Airspace Situational Awareness: Proposed Airspace Safety Concepts & State-of-the-Art Review of UAS Aircraft Detection Technologies

The integration of UAS into lower airspace requires trustworthy Detect and Avoid (DAA) capabilities, which hinge on robust Airspace Situational Awareness (ASA) technologies. This paper introduces a structured approach to effectively address and simplify the challenges of ASA for UAS. It introduces Operational Classes (OCs) for categorising airspace risks, System Configurations (SysCons) for grouping distinct system structures, and DAA Strategies, based on ACAS-Xu, for improving UAS safety and operational efficiency through proactive and reactive measures. Furthermore, it explores diverse detection technologies for both cooperative and non-cooperative aircraft, analysing their strengths and limitations, and recommends which technologies to use for various SysCons.