Risk-Based Unmanned Air System (UAS) Mission Path Planning Capability

Current aircraft operations within the National Airspace System (NAS) rely heavily on the presence of an on-board pilot to safely manage the flight. Integration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the NAS requires a high confidence that these operations can meet or exceed the safety afforded through manned operations. Specifically, these UAS operations must not pose an undue risk to persons, structures, and vehicles on the ground. The Autonomous Planning and Replanning (AutoPRep) system is designed to autonomously construct a minimum risk flight plan and includes an on-board replanning capability to accommodate contingencies without requiring an active control link. AutoPRep leverages population, land use, and airspace data as well as failure modes, emergency procedures, and the associated vehicle responses to plan routes with minimal risk to on-ground persons, structures, and vehicles. The Phase I effort produced a 3D risk assessment and minimum-risk path generation tool that provides a visual comparison of candidate paths, risk exposure along the paths, and scalar risk values for each path. Phase II will further develop this technology to generate a flexible and robust planning tool. Phase II capabilities include: rapid map updates, support for diverse objectives, and optimization for real-time planning.