U-AGREE

Risk assessment is the goal

Before allowing regular and massive drone flights in a city, a number of traffic management services need to be established in the area. This means creating a U-space. When designating a U-space airspace, states will need to define the required capabilities and performance requirements for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and the traffic management services provided within it. These requirements will be defined on the basis of the results of an Airspace Risk Assessment (ARA) to be carried out by the competent authorities. Such an assessment uses risk models to assess the level of damage in the event of unexpected occurrences or incidents.

A natural candidate for use as a risk model is the Specific Operations Risk Assessment (SORA), as it is a well-established methodology. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) defines SORA as „a methodology for the classification of the risk posed by a drone flight in the specific category of operations and for the identification of mitigations and of the safety objectives“. However, its risk models have some limitations and do not reflect well the current capabilities and operations of drones, or the mitigations that U-space services allow.

A natural candidate for use as a risk model is the Specific Operations Risk Assessment (SORA), as it is a well-established methodology. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) defines SORA as „a methodology for the classification of the risk posed by a drone flight in the specific category of operations and for the identification of mitigations and of the safety objectives“. However, its risk models have some limitations and do not reflect well the current capabilities and operations of drones, or the mitigations that U-space services allow.

Quantitative air and ground risk models

One of the drawbacks of the current SORA is that its risk models are qualitative. This makes it difficult to develop a tool to help operators automate the risk assessment process. To tackle this problem, the U-AGREE project will create new quantitative, mathematical air and ground risk models. These models will also reflect the possibility of multi-dimensional harmful effects on safety, security, privacy and the environment posed by drone operations. The U-space services will also be included as risk mitigators.

U-AGREE will develop and validate models through simulations and will also develop a methodology to define safety and performance requirements for UAS and U-space services and the communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) systems on which they rely.