Good overview on sense-and-avoid tech from GCN:
Some excerpts:
ADS-B (automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast) transponders not only broadcast aircraft location in real time, they also deliver information on altitude and velocity. What's more, they can deliver data on other aircraft, weather and terrain to the vehicle that is carrying them. In fact, ADS-B transponders will replace radar as the primary technology for tracking air traffic, and the FAA will require the majority of aircraft operating in U.S. airspace to be equipped with ADS-B by Jan. 1, 2020.
Using ADS-B transponders on many UAVs was infeasible until recently, when Sagetech Corp., an avionics company based in White Salmon, Wash., developed one that weighed only 3.5 ounces.
...
One of the most ambitious civilian efforts under way to develop an integrated system for UAVs is the Mid-Air Collision Avoidance System (MIDCAS), which is being developed by five European countries — Sweden, Germany, France, Italy and Spain — and 11 industrial partners.
The four-year, $65 million project is expected by 2014 to deliver an automated sense-and-avoid system that will not depend on transponders. While it is being designed to integrate ADS-B, MIDCAS also includes two visible-band electro-optical cameras and one infrared camera for aircraft to use in identifying other aircraft. In addition, the team's developers are designing image-processing algorithms, processing units and integration with on-board avionics.
A key point is in the last paragraph:
"The real challenge is not technological," Glenn said. "The real challenge is regulatory acceptance. I think we're close enough. The key is that we are able to be as good as manned aviation. So the issue is how to get federal aviation authorities around the world to get their minds around it."
According to Glenn, if government regulatory agencies would specify the performance standards UAVs need to meet, he can design appropriate equipment. "You tell me what the requirement is, and I will build it," he said.
Pellebergs agrees. "No one really knows what the requirements are for sense-and-avoid for UASes in civilian airspace, so we need to get a set of standards in place," he said. "I think that's what's holding up a lot of the progress in this area."
Unfortunately, the Federal Aviation Administration declined our requests for comment.
Comments
TomP,
Me too have never seen 10$ radar other than paper/theory(and so the need for link). Wish it was true same as 10$ SDR which rivals some high end HF/VHF rcvr 10 years back.The nearest DiyRadar project that has been done is here.
There could be few more but I haven't seen enough.
BTW, further to Monroe's comment, the "give-way" rules of the air are already in place for manned aviation. It's just unclear where UAV's sit in the pecking order of balloons > gliders > powered
It's worth also pointing out FLARM, which has been developed and widely used by the gliding community. It's a low-cost, low-power system that lets multiple gliders safely share a thermal, although the avoid decision making is done by the on-board biological neural-network system.
@Gary, which doppler radar? I had never heard of anything that cheap.
http://www.sagetechcorp.com/client/Sagetech%20XP%20Transponder%20Br...
Comes with NMEA and RS232 interfaces
Supply Voltage 10-32V
Here's the Nasa contest draft rules; maybe it hasn't happened yet. http://prod.nais.nasa.gov/eps/eps_data/154364-OTHER-001-001.pdf
http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/centennial_challenges/ua...
Im not referring to Recreational Hobby UAS. I am talking about for commercial use in the future. having a transponder on the UA could be a requirement for UAS to operate in the NAS. If that happens I think it would be a good thing to have the ability there on the APM HW and SW so that it can be plug and play for users.
If you can avoid him/other then other a/c don't have to bother/avoid. Integrating ADSB transponder in hobby UAV will lead to talks to FAA/ATC etc etc least which is for getting the squak :(
From everything I read (Did anyone go to the NASA ADS contest in ohio?) reading and sending signals is not the problem right now, but integrating that system into your current flight controller is the current challenge.
we are all talking about receiving ads-b what about our aircraft spitting out ads-b to other aircraft too... We should have the transponder on our ua giving all aircraft our information too...
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