Airspace for Drones in Canada

Executive Summary

In order to response the commercial use of drones, I have summarized the information of drones and airspace in Canada. The purpose of the paper was to determine the feasibility of opening airspace for drones in Canada. The classification of drones determines the maximum of attitude, endurance and the maximum of range. To solve the traffic problem of drones, I chose an Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) as the controller. Also, I summarized the benefits and risks of opening airspace for drones in Canada.

List of Tables and Figures

Tables

Table 1: Classification of drones by size …………………………………………………….….

Table 2: Classification of drones by performance parameters ………………………………….

Figures

Figure 1: Photo of a delivery drone……………………………………………………………….i

Figure 2: Simplified structural model of the UTM System of Systems ………………………….

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements …………………………………………………………………………….. ii

Executive Summary …………………………………………………………………………… iii

List of Tables and Figures ………………………………………………………………….….. iv

1. Introduction ………………………………………………………………….……………… 1

2. Classification of drones ……………………………………………………….……..……… 2

2.1. Classification of drones by size ………………………………………….…….……… 2

2.2. Classification of drones by performance …………………………..…….…….……… 3

3. Flight System ………………………………………………………………………………… 4

3.1. A ………………………………………………………………………….……..……… 5

3.2. A ………………………………………………………………………….……..……… 5

3.3. A ………………………………………………………………………….……..……… 5

3. Traffic Management ……………………………………..…………………………………… 4

3.4. A ………………………………………………………………………….……..……… 5

3.5. A ………………………………………………………………………….……..……… 5

3.6. A ………………………………………………………………………….……..……… 5

4. Benefits and Risks of opening airspace for drones …………………………………………… 5

4.1. A

4.2. B

4.3. C

5. Conclusion ………………………………………………………………….……..…….…… 5

6. Glossary ………………………………………………………………….……..……….…… 5

7. References ………………………………………………………………….………..…….… 5

1. Introduction

The technological development causes drones are popular in Canada. Due to the reduces cost and different designs of drones, drones can be used for various function at different places. Meanwhile, this also causes Canadian airspace facing a new challenge. The conventional aircrafts and drones using the same airspace expose to risk of safety. In order to protect the conventional aircrafts and people on the ground, the concept of unmanned aircraft system traffic management (UTM) has been created. This paper summarizes the classification of drones and the drone flight system. The UTM plays an important role to fulfill the safety flying with drones.

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Drones fly in Canadian airspace every day. They are not the only one type of object using airspace. The Canada air traffic controlled 5.5 million conventional aircraft movements in 2016. Since January 2019, the Transport Canada published new rules for flying drones in Canada. The rules require a pilot get a drone pilot certificate for the drones which the weight between 250 grams (g) and 25 kilograms (g). It protects the life and properties on the ground. But these rules cannot apply for the future and current applications of drones which controlled not by human.

One of the American company Amazon finished their tests for using drones to delivery their products to consumers. Their drones controlled by automatic because these drones require to fly a long distance that is out of human control range. The new rules of drones do not include these applications, so this causes people and companies using drone for these applications illegally and limits the development of drone.

In England, there was a drone incident in December 2018. The drone flied into Gatwick Airport and interfered the movements of conventional aircraft. This interference affected 140,000 passengers and 1,000 flights. It shows that Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA) need to manage the traffic of airspace for drones. A drone can cause an aircraft crush. There is a major risk of drones if Transport Canada do not modify the current rules.

This document provides the information of the drone flight system and navigation system to make drones more safety. In order to avoid a drone flying inside an area that restricts drones, this paper include the useful equipment to stop the drone flying. Also, this paper provides the method for drones flying into airspace more safety after open the airspace.

2. Traffic Management

Air Traffic Management (ATM) and Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) are the most important parts of airspace. The main function of ATM and UTM are prevention of aviation accidents. ATM and UTM plays the role of police in order to manage the order of the airspace. The difference between ATM and UTM is that ATM manages the order of the conventional aircrafts, while UTM manages the order of unmanned aircraft. Both traffic managements are connected due to overlapping airspace. Researcher created the UTM that is seems as ATM but UTM has an additional feature which is an authority to control the unmanned aircraft [2].

2.1 System of Air Traffic Management

UTM is connected to night components (MET, AIS, SUR, NAV, ATM, UAS/RPAS, REG, AUTH and COM). These components help UTM to manage the order of airspace.

   Fig. 2 Simplified structural model of the UTM System of Systems

Meteorological infrastructure (MET) provides the information of weather. MET determines the weather is suitable for drone flying. Automatic Identification System Infrastructure (AIS) is an automatic tracking system. AIS identifies the type of drones and report the position of drones. Surveillance Infrastructure (SUR) use the radars to track the position of drones. Navigation Infrastructure (NAV) provides the position information to drones. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System(s) (UAS) / Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems (RPAS) is drones’ flight control system. UAS / RPAS controls the flight path using the data from NAV. Record Systems (REG) records the data of UAS / RPAS. The function is same as black box. Authority / State Information Systems (AUTH) has a highest authority to control the flight control system of a drone [2]. It avoids the drone flying into restricted area. Communication Infrastructure (COM) is a transmitter and receiver to communicate with the drones. The principle of UTM ensure the safety of the conventional aircrafts and drones that is no incident or accident with aircrafts [3].

3. Classification of drones

The classification of drones is significant in the airspace. It can help UTM to predict the performance of drones. For the conventional aircrafts, pilots need to know the information of aircraft before their flights because they need to fill the flight plan. This information is about the flight path, the weight of the aircraft and the model of aircraft. The UTM also needs to know this information. According to the rules in the Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs), drone pilots must have a valid drone pilot certificate if the drone is not less than 250 grams that is the heavy drones impact the safety of public [4].

3.1  Classification of drones by size

The size of drones relates to the weight of drone. Drones are divided into four groups (Extra small drones, small drones, medium drones and large drones) [Table 1]. Extra small drones are about 10 grams. The drone pilot does not require a valid drone pilot certificate for this type of drones.

Table 1: Classification of drones by size [2]

3.2  Classification of drones by performance

The performance of drones relates to the maximum attitude of drone. Drones are divided into three groups (Low performance drones, medium-performance drones and high-performance drones) [Table 2].

Table 2: Classification of drones by performance parameters [2]

3.3  Classification of drones by flight control system

Glossary

AIS: Automatic Identification System Infrastructure

ATM: Air Traffic Management

AUTH: Authority / State Information Systems

CARs: Canadian Aviation Regulations

COM: Communication Infrastructure

MET: Meteorological Infrastructure

NAV: Navigation Infrastructure

REG: Record Systems

RPAS: Remotely Piloted Aerial Systems

SUR: Surveillance Infrastructure

UAS: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System(s)

UAV: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

UTM: Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management

References

[1]   drone delivery (2017). Amazon patent details the scary future of drone delivery [Online image]. Available: https://thenextweb.com/tech/2017/08/24/amazon-patent-details-the-scary-future-of-drone-delivery/

[2]   Z. Sándor, “Challenges Caused by the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle in the Air Traffic Management,” Periodica Polytechnica Transportation Engineering, vol. 47, no. 2, pp. 96–105, Sep. 2017.

[3]   A. Vidović, T. Mihetec, B. Wang, and I. Štimac, “Operations Of Drones In Controlled Airspace In Europe,” International Journal For Traffic And Transport Engineering, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 38–52, Jan. 2019.

[4]   Transport Canada, “Flying your drone safely and legally,” Transport Canada, 30-May-2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.tc.gc.ca/en/services/aviation/drone-safety/flying-drone-safely-legally.html.

Scholar

1. Challenges Caused by the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle in the Air Traffic Management
2. Fundamental Concepts of Reactive Control for Autonomous Drones
3. Operations of Drones in Controlled Airspace in Europe
4. Toward a Secure Drone System Flying With Real-Time Homomorphic Authenticated Encryption
5. There’s No Place Like Home: Visual Teach and Repeat for Emergency Return of Multirotor UAVs During GPS Failure
6. The regulation of civilian drones’ impacts on public safety
7. Impact of drone delivery on sustainability and cost: Realizing the UAV potential through vehicle routing optimization
8. Application of hierarchical facility location problem for optimization of a drone delivery system: a case study of Amazon prime air in the city of San Francisco

Non-scholar

1. https://www.tc.gc.ca/en/services/aviation/drone-safety/flying-drone-safely-legally.html
2. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/170620/dq170620f-eng.htm
3. https://www.tc.gc.ca/en/services/aviation/drone-safety/new-rules-drones.html

Photo

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https://thenextweb.com/tech/2017/08/24/amazon-patent-details-the-scary-future-of-drone-delivery/