Opening Airspace for UAS A Regulatory Framework to Introduce Unmanned Aircraft Systems into Civilian Airspace Report 31 March 2011 Edited by Alfredo Roma Matxalen Sánchez Aranzamendi Kai-Uwe Schrogl Short title: ESPI Report 31 ISSN: 2076-6688 Published in March 2011 Price: €11 Editor and publisher: European Space Policy Institute, ESPI Schwarzenbergplatz 6 • 1030 Vienna • Austria http://www.espi.or.at Tel. +43 1 7181118-0; Fax -99 Rights reserved – No part of this report may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or for any purpose with- out permission from ESPI. Citations and extracts to be published by other means are subject to mentioning “Source: ESPI Report 31; March 2011. All rights reserved” and sample transmission to ESPI before publishing. ESPI is not responsible for any losses, injury or damage caused to any person or property (including under contract, by negligence, product liability or otherwise) whether they may be direct or indirect, special, inciden- tal or consequential, resulting from the information contained in this publication. Design: Panthera.cc ESPI Report 31 2 March 2011 Opening Airspace for UAS Table of Contents Foreword 5 1. Introduction, by Alfredo Roma 6 1.1 The Market 6 1.2 The European Industry 6 1.3 Radio Frequencies 7 1.4 The Regulatory Framework 7 1.5 Suggested Actions at EU level 7 1.6 The ESPI View 7 2. Civil Applications of UAS: The Way to Start in the Short Term 9 by Pablo González and Javier Caina 2.1 Introduction 9 2.2 Civilian Applications 9 2.2.1 Maritime Surveillance and Coastguard 9 2.2.2 Border Control 10 2.2.3 Infrastructure Monitoring 10 2.2.4 Disaster Management and Mitigation: Disaster Relief, Fire Fighting 10 2.3 Current Barriers 10 2.4 Space Segment Benefits 11 2.4.1 Navigation/Positioning 11 2.4.2 Safety/Payload Communications 11 2.4.3 Cooperative Surveillance 11 2.5 Feasibility Study: SINUE Project 11 2.6 Short-Term Way: SINUE Demo 12 2.7 Conclusions 13 3. Identifying Regulatory Parameters to Integrate Unmanned Aerial Vehicles into Non-Segregated Airspace, by Stefan A. Kaiser 14 3.1 The Regulatory Background 14 3.1.1 The International Principles 14 3.1.2 The Systems Approach 14 3.2 The “Pilotless” Element 15 3.2.1 The Interface between Pilot and UAV 15 3.2.2 The Interface between Pilot and Air Traffic Control 15 3.2.3 The Interface between Pilot and Air Traffic in the Vicinity of the UAV 15 3.2.4 Flight Automation 16 3.3 Planning Assumptions 16 3.4 Airspace 16 3.4.1 Airspace Complexity 16 3.4.2 Metropolitan Areas 16 3.4.3 Very Low Airspace 16 3.4.4 Increased Separation for UAVs? 17 3.4.5 Priority Right of Way for UAVs? 17 3.5 Airspace Related UAV Scenarios 17 3.6 Airworthiness and Certification 18 3.6.1 Airworthiness and Certification Requirements for UAVs 18 3.6.2 Information Technology Quality Standards 18 3.6.3 Physical Impact a Criterion for Certification? 18 3.7 Operating Procedures and Personnel Licensing 19 3.8 Outlook 19 ESPI Report 31 3 March 2011 4. The Main Elements for a European Regulatory Framework for UAS Flying in the Common Airspace, by Anna Masutti 20 4.1 Introduction 20 4.2 The Reference Legal Framework 20 4.3 Application to UAV of Principles and Airworthiness Rules Introduced by European Regulations. 21 4.4 The UAV Certification 22 4.5 The Criteria to Identify the Essential Airworthiness Prerequisites for UAV. The Objective of Avoiding Excessive Burdens 23 4.6 Legal Problems Deriving from the Use of UAV in the Common Airspace. The Identification of the Civil Liability Regime for Damages to Third Parties and of the Liable Party 24 4.7 Other International Regulations Applicable to UAV 25 4.8 Initiatives Taken by Some Non-EU Countries and in Europe 26 4.9 Conclusions 26 5. Integration of UAS into SES and SESAR, by Roderick van Dam 27 6. Light UAS. European Regulation below 150 kg? by Pablo Mendes de Leon 30 6.1 The Use of Light UAS 30 6.2 The Distinction between State Aircraft and Civil Aircraft 31 6.3 European Regulations 31 6.3.1 The Single European Sky 31 6.3.2 EU Safety Regulations, Including National Regulations 32 6.3.3 The Internal Market Regulation 32 6.3.4 Insurance 32 6.4 Evaluation of Arguments 33 6.4.1 Arguments in favour of European Regulation 33 6.4.2 Arguments against European Regulation 33 6.4.3 Conclusion 33 7. Certification and Approval of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in Europe 35 by Filippo Tomasello 7.1 UAS: A New Market for Civil Aviation 35 7.2 Safety Regulation of UAS 35 7.3 EASA Competence for UAS 36 7.4 EASA Airworthiness Policy 37 7.5 ICAO Circular 328 38 7.6 ICAO UAS Manual and Annexes 38 7.7 EASA Multidisciplinary Rulemaking Task MDM.030 39 7.8 Conclusions 40 8. Roundtable Report 41 by Alfredo Roma, Matxalen Sánchez Aranzamendi, and Kai-Uwe Schrogl List of Acronyms 43 Workshop Programme 45 About the Contributors 46 ESPI Report 31 4 March 2011 Opening Airspace for UAS Foreword For some time already, Unmanned Aircraft framework to allow the flight of UAS in civil- Systems (UAS) have attracted the attention ian airspace. In this context, on 4 November of civil authorities. Their use for high-risk 2010 ESPI hosted a workshop where the civilian missions not only improves the effi- main European stakeholders gathered for an ciency of civil protection forces but also intensive exchange aimed at building joint opens up wide market opportunities for state- understanding. of-the-art technologies. The realisation of The current ESPI Report features the presen- such potential depends strongly on the elabo- tations given by participants in this work- ration of a regulatory framework that allows shop. It covers the key topics to sustain the UAS to fly safely in non-segregated areas. regulatory framework for UAS such as the Aware of the potential of UAS markets for the general European aviation framework and achievement of its goals, the European Union issues of certification and regulation of light has already taken the first steps to support UAS. The Report concludes with a set of rec- the development of civilian UAS, first in the ommendations and steps to follow addressed framework of FP6 with INOUI and currently to European decision-makers in this field. with its efforts to develop a regulatory Alfredo Roma Member of the ESPI Advisory Council Matxalen Sánchez Aranzamendi ESPI Resident Fellow Kai-Uwe Schrogl ESPI Director ESPI Report 31 5 March 2011 1. Introduction by Alfredo Roma UAS range today from extremely simple, row’s demand. Europe must face this situa- short-range vehicles to multi-million dollar tion and develop a cooperation policy for aircraft with almost global reach. Large air- European stakeholders. frame UAS – sometimes equipped with jet engines – offer the possibility of complex missions, especially those related to civil protection or civil defence, requiring the UAS 1.2 The European Industry to fly at medium or high altitude and in diffi- cult meteorological conditions. Light UAS Europe has a solid aeronautical industry, normally fly at low altitude and for local or especially dedicated to support its Large Civil short-range missions. For both classes of Aircraft (Airbus) manufacturing capability as UAS, the mission depends on the payload and well as military manned systems, accompa- the ground station capacities to collect, proc- nied by a large academic and research insti- ess and disseminate data for the mission’s tute knowledge base for UAS. Technological purposes, UAS piloting and the ATM informa- contributions by the space sector, such as tion system. satellite TLC and GNSS, must also be taken into account. Simple UAS generally carry little more than a video camera and sensors that send images However, a full scale UAS market in Europe is and data over limited distances to a ground unlikely to emerge if the airspace access is- station that has limited links to other units. sue is not fully resolved and if appropriate Larger UAS can carry sophisticated types of legislation and regulatory measures are not camera, while signal intelligence systems developed. The necessity of quickly establish- (ELINT/COMINT) and ground-surveillance ing a full set of common European rules on radars are also becoming common. The UAS airworthiness, and integration of UAS ground stations are linked into a larger and within the non-segregated airspace, has be- faster network. In the near future satellites come an unavoidable matter of urgency. The will play a key role in UAS piloting, communi- lack of such a regulatory framework is pre- cations and reliability. venting industry from developing pertinent business plans and to commencing develop- ment activities that are necessary to meet civilian customer needs. In addition, it should 1.1 The Market be considered that major European industries (as well as SMEs) have already invested con- Many non-EU suppliers are well established in siderable capital in this sector and it is time the global UAS marketplace. According to they start to receive a reasonable return on 2007 data, the U.S. had 60% of the global investment through sales. These invest- market, Israel 35% and only 5% was left to ments, both public & private, risk being Europe. We believe that today the situation is “wasted” by the absence of a strategy at EU more or less the same. For the U.S. and Is- level capable of developing the UAS market rael, demand has been driven by military for civil use.