scope:

PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE REPORT

The non-existence of civil airworthiness certification and operational approval criteria for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) is seen as a major obstacle to the further development of civil UAS applications in Europe. Hence, the purpose of this report is to assist development of a systems requirements framework that would enable manned and unmanned aircraft to be managed in the same way within the existing air traffic management (ATM) regulatory framework. For this purpose, to assist understanding of the factors that could impact on solutions for the integration of UAS an overview is provided of the current manned aviation regulatory environment and practices.

Recognising the significant challenge of establishing a UAS regulatory requirements framework, this five-volume report, together with its Terminology Supplement, will be developed iteratively with subsequent releases taking benefit of experience gained by the industry. This first edition of the report addresses various unmanned aircraft types of operation being considered for realistic implementation. It discusses how unmanned aircraft might safely operate in the airspace in the foreseeable future within the existing CNS/ATM framework, and addresses the major issues to achieve that objective. Communications and spectrum issues are considered .together with the security of remote command and control capability as an integral part of the operation of UAS.