Unmanned Aircraft System Sense and Avoid Integrity and Continuity: Uncertainty in Aircraft Dynamics

This research aims at developing methods to meet safety targets for sense and avoid (SAA) sensors of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) through integrity and continuity risk evaluation. This paper builds upon previous work that assumed a constant velocity aircraft encounter model. We refine this model by accounting for intruder aircraft accelerations due to pilot actions, such as changes in thrust. These methods can determine the acceptability of a sensor or set of sensors. A sensitivity analysis evaluates the impact on integrity and continuity of sensor noise, range and sample interval. The methods described in this research can set potential SAA sensor requirements for UAS integration into the National Airspace System.