Droner - Beyond Visual Line of Sight UK - Dybdeartikkel fra RAS

Out of sight, not out of mind

With the commercial drone market now seemingly exploding around the world, an ever-more bewildering number of missions, roles and applications, one final challenge still looms – regular ‘Beyond Visual Line of Sight’ (BVLOS) operations. TIM ROBINSONtakes a look at some of the highlights from a recent RAeS UAV Conference, 'BVLOS Operations in the UK' held on 19-20 September.

The BLVOS Operations featured a wide range of speakers over two days. 

How far away are we from the ‘Holy Grail’ of UAVs being able to fly and work, out of sight from their operators? What challenges, whether technical, regulatory or societal, remain? Today, commercial UAVs are mainly limited to flying within visual line of sight (500m) of their human operators – restricting the utility and efficiency of these tools. Though technically feasible (and routine within the military UAV world), concerns over safety and how drones will share airspace with other users has, so far, led regulators to adopt a cautious, phased approach. ‘Pizza deliveries by drone’ may have made for gimmicky headlines that grabbed public attention but reality has yet to catch up. As one delegate quipped about Amazon’s Prime Air UAV delivery service undergoing testing in Cambridge: “As long as you live 500m from the warehouse, you can get this service.”

However, trials and early demonstrations for civil BVLOS UAVs, whether for surveying, inspections, delivery of medical supplies, or postal services to islands or remote areas, are underway around the world and regulators are now beginning to permit testing in limited phases.

At the conference, organised by the RAeS UAS Specialist Group, delegates heard from a variety of speakers, including regulators from EASA and the CAA, drone manufacturers and users, as well as insurance, legal experts and other stakeholders about the challenges and opportunities in unlocking this emerging sector.

Let’s take a look at just a few of the highlights.

Market potential

PwC's headline figures for the future UK civil drone market could be conservative (PwC)

While the commercial drone market continues to grow exponentially (over two years ago, the FAA recorded 181,000 registered consumer drone users. In 2018 this passed the 1m mark), a major question is how big the future drone market is and what the opening up of BVLOS operations could do to this. Elaine Whyte, UK Drones Leader, from consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) gave an overview of the potentially massive economic benefits of drones to the UK but cautioned that public acceptance was vital. “There is substantial opportunity within the drone market but we must maintain and grow the level of trust” she said. PwC, she explained, is interested in drones because “it is a technology that is going to disrupt our clients” and, given the complex challenges of UAVs, it needed a specialist team within the company. Said Whyte: “I work with clients who have large, dispersed assets. What a drone can do is to give them insight into the condition of that asset, both from a surveying and inspection perspective, can help with their maintenance procedures and with valuation (for mergers, acquisition and insurance).” Whyte noted that the film and TV industry has already been using drones for some time to capture spectacular, fresh footage – for example, in wildlife documentaries.

How big, then, could this market be? A market study, commissioned by PwC, revealed some headline-grabbing figures – that drones could be worth £42bn (or 2% of UK GDP) to Britain by 2030. The top-down study predicts that some 76,000 commercial drones could be operating in UK airspace by 2030, supporting some 628,000 jobs, and leading to £16bn worth of net cost savings for the UK economy. “One thing is for sure”, said Whyte, “These figures will only be realised when BVLOS flight becomes the norm.”

What needs to happen to unlock this massive market for commercial UAVs? Drawing comparisons with the development of manned aviation, Whyte says the industry needs to accelerate out of the ‘technical phase’ through the ‘human factors phase’ into the ‘operational phase’.

Formerly a RAF Engineer, herself with experience of airworthiness and safety, Whyte argues that what is really needed is “more airmanship” in the drone industry. “You don’t need to be a big company to have that – I would contest that there are some big companies that DON’T have that pedigree of working in the air. Equally, there are some smaller companies that DO have that airmanship, that test and evaluation background,” she said.

For risk mitigation in this fast moving and highly innovative industry, “to build that trust we need people with those right credentials to be testing the boundaries. We need to see that airmanship, that test and evaluation-type background to be able to push the BVLOS boundaries with confidence” said Whyte, who warned: “Sadly, it would only take one significant accident to destroy the trust that we are building as a community today.”

Building that layered trust, said Whyte, not only involves airmanship but also regulation, registration, education, UTM, insurance, cybersecurity, standards, legal and professional bodies. “All of these,” said Whyte,”need to be credible, visible and understood, so that we can build that trust within society.”

Societal acceptance, said Whyte, means that “people need to understand the benefits that drone technology will bring to them.” For example, is there a business case for ‘last mile delivery’? Interestingly, Whyte also observed that drones already may have a head start. Among the emerging eight ‘disruptive’ technologies identified by PwC (virtual/augmented reality, blockchain, Internet of Things, Robotics, AI, 3D Printing and drones), UAVs already have a regulator, a community of interests, standards and practices to support their safe use. This, said Whyte, “is a great starting point to build the trust in society that we need to exploit this technology and make BVLOS part of our daily activity.”

The ultimate BVLOS flight?

General Atomics ASI's MQ-9B SkyGuardian made the first transatlantic crossing by a MALE-class UAV in July. Note civilian FAA registration. (General Atomics). 

While the focus of the conference was undoubtedly on commercial applications of UAVs, the event did hear from a military manufacturer via Dr Jonny King, MD, General Atomics UK, who, earlier this year, had made history with the first transatlantic crossing by a MALE-class drone – the General Atomics ASI MQ-9B SkyGuardian.

In July, this UAV, to be called the Protector RG1 in RAF service, made a 24hr 2 min flight across the Atlantic from Grand Forks, North Dakota, to RAF Fairford in Gloucester in time for the Royal International Air Tattoo. The MQ-9B SkyGuardian is the next generation of the Reaper MALE family and, crucially, has been designed from the outset to be certificated to operate in civil airspace. It is thus self-deployable, features auto-take-off and landing (where many UAV accidents occur and includes lightning and anti-ice protection, as well as increased endurance. As the RAF’s Protector, the SkyGuardian will also feature UK-specific changes, such as Hellfire and Paveway IV weapons, as well as Britain’s SkyNet military satellite communication system.

With the SkyGuardian prototype having flown in 2016, King revealed that it was in January that the company decided to look into the concept of flying into RIAT in the summer. The flight was made from GA-ASIs training centre in Grand Forks, North Dakota. “We didn’t make it easier for ourselves by moving it to the East Coast,” observed King, with the RPAS being controlled from there during its flight with a two-crew shift. The route saw the SkyGuardian fly from Grand Forks, over Canada, across the Atlantic, then flying south around Ireland, before entering UK airspace west of the southern tip of Cornwall at 27,000ft (with its diversion airfield being RNAS Culdrose). Once in UK airspace, the SkyGuardian also needed to hold for two hours and meet a specific landing slot time due to the large numbers of aircraft arriving at Fairford for RIAT. (Indeed, the holding slot time was entered within one second of the specified time).

The “biggest risk” for this endeavour, predicted King, which he highlighted to the company in the planning stages, was the UK ‘safe to fly’ certification – adding “it was a big unknown to us how we would go about that with the UK authorities.” For example, the SkyGuardian was a GA-ASI owned asset, not a RAF/MoD UAV, but it already had FAA certification. Thus viability of this flight “hinged on the CAA recognising the FAA certification,” said King. However, King admitted that “I was wrong” in predicting that UK CAA certification would be the biggest obstacle – saying: “The CAA was very forward-leaning and pragmatic” in its approach. What was required, however, was an amendment to the FAA certification to align with the CAA, which was duly granted. This allowed the CAA to then recognise FAA certification of the SkyGuardian. The CAA was also briefed on the SkyGuardian’s operational procedures, such as lost-link procedures – as well as pilot competencies and insurance.

The other half of this effort, explained King, was how the RPAS would be integrated into UK airspace. Although the SkyGuardian does have provision of a ‘detect and avoid capability’ on this flight, the MQ-9B is yet not fitted with this radar. Thus, in UK airspace while the SkyGuardian was routed across a number of Upper Air Routes, the UK CAA created temporary airspace danger areas making a ‘corridor’ that was collapsed behind the SkyGuardian as it flew towards the restricted airspace of the Aberporth range, where the aircraft reduced its altitude from 27,000ft to 9,000ft – before heading to Fairford for its landing slot. Indeed, as an example of the “boringly flawless” flight, the operators adjusted to a last-minute runway change due to a change in wind-direction.

Though other UAVs have flown further (Global Hawk trans-Pacific flights) and remained airborne longer (Airbus Zephyr) the SkyGuardian’s BVLOS Atlantic flight was significant in that is a major step to the unrestricted operation of these ubiquitous MALE UAVs in all classes of airspace. It is also noteworthy in that the introduction of Skynet satcoms on the RAF's Protector RG1 will provide a leap in the UK sovereign control of this capability.

RNLI demonstration

A Lockheed Martin Indago UAS quadcopter was used in the RNLI/MCA SAR trial. (RNLI) 

Among the many companies and organisations now exploring the benefits of BVLOS UAVs is the UK’s maritime rescue charity, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). Giving a presentation on a RNLI/MCA search and rescue (SAR) technology challenge using UAVs was Hannah Nobbs, from the RNLI’s Innovation Team. She explained that the RNLI and MCA believe that UAVs have potential for the SAR role, both in enhancing the search capability and in reducing risk to its personnel in these rescues – whether they be far out at sea or on the shoreline. Said Nobbs: “It is about looking at where there is a need. There is no point in throwing toys at things, particularly when these are very expensive bits of kit. We’re look at where can the unmet need be fulfilled by some of the capability that is there now and in the future.”

Giving an overview of the RNLI’s technology roadmap, Nobbs explained that, at the simplest level, a UAV may a be useful be merely increasing the height of the rescue teams eyes – particularly for rigid inflatable boat (RIB) lifeboats where visibility (especially in high seas) can be limited. Further in the future, the RNLI foresees increased use of UAVs and autonomous systems, working in conjunction with manned assets to enhance SAR – with a vision that a decade or so from now would see the routine use of autonomous systems in lifesaving operations. Under this roadmap, BVLOS UAVs for search and the localised distribution of aid, would be feasible in the medium term (three-to-five years).

The technology demonstrator challenge – a first for the lifeboat services – saw the RNLI and MCA invite submissions from industry for four SAR missions (shoreline search, offshore search, mud rescue and communications blackspot) in 2017. The RNLI/MCA received 27 applications from industry, which was then whittled down to five teams for the demonstration in South Wales in April 2018. The trial saw fixed-wing and multi-rotor drones from Tethered Drone Systems, Sky Watch Search Systems, Team Indago (Lockheed Martin UK and Scisys) and UAVE. These were integrated in the tests via a mini National Maritime Co-ordination Centre (which provided tasking and co-ordination) and other assets (inshore and offshore lifeboats, coast rescue teams). The demonstration, in the Bristol Channel near St Athan and Cardiff International Airport, also needed to deconflict with other airspace users – particularly the MCA’s SAR helicopter and NPAS police helicopter which were based at St Athan and could be themselves engaged on actual operational missions. Despite these additional factors, Nobbs explained that, while the RNLI had looked at other locations, such as Aberporth in North Wales, they did not see the benefit of UAV testing on closed military ranges as: “We wanted to have transferable knowledge.” Nobbs praised the Welsh Government, CAA and Cardiff ATC in being forward-thinking in facilitating this trial and setting up a temporary segregated airspace zone.

While technical issues and inclement weather meant that not all goals were achieved over the nine-day trial, BVLOS operations were demonstrated, with UAVE’s Prion Mk3 UAV flying out of visual range and carrying out an emergency holding position – an essential procedure when de-conflicting manned and unmanned assets in a SAR mission.

The results of this technology trial, said Nobbs, showed that “by demonstrating these in a practical environment, we have shown that the technology is mature enough to support localised, tactical operations” and how SAR incident commanders could have “their situational awareness enhanced.” Routine ops, said Nobbs, are thus “not as far away as people think” and maritime SAR, where operations take place over low or unpopulated areas, provides a highly attractive mission for early adoption of BVLOS.

The RNLI technology demonstration also provided useful ‘real-world’ feedback to industry taking part. For example, while UAVs now feature autopilots with search patterns, and many these days will have sensor ‘field of view’ superimposed on ground control station maps, what also would be useful, said Nobbs, was a ‘negative search’ feature to show WHICH areas had been previously searched by the UAVs sensors. “As an end user, we don’t really care where the platform is. What would be really useful is where the sensor has been,” she said.

The RNLI/MCA trial was also important in another respect, in that it also tested the metaphorical waters of public perception with drones. With safety and privacy concerns around UAVs, public acceptance of routine BVLOS is thus vital and the RNLI saw a highly positive response to its lifesaving trial – showing how drones could be a social benefit.

Building digital replicas with drones

SenSat uses its drones to build detailed 2D and 3D infrastructure engineering maps. (SenSat) 

Another case-study at the conference came from the commercial sector – and SenSat Surveying – the largest UK provider of drone data. Presenting at the conference, Romain Kirchhoff, Head of Operations, SenSat, explained how digital photogrammetry mapping tools could now generate 3D large scale ‘virtual twins’ of cities, roads, bridges and engineering construction projects from UAV sensors – whether they be optical cameras, LIDAR or hyperspectral – each combining millions of data points to create virtual replicas with 2cm resolution. These data-rich digital models, collected by SenSat’s small fixed-wing UAVs, allow faster, cheaper collaborative engineering projects. Once collected, these models can be used in highly innovative ways. For example, a highway survey model can be merged with a design rules algorithm (for example, specifying lampposts every X feet and exits every X miles) to create rapid engineering modelling – turning infrastructure planning into ‘SimCity on steroids’ to automate about 80% of highway design. 3D aerial mapping of cities, such as Cambridge or Exeter, also allows traffic management planning, with AI to introduce live traffic into the model, to optimise traffic light sequencing.

SenSat is an early pioneer and has a UK exemption to fly BVLOS flight up to 12km from the operator (EVLOS) and has been awarded Pathfinder status by the UK Government. In 2017 alone, SenSat covered over 9,000km of UK highways, supporting over £2.8bn worth of engineering infrastructure projects. UAVs are also much more cost-effective than other aerial mapping from manned aircraft and helicopters. Aerial surveying is also safer for humans and less intrusive in not needing roads or railways to be closed while the sites are being mapped.

A private pilot himself, Kirchhoff explained that, prior to any aerial survey, SenSet’s operators will call local authorities and ATC to make sure that they know and have approved the operation. On the site itself, there will also be further checks that the take-off and landing area is suitable. “The most important part is safety,” says Kirchoff. “You need to make people aware of your operations, especially airspace users.” Kirchhoff outlined how BVLOS operations promise to unlock even more time and cost saving possibilities and transform this fast growing remote sensing business even further. For example, he calculated that while aerial surveying of the 180km HS2 London to Birmingham railway route would take 14 weeks using existing UAV line of sight rules or six weeks using EVLOS rules, using BVLOS drones it would take only one week – a substantial saving in time and money for customers (especially given that these figures are predicated on perfect weather). These applications, said Kirchhoff, were likely to be the “tip of the iceberg” as far as the potential for UAS BVLOS operations – which could reduce the cost of aerial drone data with no reduction in quality, while opening up massive new services and analytics opportunities. However, he said: “We want to make BVLOS commercially available but, most importantly, we want to make BVLOS safe.” 

Summary

Now able to stay airborne for nearly a month, there could be commercial, scientific and humanitarian roles for Airbus's Zephyr HAPS UAV. (Airbus)  

This article can only provide a snapshot of the wide-ranging and varied presentations over the two days of the conference  which, as well as the case studies above, covered regulations, airspace management, avionics and software testing, drones in cities and even delivery of vital humanitarian relief using low-cost parachute systems from AirDropBox.

Other themes that emerged during the conference were airspace – and whether ‘U-space’ a zone perhaps under 500ft for drones can be considered a ‘separate’ category or whether a unified approach was better. Europe’s EASA, for example, sees initial BVLOS UAV services in U-space in 2021 and full integration by 2030. It plans to launch a network of U-space demonstrator projects by the end of this year, with the UK's Cranfield University named on 26 October as one of the partners in EuroDRONE, which is set to start in Greece. To make matters even more complex, aviation regulators, while still grappling with the opportunities and challenges of autonomous UAV systems, are now being lobbied by the fast-growing urban aerial transport sector – which is seeking to harness autonomous systems to transport humans.

Can one UTM/ATM system integrate all these demands while maintaining existing safety levels and keeping users happy? Indeed, some argue that focusing on UAV BVLOS ops in controlled airspace (where ATM and ADS-B make it relatively simple to deconflict with manned flights) was the wrong goal; the real demand is for UAVs to fly in low level, in uncontrolled airspace. Down low, the number of users and threats multiply from GA aircraft, gliders, helicopters, other UAVs, kites, balloons and birds. Can a sense and avoid technology or UTM keep all of these apart?

What was also notable in this conference, is that (General Atomics SkyGuardian apart), the air vehicles themselves were of secondary interest, with more interest in how they are put to use and what data can be captured – a sign perhaps that the commercial UAV market is stabilising and becoming more mature.

In short, the conference presented a highly positive view of a sector that, after false starts, is on the cusp of big change with BVLOS operations. Home delivered pizza by drone may still be pie in the sky for now but more socially useful benefits of long-range drones are closer than we think.

Tim Robinson 
26 October 2018