Progetto europeo Trawa

PROJECT: TRAWA
EU PROGRAMME: EDA – PP-15-STAN-CERT-01
DURATION: 18 months| Nov. 2016 – Apr. 2018|
STATUS: closed
WEBSITEwww.nlr.org
CONTACTSfilippo.tomasello@eurousc-italia.it

The TRAWA project aimed to contribute to the development of standards for self-separation in support of the EUROCAE 73 working group. The ICAO Manual (Doc 10019) on Remote Piloted Aircraft Systems identifies five dangers that a “Detect and Avoid” system ( D&A) could mitigate. Among these, the most important is “conflicting traffic“.

To mitigate the risk of Mid-Air Collision – MAC with this traffic, mitigations could be implemented in the “strategic” phase (for example before take-off to avoid airspace congestion), in the “tactical phase” or, as a last resort, to”prevent collisions” (collision avoidance – CA). The “strategic” phase is covered by EuroUSC Italia in the DREAMS project. The CA phase, at least with cooperative traffic, has been studied for several decades also for manned aviation (ACAS or similar). In the ‘tactical’ phase, a safety distance between the drone and the conflicting traffic can be ensured by Air Traffic Control (ATC) or through the ‘Remain Well Clear’ (RWC) function of D&A implemented on the drone. The RWC function is absolutely necessary in uncontrolled airspace (for example Class G), but it could be very useful in relation to VFR traffic also in classes D and E.

The TRAWA project concluded that:

  • In the RWC phase, contrary to the CA phase, the air rules should be applied;
  • it would be better to inform the remote pilot on routes that would lead to an increase in the risk of MAC, without however suggesting a recommended maneuver (for example, turn right or turn left);
  • the color coding should be similar to that used today in manned aircraft (i.e. green, white, amber, red).

OUR ROLE

In the TRAWA project, EuroUSC Italy contributed to develope the safety requirements for the human-machine interface (HMI) of the RWC function, which in fact requires some sensors on board the drone, but also some displays for the remote pilot on the ground. In addition, EuroUSC Italia has reviewed the Minimum Operating Performance Specifications (MOPS) developed by TRAWA, to validate their compliance with the D&A provisions emerging from ICAO (for example, new part IV of Annex 6), from JARUS and from EASA regulatory material.