UGV Proposal

Running head: UAS INTEGRATION INTO THE NAS 1

UNSY 691 Proposal

Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration into the National Airspace System

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

UNSY 691 Graduate Capstone Proposal

Submitted to the Worldwide Campus

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of

Master of Science in Unmanned Systems

UAS INTEGRATION INTO THE NAS 2

Abstract

Over the past few years, there has been an increase in the popularity of Unmanned Aircraft

Systems (UAS) as both a hobby for enthusiasts and as a means to supplement commercial

businesses. This increase in popularity has, consequently, led to an increase in the amount of

UAS activity observed in the National Airspace System (NAS). Measures are currently being

taken in the form of legislation that attempt to limit the use of UAS in the NAS via policy.

However, with these systems on the rise, a different approach to their integration into the NAS is

warranted. This project will examine data from the Federal Aviation Administrations (FAA)

UAS Sightings Report and use statistical analysis to conclude that UAS operations have

consistently increased. Finally, a recommendation on how to handle the future inclusion of UAS

in the NAS will be made by analyzing technologies that stand to make this integration effective,

safe, and promising.

Keywords: UAS, NAS, Geofence, UAS Sightings Report, Statistical Analysis

UAS INTEGRATION INTO THE NAS 3

UAS Integration into the National Airspace System

Statement of the Project

Over the past 5 years, the FAA has observed an increase in the number of recreational,

commercial, and public UAS occupying the NAS. “Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)

operations are rapidly increasing in number, technical complexity, and sophistication. The

growth in popularity of these new aircraft has presented the Federal Aviation Administration

(FAA) with a number of regulatory and technical challenges” (FAA, 2018a). The FAA has

already introduced legislation requiring the registration of UAS for both recreational and

commercial use. According to the Department of Transportation, as of January 10, 2018, there

has been over 878,000 recreational UAS registrations and over 122,000 commercial and public

UAS registrations across the country (DOT, 2018). One limitation if this data is that each

recreational user receives one registration number for all the UAS they own (DOT, 2018).

The purpose of this project is to describe the research methodology used to answer the

following question: How can UAS be safely integrated into the National Airspace System

(NAS)? First, data from the FAA’s UAS sightings report, which has been delivered once a

quarter, every quarter, since January 2015, will be collected. (FAA, 2018). The number of UAS

sightings will be broken down by number of sightings per week from January 1, 2015 to

December 31, 2018. The date of December 31, 2018 was chosen as the end date for sampling

because of it being the cutoff for four full years of data, as well as the fact that it was the last,

complete year of data collected. Once this data is collected and organized appropriately, an

ANOVA test will be run to determine whether or not there is a statistically significant difference

in the number of UAS sightings per year. Determination of a statistically significant difference

will provide the evidence necessary to conclude that the operation of UAS within the NAS is

becoming more prevalent. This determination will make the case that a problem exists which

UAS INTEGRATION INTO THE NAS 4

needs to be addressed; that problem being that a way to safely integrate UAS into the NAS needs

to be realized before it’s too late.

According to the FAA,

There are some 100 U.S. companies, academic institutions and government organizations

developing over 300 UAS designs… as the technology matures, increasing numbers of

units will be operated by civil and commercial users, and could have greater impacts on

the NAS. However, the volume of units is relatively small – approximately 15,000 units

by 2020 and 30,000 units by 2030. (FAA, as quoted in Ward, 2015)

The literature review for the final paper will include information regarding UAS

incursions into the NAS, technologies currently in place that attempt to make UAS operations in

the NAS safer, and technologies that have been proposed to make the future of UAS integration

in the NAS easier, more effective, and safer as per the Integration of Civil UAS in the NAS

roadmap (FAA, 2018a). When reviewing literature that relates to UAS incursions into the NAS,

the raw data from the FAAs UAS Sightings Report will be included, along with a discussion

about the data’s limitations and accuracy. Additionally, the literature review will include a

discussion on the feasibility of a system for managing UAS traffic, such as those efforts currently

under research by the FAA and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

(GAO, 2018). Finally, new missions on the frontier of UAS operations will be discussed as a

way to enforce the notion that UAS operations in the NAS will only continue to become more

prevalent. Discussion on current technologies will focus on DJI’s software, DJI GO 4, and its

inclusion of DJI’s “Fly-Safe” geo zone map. Updates are continuously made to the software to

include new warnings, cautions, and no fly zones, where special permission is needed before

UAS flight operations can occur (DJI, 2019). This software is particularly interesting because it

UAS INTEGRATION INTO THE NAS 5

inhibits the UAS from being able to take-off within a no-fly area, and inhibits to UAS from being

able to fly into a no-fly area, even if it takes off outside of it. Finally, a short review of proposed

technologies (geofences) will be covered. Recently, several studies have explored the use of

geofences as a means of managing UAS traffic in urban areas and the NAS (Boselli, et al., 2017;

Choo, et. al., 2018). At the end of the final paper, in the “Recommendation” section, geofence

technology, along with its limitations and capabilities will be discussed as a recommended way

to address the issue of safely integrating UAS operations into the NAS.

Program Outcomes to be Addressed

Program Outcomes 1 – 6, MSUS Core Competency Outcomes.

1. Analyze the fundamentals of unmanned systems, including the technological, social,

environmental, and political aspects of the system to examine, compare, analyze and

recommend conclusions.

Fundamentals of unmanned systems will be addressed throughout the paper, but the

majority of it will be in the literature review section.

 The types of technologies currently being used to control UAS operations in the NAS

will be reviewed to address the “technological aspects” portion of this PO.

 A summary of the legislation that currently governs the usage of UAS (both for

civilian/hobby purposes and commercial purposes), along with how society views the

usage of these systems by not only hobby enthusiasts, but also law enforcement and

commercial business will be included, as well. This will satisfy the “social & political

aspects” part of this PO.

UAS INTEGRATION INTO THE NAS 6

 Statistical analysis (as previously described) will be the basis for determining whether or

not UAS are becoming more prevalent in the NAS, and to recommend a way to safely

integrate UAS into the NAS.

2. Compare and contrast current unmanned system issues, identify contributing factors, and

formulate strategies to address or further investigate.

This program outcome will be satisfied by briefly discussing the significant issues

involving UAS usage – privacy and safe integration into the NAS.

 Because of the topic of the paper, research will focus on making the case that a plan

needs to be formulated to address UAS integration into the NAS needs to. This research

will revolve around the UAS Sightings Reports from the FAA.

3. Evaluate and recommend the incorporation of new technologies, methods, processes, or

concepts with current unmanned system applications, management practices, or operational

policies.

This program outcome will be addressed through discussing the implementation of

geofences as well as legislation that dictates that new UAS must be governed by a ground control

station (GCS) software that is kept up-to-date with the latest geofence locations and inhibits the

use of a UAS within the boundaries of the geofence (unless given prior authorization). For this,

researching DJIs software, DJI GO 4 and DJIs Fly Safe Geozone Map will provide a solid

foundation of how this GCS software could work. This software is chosen because it already

incorporates the idea of geofences and inhibits the use of DJI UAS in specific locations.

Additionally, further research addressing geofence use will be gathered from multiple sources.

Implementation of geo fence technology will be a part of the “recommendation” section of the

final paper. Additional recommendations will also be made regarding any potential limitations of

UAS INTEGRATION INTO THE NAS 7

geofences that may have been identified in the literature review. These limitations may include

locations and altitudes where geofences do not work as well as limitations when it comes to

managing the intrusion of home-made UAS in the NAS.

4. Critically justify and validate unmanned system design configurations to support safe,

efficient, and effective operations in applicable domains (air, space, ground, and maritime),

including assessing appropriateness of major elemental components; evaluating limitations

and constraints; formulating theory of operation; and supporting perceived need.

This program outcome will be satisfied throughout the final paper

 Applicable domain: Air, specifically, the NAS

 Support safe, efficient, and effective operations: Geofences can be set up and “torn

down” by a governing agency (such as the FAA), and can prevent the operation of UAS

within their confines. The incorporation of geofences could make UAS integration into

the NAS easier, and safer for manned aircraft.

 Assessing appropriateness & supporting perceived need: Through statistical analysis,,

whether or not the number of UAS sightings (meaning the number of instances where a

manned aircraft reported seeing a UAS) has continued to grow over the last four years

can be determined. Additionally, with new technology on the horizon (delivery UAS), the

argument that UAS usage will continue to grow can be made. That makes this study

appropriate for the field.

 Evaluating limitations and constraints: the paper will address limitations when using

geofences (homemade UAS, etc).

UAS INTEGRATION INTO THE NAS 8

 Theory of operation: as previously stated, a recommendation to change UAS legislation

will be made that involves a new requirement for all new UAS systems to be controlled

by a GCS which can inhibit UAS operation within a geofence.

5. Effectively communicate concepts, designs, theories, and supporting material with others in

the unmanned systems field.

Following the guidance provided in the APA 6th Publication Manual (2010), this PO is

addressed by effectively communicating the concept of geofence technology and how this

technology applies to the field of UAS. This technology will be cited throughout the final paper.

Additionally, a thorough evaluation of sources along with their successes and failures, will allow

recommendations on what appears to be the most successful way to utilize the technology.

6. Investigate a current unmanned systems research problem; complete a thorough review of

the scholarly literature; formulate hypotheses; collect and appropriately analyze data; and,

interpret and report research findings to improve the field of unmanned systems or to provide

solutions to an unmanned systems application problem.

The current unmanned systems research problem being investigated is the increase in

UAS activity over the last four years and how the united states can use new technologies

(geofences) to safely integrate these systems into the NAS.

 Hypotheses:

o H10: There is not a statistically significant difference among the number of

weekly UAS sightings from January 2015 to December 2018.

o H11: There is a statistically significant difference among the number of

weekly UAS sightings from January 2015 to December 2018.

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o H20: There are no statistically significant differences in the frequency of UAS

sightings above 400’ AGL from January 2015 to December 2018.

o H21: There are statistically significant differences in the frequency of UAS

sightings above 400’ AGL from January 2015 to December 2018.

To test the hypotheses, the research will include an extensive review of data collected

from the FAA’s UAS Sightings Reports from January 2015 to December 2018. Covering this

range of time will establish that there has been an increase in UAS activity. This part of the

research is important to the overall research question because it will establish the fact that UAS

prevalence in the NAS has grown, and that a plan must be formulated to address this issue.

Data collection for this part of the project will involve acquiring the UAS sightings

reports from January 2015 to December 2018. These reports are available on the FAAs “UAS

Sightings Report” webpage. The data contained within these reports include the data, location

(city and state), as well as any additional information pertinent to the sighting (may include, but

is not limited to UAS altitude, vicinity to the nearest airport, and whether evasive action was

needed to avoid a mishap). See figure one for a samples report. This data will be analyzed to

provide a breakdown of the number of UAS sightings by week for the course of 4 years (January

1, 2015 to December 31, 2018). The reason for choosing these specific dates is because of

January 1, 2015 being the date data collection for the first complete year of data began, it made

sense to use that as the starting point. December 31, 2018 was used as the end date because it

provided the data for the last, complete year of collection. Also, because the report is released

quarterly, the most recent data is from June 2019. Therefore, if a fifth year of data were to be

collected, it would be incomplete at this time.

UAS INTEGRATION INTO THE NAS 10

Figure 1. Samples Report. Adapted from the “”UAS Sightings Report,” By FAA, 2018b..

For the first hypothesis, G*Power was used to determine the appropriate sample size. With

G*Power, for an analysis of variance (ANOVA) (fixed effects, omnibus, one-way) using 4

groups (1/year) a medium effect size of 0.25, power of 0.80 and an alpha (α) level of 0.05, a

sample size of 180 was determined to be necessary (G*Power, 2019). By splitting the data up

into the number of UAS sighting per week, the total sample size becomes 208 (52 weeks/year,

over 4 years), which satisfies the determined sample size from G*Power. An ANOVA test will

be used to determine if there is a statistically significant difference between the number of UAS

sighting per year. The independent variable for this test is the number of UAS sightings per

week, and the dependent variable is UAS activity. Rejection of the null hypothesis previously

discussed will conclude that a difference does exist and that UAS operations are increasing.

Because this research does not involve human subjects, IRB approval is not required.

Determining if there is an association between the number of sightings reported and the

UAS altitude could make the case that an altitude geofence at 400 feet above ground level (AGL)

7/1/2018 GEORGIA ATLANTA

PRELIM INFO FROM FAA OPS  ATLANTA, GA/UAS INCIDENT/1430E/E‐ROC AND ATLANTA ARTCC ADVISED,  C680; UAS PASSED OVER THE 

WING WHILE 4.5 MILES NORTHEAST OF PDK AT 2,400 FEET. THERE WAS NO EVASIVE ACTION TAKEN AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT 

WAS NOT NOTIFIED.

UAS MOR Alert for PDK

Number  PDK‐M‐2018/07/01‐0001

Type  Hazardous and/or Unauthorized UAS Ac vity

Date/Time  Jul 1, 2018 ‐ 1830Z

A/C  C680

Summary  C680 reported a blue drone flying over his wing at approximately 2400ft 4.5 miles east northeast of PDK. 

7/1/2018 GEORGIA ATLANTA

PRELIM INFO FROM FAA OPS  ATLANTA, GA/UAS INCIDENT/1613E/ATLANTA TRACON ADVISED, CESSNA (C650), OBSERVED A UAS 75 FEET 

BELOW ACFT WHILE HEADING EASTBOUND AT 4,000 FEET 10 E DEKALB PEACH‐TREE. NO EVASIVE ACTION TAKEN. GWINNETT COUNTY 

PD WAS NOTIFIED.

UAS MOR Alert for A80

Number  A80‐M‐2018/07/01‐0003

Type  Hazardous and/or Unauthorized UAS Ac vity

Date/Time  Jul 1, 2018 ‐ 2013Z

A/C  C650

Summary  C650 REPORTED A RC AIRPLANE PASSED 75' BELOW HIS AIRCRAFT.

7/1/2018 ILLINOIS  CHICAGO

PRELIM INFO FROM FAA OPS  CHICAGO, IL/UAS INCIDENT/2015C/CHICAGO TRACON ADVISED, CRJ2 OBSERVED A WHITE UAS THE SIZE OF 

FOUR FOOTBALLS OFF HIS RIGHT SIDE AT 5,000 FEET 22 E CHICAGO O'HARE ARPT. NO EVASIVE ACTION TAKEN. CHICAGO PD WAS 

NOTIFIED. 

UAS MOR Alert for C90

Number  C90‐M‐2018/07/01‐0004

Type  Hazardous and/or Unauthorized UAS Ac vity

Date/Time  Jul 2, 2018 ‐ 0115Z

A/C  CRJ2

Summary  CRJ2 reported UAS activity 22 E. ORD at 50. SKW3077 was heading 360 and reported the UAS was at 3 O'clock position, white in 

color and the size of four (4) footballs.

UAS INTEGRATION INTO THE NAS 11

would reduce the number of incursions. This altitude is chosen because of it being the maximum

allowable altitude for recreational UAS flight (FAA, 2018c). This will be done by examining the

data from the most recent year of sightings (2018) and using a random sequence generator to

select random sightings for each month. This data will then be split into two columns, where 1 =

altitude ≤ 400’AGL, and 2 = altitude > 400’ AGL.

Chi-Square will test the second hypothesis, assuming a medium effect size of 0.3, an

alpha level of 0.05, a power of 0.8 (minimum for research), and eleven degrees of freedom, a

sample size of 187 is required (Suresh, K., & Chandrashekara, S, 2012; G*Power, 2019).

Selecting sixteen random sightings per month will yield a sample size of 192, satisfying this

requirement. The limitation with the data collection for the Chi-Square test is that the altitude

reported in the UAS sightings report is the altitude of the UAS as observed by the reporting

individual. This means the altitude is an estimation, and the true altitude of the UAS sighted

could be different. However, this research will be based on the reported altitudes.

UAS INTEGRATION INTO THE NAS 12

References

Boselli, C., Danis, J., McQueen, S., Breger, A., Jiang, T., Looze, D., & Ni, D. (2017). Geo-

fencing to secure airport perimeter against sUAS. International Journal of Intelligent

Unmanned Systems, 5(4), 102-116. doi:10.1108/IJIUS-02-2017-0002

Cho, J., & Yoon, Y. (2018). How to assess the capacity of urban airspace: A topological

approach using keep-in and keep-out geofence. Transportation Research Part C, 92, 137-

149. doi:10.1016/j.trc.2018.05.001

DJI. (2019). Fly Safe Geo Zone Map. Retrieved from https://www.dji.com/flysafe/geo-map

FAA. (2016). FAA Releases Drone Registration Location Data. Retrieved from

http://theuavdigest.com/tag/faa/page/4/

FAA. (2018a). Integration of Civil Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in the National Airspace

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library/media/Second_Edition_Integration_of_Civil_UAS_NAS_Roadmap_July%20201

8.pdf

FAA. (2018b). UAS Sightings Report. Retrieved from https://www.faa.gov/uas/resources/

public_records/uas_sightings_report/

FAA. (2018c). Fact Sheet – Small Unmanned Aircraft Regulations (Part 107). Retrieved from

https://www.faa.gov/news/fact sheets/news story.cfm?newsId=22615

Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Buchner, A., & Lang, A.-G. (2009). Statistical power analyses using

G*Power 3.1: Tests for correlation and regression analyses. Behavior Research Methods,

41, 1149-1160.

GAO. (2018). Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems: FAA Should Improve Its Management of

Safety Risks. Retrieved from https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/692010.pdf

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G* Power [Computer Software]. (2019). Heinrich Heine Universität Dusseldorf. Available from

http://www.psychologie.hhu.de/arbeitsgruppen/allgemeine-psychologie-und-

arbeitspsychologie/gpower.html

Suresh, K., & Chandrashekara, S. (2012). Sample Size Estimation and Power Analysis for

Clinical Research Studies. Journal of Human Reproductive Sciences, 5(1), 7-13.

doi:10.4103/0974-1208.97779

Ward, B. (2015). Commercial Drones in the U.S.: Privacy, Ethics, Economics – And Journalism.

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