A methodology for evaluating the safety and effectiveness of alternative crewing arrangements for next-generation Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems

The introduction of higher levels of automation within remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) means that it is possible for small team of humans to remotely operate more than one aircraft at a time. This concept is known as "one-to-many operations". The introduction of one-to-many operations opens up new possibilities for how the roles of the operators can be designed. This paper presents a methodology for evaluating the safety and effectiveness of these alternative designs, and applies it to the use of next-generation RPAS for search and rescue operations in Class G and E airspace.