System-Level Airworthiness Tool

Abstract

One of the pillars of aviation safety is assuring sound engineering practices through airworthiness certification. As unmanned aircraft systems grow in popularity, the need for airworthiness standards and verification methods tailored for unmanned aircraft systems becomes critical.While airworthiness practices for large unmanned aircraft systemsmay be similar to manned aircraft, it is clear that small unmanned aircraft systems require a paradigm shift from the airworthiness practices of manned aircraft. Although small in comparison with manned aircraft these aircraft are not merely remote-controlled toys. Small unmanned aircraft systems may be complex aircraft flying in the national airspace system over populated areas for extended durations and beyond line of sight of the operators. A comprehensive systems engineering framework for certifying small unmanned aircraft systems at the system level is needed. This work presents a point-based tool that evaluates small unmanned aircraft systems by rewarding good engineering practices in design, analysis, and testing. The requirements scale with vehicle size and operational area, while allowing flexibility for new technologies and unique configurations.