Artificial situation awareness for autonomous terminal area operations of unmanned aerial systems

This paper provides an introduction to the development of artificial situation awareness for Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) operating close to a departure or arrival airfield (i.e. the terminal area). To construct artificial situation awareness a vehicle must be capable of perceiving and comprehending the current state of its environment (e.g. the positions of traffic), then predicting its future states. Focus will be on the comprehension and prediction elements because perception is assumed to occur via a broadcast system (such as Automated Dependant Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B)). Comprehension includes both the current state of traffic in addition to its intentions, based upon the Rules of the Air. Knowledge of traffic intent allows a well refined prediction of future states to be made. Simulation results will be presented to demonstrate the benefits of artificial situation awareness with regards to safety and efficiency of UAS operations.