Abstract
Regulations have allowed for increased unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) operations over the last decade, yet operations over people are still not permitted. The objective of this study was to estimate the range of injury risks to humans due to UAS impact. Three commercially-available UAS models that varied in mass (1.2–11 kg) were evaluated to estimate the range of risk associated with UAS-human interaction. Live flight and falling impact tests were conducted using an instrumented Hybrid III test dummy. On average, live flight tests were observed to be less severe than falling impact tests. The maximum risk of AIS 3+ injury associated with live flight tests was 11.6%, while several falling impact tests estimated risks exceeding 50%. Risk of injury was observed to increase with increasing UAS mass, and the larger models tested are not safe for operations over people in their current form. However, there is likely a subset of smaller UAS models that are safe to operate over people. Further, designs which redirect the UAS away from the head or deform upon impact transfer less energy and generate lower risk. These data represent a necessary impact testing foundation for future UAS regulations on operations over people.
Highlights
Small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) represent a potentially substantial market as their use becomes more commonplace
These operations would require flight over people, which the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has yet to allow for two major reasons: a paucity of safety data available for risk to humans and that no other country with UAS regulations allows for operation over people.[8,9,16]
The low mass of the DJI Phantom 3 resulted in low levels of neck loading during these live flight tests
Summary
Small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) represent a potentially substantial market as their use becomes more commonplace. Unmanned aircraft systems applications are currently limited to monitoring and inspection for agriculture, power lines, and bridges, educational pursuits, research and development, aerial photography, and rescue operations.[9]. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) 208 and 214 specify minimum occupant protection requirements for frontal and side impact motor vehicle crashes. These two standards, combined with the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), which provides consumers with ratings of occupant
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