Minimum Information Requirements for an Unmanned Aircraft System Detect-and-Avoid Traffic Display under Full-Mission Conditions

Civil Aerospace Medical Institute2019PDFTech ReportWilliams, Kevin W.United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Aviation Administration. Office of Aviation. Civil Aerospace Medical InstituteUnited States. Department of Transportation. Federal Aviation Administration. Office of Aviation. Office of Aerospace MedicineUnited States. Department of Transportation. Federal Aviation Administration. Office of Aviation. Civil Aerospace Medical InstituteUnited StatesAircraft navigational aidsAircraftUnmanned aircraft systemsTraffic surveillanceGuidance systems (Aircraft)Detect and AvoidTraffic displayAlerting GuidanceDOT/FAA/AM-20/06The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usability of the Detect-and-Avoid (DAA) alerts for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in conditions where the occurrence of a traffic encounter would be relatively unexpected and to examine the impact of the location of the alerts within or outside of the primary field of view of the pilot. Thirty-two pilots, holding a current instrument rating, flew a simulated unmanned aircraft control station in the conduct of a fire-fighting mission in which their task was to locate and photograph hot spots. During the mission, five intruder aircraft triggered a traffic alert in the control station. Three of those aircraft triggered a low-level preventive alert that did not require the UAS pilot to maneuver, however, the other two intruder aircraft approached the ownship in such a way as to trigger a higher-level alert that required the UAS pilot to initiate an avoidance maneuver. For half of the pilots, the traffic display provided basic aircraft location information. The other half received basic information plus additional suggested maneuver information to avoid a loss of well clear with the intruder. In addition, half of the pilots were provided with a master alert textbox located within the pilot\u2019s primary field of view while the other half were not. Finally, one of the maneuvering encounters occurred with the aural alert turned off while the other encounter was accompanied by an aural alert. Results showed that the effectiveness of the traffic display containing suggestive maneuver information is not diminished under fullmission conditions and does not warrant adjustment of alerting timing requirements as specified in the Phase I MOPS (RTCA, 2016).119