Effective Non-Cooperative Surveillance for UAS Situational Awareness

Effective surveillance of non-cooperative targets is necessary to enable Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flights for small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS). We examine several approaches to develop effective surveillance for non-cooperative targets within the typical sUAS operations arena (low altitude, Class G airspace), to determine suitability for situational awareness and Detect and Avoid (DAA). This ongoing research includes analysis of sensor performance and determination of applicability to the sUAS mission. Effective surveillance for cooperative manned targets is easier to achieve using ADS-B; however, there is no current solution for cooperatively tracking sUAS, which have been restricted from using ADS-B. Until Remote ID is available, surveillance of UAS must be performed through non-cooperative means. While the safety focus is on situational awareness and DAA for manned aircraft, we also consider UAS non-cooperative surveillance as part of the study. We provide initial conclusions and outline a path for additional research.