Question two: UWL International Airports Corporation (UWL IAC) owns and operates airports across the globe serving all range of current and emerging air transport modes. AAM Consultancy has to advise the CEO of UWL IAC by 28-May-21 on the challenges and implications of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to their airport operations
Airport investments in unmanned aerial vehicle systems, research and applied technologies is increasing, and the potential adoption of UAVs in many airport operations, especially in security surveillance, is being explored by state, federal and local governments. The increasing interest and intensive scientific interests are also leveraging the commercial interest in the unmanned market. UAVs provide a distinct range of characteristics, most notably ultra, long-endurance and high-risk mission acknowledgement, which may not be reasonably performed by human-crewed aircraft. When combined with other advances in sensor technologies and automation and its capacity in cost-savings, the features make a convincing case for the growth and adoption of government, civil and commercial UAV market. However, although UAV has much promise for airport users, for Airport operations, various potential challenges and implications are revolving around its adoption, which must be addressed as a precondition to their safe and routine integration in civil airspace. For this reason, there is need for UWL Airlines to be aware of some of these challenges and implications to the airport operations before the adoption of the UAVs.
Safety is one of the biggest challenges facing the adoption of UAVs in airport operations. Successful incorporation of this drone technology in airlines will need assurances to be embedded safely in airport operations within the constructs of commonly acknowledged aviation surroundings and structures. Thus, before adoptions of UAVs by UWL Airlines, they will need to showcase that they are not a danger to the environment or they do not pose any undue danger to individuals or the other aircraft. They should offer a reasonable safety lee lot human-crewed aircraft. However, defining this equivalency concerning terms, conditions and requirements is also a challenge. UAV’s operate differently from human-crewed airlines, which makes it difficult to quantify the level of requirements needed. Since the pilot is less at risk when using UAV’s, the primary concern is whether its systems should apply to similar safety requirements as manned aero planes. Safety risks are pervasive in operations and design or any complex structure. As such, this makes UAV’s part and parcel of a complex structure (Elsayed, & Mohamed, 2020). Defining and sorting out the numerous safety risk elements and their interrelationships is a daunting responsibility and one that falls beyond many individuals comprehension (DeGarmo, 2004). One of the significant safety issues concerning UAV adoption by UWL Airlines at the airport is collision avoidable, weather, human factors and system reliability. Collision avoidance is primarily because of its capacity to result in catastrophic accidents (Elsayed, & Mohamed, 2020). However, system reliability is also essential since weather hazards and human factors are mostly seen as weak links in safety risks.
Due to its potential for devastating and hazardous implications, collision avoidance is one of the most pressing issues facing UAV adoption. It is mainly the concentration of most research works by industry, governments, universities, and research institutions worldwide (DeGarmo, 2004). The challenge of avoiding and detecting an approaching aircraft and other environmental objects for Unmanned Aerial vehicles is one of the significant challenges (Elsayed, & Mohamed, 2020). As such, many people believe that the YAVs should be embedded with a see and avoid capability, which may permit them to detect and safely steer clear of any obstructions or approaching aircraft (DeGarmo, 2004). In such situations, the pilot's responsibilities, especially in human-crewed aircraft, are stipulated in FAA advisory circular 90-48C.
Beyond the challenge of meeting a standard is the challenge of developing a sensor capable of meeting the safety standard. Most UAVs optical structures currently in use need good weather and are most susceptible to obscurants such as smoke and smog (DeGarmo, 2004). Additionally, it is evident that search rates of such optical structures are primarily slow and may not her sufficient for traffic detection. Other options such as radar may not be applicable in effect timely with small UAVs because of the restricted unit cost and payload (DeGarmo, 2004). Besides having an active detection sensor, UAVs, if they need to perform their responsibilities in instrumental metrological conditions or airspaces, need to equip themselves with cooperative surveillance and security technology such as the ADS-B and the transponder. Although such technologies are designed for human-crewed aircraft, they can operate or function with extensive UAVs (Elsayed, & Mohamed, 2020). However, they may be challenging for the Smaller UAVs with low electrical generation capabilities and limited payloads (DeGarmo, 2004). The new transponders are heavy and need an extensive level of power. Another pertinent issue is cost. On some occasions, the surveillance system alone may exceed the price of the vehicle, which in the process may also surpass its weight limitations.
Another critical challenge is that although collision avoidance remains one of the topic agendas in the UAV’s adoption among regulators, the UA community and the researchers, the ground impacts and the actual danger this technology possess is sometimes overstated. However, statistic obtained from the FAA records indicates that fatalities caused by mid-air collisions and aircraft are approximately 3.6 per cent of all fatalities involved in aviation (Hardin, & Jensen, (2011). However, the same issue applies to the UAVs, as evidenced by the Vietnam victims. Nonetheless, regardless of the statistical rationale indicating low chances, statistics mean little concerning political acceptance e and public perceptions (Mohamed et al., 2020). For this reason, there is clear evidence that work needs to continue in this area.
Although UAVs have much promise for UWAS airline operations, there are various potential challenges and implications are hampering its smooth operation and adoption. As such, the current scientific and technological interest in UAVs has unearthed various safety concerns which needs to be addressed before such issues are considered by the UAWS airline. Although they offer unique activities and operational issues, there is need to implement a safety requirements before using fully at the airport.
References
DeGarmo, M. T. (2004). Issues concerning integration of unmanned aerial vehicles in civil airspace. Center for Advanced Aviation System Development, 4.
Elsayed, M., & Mohamed, M. (2020). The impact of airspace regulations on unmanned aerial vehicles in last-mile operation. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 87, 102480.
Hardin, P. J., & Jensen, R. R. (2011). Small-scale unmanned aerial vehicles in environmental remote sensing: Challenges and opportunities. GIScience & Remote Sensing, 48(1), 99-111.
Mohamed, N., Al-Jaroodi, J., Jawhar, I., Idries, A., & Mohammed, F. (2020). Unmanned aerial vehicles applications in future smart cities. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 153, 119293.