Issue 41 Unmanned Systems Technology December/January 2022 PteroDynamics X-P4 l Sense & avoid l 4Front Robotics Cricket l Autonomous transport l NWFC-1500 fuel cell l DroneX report l OceanScout I Composites I DSEI 2021 report

44 Focus | Sense & avoid systems where their own UAVs are, but not other UAVs. Linking the USS systems to a central UTM allows for a response in a few seconds and avoids the need for sensors on individual UAVs. The position, velocity and heading data is relayed from the UAV back to the USS and on to the central UTM. This integration is via the UAV manufacturer’s software development kit and an application programming interface to link to the UTM cloud system via the cellular mobile phone network. The current proposed European Union flight rules are codified into the system and can be used in private areas such as ports. Conclusion Visual monitoring systems have taken full advantage of developments in image sensors, processing power and machine learning algorithms, and these will only continue to advance. Higher resolution sensors and higher performance GPUs with lower power consumption are also coming to market. They will be able to make use of the machine learning frameworks to deliver longer range detection at lower power. But they are still out of reach for smaller UAVs in SWaP terms. Optimising the SWaP becomes even more of a challenge with sensor fusion to combine the camera data with other sensors such as infrared. So the focus has shifted to ground- based radar and UTM systems, where the data from a UAV is sent to a cloud- based system with machine learning support that can be either fully automatic or combined with existing ATM systems with human operators. This is requiring new approaches to the machine learning algorithms to deliver ‘explainable’ AI to give human operators more confidence in the decisions that are made. All these elements are coming together in projects around the world to combine the onboard sensors, ground- based detectors and decision-making systems. Using them with remote piloted and autonomous unmanned aircraft will enable integration into existing airspace and deliver reliable, safe BVLOS operation that is technically possible now with a high level of confidence. Acknowledgements The author would like to thank Eric Schafer at Iris Automation, Laith Sahawneh at the University of Florida, Jared Wikle at MIT Lincoln Laboratory and Tomer Serok at Airwayz for their help with researching this article. December/January 2022 | Unmanned Systems Technology AUSTRIA AeroSpy Sense & Avoid Technology +43 676 970 6124 www.aerospy.at AUSTRALIA InSitu Pacific + 61 731 824 000 www.insitu.com CZECH REPUBLIC ESC Aerospace +420 284 683 784 www.esc-aerospace.com ISRAEL Airwayz +972 54 4540368 www.airwayz.co SWITZERLAND FLARM Technology – www.flarm.com UK Altitude Angel +44 118 925 5075 www.altitudeangel.com Barnard Microsystems +44 208 245 6226 www.barnardmicrosystems.com RFEL +44 198 321 6600 www.rfel.com USA Exelis Electronic Systems +1 973 284 2180 www.exelisinc.com General Atomics Aeronautical Systems +1 858 312 2810 www.ga-asi.com IMSAR +1 801 798 8440 www.imsar.com Innovation Integration +1 805 383 8994 www.innovative-dsp.com Iris Automation +1 650 761 2195 www.irisonboard.com Qelzal + 1 650 427 0360 www.qelzal.com RDRTec +1 214 353 8755 www.rdrtec.com SARA +1 714 224 4410 www.sara.com Sierra Nevada +1 775 331 0222 www.sncorp.com SRC +1 315 452 8000 www.srcinc.com Some examples of sense & avoid technology suppliers