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Published online 18 July 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.962
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Flying robots have their wings clipped
Science misses out on unmanned aerial vehicles thanks to poor regulation.
Robots that are able to explore harsh, remote environments on our behalf have brought rich rewards for marine scientists. But in the skies, progress in using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has been surprisingly slow.
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The main issue for this, as pointed out in the article, is the integration with airspace and the users therein. The problem is particularly poignant in the UK, which already has some of the most complex and crowded airspace in the world. The CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) are already looking into this and have consulted on the possibility of fitting all flying machines with old technology transponders that provide height information, which can be interrogated by radar operators. However, the main problem is that these systems are simply not practical to fit to many flying machines, mainly because they require a lot of power and the machines themselves cannot strictly comply to air traffic control instructions (e.g. balloons and gliders). The cost alone would wipe out half of general aviation (GA). Moreover, on a good day, the current radar system would simply overload (anyone listening to the Farnborough controller on a good day, or even the Southampton one, knows just how busy they get). The system at present, for most of GA, relies on see and avoid and segregation from commercial traffic, which generally fly within controlled airspace (most GA aircraft are not allowed into much of this airspace). The system has proved to be 100% safe. Commercial aircraft carry well tried and tested collision avoidance systems that enable them to avoid other similarly equipped aircraft; but these systems cannot be fitted to smaller aircraft due to cost, size and regulatory requirements (anything to do with aviation in the commercial sector takes years to get approval). There are some systems being developed based on GPS (Global Positioning System), some of which are already in use in some sectors (e.g. in gliders), but again, legislative and technical hurdles enabling a common inter-operable system is years away. Plus, GPS is vulnerable to jamming and occasional glitches, so a back up system would be prudent. Hence, although UAVs are great in concept, trying to slot one safely into say, an area around Oxford on a weekend summer's afternoon, when there will anything up to 2-300 gliders passing through a gap between Brize Norton airspace and the London Terminal Manoeuvring Area (LTMA), as well as innumerable light aircraft, microlights and probably, paragliders and increasingly, small business aircraft taking short cuts - all operating between 500-5000 ft, would be impossible unless the UAV could match the ability of humans to see and avoid. Moreover, this system would also rely on humans seeing it, too (equally, a remote operator would also need to be able to see other aircraft if using the UAV's camera). UAVs can certainly operate in some areas where general aviation (e.g. over Salisbury plain) is banned or never likely to go (far out to sea, or very high - although gliders fly up to 30,000 ft in 'wave' systems generated by mountains). I have no doubt that one day a robot pilot may well match humans, but the current state of the art suggests we are still a very long way off doing it. Hence, until such a ‘robo-pilot’ exists, UAVs could only ever operate in very tightly controlled pieces of airspace (with a very reliable self destruct system) - or at night when most GA is safely tucked up in its hanger or trailer.