INOUI - Innovative Operational UAV Integration
Overview
Background & policy context:
The driving force behind creating the INOUI project stemmed from the fact that no ongoing European ATM project focused on the crucial matter of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, or drones). Regardless of the fact that there are many drones in the skies, albeit either at a very low altitude or in segregated airspace due to their mostly military nature, integration in the non-restricted airspace was not happening.
In particular, the topic of UAV is almost totally absent from SESAR (Single European Sky Air traffic management Research) and its high-level Definition Phase (Phase I). INOUI aimed at complementing SESAR to compensate for this.
Objectives:
The main objective of the INOUI project was to provide a roadmap for the future of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the context of the ever-changing Air Traffic Management (ATM) environment. Furthermore, INOUI aimed at complementing the SESAR activities with regard to the operational concept and the architecture, as well as the roadmap for research and development activities.
In particular, INOUI aimed to:
- identify the spread of operational concepts for UAV applications and describe the resulting procedures and requirements in the different timeframes up to 2020;
- identify how UAVs can fit into the ATM system of 2020 and what activities have to be achieved, especially from the UAV point of view (research road-map);
- identify existing certification requirements, and process and suggest an optimum certification blueprint for human resources and, as far as is required, UAV-related technologies;
- identify how UAV can benefit from European System Wide Information Management (SWIM) and what activities have to be taken to achieve the benefit;
- identify the safety issues related to UAVs and developing high-level safety objectives and requirements and
- identify the potential airport types for UAV operations and describing the operational impact.
Methodology:
The work within INOUI was divided into seven Work Packages:
- Identification of the future ATM environment and UAV applications - Existing know-how from, for example, Eurocontrol, SESAR and international organisations like ICAO, was analysed and ideas and existing plans projected into the future. This comprises the assumed operational concepts or technological concepts in use.
- Assess the impact of the future ATM system on UAVs - Analysis and definition of how UAV systems will be integrated in the 2020 ATM architecture in terms of technological concepts and requirements. The available, planned or envisaged technologies identified for either UAVs or ATM systems were assessed for their ability to fulfil the operational concept and the related operational requirements for different UAV applications.
- Assess the requirements on the UAV-related technology and human resources - This investigated procedures and requirements on certification and licensing of personnel dealing with UAVs and classifies UAV operators' working environments, based on those for pilots and controllers. If required, INOUI also supported certification and licensing issues for technology.
- Assess how situational awareness can be assured - Here, the aim was to analyse and define how UAV systems will be integrated in the 2020 ATM architecture, focusing on the common operating picture. In this step INOUI identified how situational awareness could be assured by studying the differences between the 'traditional' users of ATM systems and the 'new' users, the UAV-users. This study focused both on the information and communications layer, and on the applications layer.
- Assess and identify safety issues - A safety assessment cycle from system/model definition, via hazard identification to the definition of safety requirements.
- Identify challenges for airports with regard to UAVs - This focused on the operational and technological perspective from the airport point of view by defining an operational concept for the UAV operations at airports of 2020 and beyond. The technologies under development were assessed with regard to their capability to enable airport operations to facilitate the integration of UAVs.
- Dissemination and exploitation.
Share this page