CANDRONES TECHNOLOGY PROTECT AIRPLANES FROM THE IN NEW THREAT? A BUSY SKY IT’S EXACTLY 3:45 A.M. on a blustery and unseasonably cold Tuesday morning in May when an armed How can we military guard wearing a bulletproof vest waves me through the west entrance of Edwards Air Force ensure drones Base. On a typical weekday at this hour, almost everyone here would be asleep. But this isn’t a typical don’t collide with weekday. I’m in a briefing room with some two dozen researchers—mostly aerospace and computer airliners? NASA software engineers, along with three Air Force pilots certified to fly drones—at NASA’s Armstrong Flight and the FAA are Research Center, which is located on this Southern California mili- working to find BY MICHAEL BEHAR tary base. We’re guzzling coffee and chomping doughnuts while Dan the best collision Sternberg, a NASA operations engineer and former F/A-18 Hornet test avoidance pilot, leads the meeting, ticking through the day’s flight plan. systems for UAVs The Armstrong team is here to evaluate how so-called “detect-and-avoid” technologies designed for in the United collision avoidance can prevent drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), from smashing into other States, soon to aircraft. Today’s schedule involves a series of 24 head-on passes—when two aircraft face off on a near-col- number in the

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY THÉO; DRONE: ALEXEY YUZHAKOV/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM; AIRLINER: KOSMOS111/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM YUZHAKOV/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM; THÉO; ALEXEY DRONE: BY ILLUSTRATION PHOTO lision course—between a General Atomics MQ-9 drone named Ikhana and two piloted, or “intruder” millions.

SEPTEMBER 2016 AIR & SPACE | 43 aircraft, twin-engine Beechcraft turbo- majority are essentially flying blind. “LOOK AT A PICTURE of an aircraft with computational techniques and programs props (a B200 and a C90). So far, there are no reports of a drone hail damage,” instructs Jim Blanchard, to simulate an eight-pound UAV quad- The exercises are designed to simulate damaging an aircraft. (Last April, one chief scientist for the Unmanned copter—similar to those popular with encounters between UAVs and airliners. was believed to have struck a British Autonomous Systems Academy in photographers and filmmakers—flying “We’re basically going to intentionally fly Airways A320 approaching Heathrow.) Warrenton, Virginia. “What makes you into the type of turbofan engine common airplanes at each other,” says Sam Kim, lead The Ikhana team at Armstrong believes think a drone, which has much more on passenger jetliners like the 737. engineer on the project, who tells me the that UAVs equipped with the appropri- mass, is not going to do a lot worse? Since then, Bayandor has experimented pre-dawn start is imperative because mil- ate technology could easily avoid such Common sense tells you it will.” with different parameters, altering the itary flights overrun the airspace by mid- a mishap. And they intend to prove it: day, at which point Ikhana gets grounded. Today’s detect-and-avoid encounters are “WE’RE BASICALLY GOING TO “We’re last priority,” he grumbles. part of a two-month series of experiments The Ikhana project is part of a multi- called Flight Test 4, or FT4, which began INTENTIONALLY FLY AIRPLANES year NASA study called the Unmanned at Edwards in mid-April. The first three Aircraft Systems Integration in the series took place between 2012 and 2015. National Airspace System (UAS-NAS). The first flight of the morning gets AT EACH OTHER,” SAYS SAM KIM, THE Launched in 2011, the UAS-NAS conducts under way with one of the intruders, research to enable routine airspace access the Beechcraft B200, closing on Ikhana LEAD ENGINEER ON THE PROJECT. KIM DEVELOPED by unmanned aircraft systems. The proj- at more than 150 mph. ect collaborates with the Federal Aviation The risky nature of the maneuver COMBAT DRONES FOR BOEING’S PHANTOM WORKS Administration, the Radio Technical requires that the Beechcraft pilot make Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA), a visual identification when he’s within BEFORE JOINING NASA. and commercial aerospace entities to At Edwards Air Force Base in California, NASA has been conducting flight tests with one nautical mile of the drone. If for develop “minimum operational per- a General Atomics MQ-9 UAV (foreground) and a Beech King Air (rear), which flies some reason he can’t see Ikhana, the test Mechanical engineering associate airspeeds, weights, and sizes of the drone formance standards”—the best mix of intrusions into the Reaper’s path. is called off. On the radar display in the professor Javid Bayandor had the same and the jetliner, and ran the models. He technologies, regulations, and protocols lab, it becomes evident that neither air- thought when he founded Virginia simulated a drone carrying a camera. necessary for drones to operate safely in station alongside an Edwards taxiway. specific maneuvers. More likely, any craft is lined up properly. Gusty winds are Tech’s CRASH lab—Crashworthiness And he altered the material composition the . “We want to make sure The flight tests are designed to help forthcoming regulations will combine making it difficult for the pilots to stay for Aerospace Structures and Hybrids. of the turbofan blades, testing different [UAVs] play nicely, just like any other the FAA develop detect-and-avoid tech- both approaches: technical requirements on course. Mike Marston, a former F-16 CRASH focuses on aeronautics research, metal alloys used in modern jet engines. aircraft,” says Kim, who developed com- nology requirements for drones. Nobody and pilot protocols. But before the FAA pilot, leads the operations engineering examining, among other phenomena, In some scenarios, it took just over 0.02 bat drones for Boeing’s Phantom Works knows how these requirements will be can establish requirements, it needs data team. Suddenly, he’s yelling over the what happens when objects like hail, second for the UAV to shred several of the before joining NASA in 2006. applied or when: At the moment, there from actual flight experiments to know radio, “Abort! Abort! Abort!” rocks, birds, and more recently drones, simulated nine-foot-diameter fan blades. Ikhana, which has a maximum takeoff are no fixed deadlines by which such what works and what doesn’t. That’s Ikhana gradually banks left, while slam into aircraft engines, propellers, I ask Bayandor what prompted the proj- weight of 10,500 pounds, is capable of rules must be established. Perhaps UAV what Kim’s team intends to provide. the Beechcraft pilot veers right. Dan fuselages, windscreens, and control ect. “There were a lot of reports of drone flying autonomously. Today, however, manufacturers will be asked to integrate Posada guides Ikhana onto Runway 22R Eng, Ikhana’s systems engineer, who is surfaces, such as ailerons, rudders, and sightings escalating and everyone was NASA pilot Herman Posada will operate collision avoidance systems on every unit and takes off a few minutes before sunrise. sitting beside me nervously watching the leading edge flaps. seeing things close to airports,” he says. it remotely, sending it commands from they sell. Or drone pilots encountering I’m observing the flight with the research radar, abruptly blurts out to no one in In July 2015, Bayandor released the “We wanted to show the FAA that there is inside a steel-paneled ground-control manned aircraft will have to execute team, whose members track Ikhana on particular, “Don’t mess up my paint job!” results of a study that used sophisticated a real danger and they need to address it.” eight large LCD screens in Armstrong’s John Parker, Live Virtual Constructive lab. From here, At the Crash­ president of we monitor, among other things, radar, worthiness Integrated GPS coordinates, and real-time video feed for Aerospace Robotics Imaging from the drone’s forward-mounted turret Structures and Systems in Kenai, camera. At the moment, Ikhana is doing Hybrids lab at , is working laps above the lakebed base at 170 mph, Virginia Tech with researchers waiting for the Beechcraft intruders to in Blacksburg, at the University arrive. director Javid of Denver to Jetliners, military aircraft, and many Bayandor (far develop a radar private airplanes already use a variety left) and his team small enough to of detect-and-avoid avionics, but these have created a fly on drones. technologies aren’t practical for most model of what His company drones because they’re often too large, would happen hopes to market too heavy, and too power-hungry (drones when small sophisticated are usually battery-operated). Presently, drones of various detect-and-avoid of the half-million drones registered on weights strike electronics the size the FAA’s UAV database—and the untold airliner turbofan

of a playing card. number of unregistered UAVs—the CLARION OSOWSKI/PENINSULA KAYLEE ULBRICH; LEFT: NASA/KEN TOP: LAB CRASH TECH BAYANDOR/VIRGINIA JAVID DR. VIA COLLEY SIERRA engines.

44 | AIR & SPACE airspacemag.com SEPTEMBER 2016 AIR & SPACE | 45 Do Bayandor’s simulations match never before has the FAA created a operators must register their UAVs, but obtain a waiver and subsequently fly people come up with for UAVs—and This is why Ikhana is testing a mix reality? That’s what engineers want bureau dedicated solely to regulating a will be able to request a waiver for most their UAVs in airspace where they’re that we’re not a barrier to their dreams of technologies during its flights. These to know at the newly formed Center new class of aircraft. But the complexity of these restrictions. more likely to encounter manned air- or their inventiveness.” include TCAS (traffic collision avoidance of Excellence for Unmanned Aircraft of trying to coordinate all the various Recreational drone operators, who craft. Even so, aviation experts specu- system); a new technology based on air- Systems, an FAA research alliance efforts to establish safety standards for also are required to register their aircraft late that detect-and-avoid technologies EACH TIME A PILOT REPORTS a close borne radar that emits audible warnings between universities and the UAV drones warranted it. with the FAA, must follow a similar set of might be required on UAVs around 2025. encounter with a drone, Lawrence at the ground station like “Descend” if industry. Later this year, Tom Aldag, “We recognize that this is different,” guidelines. Additionally, hobbyists can’t That’s when the FAA expects to complete receives a text on his cellphone. “I get another aircraft gets too close; and the sat- a member of the alliance who directs he says. “It’s more like integrating laptops fly over groups of people, over stadiums NextGen, its sweeping overhaul of the them all day long,” he tells me. “That’s ellite-based ADS-B (automatic dependent research and development for Wichita and cellphones into the national airspace and sports events, or near emergency national airspace. how we track safety.” Lawrence gets broadcast)—the new emerg- State University’s National Institute for system than a typical aircraft.” A recent response activities, such as firefighting. NextGen includes a requirement for about 100 incident reports every month ing standard mandated for implementa- Aviation Research, will begin deliber- FAA survey of detect-and-avoid technolo- The FAA website (faa.gov) has a “Fly for all manned aircraft to carry a device that from pilots, many of them spotting tion by 2020 in all aircraft, including UAVs ately crashing drones into the different gies found some two dozen entities, both Fun” page that lists the rules for recre- links them to a satellite-based tracking drones around congested airports, such as operating above 2,500 feet in controlled types of materials used in the airframes of public and private, developing more than ational drone users. system. That provision would presum- JFK and LAX. “The fact that we’re having airspace. An aircraft equipped with ADS-B Drones that weigh more than 55 ably encompass drones too. But unless pounds are regulated much as ordinary the FAA significantly staffs up enforce- BAYANDOR EXPERIMENTED WITH DIFFERENT manned aircraft are. But most drones are ment or another federal agency steps in in the sub-55-pound category. The FAA to handle that job, the sheer number of PARAMETERS, ALTERING THE AIRSPEEDS, predicts that by 2020, at least 4.3 million drone violations will quickly overwhelm of these smaller drones will be roaming any efforts to prosecute scofflaws. It’s a WEIGHTS, AND SIZES OF THE DRONE AND THE the nation’s airspace. scenario reminiscent of the early 1990s, Despite FAA guidelines for drone-fly- when the record industry spent tens of JETLINER. IN SOME SCENARIOS, IT TOOK ing hobbyists, Keith Hagy, who directs millions of dollars lobbying for laws to engineering and air safety for the Air Line prevent Internet users from downloading JUST 0.02 SECOND FOR THE UAV Pilots Association in , D.C., music for free. is concerned. He notes that consumers The situation today is similar. It’s both TO SHRED SEVERAL OF THE snapped up more than 1.1 million hob- dynamic and chaotic, says Lawrence. byist drones last year alone. And it’s these With so many players—and technology SIMULATED FAN BLADES. small UAVs—many of which can operate that is constantly evolving—regulations autonomously—that make professional become outdated almost as quickly as commercial aircraft. Aldag plans to start 150 systems designed to prevent UAVs pilots most nervous. The large, commer- with small quadcopters and fixed-wing from hitting things. The booming detect- cial drones, like Ikhana, “are going to be UAVs, measuring the damage that they and-avoid industry is stunning when you heavily regulated and treated just like might inflict on a jetliner such as the consider that, at the moment, the FAA any other aircraft,” Hagy says. “It’s the Airbus A320. Actual airplanes are next: imposes no requirements for collision hobbyists that worry me. They’re pretty “We hope to expand testing to full-scale avoidance technology on UAVs. much unregulated.” impacts on airframe structures in the So far, the only new UAV regulation The FAA has the authority to pros- If a UAV falls out of the sky and crashes into a person’s head, next year or two,” says Aldag. on the books is something called the ecute anyone flying a small drone that what injuries could result? Researchers at Wichita State Part 107 rule, which Lawrence’s office violates regulations. But arresting law- University’s National Institute for Aviation Research are SEVERAL FEDERAL agencies and inter- finalized in June. Part 107 governs the breakers is a formidable challenge. trying to find out by dropping drones onto test dummies. national groups are involved in detect- commercial use of small UAVs—those Unlike manned aircraft, UAVs don’t and-avoid research. ASTM (derived weighing between .55 and 55 pounds. It’s have visible tail numbers. Drones aren’t pilots seeing them continuously broadcasts its location— from the American Society for Testing an attempt to keep the most common required to carry transponders, which at low altitudes, in altitude, latitude, and longitude—along and Materials) International, which class of drones away from high-risk areas. would enable air traffic controllers to highly populated with airspeed and whether it’s climbing already produces technical standards for Part 107 sets limits on how high commer- identify their owners. It’s also tough to areas, shouldn’t or descending. The information is then manned aircraft, has formed a commit- cial operators can fly (400 feet), how fast catch operators at the scene of a crime surprise us when transmitted to pilots and air traffic control- tee to develop drone safety guidelines. (100 mph), when (daylight hours only), when they’re likely piloting their UAVs they can be created. I ask Lawrence to you look at the tremendous amount of lers. For pilots in particular, ADS-B vastly The Association for Unmanned Vehicle and where (away from airports and over from miles away. envision our national airspace in 20 them that have been sold.” improves situational awareness, providing Systems International is working with anyone not directly involved with the Aside from the new drone database, years, when UAVs will be ubiquitous. If and when the FAA decides to man- them with a real-time, three-dimensional UAV manufacturers to determine the drone’s operation). Commercial UAV the FAA hasn’t announced any future “Whatever answer I gave would be date detect-and-avoid systems on UAVs, picture of the surrounding airspace. best approaches for collision avoidance. pilots also must be at least 16 years old, rules to make drones more visible to wrong,” he says. “All we can really say the myriad models of the small aircraft The Armstrong center’s Sam Kim And the RTCA is trying to build consen- able to see their drones at all times— other pilots or air traffic controllers. In for sure is we’re going to have a lot of will preclude a blanket solution. “It’s not wants to re-create the assorted interac- sus between UAV industry executives known as maintaining “visual line-of- practice, if commercial drone pilots stick unmanned aircraft. What size and what about integrating one thing,” Lawrence tions a pilot might have when approach- and federal regulators. At the nexus of sight”—and yield the right-of-way to all to the Part 107 rule and hobbyists heed they’re doing will amaze us all. New uses says, “it’s about integrating a lot of dif- ing drones equipped with these sys- all this is the FAA, where Earl Lawrence other aircraft by following standard see- the regulations, detect-and-avoid systems are popping up every day. Our role is to ferent aircraft. There won’t be just one tems. Sometimes he instructs Posada, at directs the Office of Unmanned Aircraft and-avoid practices: If you see another aren’t really necessary. The technology develop a regulatory framework flexi- way to operate in the airspace. It’s going Ikhana’s controls, to disconnect TCAS but

Systems Integration. He tells me that airplane, get out of the way. Commercial becomes useful only when operators (2) RESEARCH AVIATION FOR INSTITUTE NATIONAL ble enough to accommodate whatever to be a combination of things.” leave ADS-B activated. In other instances,

46 | AIR & SPACE airspacemag.com SEPTEMBER 2016 AIR & SPACE | 47 the Beechcraft intruders charge at Ikhana I GET MY FIRST PEEK at one of these When I propose the idea of an ADS-B gap between flesh-and-blood pilots and for the Ikhana project. “It will provide 180 degrees to make its way toward us. with their detect-and-avoid systems dis- miniaturized systems when I meet on every drone to the FAA’s Lawrence, he drones that can fly without them. Indeed, the [drone] community with the right While the ground crew hitches Ikhana engaged to simulate what a UAV operator John Parker on a hot summer morn- quickly points out that such an extensive with its million-plus dollars’ worth of foundation to fly UAVs in the national to the tug, an F-35 pulls up, and its pilot might experience when it’s too close to a ing at a Hilton in downtown Denver. installation would create a swarm of detect-and-avoid avionics, Ikhana can airspace.” There is also a legal require- gives us a friendly wave. “non-cooperative” aircraft—aircraft that Parker, who lives in Kenai, Alaska, is tiny blips on displays, making it almost already dodge things in the sky better ment in the federal aviation code that The nation’s airspace is already filled currently aren’t required to carry TCAS founder of a UAV firm called Integrated impossible for pilots and air traffic con- than most manned aircraft. instructs pilots to see and avoid other with millions of UAVs smaller and sim- or ADS-B, and whose pilots sometimes Robotics Imaging Systems, and a former trollers to distinguish legitimate threats Not long after controllers warn aircraft. As part of FT4, the Armstrong pler than Ikhana, and the skies are only switch off their radios, rendering them accident investigator for the airline and from clutter. “It would overwhelm the Marston about an F/A-18 Hornet and team will recommend to the FAA and going to get more crowded. Ensuring that invisible to air traffic control. “It’s all insurance industry. He’s in Colorado to system,” he says. “It’d just be too many an F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter doing RTCA the kinds of detect-and-avoid all these drones are operated safely—and these mom-and-pop pilots who just don’t meet with researchers at the University [UAVs] in the air.” In other words, drones high-speed maneuvers in the vicinity, I systems drone pilots will need in order kept away from manned aircraft—is a want the government knowing where of Denver who are helping him develop would become the spam of the skies. hear sonic booms exploding over the to comply with this rule. job far too big for a single agency like they are,” Marston explains. the world’s smallest radar. Over break- But Lawrence doesn’t entirely dis- airfield. Since dawn, Marston has been Outside Armstrong, Christian Gelzer, the FAA. Ultimately, enforcement will Only a UAV carrying a detect-and- fast in the hotel’s café, Parker opens a count ADS-B for UAVs. Perhaps it’s a on the radio relaying communications the facility’s chief historian, is waiting require a joint effort that involves federal, avoid system would be able to recognize shiny yellow plastic case to show me a system that would be operated only between Posada and the military air in an electric golf cart. He shuttles me state, and local agencies. when UAVs are flying in remote areas, traffic control at Edwards. Now Marston or when pilots are flying their drones needs a break. “It’s all yours,” he says, UAVS WITH GEOFENCING USE beyond line-of-sight and require ADS-B removing his headset and handing off for flight planning. In highly congested his duties to a colleague. “I’m going to zones, technologies that don’t inter- grab another cup of joe.” I intercept him SOFTWARE AND AN INTEGRATED ONBOARD fere with manned aircraft would be at the coffee maker to find out what’s preferable, he surmises. A promising going on. “We’re gonna get booted out of GPS NAVIGATION TO PREVENT THEM FROM and “simple” solution, says Lawrence, here in 15 minutes,” he tells me. Ikhana’s is something called geofencing. UAVs eight remaining exercises have been ENTERING RESTRICTED AIRSPACE, OR SO-CALLED with geofencing use software and an canceled due to military air traffic with integrated onboard GPS navigation to higher priority. “NO-DRONE ZONES.” prevent them from entering restricted Flight Test 4 culminates this phase airspace—“no-drone zones.” Right now, of the UAS-NAS project, with Ikhana three miles across the base to a taxiway A logical approach might be to regu- only a handful of UAV manufacturers logging a total of 98.1 flight hours over adjacent Runway 22R, where Ikhana has late drones like firearms: give each unit are incorporating reliable geofencing 11 weeks, performing more than 325 been assigned to land. A ground crew a unique serial number that is registered into their units—and they’re doing so mid-air encounters with intruder aircraft. arrives with a pushback tug for towing to the owner at the time of purchase. For voluntarily. “The big takeaway from the FT4 series the UAV to the hangar. After about 20 UAVs, that serial number would be in the is the contribution it will make to devel- minutes, it appears in the northeast sky, form of a digital fingerprint embedded IKHANA’S ENCOUNTERS are mapped oping detect-and-avoid standards,” says like a sleek white condor in the desert in a lightweight transponder attached out weeks in advance, with altitudes Debra Randall, chief systems engineer haze. It gently touches down, then turns to the UAV’s motherboard. Every drone prescribed within certain blocks of could then broadcast a unique identifier, The National Institute for Aviation Research is also investigating the damage airspace. But by 8 a.m. on the day I’m Earl Lawrence directs the FAA’s effort to integrate UAVs into U.S. airspace. As a or squawk code, over a pre-assigned potential of collisions between UAVs and airplanes by crashing quadcopters visiting, heavy air traffic above Edwards private pilot, he has a personal interest in fostering law and order in the skies. radio frequency. Air traffic controllers (above) into the materials used to build airframes. forces the Armstrong team to frequently and pilots could monitor this frequency rejigger their schedule. At one point, around airports or wherever they’re a non-cooperative aircraft. “It’s a huge prototype radar, which is about the size Marston relays over the radio, “F-15 concerned about UAV encounters. But issue,” says Todd Lester, a UAV operations of a playing card. operating at 15K block to 40K,” which much like firearms manufacturers, manager at Near Space Corporation in Several companies like Parker’s are means Ikhana must now remain beneath drone companies aren’t keen on the Tillamook, Oregon, who piloted the developing and marketing detect-and- the lower altitude. government telling them what to do, Boeing Insitu ScanEagle drone in avoid systems for smaller UAVs. Among Kim is furiously scribbling notes especially when it comes to mandating in 2009. “You’ve got these weekend war- them is Sagetech, based in White Salmon, on the day’s printed flight plan, cross- extra hardware, which will drive up the riors in the general aviation aircraft not Washington, where Jim Davis directs ing out altitudes and penciling in new price of their product. talking on the radio.” For this reason, the business development. “Non-cooperative ones, and trying to keep tabs on who In the aviation industry, it has often Armstrong Center’s Kim has designed aircraft are the thing everybody is wor- and what is vying for the airspace over taken a major catastrophe to spur change. most of the Ikhana exercises around ried about,” Davis says. His firm sells Edwards. I suppose that Kim’s experi- Following 9/11, airlines redesigned cock- the belief widely held in the aviation ADS-B units that operate identically to ence at Edwards is a microcosm of the pit doors. And in response to community that avoiding collisions the much larger systems commercial national airspace. When Edwards gets Airlines Flight 370, the FAA is developing between manned and unmanned aircraft jetliners carry. But Sagetech’s device is busy, Ikhana has to share the skies like live flight-tracking requirements. Sadly, is largely the UAV’s responsibility. But the size of an apricot and weighs just any other aircraft. The only difference is unless a UAV collision damages or possi- that’s going to require detect-and-avoid over three ounces. A UAV equipped with that Ikhana doesn’t have a set of physical bly brings down an airliner, most drones devices compact and light enough for it would be visible to almost all commer- eyeballs in the cockpit. But should that won’t be flying with detect-and-avoid

even the tiniest drones. cial aircraft and air traffic controllers. matter? Technology is rapidly closing the RESEARCH AVIATION FOR INSTITUTE NATIONAL ALLEN PHOTOGRAPHY systems anytime soon.

48 | AIR & SPACE airspacemag.com SEPTEMBER 2016 AIR & SPACE | 49