This chapter provides the background and context for integrating unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into a civilian airspace system. This chapter will cover regulatory concerns, social issues, and technical challenges with respect to integration efforts for UAS. As the airspace system continuously evolves, there is a migration towards a state of higher risk. When there is a set of standard designs for aircraft, procedures, and infrastructure, it becomes possible to use well-established frameworks for analyzing and mitigating risk. However, as change is introduced, the conventional frameworks may no longer yield the results in practice that are predicted in theory. These frameworks may thus prove misleading, and it becomes necessary to examine them in the context in which they were developed, in order to adapt them to accommodate changing factors. In the following section, the current regulatory systems for the certification of conventionally piloted aircraft (CPA) in civil airspace is examined. The applicability of this framework to the sea change posed by the introduction of UAS is discussed. The issue of privacy is briefly touched upon, as the common perception of this notion will be challenged by the integration of UAS into civil airspace. Gaps in current techniques used for assuring aviation systems, as well as necessary enabling technologies that will be required for safe UAS integration, are outlined. Finally, several major technical challenges produced by the introduction of UAS into civil airspace are outlined. A discussion of how their proposed solutions will interact with the current system is also tackled.

Regulatory Framework For Civil Aviation – Past and Present

Before any newly designed aircraft can enter into operation in civilian airspace over almost any country, it must receive an airworthiness certificate from the responsible aviation authority in the country in which the aircraft is registered, thereby demonstrating that it is airworthy. Receipt of an airworthiness certificate is only one step in the operation of an aircraft in the airspace; certificates relating to pilot and crew qualifications, operational certificates, and matters relating to other regulatory issues, such as continuing airworthiness, must also be addressed (see Figure 6.1). A strict adherence to these regulations result in a safe airspace system.