Drones will share UK airspace with passenger jets and private planes, overseen from the ground rather than a cockpit. The ASTRAEA II programme aims to solve the technical and regulatory puzzle of operating large unmanned aircraft safely alongside manned aviation—something current aviation rules, built around a human pilot in every aircraft, do not allow. The core challenge is making drones that can sense other aircraft, communicate reliably, and act autonomously while a human operator monitors them from a ground station. The programme will work with the UK Civil Aviation Authority on a “virtual certification” process to set safety requirements before any aircraft flies. If successful, the UK could see routine civil drone operations from 2012, giving British industry a three-year head start on global competitors. The long-term goal is to secure a larger share of the mature drone market than the UK currently holds in manned aerospace. This is applied engineering with a clear commercial target: integrating autonomous aircraft into everyday airspace without compromising safety.
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The ASTRAEA II (Autonomous Systems Technology Related Airborne Evaluation & Assessment) programme will establish the route to operate Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) in civil airspace. The outcome of ASTRAEA will be both disruptive and revolutionary through changing the assumption that has existed without question for the last century concerning the role of the human in aviation, by operating UAS that are autonomous, with responsible human oversight from the ground. This challenge can only be satisfied by innovation in the key UAS technology areas of sense and avoid, autonomy, communications, operations and human/system interaction. A key aspect of ASTRAEA is the innovative application and maturation of these technologies to ensure that UAS can be integrated into the existing manned aviation environment in a safe and transparent fashion. A process of 'Virtual Certification' with the CAA will be employed within ASTRAEA II to ensure that appropriate requirements can be set and that certifiable systems can be developed. ASTRAEA II will deliver compliant and demonstrable technical solutions within the three year programme timeframe. With TSB support, the aim is to enable civil use ofUAS from 2012, and maintain a 3+ year lead on the rest of the world with a corresponding impact on initial market penetration and with the long term objective of stabilising UK share of a mature UAS market at a level in excess of current manned aerospace.
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