Unmanned Aircraft Systems Sense and Avoid Avionics Utilizing ADS -B Transceiver

To integrate Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the U.S. National Airspace (NAS), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires “an equivalent level of safety, comparable to see -and -avoid requirements for manned aircraft.” A pr oposed FAA rulemaking would mandate Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast ( ADS -B) out equipage by 2020, forcing aircraft flying in the NAS to broadcast their state vector to Air Traffic Control (ATC) and aircraft equipped with ADS -B in capability . With the advent of lightweight, low power, and low -cost ADS -B units, the equipage and the use of ADS -B transceivers on small UAS are no longer limited by payload and power capabilities , and represent promising opportunities for the regulated operation of sm all UAS in the NAS. T he University of North Dakota (UND) has been actively developing enabling sense and avoid (SAA) technologies under a series of projects funded by the Department of Defense , and is now turning to ADS -B as the central component for mid -air collision avoidance . This paper presents the results of modeling collision avoidance algorithms using ADS -B derived information in a software -in -the -loop (SWIL) environment . Upon extensive testing, the system is designed to be integrated seamlessly in to a hardware -in -the -loop (HWIL) environment, and ultimately in a flight test environment aboard a small UAS.