Spatiotemporal Ground Risk Mapping for Uncrewed Aircraft Systems Operations

Abstract

In this paper we propose the use of spatiotemporal population density data in the analysis of ground risk posed by uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) operations. The spatiotemporal population density maps are generated through the combination of authoritative data sources, open source geospatial databases, and past works to dynamically classify proportions of a population to their expected daily activities based upon a given time. This adds a further dimension to analysis allowing evaluation and optimization of ground risk, both spatially and temporally. This approach is used to analyze the ground risk posed under ballistic and gliding descents of a parameterized UAS along a case study path. An open source tool is implemented as part of this work to aid the decision making of operators and promote safer UAS operations.