Determining and Communicating Weather Risk in The New Drone Economy

Adverse weather disrupts routine manned aviation operations causing congestion, flight delays and economic losses. However worldwide air travel remains relatively safe and accidents are infrequent due to robust weather observation infrastructure, air traffic management services and regulatory oversight agencies that prioritize a culture of safety. While the introduction and adoption of Unmanned Aircraft Systems is unleashing a new generation of products and services across the world, many unique challenges remain in ensuring safe and efficient flights under unfavorable weather conditions, opening up new areas of research and development. This paper discusses some of these research topics and presents progress being made by the authors in developing end-to-end weather observation and avoidance systems.