Integrating RPAS - published approach procedures vs. local arrangements

Abstract

This paper presents the setup, the assessment methods, and the results of a flight trial that was conducted in June 2016 in order to demonstrate integration of remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) into the current airspace, while also acknowledging that there are challenges to overcome. An RPAS demonstrator received a flight plan from the ground control station (GCS) using a ground-based data link, departing from Braunschweig-Wolfsburg airport and flying towards Leipzig/Halle airport on published routing. When approaching Leipzig/Halle airport, the data link was lost as predicted, and the arrival procedure was altered by air traffic control (ATC), which showed that an additional and dedicated RPAS controller at arrival airports might be valuable and advantageous. Focus of this paper is the description of the components that were used during the trial and their interconnectivity, the evaluation of quantitative recorded data and the qualitative experienced difficulties and challenges. Assessment of the recorded data is divided into data link quality, data link latency, and flight following performance (vertical and lateral following accuracy), with the latter being linked to existing performance based navigation (PBN) parameters by ICAO and height-keeping performance values by EASA. The paper concludes with a discussion on the investigated integration concept.