Unmanned Cargo
Aircraft is the Way of The Future for Air Delivery
Raymond J. DeMarco
Embry Riddle
Aeronautical University Worldwide
Abstract
A good argument can be made that
unmanned cargo aircraft save the air cargo industry billions of dollars while
filling a gap in the cargo shipping industry.
When Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations permit large
unmanned aircraft to fly in the national airspace system (NAS), shipping
companies will seek a new way of delivering materials through the air. A great advantage for Unmanned Cargo Aircraft
(UCA) design is cost efficiency due to reduced fuel consumption and lesser crew
cost. Safety of property and people are of greatest concern along with
information, command and control security. ADS-B is a major contributor to sense and
avoid technology requirements to allow manned and unmanned aircraft to work in
unison and maintain separation. Avoidance
will play a major role for safety and ultimately the existence of Unmanned
Cargo Aircraft (UCA). This case analysis
evaluates the advantage of unmanned aerial freight transport to sea and current
aerial cargo transport. Security, avionics
and flight management systems shall satisfy FAA standards for airworthiness of
the UCA. This paper addresses the
significance of issues of technical and safety challenges on the unmanned cargo
market.
Summary
Up
to the hour, the world of unmanned aerospace is constantly evolving. Automation in aviation reduces reliance of
the human operator where the use of computer autonomy can increase efficiency
and reliability. The field of unmanned
and Remotely Piloted aircraft (RPA) is expanding rapidly; there are a multitude
of different roles an Unmanned Aircraft System can fill such as wildfire
monitoring, industrial logistics, agriculture, firefighting and many more, some
of which can only be done by a UAV. Within
a matter of time, unmanned aircraft technologies and airspace authorization of
commercial unmanned flight will push the commercial sector to match that of
unmanned military flight. There are
great challenges ahead before routine flight of heavy unmanned aircraft in
non-segregated airspace is possible.
What does it take to put a heavy UAV cargo aircraft in the National
Airspace System (NAS)?
Unmanned
aircraft for civil use has become evident and beginning to be taken more
seriously for commercial use. Safety of
flight is major concern with unmanned aircraft operating routinely in
non-segregated civil airspace. From an
air traffic perspective unmanned aircraft must appear and behave no differently
than a Conventionally Piloted Aircraft (CPA).
Personnel should acquire the appropriate licensing, and the Unmanned
Aerial Vehicle (UAV) must meet the airworthiness standards.
One
of the greatest concerns for FAA integrating UAVs into the NAS is safety and
Sense and Avoid (SAA) technology. “The
FAA has mandated that aircraft operating in most controlled U.S. airspace be
equipped for ADS-B Out by January 1, 2020 (NextGen – ADS-B, 2017).” This technology that can be shared with
manned and unmanned aircraft will be a significant step for SAA capability and
permission for UAV flight in non-segregated airspace. Security of flight for UAVs goes hand-in-hand
with safety. Protection from hacking
command and control as well as information security is of major concern. There is bright future ahead as UAVs become
larger and more functional.
Issue Statement
A
platform for unmanned cargo aircraft that is designed specifically for cargo
delivery nationally and worldwide will become an inevitable demand when freight
can be transported at a lesser cost than by manned aircraft and faster than sea
cargo filling a middle gap. Production
and integration of UCA within the NAS will open new markets for transportation of
material goods dependent upon Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) regulations.
Significance of the Issue
In
2009 FedEx founder Fred Smith had a conception that its aerial cargo service
would soon shift to Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) once the FAA
regulations allowed integration of FedEx aircraft into the National Airspace
System (Butterworth-Hayes, 2013). Smith
had an idea of blended wing cargo aircraft that would have a greater carrying
capacity than the current FedEx fleet, and would also lower freight
prices. In February of 2012 President
Barack Obama unveiled a deadline for U.S. regulators to create full integration
of UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) into U.S. airspace by the end of 2015. With the slower than anticipated progress of
airworthiness regulations for integration of UAS in national airspace, the
dream of UCA zipping through the skies has also slowed progress.
Demand
The air freighter industry is here to stay. As of 2015, Boeing currently has 1,770
freighters in service and plans to have 3,010 by the year 2035 (Boeing:
Freighters, 2017). The U.S. experienced
an increase of 13% in air freight from March 2016 to March 2017 between the
U.S. and the rest of the world during that period (US DOT, 2017). As of March 2017, the Middle East air freight
shipments to and from the U.S. rose 17% from the preceding 12-month period
while Canada experienced a 11% increase (US DOT, 2017). Since the recession there has been growth in
the air freighter industry. When UAVs
can fly internationally in non-segregated airspace, for a lesser cost than
manned aircraft the demand for UCA across the globe may grow significantly.
Economic
Effects
By missing the 2015 deadline, Gretchen
West, the executive vice president with the Association for Unmanned Vehicle
Systems International stated that the delay for integrating UAVs into the NAS
will cost the U.S. $10 billion per year.
UCA may not necessarily compete with existing aerial transport, but may
open new markets to areas throughout the world that may not have a feasible
ground infrastructure or where there is a lack of demand for expensive air
freight. The size of the market is
unknown but for intercontinental delivery of material goods, there is reason to
believe there will be a great enough demand for a less expensive method for UCA
that this market can prove to be worth the development (The Platform for
Unmanned Cargo Aircraft (PUCA), 2017).
FAA Regulation Issues
Unmanned
aircraft creators are chomping at the bit to get access to U.S. airspace. Currently commercial UAV access to airspace
is limited with permission by a Certificate of Authorization (COA) to operate
with Direct Line of Sight (DLOS) under specific conditions agreed upon by the
FAA and the UAV operators. Safety is a
leading concern while the ability to for UAVs to Detect and Avoid (DAA) and
maintain separation autonomously is a leading factor. The FAA has called “for a target level of
safety that is more stringent than the see-and avoid requirement for manned
aircraft (Wikle, 2017).” Engineers
design algorithms for collision detection and collision avoidance. The self-separation algorithms identify
potential intruders and “plan new paths that remain well clear of intruder
aircraft (Wikle, 2017).”
Avionics,
Navigation and Security
There are information and navigation security challenges
between a Ground Control Station (GCS) and the UCA such as loss of link, data
transfer rates, and working beyond a direct line of sight. Secure communication link between the ground
control station (GCS) and the aircraft, embedded with encryption and decryption
add complexity and cost but are imperative for safe operation of a UAV (Howard,
2017). Secure communication is necessary,
so the UAV cannot be hijacked. In civil
airspace, robustness of UAV software code is paramount to minimize
vulnerability. With safety as chief
concern, a UAV can only be considered safe if it cannot be controlled by a
hostile intruder.
Human
Factors
Human
pilots in the cockpit bring certain limitations to flight. Removing a human from the cockpit for an
autonomous aircraft may eventually eliminate human pilot error such as misinterpreting
information, lapse in judgement, and other mistakes. Physiological limitations such as fatigue due
to long flight times, jet lag, and need for environmental systems such as
oxygen and cabin pressurization will remain factors for manned flight. Pilots must adhere to duty and rest cycles
according to 14 CFR 91.1059 as shown in figure 1. The limitations for human pilots requires
major planning for qualified pilots, scheduling and adhering to the rest
cycles. Pilots must rest 14-18 hours after
multi time-zone flight and are limited to 10-12 hours of duty with a maximum of
14-hour duty day ("eCFR — Code of Federal Regulations", 2017). The need to get pilots to destinations in a
timely manner requires flight at a higher speed that is considerably less fuel
efficient; an UCA will fly at a much more fuel-efficient speed (See
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Figure 1: Flight time limitations for pilots per
Code of Federal Regulations ("14 CFR 91.1059 - Flight time limitations
and rest requirements: One or two pilot crews.", 2017)
|
Alternative Actions
Avionics,
Navigation and Security
Encompassed in aircraft safety of flight is security,
avionics and navigation systems. This is
a major piece of the issue for UAS integration in national airspace. For safe flight of UCA, the aircraft needs to
know where it is, where it wants to go and where other aircraft and hazards
are. Algorithms are the basis of an
artificial intelligence to use the information at hand to make decisions to sense
and avoid, and prevent incursion. For
UCA to take form, unmanned flight needs to operate seamlessly in all airspace.
IT. Information Technology (IT) security
common criteria must be applied to UAV communications. ISO 14508 is an international process-oriented
standard that defines IT security requirements with 7 Evaluations Testing
Assurance Levels (EALs). These
requirements include audit, communications, cryptography, data protection,
authentication, security management, and privacy (Pitchford, 2017). These
principles should be applied to UAV communications. The 2011 crash of the CIA UAV in which the
GPS was hacked and diverted the vehicle.
This case underlines the vulnerabilities and necessity for a robust
information security system. An UCA carrying
valuable material goods cannot afford to be hijacked.
Robust software validation and
verification processes for aviation currently are defined by DO-178. Traceability, software design and coding
ensure confidence in and the correctness and control of avionics software
(Pitchford, 2017). Aircraft must pass
avionics airworthiness authorization by the FAA; DO-178B is recognized as the
standard for the certification of the software portion of an avionics system
(Jain, 2013). It must be noted that DO-178 and ISO 14508 standards for aviation
are not required for UAVs. These are the
current standards for manned aircraft.
The scenario for a large unmanned aircraft is understandably different;
we should see that FAA standards for avionics software for UAVs may differ
regarding the fact that command and control is not generated within the
aircraft, but by digital transmission.
Aircraft Separation. Each development brings UAS closer to their
consent in the NAS. NASA conducts
collaborative research “with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the
Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA) and commercial aerospace
entities to develop minimal operation performance standards (Behar,
2017).” For UASs, detecting is to
determine there is an object in the airspace but not to assume the object has
been identified. Sensing is to determine
that the object is or is not a threat to a UAS.
Avoidance is to initiate movement from the flight path to a new heading
and back to the original course.
Automatic Dependence Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B): a technique that is
ideal for SAA application on a sUAS.
ADS-B Application. Sense-and-avoid (SAA) capability is a key
enabler for UAS to safely have access to all ranges of airspace. The approach to automatic detection should be
a unified method for air-based and ground-based SAA. For manned aircraft TCAS and ADS-B is a
cooperative sensor solution and warn aircrew of air traffic. Due to constraints for size and weight, TCAS
cannot be applied directly to smaller UAVs and has demonstrated it is not ideal
for use at airports and other dense airspace conditions (Zhao, 2016).
|
Figure 2: ADS-B architecture
(Zhao, 2016)
|
ADS-B satellite traffic management is effective, economical
and will optimize the cohesion of UAS and manned aircraft. ADS-B technology is a satellite air traffic
control (ATC) system and will eventually phase out ATC radar. Not only is the cost of an ADS-B ground
station one-ninth of the conventional ATC secondary radar, its data monitor
updates faster at every second (Zhao, 2016).
ADS-B is also used for ground movement and helps prevent runway
incursion. GPS sensors support a 2-way
system function. “ADS-B OUT transmits
aircraft flight number, address code, heading, speed, vertical speed (Zhao,
2016)” and other information such as weather and route reflection. ADS-B IN receives ADS-B OUT data that other aircraft
have broadcasted. The architecture is
shown in figure 2. The onboard processer
is provided real-time information of the airspace environment, and increases
situational awareness for the autonomous UCA.
While ADS-B is not an obstacle avoidance system, it is a
crucial technology to be shared by manned and unmanned aircraft; it will prove
to be a tool moving forward for the integration of UAS in all airspace.
Human
Factors
With the human factor removed of
fatigue from long duration flights, aircraft can fly slower at a higher fuel
efficiency. For example, the optimal
speed for fuel consumption for a certain aircraft would be too lengthy impractical
for a slow long-distance flight due to crew fatigue. In 2008 JetBlue added an average of 2 minutes
to each flight saving $13.6 million while Northwest Airlines added four minutes
to its flights to and from Hawaii saving $600,000 a year on Hawaii flights
alone (Wilen, 2008). Passengers would
like to get their destinations as soon as possible while cargo is more
patient. If JetBlue saved $13.6 million
in 2008, how much could FedEx and other air freight companies save flying 100
miles per hour slower? Aircraft made to
carry cargo at a slower speed without human pilots on board may yield
substantial savings and attract more customers as a result.
Situation awareness at the Human Machine
Interface (HMI). An Unmanned
Aircraft System (UAS) operator’s ability to sense, feel, and react is unlike a
manned aircraft. Through egocentric
teleoperation, the operator relies on the HMI to supply the information about
the environment that must be accurately perceived and comprehended to safely
and effectively perform the task of the mission. The level of autonomy and the people
accountable for the operation of the system share the responsibility of
SA. “As the level of unmanned vehicle
system autonomy varies, the unmanned vehicles and humans will contribute to one
another’s situation awareness (Freedman, 2007).” With a pilot deprived of direct sensory
information, the rich sensory information of the environment and state of the
vehicle is not directly available (Endsley, 2013). The crew in charge of the operation has no
more than the information at hand to make the decisions where timing and
precision is important. Inserting UAVs
into the National Airspace System, such as an UCA, the ground control station the
operators may be commanding multiple aircraft simultaneously. There is a still a cost for personnel to
manage the flight of unmanned aircraft, but swapping out the pilot is as simple
as a good turnover report instead of hotel and travel costs.
Recommendations
Autonomous
cargo aircraft will need a starting point.
Rather than fly over populated land areas, their ports should be placed
at coastlines. For the industry to get
off the ground it may need to fly missions across the ocean. Natilus Inc. plans to fly a 140-foot UAV with
200,000 pounds from Los Angeles to Hawaii in 2019 (Freeman, 2017). Natilus has a vision for the future of
international cargo transport. Natilus
believes it can carry approximately 200,000 pounds of cargo, like a 777, at
half the cost due to fuel efficiency and lesser cost for crew. Air cargo is high speed and high cost while
ocean freight is slower and less expensive.
UCA would grant a middle price for middle transit times.
Radio
communication in the air between UAVs and ATC is one-sided. As some military aircraft pilot are familiar
with, the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk speaks on the radio with ATC and its
communication is directive. All other
aircraft in the vicinity will yield to the Global Hawk on its flight path to
avoid and possible incursion. The Global
Hawk is the first aircraft to be NAS certified (Northrop Grumman Newsroom, 2003). Although this is not a practical solution
when airspace becomes occupied with UAVs, manned aircraft giving way to UAVs
may be a starting point for UCA in controlled airspace.
ADS-B
can be shared with manned and unmanned aircraft. This should be used as a major connection for
their coexistence. ADS-B is one of the
foundations of NextGen as its coverage area is greater than radar and transmits
surveillance information of aircraft in flight or on the ground (faa.gov,
2017). “The FAA has mandated that
aircraft operating in most controlled U.S. airspace be equipped for ADS-B Out
by January 1, 2020 (faa.gov, 2017).”
Unmanned aircraft operators receive traffic and weather information;
this brings the remote operator closer to the realism of being on board
providing greater situational awareness.
Since most commercial flight is
over 20,000 feet altitude, what are the possibilities that there can be
designated UAV airspace for commercial use?
Manned aircraft will not enter this space therefor it will be unlikely
that a near miss or collision would occur.
ADS-B out shall be a minimum requirement for example on a crop
monitoring UAV. This can apply to
Natilus’ idea of international flight; crossing the ocean at 8000 feet, this
low altitude space over the pacific ocean can be designated for UAVs.
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