9 Integrating Drones with FAA’s NextGen System Student Name University Name TEC-820,

9

Integrating Drones with FAA’s NextGen System

Student Name

University Name

TEC-820, Dissertation Draft

Instructor Name

September 07th, 2022

Integrating Drones with FAA’s NextGen System

Introduction

Background

The FAA is now working on NextGen, or the Next Generation Air Transportation System, a multibillion-dollar infrastructure project to update the NAS, the world’s busiest and most complicated flight management system.  The FAA and its allies are not just introducing cosmetic adjustments to the current facilities; instead, they are introducing game-changing new techniques and abilities, leading to a novel approach to air traffic management predicated on flight path activities. NextGen strengthens our position as the worldwide leader in the aviation sector by encouraging the development of new standards and collaboration. The Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) has effectively increased pilots’ spatial awareness during flights. TCAS works independently from ground control and alerts the pilot if an “intruder” infringes on the craft’s airspace. While TCAS has been revolutionary in improving air travel safety, it has been proven inept regarding drones.

This technological ineptness is unfortunate because drones have surged and continue to grow exponentially. Kiernan (2019) observed 1.3 million drones had registered with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2018, up from 470,000 in 2016. This increased number of drones implies safety concerns for air travel as more drones keep invading airport spaces and flight routes (Holcombe, 2018). Unlike planes that TCAS can detect, drones are virtually undetectable. Pilots cannot tell when a drone invades their space during flights.

Meanwhile, some exciting developments have been transpiring in the FAA. The Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) is FAA’s initiative to modernize the transportation industry by leveraging various technologies toward automation. This initiative aims to capture multiple utilities, including safety, flexibility, efficiency, predictability, and capacity (Cooper, 2017). The ultimate goal of NextGen is to help the FAA transition from an air traffic management system that heavily relies on ground control systems to a satellite-controlled one. A satellite-controlled traffic management system has been identified as the new frontier in aviation and for the National Airspace System (NAS). NextGen’s capabilities through the various technologies benefit the industry and stakeholders, including reducing operating costs, delays, and cancelations.

ADS-B Impact on Drones Performance

From the previous part of this paper, it’s crystal clear that Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast technology utilizes the global positioning system to provide correct data on an aircraft’s exact location (Moallemi et al., 2016). Although incorporating the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast technology has enhanced the aviation industry’s technological efficiency, it is essential to acknowledge that the impacts of this sophisticated system in the drone sub-sector must

There are several impacts of the integration on the drone industry. Drone designs are changing due to this integration for the first time in a long time. Furthermore, the drone business is steadily becoming more expensive due to this integration. One may ask themselves why? Since drones must refer to the latest rules, the engineers must fix them with Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast transponders. Integrating the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast system has also set new drone standards, such as power capabilities, radio frequency levels, and maximum weight standards.

The operation of drone piloting is on the verge of changing as an impact of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast integration. Drone operators must acquire extra education, unlearn irrelevant skills, and incorporate new skills. Therefore new certifications and acknowledgments are necessary. However, it is also important to acknowledge that the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast technology has facilitated the best communication system between other manned aircraft and drones in the last few years.

It is, therefore, essential to agree that integrating this sophisticated system into drones has impacted the drone industry in broad ways, both positively and negatively. As discussed above, increased expenses are one of them. Nevertheless, the parties involved must collaborate and get the best out of integrating the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast system.

Significance of the Study

This context proposes a solution to the problem of drone visibility for pilots that will leverage the FAA’s NextGen system capabilities. NextGen has several programs running, each with specific and quantifiable goals, and one of the programs will perfectly suit this project. Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcasting (ADS-B) is one of NextGen’s programs that uses satellite technology to identify and monitor airplanes (Liang, 2018). NextGen’s ADS-B program has a robust infrastructural base consisting of the latest technologies in communication. The integration of a drone tracking system via NextGen’s ADS-B program will bolster the effectiveness of TCAS.

This project will reduce the time pilots use to communicate with ground traffic control by providing vital information about the drones around the aircraft. ADS-B has many advantages over the radar-based system that has been previously used. For instance, ADS-B captures crucial information about an aircraft, including its position, altitude, call sign, and even the registration code (Haessig et al., 2016). Aircraft data and flight paths are transmitted to aircraft controllers and pilots in real time.

Additionally, more and more receivers for ADS-B transponders are being invented that are small and easily portable, ensuring that anyone with a decent receiver can see the real-time information that air traffic control and pilots see. As it happens, all drones must be registered with the FAA (Lightfoot, 2018), meaning every drone has a unique identifier, like the registration code.

Therefore, the drones’ radar and global positioning system (GPS) systems can be integrated with NextGen’s ADS-B technology to improve drone visibility to pilots (Paczan et al., 2012). More ground relay stations may be needed to boost the signal to increase the system’s efficiency, dependability, and accuracy. Signal latency is a problem that can lead to disaster.

Results and more ground relay stations will help overcome this issue. This paper will explore and propose a solution for integrating NextGen into the drone system to address the current invisibility problem.

Research Problem

General Problem Statement

Presently, drones are technically invisible to the sensing systems of commercial aircraft plying human passengers and goods in the airspace. With the rising quantity of drones unleashed in American airspace, as observed in the growing number of drones registered with the FAA, the risk for air travel safety also rises. Unfortunately, the FAA is still technologically unprepared to fully regulate drone use in the United States, prolonging the stakes until the FAA succeeds. In the meantime, the risk to human life because of airway accidents continues to rise. Addressing this visibility problem in drones requires interventions that will allow drones to be recognizable to other and larger aircraft.

Specific Problem Statement

Within the broader problem above, a specific issue pertains to the intervention that must be implemented to resolve the invisibility among drones for larger aircraft, even those with effective tracking systems, like TCAS, commonly used among larger aircraft like airplanes (Griner, 2015). However, because of their inability to detect drones, they are of no value for use among airplanes as detectors of drones. Unlike TCAS, NextGen’s ADS-B system offers a more significant promise because of its automatic broadcasting surveillance technology. This study aimed to determine options to help integrate ADS-B into drones for detectability.

Theoretical Framework

Detectability Potential of Drones

Kuhlmann et al. (2022) suggested that the miniaturization of drones can significantly reduce their detectability. Meanwhile, its predominant use of non-conducting materials increased its invisibility (Kim et al., 2018). However, drones always have high detectability potential, even at miniature sizes. Kuhlmann et al. (2022) found that even the smallest of drones tested for wildlife use (w = 249 g) can be detected by the acoustic detection capability of bats. The frequency range of drones appears to overlap with the detection range of bats. Bats, for instance, can hear the maximum sound pressures of fruit flies (20 to 25 decibels at frequencies higher than 15 kilocycles) (Griffin, Webster, & Michael, 1960). This capability is ” unavailable in the existing sensing technologies” (Teshima et al., 2022).

However, recent experiments found some potential strategies for detecting drones. Kim et al. (2018) used a chirp-pulse Doppler radar to see drones within a one-kilometer distance. Drones with horizontal blades were detected at a maximum length of 1,138 meters, while those with vertical edges were detected at a full range of 801 meters. The frame and blades appeared close to the Swerling 3 and 4 target models. The key was an initial integration of the pulses.

The TCAS Detection Power

A significant flaw in the TCAS system is that it can only detect “other aircraft equipped with TCAS equipment” (Xie et al., 2022). If the other aircraft is not TCAS-equipped (non-cooperative airliner), the TCAS system is blind. This is a crucial fact in the inability of this system to detect drones, which are non-cooperative aircraft (Wu et al., 2018) and making it irrelevant to drone detection.

The Detection Power of NextGen’s ADS-B

The ADS-B, an active sensing system (Siewert et al., 2018), is renowned for its primary benefit: accurate aircraft localized detection (Ying et al., 2016). Designed as an automatic surveillance broadcaster (Siewert et al., 2018), its aircraft-carried OUT devices transmit aircraft identification and current position at 1090 MHz to other aircraft (Ying et al., 2016), the alarming plane of dangerous proximity. However, while ADS-B can provide accurate and precise location information, its data are crude, and its time is of low precision (e.g., no explicit timestamp) (Siewert et al., 2018). Like TCAS, ADS-B must be installed in an aircraft for that aircraft to be detected (Siewert et al., 2018; Ying et al., 2016). Therefore, like TCAS, it is blind and irrelevant to non-cooperative aircraft like drones.

Research Method

Design & Sampling Method

The study used the integrative literature review design to maximize the flexibility in selecting data sources (Wang et al., 2018). These sources may include qualitative and quantitative studies while allowing the use of industry-level position papers from aviation authorities. It also utilized the purposive sampling method to ensure a rich and relevant collection of data that helped address the research problem (Palinkas et al., 2015).

Search & Selection Strategy

Peer-reviewed articles were searched from the search result list of Google Scholar using keywords and search phrases, such as “ADS-B Drone Integration” AND “strategy” and “integrating ADS-B to drone” AND “strategy.” These search keys were also used to search through the Google Search list to retrieve industry and government papers to achieve the

Study’s purposes. Articles and documents must not be five years old to be selected and published between 2018 and 2022. Titles and abstracts must reflect search phrases with the complete text, preferably retrievable for free but not necessary if the abstract already serves a rich resource. Exceptions to these criteria may be considered provided that the article’s or document’s content contributes more information than the title or abstract indicates.

Data Analysis

An inductive thematic analysis reviewed the source data to generate relevant themes from the naturally occurring data sources related to the research problem (Parnell et al., 2018). It provides richer insights into integrating the NextGen system into drones. These themes are then used to address the research problem.

Results and Discussion

The drone industry and the number of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are expanding. Aside from professionals in various areas, such as agriculture, inspection, filmmaking, search and rescue, real estate, and many more, who are discovering what crewless aircraft can do for them, dragon usage is increasing at an alarming rate. Every day, for example, we learn new ways to employ drones for package delivery, medical supply transport, and other purposes. Because of these new uses for drones, we will likely see bigger uncrewed aircraft in the skies rather than just the tiny two-pound camera drones that are now buzzing around. Through ADS-B In, the drone’s operator is aware of nearby flights. Real-time awareness quickly locates nearby aircraft and warns the drone operator using satellite and radio signals. This situational awareness will substantially assist the drone operator in comprehending and reacting to other traffic in their flying area. Because it uses ADS-B In, the warnings will not increase the radio is already a significant broadcast burden.

The richness of the two articles selected for this study found two major themes of ADS-B integration options: non-integration (Theme 1) and integration (Theme 2). Theme 1 consists of a single subtheme. Conversely, Theme 2 consists of two subthemes.

Non-Integration Options

The theme for non-integration options includes strategies that do not integrate ADS-B transceivers in the drone architecture to allow its detection by other aircraft ADS-B detection systems. Instead, these options argued that drone-sensitive detection systems, including compliant drones, might be integrated into ADS-B-compliant aircraft.

The Drone Net Integrated Sensing System

Siewert et al. (2018) tested a drone-detection architecture that integrates ADS-B and an array of acoustic sensor nodes with at least six wires. Microphones in an ADS-B-compliant aircraft detect non-compliant drones in its periphery. ADS-B provides accurate and precise localization and identification data. Meanwhile, the acoustic sensors detect soundwaves emanating from the non-compliant drone blades from several kilometers but cannot offer localization data.

Integration Options

Most of the articles included in this analysis (e.g., Arteaga et al., 2018) used ADS-B-compliant drones carrying ADS-B transceivers in their structure. However, no information on the integration process used to establish compliance was mentioned.

Drone Camera System Integration

Siewert et al. (2018) integrated the ADS-B receiver, as a built-in component, in a drone-mounted visible camera system, including cameras like the Wide Field All-Sky camera and the narrow field visible camera. It was interfaced with an electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) Keppler GP-GPU System-on-Chip drone processor.

Transponder Hardware Integration

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration reported its testing of a DJI Phantom 4 drone with an integrated miniaturized Micro Avionics Ping2020 ADS-B transponder (Arteaga et al., 2018). While a detailed integration process was not reported, the drone used the Flight Horizon UAS flight software, which was compatible with the drone’s uAvionix hardware system.

Opinions on the Fate of ADS-B and Drone Technology

Modern unmanned aerial drones will play a significant role in addition to conventional aircraft, specifically for SAA technologies necessary to prevent collisions. It has received widespread praise for the direction drone control will take in the future after several recent real-world demonstrations. Uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) could not fly in civil airspace until 2013. Therefore, for a UAV to be certified, its creator must show that it has capabilities at least as good as those of a human equivalent. Since the FAA’s limits on ordinary airspace have been so stringent up until now, SAA has had to operate without the assistance of other planes.

Nevertheless, this perspective is also shifting at the same time. There has been a lot of recent research on bonsai technologies compatible with ADS-B to replace conventional methods dependent on visual methods. According to reports from the industry, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) intends to develop rules for utilizing such electronic processes soon. As a result, the problems discussed in this article have taken on a much greater urgency.

Recent extensive media insurance stimulated the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to incorporate civil aviation confidentiality on the initiative of the twelfth airspace conference. The ICAO cited safety as a substantial deployment barrier that must be considered during the roadmap development process. Additionally, the ICAO established a task force to assist with the future coordination of the involved stakeholders’ efforts. Even though these difficulties have been on the radar of stakeholders in civil aviation for some time now, the conceptual constellations of excellent ADS-B safety will demand additional focus because now Wesson and Humphreys have only just underscored how vital the issue is. To obtain the safety accreditation of ADS-B-based SAA equipment by 2023 and prevent future costly failures, these problems will need to play a significant part in the research conducted by academic institutions and private businesses.

Regulations and Guidelines for Integrating ADS-B with Drones

Regulations and guidelines for integrating ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) with drones are essential to ensure air traffic safety, people, and property on the ground (Semenov & Zhang, 2022). ADS-B is an aircraft tracking system that relies on GPS and radio transmissions to provide real-time aircraft location data. This data is used to identify potential risks and conflicts in the airspace and ensure compliance with aviation regulations.

Semenov and Zhang (2022) state that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) sets regulations and guidelines for integrating ADS-B with drones. These include requirements for drone registration, airspace authorization, and the use of approved ADS-B systems. The FAA also requires that drones be operated within their agreed operating parameters and that the pilot always maintains a visual line-of-sight of the drone. Additionally, the FAA has established flight rules and guidelines to ensure drones’ safe and responsible operation, including the requirement to remain below 400 feet and the prohibition of operations over people or moving vehicles (Semenov & Zhang, 2022). Finally, drone pilots must know the airspace in which they operate and abide by applicable flight restrictions.

The Role of Commercial Aviation Authorities in Integrating ADS-B with Drones

Commercial aviation authorities are responsible for setting regulations and standards to ensure that drones using ADS-B comply with safety regulations, including providing that drones are equipped with the necessary sensors and transponders to detect nearby aircraft and broadcast the correct data (Gelli et al., 2022). In addition, the authorities must ensure that drone operators are adequately trained in using ADS-B and adhere to their regulations.

Role of Government in Regulating ADS-B with Drones

The government plays a vital role in regulating ADS-B systems with drones, setting the regulations and standards for using these systems. Barrows (2021) states that government agencies, such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), are responsible for creating and enforcing rules and regulations to ensure the safe and reliable use of drones equipped with ADS-B systems. This includes setting standards for the types of drones and ADS-B systems allowed to be used and establishing guidelines for how and where they can be flown. Regulatory agencies also monitor the use of ADS-B systems to ensure that operators follow the rules and can take action when necessary. Additionally, the government provides that ADS-B systems are interoperable between drones and operators (Barrows, 2021).

Impact of ADS-B on Drone Industry Growth

ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) is a technology that enables aircraft to be tracked in real-time through radio transmissions (Semenov & Zhang, 2022). This technology is set to revolutionize how drones are used in the industry by providing more reliable and accurate tracking of their location and altitude. Using ADS-B will allow for more transparency and accountability in the drone industry. Providing more precise tracking and flight data will make ensuring that drone operators follow safety protocols and regulations easier. It will also make identifying and responding to safety issues while operating a drone easier.

Advantages of Integrating ADS-B with Drones

Integrating ADS-B technology with drones can help to automate flight paths. The drone can take off, land, and navigate more efficiently and accurately, which is possible because Drones’ locations and actions in actual time are tracked by ADS-B technology, allowing for the development of predetermined flight plans. (Gelli et al., 2022). This eliminates the need for manual navigation and control, rendering it quicker and simpler for drones to reach their destination. Additionally, the enhanced situational awareness provided by ADS-B technology can help to reduce the risk of collisions and other hazardous scenarios.

According to Gelli et al. (2022), integrating ADS-B technology with drones can help improve flight efficiency, speed, and safety. This is achieved through more accurate navigation and in-flight management. Additionally, ADS-B can provide automated flight paths for drones, meaning they can take off, land, and navigate more accurately and efficiently. Finally, ADS-B can provide pilots with more accurate and up-to-date information on weather conditions, allowing them to make informed decisions on their flight paths to save time and avoid potential hazards.

Conclusion

Drone flights will undoubtedly become commonplace soon. Manufacturers of drones appreciate the value of spending money now on creating a robust and well-recognized system of laws and regulations to optimize safe operations. Both manned and unmanned pilot profit from improved communication systems. The focus on developing these technologies is a positive development. The integration of ADS-B into a drone has been established as feasible in this study. The two articles reviewed in this study used an ADS-B integrated or compliant drone in their respective experiments. Two approaches have been used in the integration process.

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