MIDCAS hails RPAS integration progress
The MIDCAS (Mid Air Collision Avoidance System) consortium together with
the European Defence Agency (EDA) have now completed flight test and simulation
campaigns conducted as part of the MIDCAS project.
Major milestones included fully automatic avoidance manoeuvres of a
Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) relying on fusion of non-cooperative
sensors.
Flights with a demonstrator Detect & Avoid (D&A) system integrated
in the Sky-Y RPAS test bed have been conducted since December 2014 at Grazzanise
Air Force Base, Italy.
First fully automatic coupled avoidance manoeuvres were performed by the
RPAS based on combined cooperative and non-cooperative detection as well as
non-cooperative detection only and put on collision course with a manned
aircraft. The MIDCAS system had full authority over the RPAS flight control
system.
The formal flight test permit to perform the automatic manoeuvre was
obtained using results from earlier flight tests demonstrating the readiness to
safely perform such critical manoeuvres.
Flight tests have covered numerous scenarios and sensor combinations
bringing RPAS traffic integration a significant step closer to reality.
The Detect and Avoid system tested, performs collision avoidance and
traffic avoidance using data fusion for various combinations of the included
detection technologies, i.e. the cooperative IFF and ADS-B equipment and the
non-cooperative electro-optical, infrared and radar sensors.
Several types of simulations (including Monte Carlo simulations and
real-time simulations) have been completed which will allow the project teams to
demonstrate that the functional design of MIDCAS can be compliant with the
safety levels for manned aviation. Simulations in Air Traffic Management (ATM)
environment have also been performed to validate the system requirements in an
operational context.
"We are pleased with the outcome of the simulations where the involved air
traffic controllers concluded that they were confident to control RPAS within
their airspace and did not get any additional workload from the RPAS, whose
behavior was fully in line with manned aviation," said MIDCAS project leader
Johan Pellebergs.
The MIDCAS project is laying the groundwork for future developments in the
field of RPAS air traffic integration. The project has gathered European
industries within the field of D&A with the purpose to achieve jointly
agreed results with European and global standardisation stakeholders.
he MIDCAS project was launched in 2009 by five contributing Member States
(France, Germany, Italy and Spain under the lead of Sweden) under the framework
of the European Defence Agency, with a total budget of €50 million.
"The project has produced tangible results in the field of air traffic
integration, which is a critical enabler for the use of RPAS in European skies,"
said Peter Round, EDA capability, armament & technology director. "In order
to improve Member States' RPAS capabilities, technological and regulatory issues
need to be taken into account as early as possible."
MIDCAS has been carried out by an industrial consortium composed of 11
partners: Saab (project leader) from Sweden, Sagem and Thales from France,
Airbus D&S, Diehl BGT Defence, DLR and ESG from Germany, Alenia Aermacchi,
Selex ES, CIRA from Italy and Indra from Spain. Throughout the project, external
stakeholders such as EASA, EUROCONTROL, EUROCAE or JARUS, were involved in the
process.
"The only way to achieve a high level of acceptance and reach a common
European agreement on how to resolve the D&A issue is through close
cooperation," Johan Pellebergs concludes.
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