Passive, Long-Range Detection of Aircraft: Towards a Field Deployable Sense and Avoid System

Abstract

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) typically fly blind with operatorsin distant locations. Most UAVs are too small to carry a trafficcollision avoidance system (TCAS) payload or transponder. Collisionavoidance is currently done by flight planning, use of ground orair based human observers and segregated air spaces. US lawmakerspropose commercial unmanned aerial systems access to national airspace(NAS) by 30th September 2013. UAVs must not degrade the existingsafety of the NAS, but the metrics that determine this have to befully determined yet. It is still possible to state functional requirementsand determine some performance minimums. For both manned and unmannedaircraft to fly safely in the same airspace UAVs will need to detectother aircraft and follow the same rules as human pilots.