SAFE INTEGRATION OF UAS INTO THE NATIONAL AIRSPACE: THE NECESSITY OF ESTABLISHING A DESIGNATED UAS AIRSPACE

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Safe Integration of UAS into the National Airspace: the Necessity of Establishing A designated UAS Airspace Abrha, Daniel Asfaw Dept of Aviation Management School of Graduate Korea Aerospace University (Advisor: Prof. Keumjin Lee, PhD) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) is widely used for many purposes and need for integration is felt as a result of this. This thesis has a main objective of examining the necessity of establishing a designated UAS airspace to integrate safely into the airspace. The integration of these UAS into the National Airspace System (NAS) brings a set of regulatory, operational and infrastructural challenges that demand urgent attention. As a result of this, the integration of UAS into the national airspace needs careful planning, defining regulators aspects, development of infrastructure that supports the operation, coordination among the stakeholders and a designated UAS airspace development. The idea of establishing a designated UAS airspace can be considered as foundational stages of UAS ecosystem development. Lack of a designated training zone for UAS operators in general for testing of their UAS and teaching the practical flying of UAS for RP trainees hinders successful training, operation and coordination of the operation. Mixed methods approach was applied in order to achieve the objective. Surveys collected from different stakeholders of the industry in order to assess the opinion of stakeholders regarding the necessity of developing a designated UAS airspace to serve training and research and development of UAS. As the findings indicate designating UAS airspace enhance safety, UAS related innovation and a joint Academy-Industry collaboration. Additionally, factors such as Distance from Controlled Airspace, Security clearance, Population density and Reliable weather are the most important site selection factors to be considered. Establishing a designated UAS airspace can serve as a means to enforce the regulatory framework, enhance UAS innovation, facilitates coordination and collaboration and enable the national aviation development at large. This in turn helps safe integration of UAS into the national airspace. Keywords UAS, integration, Airspace, safety, designated UAS airspace

목차 (Table of Contents)

• CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1
• 1.1 Background and Statement of the Problem 1
• 1.2 Research questions 5
• 1.3 Objectives 5
• 1.3.1. General objectives 5
• 1.3.2. Specific objectives 5
• 1.4 Significance of the Study 6
• 1.5 Scope and Delimitation 6
• CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 7
• 2.1. Introduction to UA 7
• 2.1.1. Evolution of UAS 7
• 2.1.2. Terminology 7
• 2.1.3. Categorization of UA 9
• 2.1.4. Components of UAS 12
• 2.2. Regulatory Framework and Standards 13
• 2.2.1. ICAO SARPs 13
• 2.2.2. Civil Aviation Rules and Standards FDRE Part 22- Remotely Piloted Aircraft System 13
• 2.3. Applications of UAS 15
• 2.4. Relevance of Designated UAS Airspace. 15
• 2.4.1. Concept and Classification of Airspace 15
• 2.4.2. Controlled and Uncontrolled Airspace 16
• 2.4.3. Concept of Segregated and Integrated Airspace 17
• 2.5. Concept of UAS Operation 17
• 2.6. Current Operational Challenges of UAS 20
• 2.7. Importance of Designated UAS airspace 20
• 2.8. Global Practices and Lessons 22
• 2.9. Requirements to Integrate Drones/UAS into Airspace 29
• 2.9.1. Regulatory requirements 30
• 2.9.2. Site Selection Factors 31
• 2.10. Role of Stakeholders for UAS integration 32
• 2.11. Risks associated with UAS Operation 33
• 2.11.1. Safety Risks 34
• 2.11.2. Security, Privacy and Environmental Risks 34
• 2.12. Challenges of Designated Airspace and Integration Process 35
• CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 39
• 3.1. Research Design 39
• 3.2. Research Approach 39
• 3.3. Target Population and Sampling 39
• 3.4. Sampling 40
• 3.5. Data collection instruments 40
• 3.6. Data collection procedures 41
• 3.7. Data analysis techniques 41
• 3.8. Ethical consideration 41
• 3.9. Limitation of the methodology 41
• CHAPTER 4 RESULTS 42
• 4.1. Demographic Characteristics of Respondents 42
• 4.2. Response of CAA Regulators 44
• 4.3. Airspace Designers 53
• 4.4. ATM and UTM Experts 58
• 4.5. Manned Aircraft pilots 70
• 4.6. Academia 78
• 4.7. UAS Operators 84
• 4.8. NISS/INSA Response 90
• 4.9. Findings 96
• CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION 99
• CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION 109
• 6.1. Conclusion 109
• 6.2. Recommendations 112
• Reference 117