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EPP Project Spring 2007: Unmanned Aircrafts in the
NAS
Each semester, the Department of Engineering and Public Policy in
collaboration with the Department of Social and Decision Sciences at
Carnegie Mellon runs one or two project courses for upper-level
undergraduates in which students work in interdisciplinary groups to solve a
complex societal problem that involves science and technology. The course
provides a unique opportunity for students to develop skills in research,
policy-analysis, teamwork, and communication. Project courses typically
involve about 30 undergraduate students with a wide variety of backgrounds
from electrical and mechanical engineering to psychology. Overseeing the
project are several graduate student managers and faculty members. The
course “deliverable” is a single final project report describing the policy
problem and evaluating policy options to address it. Technical and policy
experts from outside Carnegie Mellon are invited to serve on an expert panel
to which students present both preliminary and final results of their work
for review and comment.
In the spring 2007 semester, which runs from January 15 to May 4, one
project course will tackle the problem of integrating unmanned aerial
vehicles (UAVs) into the national airspace system (NAS). UAVs [1] are
remotely or autonomously-piloted aircraft with hundreds of applications
including natural resource management, law enforcement, homeland security,
communications relay, package delivery, crop monitoring, and emergency
management. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which controls
access to the NAS, is currently developing regulations for the safe
operation of UAVs in NAS, pending the emergence of adequate safety
technologies and safety standards. Their task is complicated by the myriad
applications, geographic regions of operation, altitudes of operation, and
physical size/configuration of UAVs, as well as by the large variety of
stakeholders with widely different concerns about changes in the rules that
govern access to the NAS.
Students in the project course will analyze the safety, economic,
regulatory, and institutional aspects of UAVs in the NAS, and will develop a
policy analysis designed to help advance UAV regulation. Specific questions
that project participants will address include:
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Who are the stakeholders and what are
their positions on integrating UAVs in the NAS? What special role does
DoD play, as the world’s largest user of UAVs? |
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What processes are underway to bring
stakeholders together to reach consensus? How well are these processes
working? |
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What are the risks of UAVs and how do they compare to those of manned
aircraft? What current and emerging technologies can reduce UAV risks?
What is the role of human factors in risks for UAVs vs manned aircraft? |
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What changes in the air traffic control system would be required to safely
accommodate UAVs? Conversely, what technologies would UAV systems need to
be compatible with current plans for ATC modernization? |
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How acceptable are UAV risks to the general public? What safety goals for
UAVs would the public demand? With which UAV applications are people most
comfortable and uncomfortable? How do perceived benefits of different UAV
applications affect levels of acceptable risk? |
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The FAA’s goal is the make UAVs as safe as manned aircraft. How should
this goal be operationalized (e.g., same number of expected fatalities per
flight, per flight mile, per operating vehicle, or annually across entire
system)? |
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What are the technical and procedural options for managing UAV risk?
Which options are the most cost-effective? Which options are the most
institutionally feasible? |
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How cost-effective are UAVs compared to manned aircraft performing similar
missions? |
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Which UAV applications are most likely to be profitable in the short,
medium, and long-term? How should the overall societal costs and benefits
of any particular UAV application be assessed? |
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How do constraints on UAV access to the NAS affect the development of new
UAV technologies and markets? |
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How might UAV regulations have to evolve to mesh with emerging air traffic
control technologies (e.g., ADS-B) and regimes (e.g., NGATS)? |
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How important is it for UAV regulations to be harmonized across nations?
What are the principle impediments to doing so? |
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The
faculty, managers, and students of the 2007 project course on UAVs and the
NAS invite participation by government officials, industry representatives,
UAV users, manned aircraft pilots, and other interested and affected
parties.
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