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"How do I get my algorithm FAA certified for flight?" This one is critical. Most drone operators using anything above a hobby grade UAV are using fairly sophis

by pj_mukh 12y ago

"How do I get my algorithm FAA certified for flight?" This one is critical. Most drone operators using anything above a hobby grade UAV are using fairly sophisticated software to command GPS velocities. This is assuming even more complex GPS missions are not being carried out. How do we setup a certification regiment for that software and its extensions to sense and avoid? Granted, I don't have the answers. The FAA will inevitably suggest the same certification regiment that large airplane autopilots go through, but that seems prohibitively cumbersome.

cmurf 12y ago
A large airplane operating on autopilot with two pilots in the cockpit is not operating autonomously. Autonomous implies no pilot at all, that is, you merely tell the UAS some set of commands like "go to this address, confirm recipient and their order, hand over the goods, return to base". The person interacting with this autonomous UAS is akin to an operations manager for an airline. They are not a pilot. Eventually it may not even be a person, that too could be software that just sequences a bunch of errands to the nearest available UAS. What's actually required by an autonomous system is closer to a large percentage of FAR 61 and FAR 91, which are pilot certification and general operating rules, respectively. Your very basic recreational or private pilot conforms to both of those sets of regulations on every visual flight. For instrument flights requiring positive separation from air traffic control because the pilot can't see and avoid themselves? That's another layer of regulations and conformance. For charter flights, that's FAR 135 a whole separate set of regs. For commercial passenger flights, that's FAR 121 yet another separate set of regs. Track down a FAR/AIM manual and start reading FAR 61, 91, 135 and the AIM part. A bulk of this needs to be incorporated into an autonomous UAS controller. The details of course have to change, possibly by a lot in some cases, because we don't have things like primary or secondary radar or radio communications at the altitudes UAS's will operate. But there are analogues and they need to be invented, specs defined, infra created, and so on. And while some of this could be implemented in proprietary form, the portions that require communication or cooperation in shared airspace have to be publicly documented.

by pj_mukh 12y ago

cmurf 12y ago

A large airplane operating on autopilot with two pilots in the cockpit is not operating autonomously. Autonomous implies no pilot at all, that is, you merely tell the UAS some set of commands like "go to this address, confirm recipient and their order, hand over the goods, return to base". The person interacting with this autonomous UAS is akin to an operations manager for an airline. They are not a pilot. Eventually it may not even be a person, that too could be software that just sequences a bunch of errands to the nearest available UAS. What's actually required by an autonomous system is closer to a large percentage of FAR 61 and FAR 91, which are pilot certification and general operating rules, respectively. Your very basic recreational or private pilot conforms to both of those sets of regulations on every visual flight. For instrument flights requiring positive separation from air traffic control because the pilot can't see and avoid themselves? That's another layer of regulations and conformance. For charter flights, that's FAR 135 a whole separate set of regs. For commercial passenger flights, that's FAR 121 yet another separate set of regs. Track down a FAR/AIM manual and start reading FAR 61, 91, 135 and the AIM part. A bulk of this needs to be incorporated into an autonomous UAS controller. The details of course have to change, possibly by a lot in some cases, because we don't have things like primary or secondary radar or radio communications at the altitudes UAS's will operate. But there are analogues and they need to be invented, specs defined, infra created, and so on. And while some of this could be implemented in proprietary form, the portions that require communication or cooperation in shared airspace have to be publicly documented.