SORA Methodology for Multi-UAS Airframe Inspections in an Airport

Carol Martinez,Miguel A Olivares-Mendez,Pedro J Sanchez-Cuevas,Simos Gerasimou,Abhishek Bera

doi:10.3390/drones5040141

Carol Martinez, Miguel A Olivares-Mendez + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/drones5040141

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Journal: Drones	Publication Date: Nov 24, 2021
Citations: 6	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Luxembourg, University of York

Abstract

Deploying Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in safety- and business-critical operations requires demonstrating compliance with applicable regulations and a comprehensive understanding of the residual risk associated with the UAS operation. To support these activities and enable the safe deployment of UAS into civil airspace, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has established a UAS regulatory framework that mandates the execution of safety risk assessment for UAS operations in order to gain authorization to carry out certain types of operations. Driven by this framework, the Joint Authorities for Rulemaking on Unmanned Systems (JARUS) released the Specific Operation Risk Assessment (SORA) methodology that guides the systematic risk assessment for UAS operations. However, existing work on SORA and its applications focuses mainly on single UAS operations, offering limited support for assuring operations conducted with multiple UAS and with autonomous features. Therefore, the work presented in this paper analyzes the application of SORA for a Multi-UAS airframe inspection (AFI) operation, that involves deploying multiple UAS with autonomous features inside an airport. We present the decision-making process of each SORA step and its application to a multiple UAS scenario. The results shows that the procedures and safety features included in the Multi-AFI operation such as workspace segmentation, the independent multi-UAS AFI crew proposed, and the mitigation actions provide confidence that the operation can be conducted safely and can receive a positive evaluation from the competent authorities. We also present our key findings from the application of SORA and discuss how it can be extended to better support multi-UAS operations.

Highlights

The European strategy and research roadmaps emphasize the increasing use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in safety-critical applications, including realtime road traffic monitoring and UAS-driven aerial inspection activities [1]
This paper presented the application of the Specific Operation Risk assessment (SORA)
We provided details of the CONOPS designed for the Multi-UAS airframe inspection (AFI) operation

Summary

Introduction

The European strategy and research roadmaps emphasize the increasing use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in safety-critical applications, including realtime road traffic monitoring and UAS-driven aerial inspection activities [1]. The ongoing demand for UAS-assisted operations attracts the involvement of multiple UAS to expedite the mission, such as inspection [2], collaborative localization and mapping [3,4], disaster management [5,6], and search and rescue [7,8]. According to the new EASA regulation, UAS operations can fall under three specific categories: open (low risk), specific (medium risk), and certified (high risk) [9]. Operations considered under the open category do not require authorization by the National Aviation. Operations within the specific category require the submission of a risk assessment to the NAA for approval. To facilitate the authorization process, the Joint Authorities for the Rulemaking of Unmanned Systems (JARUS) developed the Specific Operation Risk

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion