Regulation of US Airspace in the Autonomous Age

Abstract

Technology is on the brink of enabling fully autonomous unmanned aircraft system (UAS) operations that can supersede the role of humans in every respect. However, in the United States (USA), the regulatory structure for these aircraft remains in its nascent stage. The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) current UAS regulations, based on the existing regulatory model applicable to manned aircraft, place the Remote Pilot in Charge (RPIC) as central actor in UAS operations, responsible for safety of flight. Specifically, the FAA requires the RPIC, unaided by technology, to “see and avoid” hazards and mitigate the potential of midair collisions. To the extent that humans become further, or even entirely, removed from UAS flight operations, autonomous UAS flight challenges both the letter and intent of this regulatory scheme. This chapter reviews current FAA regulations in light of anticipated technological advances and current research and development efforts and proposes regulatory suggestions and structural changes required to enable autonomous UAS flights in the US national airspace system (NAS) based on a new philosophical paradigm in which the RPIC is no longer central to flight safety.

To do this, Part I summarizes relevant UAS regulations relating to public and nonpublic UAS operational requirements and waivers thereto, as well as the rationale behind them. Part II identifies different types of technological advances necessary to mitigate concerns associated with UAS flight safety in general and as applicable to autonomous flight, such as first person view, traffic collision avoidance systems (T-CAS), and Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B). Part III discussed structural mitigation measures that will need to be taken into account, in parallel with those technical measures, using the National Aviation and Space Agency’s (NASA) unmanned traffic management (UTM) initiative as a baseline. Part IV discusses current research and development efforts relevant to enabling autonomous UAS operations in the NAS, with an emphasis on the FAA’s Pathfinder Program. Part V explores potential regulatory improvements that will be required once sufficient technological and structural developments exist. Part VI concludes by summarizing the regulatory and other changes necessary to enable safe, efficient, and effective autonomous UAS operations in the US NAS.