like USA, UK, EASA and CASA have
formulated the operational procedure and regulatory control, however they are mostly in the form of notice of proposed amendment
of existing manned regulation to include UAS or notice for introduction of new
rules of operations for UAS. The finalised rules and regulations ar yet to be released.
Reference:
1) Drone Laws in UK - what are the rules : http://www.telegraph.co.uk
2) EASA publishes a proposal to operate small drones in Europe_EASA.pdf;
https://www.easa.europa.eu/tags/unmanned-aircraft-systems.
3) Regulations of Drones: April 2016; The law library of congress; http://www.law.gov.
4) ICAO Circular 328.
