Safety risk management of unmanned aircraft systems

The safety risk management process describes the systematic application of management policies, procedures, and practices to the activities of communicating, consulting, establishing the context, and assessing, evaluating, treating, monitoring and reviewing risk. This process is undertaken to provide assurances that the risks associated with the operation of unmanned aircraft systems have been managed to acceptable levels. The safety risk management process and its outcomes form part of the documented safety case necessary to obtain approvals for unmanned aircraft system operations. It also guides the development of an organization's operations manual and is a key component of an organization's safety management system. The aim of this chapter is to provide existing risk practitioners with a high level introduction to some of the unique issues and challenges in the application of the safety risk management process to unmanned aircraft systems. The scope is limited to safety risks associated with the operation of unmanned aircraft in the civil airspace system and over inhabited areas. This chapter notes the unique aspects associated with the application of the safety risk management process to UAS compared to that of conventionally piloted aircraft. Key challenges discussed include the specification of high-level safety criteria; the identification, analysis and evaluation of the risks; and the effectiveness of available technical and operational mitigation strategies. This chapter also examines some solutions to these challenges, including those currently in practice and those still under research and development.

[1]  Kimon P. Valavanis,et al.  On unmanned aircraft systems issues, challenges and operational restrictions preventing integration into the National Airspace System , 2008 .

[2]  Christopher D. Wickens,et al.  A model for types and levels of human interaction with automation , 2000, IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern. Part A.

[3]  P. Slovic.  Perception of risk. , 1987, Science.

[4]  Christopher W. Lum,et al.  A Risk Based Paradigm and Model for Unmanned Aerial Systems in the National Airspace , 2011 .

[5]  Patricia A. LeDuc,et al.  The Role of Human Causal Factors in U.S. Army Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Accidents , 2004 .

[6]  Jeremy D. Schwark,et al.  Detect, Sense and Avoid , 2012 .

[7]  Sandra MacSween.  A Public Opinion Survey- Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Cargo, Commercial, and Passenger Transportation , 2003 .

[8]  Reece A. Clothier,et al.  Definition of an airworthiness certification framework for civil unmanned aircraft systems , 2011 .

[9]  Kimon P. Valavanis,et al.  Unmanned Aircraft Systems , 2009 .

[10]  Xi Liu,et al.  Forced landing technologies for unmanned aerial vehicles : towards safer operations , 2009 .

[11]  B. Fischhoff,et al.  Rating the Risks , 1979 .

[12]  Reece A. Clothier,et al.  Definition of airworthiness categories for civil unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) , 2010 .

[13]  N. Pletneva.  COMMENTARY ON THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO 31000–2009 “RISK MANAGEMENT. PRINCIPLES AND GUIDELINES” , 2014 .

[14]  Reece A. Clothier,et al.  Pilotless aircraft: the horseless carriage of the twenty‐first century? , 2008 .

[15]  M. Elisabeth Paté-Cornell.  Quantitative safety goals for risk management of industrial facilities , 1994 .

[16]  Kevin W Williams,et al.  A Summary of Unmanned Aircraft Accident/Incident Data: Human Factors Implications , 2004 .

[17]  Sheryl L. Chappell,et al.  Sense and Avoid , 2014 .

[18]  B J M Ale,et al.  Tolerable or Acceptable: A Comparison of Risk Regulation in the United Kingdom and in the Netherlands , 2005, Risk analysis : an official publication of the Society for Risk Analysis.

[19]  Michael Wilson.  The Use of Low‐Cost Mobile Radar Systems for Small UAS Sense and Avoid , 2012 .

[20]  Terje Aven,et al.  ALARP - What does it really mean? , 2011, Reliab. Eng. Syst. Saf..

[21]  R. John Hansman,et al.  Safety Considerations for Operation of Different Classes of UAVs in the NAS , 2004 .

[22]  Dyke Weatherington,et al.  The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Common Mission Planning Architecture (CMPA)- An Overview , 2003 .

[23]  Juris Vagners,et al.  Assessing and Estimating Risk of Operating Unmanned Aerial Systems in Populated Areas , 2011 .

[24]  Jeffrey A. Drezner,et al.  Innovative Development: Global Hawk and DarkStar--Flight Test in the HAE UAV ACTD Program , 2002 .

[25]  Bernhard Thomé,et al.  Systems engineering: principles and practice of computer-based systems engineering , 1993 .

[26]  Frank Grimsley.  Equivalent Safety Analysis Using Casualty Expectation Approach , 2004 .

[27]  B. Fischhoff,et al.  How safe is safe enough? A psychometric study of attitudes towards technological risks and benefits , 1978 .

[28]  Plamen Angelov.  Sense and Avoid in UAS : Research and Applications , 2012 .

[29]  Robert E. Melchers,et al.  On the ALARP approach to risk management , 2001, Reliab. Eng. Syst. Saf..

[30]  David C. Nagel,et al.  Human factors in aviation , 1988 .

[31]  Reece A. Clothier,et al.  Determination and Evaluation of UAV Safety Objectives , 2006 .

[32]  Reece A. Clothier,et al.  A Casualty Risk Analysis For Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Operations Over Inhabited Areas , 2007 .

[33]  P. Slovic.  Trust, Emotion, Sex, Politics, and Science: Surveying the Risk‐Assessment Battlefield , 1999, Risk analysis : an official publication of the Society for Risk Analysis.