Safe operation of mini UAVs: a review of regulation and best practices

This paper is focused on the safety of mini UAV (mUAV) systems. It presents the great efforts that are being done in air legislation, including the present and future normative. Nevertheless, considering that the work is not finished yet, a low-level risk analysis concept is introduced. Based on the international regulations, a specific three-step structure for mUAV hazard analysis is presented: identification, assessment, and reduction in a recursive loop that provides a solid architecture for facing the wide range of possible risks.This work has been supported by the Robotics and Cybernetics Research Group at Technique University of Madrid (Spain), and funded under the projects ‘ROTOS: Multi-Robot system for outdoor infrastructures protection’, sponsored by Spain Ministry of Education and Science (DPI2010-17998), and ’Robot Fleets for Highly Effective Agriculture and Forestry Management’, (RHEA) sponsored by the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme (NMP-CP-IP 245986-2 RHEA).European Community's Seventh Framework Progra