Automated Low-Altitude Air Delivery: Towards Autonomous Cargo Transportation with Drones

Foreword
Preface
Contents
Part I: Low Risk Operations of Unmanned Cargo Aircraft
Automated Cargo Delivery in Low Altitudes: Concepts and Research Questions of an Operational-Risk-Based Approach
1 Introduction to Automated Low Altitude Air Delivery
2 Research Questions and Assumptions of the Study
2.1 A Modified Development Cycle
2.2 Top Level Aircraft Requirements
2.3 An Approach to UAS Safety Based on Operational Risks
3 Focus of the Study and Structure of the Book
3.1 Operational, Use-Cases and Market Potential
3.2 Conceptual Aircraft Design
3.3 Safe Autonomy in the Context of SORA
3.4 Validation Using Simulation and Technology Demonstration
References
Operations Risk Based Concept for Specific Cargo Drone Operation in Low Altitudes
1 Introduction
2 Manned Aviation Regulatory Framework in Europe
3 Regulatory Framework of Unmanned Aircraft Systems
3.1 UAS Operation in the Specific Category
3.2 Related Work to Risk Assessment
3.3 Specific Operations Risk Assessment
4 SORA of Cargo Drone Operations in Low Altitudes
4.1 Ground Risk Class Determination
4.2 Air Risk Class Determination
4.3 Specific Assurance and Integrity Level Determination
4.4 SORA: Adjacent Area and Airspace Requirements
4.5 Operational Safety Objectives (OSOs)
5 Future Work
5.1 Further Development of the SORA Process
5.2 Development of the Certified Category and Overlap to the Specific Category
5.3 Other Risk Assessment Methods
6 Conclusion
References
Use-Cases for Heavy Lift Unmanned Cargo Aircraft
1 Introduction
2 Technical Specification of the UCA
3 UCA and Spare Parts Logistics
3.1 Spare Parts Logistics Overview
3.2 Spare Parts for Agricultural Machines
3.3 Spare Parts Logistics at the CLAAS Group
3.4 UCA for Spare Parts Logistics in Europe
4 UCA for the Transport of Essential Goods to Hard-To-Reach Areas
4.1 Remote and Physically Challenging Locations
4.2 UCA for Transportation of Humanitarian Relief Supplies in Africa
5 UCA and Disaster Relief
5.1 Disaster Relief Overview
5.2 Transportation in Disaster Relief
5.3 UCA for Disaster Response Operations
6 Conclusions
References
Automated Cargo Delivery in Low Altitudes: Business Cases and Operating Models
1 Introduction
2 Agricultural Spare Parts Delivery
2.1 Operating Cost Model
2.2 Operational Use-Case
2.3 Business Case Drafting
3 Humanitarian Aid
3.1 Initial Situation in Mozambique After Cyclone Idai
3.2 Mission Specification
3.3 Benchmarking the System
3.4 Operating Cost Model
3.5 Summary
4 Conclusion
References
Part II: Unmanned Aircraft Configuration
Performance-Based Preliminary Design and Selection of Aircraft Configurations for Unmanned Cargo Operations
1 Introduction
2 Preselection of Air Vehicle Types
2.1 Tube-and-Wing Aircraft
2.2 Blended Wing Body Aircraft
2.3 Rotorcraft
2.4 Tiltrotor Aircraft
2.5 Airships
2.6 Others
3 Performance Based Preliminary Design Study of Fixed-Wing Aircraft
3.1 Considered Aircraft Configurations
3.2 Performance Calculation and Preliminary Aircraft Design
4 Performance Based Preliminary Design Study of Rotorcraft
5 Air Vehicle Selection
6 Conclusion
References
Configurational Aspects and Vehicle Specific Investigations for Future Unmanned Cargo Aircraft
1 Introduction
2 The Configurational Properties of the ALAADy Vehicles
2.1 Fixed Wing Designs
2.2 The Gyrocopter Design
3 Emergency Systems and Strategies
4 Model Demonstrations
4.1 Wind Tunnel Experiments
4.2 Flight Tests
5 Conclusion
References
Structural Design of Heavy-Lift Unmanned Cargo Drones in Low Altitudes
1 Introduction
2 Parametric Finite Element Model Generation and Design Process, MONA
3 Unmanned Aircraft Configurations and Finite Element Models
3.1 Aircraft Requirements
3.2 The Unmanned Aircraft Configurations
3.3 The Finite Element Models
4 Conceptual Loads and Structural Analysis
4.1 Load Cases and Conceptual Loads Analysis
4.2 Conceptual Structural Analysis
5 Structural Optimization Results of the Configurations
6 Summary
References
Concepts of Full-Electric and Hybrid-Electric Propulsion and Operation Risk Motivated Integrity Monitoring for Future Unmanned Cargo Aircraft
1 Introduction
2 Hybrid Powertrain Configuration
2.1 State of the Art System Components
2.2 Powertrain System Design Based on Available System Components and Vehicle Preliminary Design Criteria
2.3 Powertrain System Detailed Design with High Level of Safety
3 Powertrain Online Health Monitoring
4 Conclusion
References
Cargo Handling, Transport and Logistics Processes in the Context of Drone Operation
1 Introduction
2 Basics of Ground and Air Freight Handling
2.1 Ground and Air Freight Handling in Civil Aviation
3 Level of Automation of the Processes in the Ground Handling of a UCA
3.1 Manual Ground Handling Process
3.2 Semi-automated Ground Handling Process
3.3 Fully Automated Ground Handling Process
3.4 Comparison of the Automation Processes of Departure and Arrival
3.5 Comparison of the Different Levels of Automation
4 Cargo Ground Handling with or Without Infrastructure on Destination
4.1 Integration of an UCA in Air Cargo Supply Chain
4.2 Cargo Ground Handling in Case of no Infrastructure on Destination
5 Additional Challenges in the Cargo Topic Sector within the ALAADy Project
5.1 General Analysis of Cargo Doors for Freighters
5.2 Transfer of the Results from Cargo Doors Analysis to the UCA
5.3 Challenges of the Gyrocopter Configuration During Loading
5.4 Container Solution for UCA
6 Conclusion
References
Part III: System Components and Safe Autonomy
Cargo Drone Airspace Integration in Very Low Level Altitude
1 Introduction
2 Related Work
3 Airspace Structure
4 Class G+
4.1 Airspace Location
4.2 Communication Infrastructure
4.3 U-space Compatibility
4.4 Airport Integration
5 Risk Mitigation
5.1 Avoidance of Inhabited Areas
5.2 Mid-Air Collision
5.3 Loss of Control Due to Turbulence
5.4 Loss of Control Data Link
5.5 Loss of the ALAADy Network
5.6 Loss of Position Solution
6 Inter-operation with Manned Air-Traffic
7 Conclusion and Outlook
References
System Architectures and Its Development Efforts Based on Different Risk Classifications
1 Introduction
2 Related Work
3 Regulatory Framework
3.1 SORA Summary
3.2 Possible Operational Scenarios
3.3 Resulting Technical Requirements
4 System Definition
4.1 Monitoring System
4.2 General Assumptions
4.3 Terms
5 System Variants
5.1 Required Components
5.2 System Hazard Assessments
5.3 System Architectures
5.4 Development Effort Estimation
6 Future Perspective
7 Conclusion
References
Human Machine Interface Aspects of the Ground Control Station for Unmanned Air Transport
1 Introduction
2 Human Factors Challenges in UAS Control
2.1 Sensory Isolation
2.2 System Autonomy Classification
3 Human Machine Interface Development
3.1 Derivation of Information Requirements
4 The Ground Control Station U-FLY
4.1 UAS Supervision Concept for the ALAADy Demonstration
4.2 The U-FLY HMI
5 Flight Test Campaign
6 Conclusion and Outlook
References
Data Link Concept for Unmanned Aircraft in the Context of Operational Risk
1 Introduction
2 Related Work
3 Requirements for the Data Link Concept
3.1 Operational Boundary Conditions and Requirements
3.2 Digital Data Links in the Context of JARUS SORA
4 Data Link Architecture
5 Prerequisites for the Evaluation
5.1 Air-to-Ground Radio Channel Model at Low Altitudes
5.2 LTE Model and Link Budget
5.3 LTE Coverage Analysis for Cargo UA in Germany
5.4 Antenna Radiation Patterns
6 LTE Data Link Emulator and System Simulations
6.1 LTE Data Link Emulator Description
6.2 LTE Data Link Emulator Preprocessing for Real-time Capability
6.3 LTE Data Link Emulator Evaluation
7 Conclusion
References
Detect and Avoid for Unmanned Aircraft in Very Low Level Airspace
1 Introduction
2 Related Work
3 DAA System Architectures for BVLOS Missions
3.1 Onboard Architecture
3.2 Ground-based Architecture
3.3 Hybrid Architecture
4 Cooperative DAA Sensors for UA
4.1 ADS-B
4.2 FLARM
4.3 Cyber Security Considerations
5 Evaluation by Simulations
5.1 Assumptions
5.2 Results
5.3 Discussion
6 Conclusion
References
Trajectory Risk Modelling and Planning for Unmanned Cargo Aircraft
1 Introduction
2 Related and Previous Work
2.1 Risk Modelling
2.2 Sampling-Based Path Planning
3 Geospatial Database for Trajectory Planning
3.1 Processing Geospatial Datasets
3.2 Calculating Horizontal and Vertical Clearance
3.3 Assessing the Harm Potential of Overflown Ground
4 Risk Assessment for Safe Flight Termination
4.1 Definition of Flight Termination
4.2 Design and Function of Flight Termination Systems
4.3 Flight Termination Within ALAADy
4.4 Heuristic Risk Assessment
4.5 Bayesian Based Risk Modelling
5 Sampling-Based Motion Planning
5.1 Search Graph Initialization
5.2 Route Planning
5.3 Trajectory Generation and Smoothing
5.4 Experimental Results
6 Conclusions and Future Work
References
Safe Operation Monitoring for Specific Category Unmanned Aircraft
1 Introduction
2 Related Work
3 Safe Operation Monitoring
3.1 Example of Safe Operation Monitoring: Geofencing
3.2 Buffer Calculation for Safe Termination
4 Case-Study
4.1 FencyCreator—a Tool for Scaling Geofences and Generating Geofencing Specifications
4.2 Formal Runtime Monitoring with Lola
4.3 Experimental Results
5 Lola Geofencing on FPGA
6 Conclusion
References
Part IV: Verification, Validation and Discussion
A Multi-disciplinary Scenario Simulation for Low-Altitude Unmanned Air Delivery
1 Introduction
2 Related Work of UAS Simulation Environments
3 Use-Cases for the ALAADy Simulation
3.1 Validation Tasks
3.2 Design Trade-Offs
3.3 Aspects of Simulation Development
4 Simulation Framework
4.1 Simulation Architecture
4.2 Automated Simulation Build Process
4.3 System Modules
4.4 Environment Modules
4.5 Automated Execution and Parameter Variations
5 Discussion
6 Future Perspective
7 Summary
References
Capacity and Workload Effects of Integrating a Cargo Drone in the Airport Approach
1 Introduction
2 Related Work
3 Simulation Environment
3.1 Facility
3.2 Scenarios
3.3 Vehicle Model
3.4 Airspace Environment
4 Experimental Procedure
5 Evaluation
5.1 Evaluation Criteria
5.2 Results
6 Conclusion
References
Design and Flight Testing of a Gyrocopter Drone Technology Demonstrator
1 Introduction
2 Motivation and Problem Statement
3 Airframe
4 Concept of Operation
4.1 Manual Control Strategy for Initial Flight Testing
4.2 Normal Operation
4.3 Flight Test Area
4.4 Crew Team Roles
5 Safety Concept
6 Specific Operations Risk Assessment
6.1 Determination of the Intrinsic Ground Risk Class
6.2 Final Ground Risk Class Determination
6.3 Determination of the Initial Air Risk Class
6.4 Specific Assurance and Integrity Level Determination and Operational Safety Objectives
6.5 Adjacent Area and Airspace Considerations
7 Design and Development Strategies
8 System Concept
8.1 Vehicle Interface System
8.2 Electro-mechanical Actuators
8.3 Electrical Power Supply
8.4 Sensors
8.5 Flight Computers
8.6 Radio Communication
8.7 Payload
8.8 Ground Support Equipment
9 Software
9.1 Software Architecture
9.2 Core Interface Computer Software
9.3 Software Modules of the Flight Control Computer
9.4 Middleware for Communication
9.5 Flight Data Logging
9.6 Ground Control Station Software
10 Development Processes, Releasing and Testing
10.1 Unit and Bench Testing
10.2 Pilot Training
10.3 Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation
10.4 Maintenance and Overall System Tests
10.5 Ground and Taxi Tests
11 Flight Test Operation
11.1 Flight Test Area
11.2 Flight Test Schedule
11.3 Atmospheric Conditions
11.4 Flight Tests
12 Summary and Concluding Remarks
13 Future Perspective
References
Unmanned Aircraft for Transportation in Low-Level Altitudes: A Systems Perspective on Design and Operation
1 Introduction
2 Recapitulation of the Project ALAADy
3 Discussion of the Study
3.1 Interrelation: Use-Case and UAS Reliability
3.2 Interrelation: Aircraft Configuration and Contingency Concept
3.3 Interrelation: Operability and Safe Autonomy
3.4 Interrelation: Airspace Integration, Detect and Avoid
4 Experimental Validation
4.1 Simulations for Knowledge Gain and Validation
4.2 Technology Demonstration
4.3 Use-Case Validation in an Experimental Context
5 Conclusion and Future Work
5.1 General Remarks on the Application of the SORA
5.2 Conclusion
5.3 Future Work
References