Application of US Detect and Avoid Standards in European Environments

Abstract

Detect and Avoid (DAA) systems are an essential technology to enable the integration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the National airspace system (NAS). In the U.S., a DAA system's role is to fulfill the “see and avoid” requirement found in 14 CFR §91.113 (b), and the intent of U.S. standards is to enable UAS operations in all classes of airspace. Since the “Minimum Operational Performance Standards (MOPS) for Detect and Avoid Systems” (RTCA DO-365) were intended to enable operations in the U.S., however, the assumed operational environment may not apply to certain European nations, and the requirements therein must be assessed for applicability for any operational environment outside of the U.S. Additionally, EUROCAE WG-105's “Minimum Aviation System Performance Standards (MASPS) for Detect and Avoid [Traffic] (DAA[Traf])…” are not perfectly aligned with the U.S. MOPS; leaving gaps for future DAA manufacturers that wish to operate in both U.S. and European environments. For UAS to be integrated into both U.S. and European airspace, effort has been put towards aligning the standards of the respective bodies, and the applicability of an RTCA DO-365 compliant DAA system in European airspace has been assessed. Since the rules in each airspace class are standardized via ICAO “Annex 11: Air Traffic Services, Chapter 2, Section 2.6”, the classes of airspace are highly similar between all of the member states of ICAO, and the allocation of the classes is the primary difference between countries. The way this impacts operations and procedural mitigation is analyzed.