Just then the little robot voice said, "Doors closing," and the train started to move. So the guy doesn't actually operate the train. He's just there to step on the brakes if the robot decides to plow into the back of another train. |
Posted on 04/06/2005 10:40:54 AM PDT by BenLurkin
WASHINGTON - The day is fast approaching when unmanned aircraft of all sizes and purposes will ply the skies, sharing the airspace with the now familiar manned airplanes. Before this future may become a reality, however, the means must be found for these unpiloted aircraft to operate in harmony with others without the safety net of a human in the cockpit to see the surrounding airspace.
The task of establishing the means for unmanned vehicles to participate fully in the national airspace falls to the Federal Aviation Administration.
"Our job is to make sure the vehicles and the environment they operate in are safe," said Tony Fazio, FAA director of rulemaking .
Fazio and other FAA officials discussed the issue with members of the Antelope Valley Board of Trade Tuesday during AVBOT's annual visit to the nation's capital.
Removing a pilot from an aircraft provides many benefits: flight times beyond human endurance, access to dangerous areas, small - even micro - craft that are light and inexpensive.
The challenges to integrating such aircraft are proving to be just as numerous.
"It's a whole new world," said John Timmerman of FAA's air traffic operations.
Existing air traffic systems all rely on the fact that a person inside each craft can see what is going on in the air around him or her. No electronic replacement yet exists for that form of final control, FAA officials said.
The FAA and air traffic controllers have been dealing with unmanned aerial systems for a decade or more, but under special circumstances with a small number of aircraft.
The vehicles have been granted access to national airspace on a case-by-case basis, and usually inside restricted airspace. This has been possible because until now most UASs have been developed and tested by the military.
Now, however, the demand for permission for unmanned aircraft from the civil sector has grown - and is predicted to continue increasing in the years to come - to where across-the-board standards are needed.
The FAA is working with industry to devise the standards that will allow better access to national airspace for unmanned vehicles.
"It's not going to be easy," Fazio said.
Their task focuses on two questions: How to certify the vehicles as safe to fly, and how to operate them within the airspace system with other aircraft.
The greatest concern is when the aircraft operate below 18,000 feet. Above that point, all aircraft are required to be under the direct control of air traffic controllers, who can manage the airspace and keep vehicles away from each other.
Below 18,000 feet, however, such direct control does not exist. At that level, obstacles also can include such objects as hot air balloons, parachutists, hang gliders and even general aviation aircraft.
One example Timmerman cited was a winery in Northern California that wanted to use small unmanned aircraft to monitor temperatures over the vineyard in order to control irrigation. Their altitude, however, would be the same as the hot air balloons that offer tours over the vineyards.
"(The industry) is very concerned we will have a tragic event happen that would set the industry back," Timmerman said.
The wide variety of aircraft and even broader range of possible uses emerging from the UAS industry complicates the process of creating standards, FAA officials said.
Entrepreneurs are starting to enter the equation, sometimes with variations of small radio-controlled aircraft that fly just high enough to be under FAA jurisdiction, but still low enough that the operators don't realize they should consult the agency, Timmerman said.
While the FAA and other government and industry experts are hard at work at devising this new framework, they cannot move as quickly as new technology.
"The industry is growing very fast," Fazio said. "They want (the airspace access) today."
The FAA's task is made more difficult by the federal government's budget situation, which calls for deep cuts to FAA funding, Fazio said
Equip non-military UAV's with active collision-avoidance. They don't have passengers or pilots to worry about, so they should be able to perform extreme maneuvers. They can also have local air-traffic monitoring loaded, and self-guide (much like the Moller aircar was supposed to do). If all else fails, they can be programmed to ditch. After all, all you lose when a UAV goes down is money.
By local air-traffic, I mean they can autonomously track everything in their immediate area, and just make sure they stay out of the way of other craft. As long as avoidance takes precedence over their programmed mission, everything should be fine.
I think that the Predator is far too big and far too fast. Next generation RPVs need to be tiny - very difficult to detect. And to fly low and slow, performing recon in support of the infantry at the squad level.
I want to be a pilot on a UAV.
They have the Eagle Eye RPV out now - looks like an itty-bitty V-22 Osprey. It can go fast, or it can go low and slow, or even hover. It's not all that large, either.
Interesting. Gonna be wild when there are zillions of these things buzzing around at all altitudes. Read an article yesterday that said there already have been a bunch of near misses in Iraq involving coalition aircraft.
UAVs UP!
I'm still waiting for the space craft flying robot types that are featured in the Star Tours ride at Disney Land! That guy was sharp, didn't hit anything and landed us safely and that was quite a few years ago. Put a few thousand of those up and we've got something!
Just then the little robot voice said, "Doors closing," and the train started to move. So the guy doesn't actually operate the train. He's just there to step on the brakes if the robot decides to plow into the back of another train. |
More heavy air traffic nightmare to see... I would laugh if we were to see flying traffic signals to manage the traffic in air.
I still want my "Jetson's" flying car that folds into a briefcase.
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I learned an interesting thing about the Washington Metro the other day. I was sitting in the front car, and could see the driver through the window. At one stop, he got up and stuck his head out the window, looking for somebody.