Generating Flight Timetables for Unmanned Aircraft Systems Operations

Abstract

This paper presents an algorithm for generating flight data sets for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) from industry standard but somewhat inchoate guidance regarding expected UAS missions, aircraft types, aircraft counts, and performance over the next twenty years. The algorithm generates a specific flight data set containing specific UAS aircraft flying from origins to destinations over a specified flight path using the industry guidance. The algorithm is necessary for evaluations of UAS concepts of operations in the virtual airspace using commonly available airspace simulations. For example, the generated flight data set can be used to evaluate the number of commercial aircraft/UAS interactions in the enroute airspace, to compute the increase in traffic density in specific sectors due to UAS flights, and to evaluate different operational concepts for integration of UAS aircraft in the National Airspace System. The generated flight data set is consistent with industry guidance on future UAS flights, and thus is based upon expert opinion and forecasts from UAS manufacturers, UAS users, and government personnel, lending credibility to analyses that use these projected flight datasets.