Identifying Needs and Requirements for an integrated Crisis Traffic Management (iCTM) concept for Unmanned Aircraft Systems supporting First Responses in Crisis Situations

In recent years, the number of natural disasters has increased. In order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of first response operations, novel and disruptive technologies such as Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) are increasingly being used. However, integrating UAS operations into the existing national airspace system is challenging. Despite various initiatives for developing a concept of operations for UAS operated in very low-level airspace, such as the European U-space concept and the FAA Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) concept, the specific needs and requirements for first response operations, supported by UAS, are barely considered. Neither of the proposed concepts reflect the specific considerations, rules or regulations for UAS operations conducted by emergency response organizations. Both, the U-Space and the FAA UTM concepts, do not conceptually assist UAS operations for first response missions. In order to address the aforementioned regulatory gap, this study analyzes the current challenges and needs of first response organizations related to deploying UAS in disaster areas. For this purpose, a virtual workshop with representatives of Public Protection Disaster Relief (PPDR) organizations was organized. The workshop followed a structured approach to acquire information on the aforementioned challenges and needs of first responders. Based on the results of the workshop, multiple bilateral online meetings were organized in order to develop an Operational Event Sequence Diagram (OESD) for a specific first response missions with representatives of a PPDR organization from the advisory board of the RESPONDRONE project. From the results of the workshops and the online meetings, the needs, requirements and specifications for a conceptual framework to integrate first response UAS operations into the existing airspace system were derived. First results show that specifically other air traffic in the disaster area poses a threat to UAS missions operated by first responders and that the communication and coordination with the first responder headquarters is challenging. Furthermore, the OESDs revealed that specific functions such as supervision of UAS safety conditions or monitoring airspace safety could be performed in an automated manner by a future traffic management system. In a next step, a conceptual framework supporting first response UAS operations, called integrated Crisis Traffic Management (iCTM), is discussed. The concept aims to define specific rules and automate certain identified functions for emergency UAS as well as outline a concept for integrating first response UAS operations with other air traffic, such as rescue helicopters, within the disaster area.