The US Air Force (USAF) is planning to award contracts in mid-September for research into automated ground-handling and approach and departure manoeuvre systems for UAVs operating from air bases that are simultaneously handling manned ircraft.

The research project – designated automatic terminal area operational (ATAO) control – is intended to explore all aspects of UAV ground movement, including taxi, obstacle avoidance, area movement command and control, communications, standard and non-standard departures, published approaches, and holding and overhead patterns.

The project will also look at the inter-relationship between UAV ATAO requirements and sense and avoid systems to prevent mid-air collisions.

A broad agency announcement for the project closed on 11 August, with initial funding award expected to total around $500,000 to cover work to the end of 2008.

Solicitation documents describe shared airfield terminal areas as “an especially congested are of operation for aircraft, an atmosphere that is time-critical, detail sensitive and conducive to task saturation”.

They add: “UAVs encounter unique problems in the terminal area. A UAV operator has difficulty maintaining the same situational awareness and tempo of activities as an airborne pilot.”

Current integration arrangements are largely based on UAVs flying in “sterile” or segregated airspace corridors. The ATAO solicitation says that while this provides more flexibility for UAV operators, it is an approach that is increasingly under pressure in real world operational conditions.

Source and more info: Flight International