sireesh pallikonda

1. REGULATIONS
FOR
CIVIL APPLICATIONS OF UAV
SIREESH P.
UAV Flying Instructor
Aerodynamics
Aircraft Research and Design Center
HAL, Bangalore.

2. Acronyms
UAV UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE
MTCR MISSILE TECHNOLOGY CONTROL REGIME
ICAO INTERNATIONAL CIVIL AVIATION ORGANIZATION
R/C REMOTE CONTROL
RPV REMOTE PILOT VEHICLE
UCAV UNMANNED COMBAT AERIAL VEHICLE
UVS UNMANNED VEHICLE SYSTEMS
WMD WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
SLV SPACE LAUNCH VEHICLE
POC POINT OF CONTACT
ATC AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL
SC SPECIAL COMMITTEE
WG WORK GROUP
SFAR SPECIAL FEDERAL AVIATION REGULATION
VFR VISUAL FLIGHT RANGE
COA CERTIFICATE OF AUTHORIZATION

3. INTRODUCTION:
The gradual, yet inevitable shift away from human intervention is happening, for
better or worse.
Aviation remains on the cutting edge and modern visionaries are exploring the
impossible of yesteryears and continually replacing the vintage technology.
Hypersonic air travel and space flight are a reality today, with cost as the sole
obstacle. If we have to consider, how far the aviation has progressed in its first
century, one cannot help but marvel at how far we have come.
The present use of UAVs is limited to the defense sectors, but there is lot of
scope for the UAVs in the civil application which is been limited by various factors
viz. use of civil air space, liability, security and safety. Technology is ever
progressing; law follows technology by regulating certain rules in order to
maintain safety and by monitoring the technology not to fall in wrong hands.
Unmanned aircraft can be operated for long range and endurance. Down the
lane in future unmanned cargo aircraft and pilot less passenger aircraft could be
a reality and more efficient in many ways. Passengers may be uncertain about
their safety with the pilot less aircraft initially. But the safety, security, reliability
and redundancy will be developed as such, where passengers can feel safer
than in the pilot aircraft as there is no room for human error and hijacking.
As the passenger aircraft has to cross nations and safely land, there has to be a
reliable technology and strong regulation. After rigorous study and discussions
with aviation experts, an attempt has been made in this report to bring out the
issues pertaining to transfer of technology and know how about the UAVs from
the countries having more experience in developing & producing UAVs. The
importance of regulations of Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) pertaining to UAVs are brought
out in detail.
The major issue that may delay autonomous Unmanned Air Vehicles
(UAVs) in civil application is lack of airspace management to prevent the
UAVs from colliding with each other, with human-piloted planes or
helicopters, with static objects such as buildings, and with dynamic flying
objects such as flocks of bird.
In this paper a novel airspace management approach to autonomous UAVs has
been brought out. Our airspace management system allows UAVs to dynamically
and autonomously choose between three modes of operation: (i) centralized, (ii)
cooperative decentralized, (iii) non-cooperative decentralized.
My views are projected & suggestions have been recommended to regulatory
authorities for implementation, while this change may replace some human
activity, the benefits out weigh the cost and will change the whole scenario.

4. Un-manned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)
An unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, is one of many similar types of aircraft
which do not carry a pilot onboard. At the lower end of this scale are Remotely
Controlled (R/C) planes like those built and flown by modellers. Though a pilot is
obviously not on board, the plane is controlled by a pilot throughout its flight.
A similar type of aircraft is the Remotely Piloted Vehicle (RPV) which is
essentially an enlarged version of the R/C plane. For many years, RPV's have
been used by the military as target drones, test aircraft and reconnaissance
platforms.
The UAV, on the other hand, differs from remotely controlled aircraft, in that a
pilot is not required during most or all of the flight. Instead, the plane is controlled
by computers. Most UAV's rely on preprogrammed flight paths guiding them to
and from the area of interest, though human interaction is possible throughout
the flight.
UAV's are commonplace in all branches of today's military. Some of the more
well-known examples include the Navy's Pioneer and the Air Force's Darkstar
and Global Hawk. These UAV's are used to obtain battlefield and theatre
reconnaissance.
A new type of UAV which is still under development and is the subject of this
project is the Uninhabited Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV). As its name implies,
the UCAV goes beyond observation and is designed to attack enemy targets.
When can UAVs fly in non-segregated air space?
While many technical obstacles must still be overcome before Unmanned Aerial
Vehicles (UAV) can enter civil controlled airspace, government and industry
organizations are actively engaged in establishing national and international
regulations for their eventual introduction. The November 2006 conference of
UVS Canada, the Canadian UAV association, held in Montebello, Quebec, heard
presentations from ICAO, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Euro
control, joint government/industry specialist groups and other organizations on
how the safe integration of UAVs could be achieved.
While there is much greater UAV activity in the US than elsewhere, there is a
clear recognition within the worldwide civil aviation community that UAV activity is
increasing rapidly, and that uniform standards should now be established.

5. Centralized mode of operation:
The UAV delegates the collision avoidance responsibilities to an airspace
management center. This center detects potential collisions between the UAV
and other objects in the airspace and suggests that the UAV take a new course.
Cooperative decentralized mode of operation:
The UAV detects a possible collision with another object in the airspace and
communicates with that object to solve the conflict if the object is cooperative. If
the other object does not cooperate, the UAV acts the same way as in the non
cooperative decentralized mode of operation.
Non-cooperative decentralized mode of operation:
The UAV detects a possible collision with another object in the airspace and
diverts itself without using any means of communication.
While the airspace management center holds global information, each UAV holds
partial information about the trajectories of neighboring bodies. It updates its
knowledge base regularly, using available means such as the airspace
management center, bilateral cooperation protocols, and onboard sensors flying
over an area. As a pilot, you will fly in the flying zone allocated to the UAVs for
your mission. The responsibility of our airspace management system is to
prevent collision between any manned aircraft and the UAVs
Generally, autonomous flight consists of the following operations:
• Interpreting sensor input and merging the input of multiple sensors
• Communicating with ground stations, satellites, other UAVs and aircraft
• Determining the ideal course to fly for a given mission, based on sensor
input.
• Determining the best maneuvers to perform for a given task
• In some cases, cooperating with other UAVs to accomplish a common
task.
UAVs APPLICATIONS
“Nonetheless, in recent years considerable progress has taken place not only
concerning military but also civil applications. Despite the lack of regulations
governing civil application, experts believe that there is a huge potential market
and use of UAS especially for scientific, research, medical, expeditionary,
humanitarian disaster … security surveillance missions as well as agricultural
and commercial aerial work. Some of them as follow.

6. Mission Applications for Defense
• Perimeter defense for facilities
• Over the hill
• Special forces
• Urban operations
• Forward force protection and patrol
CIVIL APPLICATIONS
• Power Line Monitoring
• Traffic Monitoring
• Search and Rescue
• Flood Assessments
• Storm Assessments
• Bushfire Monitoring
• Forest reserves
• Disaster management
• Oil Field monitoring
Regulations in the use of UAVs
The Missile Technology Control Regime is an informal and voluntary association
of countries which share the goals of non-proliferation of unmanned delivery
systems capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction and which seek to
coordinate national export licensing efforts aimed at preventing their proliferation.
The MTCR was originally established in 1987 by Canada, France, Germany,
Italy, Japan, United Kingdom and the United States. Since that time, the number
of MTCR partners has increased to a total of thirty-four countries, all of which
have equal standing within the Regime.
The MTCR was initiated partly in response to the increasing proliferation of
Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), i.e., Nuclear, Chemical And Biological
weapons. The risk of proliferation of WMD is well recognized as a threat to
international peace and security, including UN Security Council .While concern
has traditionally focused on state proliferators, after the tragic events of 11
September 2001, it became evident that more has to be done to decrease the
risk of WMD delivery systems falling into the hands of terrorist groups and
individuals. One way to counter this threat is to maintain vigilance over the
transfer of missile equipment, material, and related technologies usable for
systems capable of delivering WMD.
As a result, many countries, including all MTCR partners, have chosen voluntarily
to introduce export licensing measures on rocket and other unmanned air vehicle
delivery systems or related equipment, material and technology.

7. Objectives of the MTCR
The aim of the MTCR is to restrict the proliferation of missiles, complete rocket
systems, unmanned air vehicles and related technology for those systems
capable of carrying a 500 kilogram payload at least 300 kilometers, as well as
systems intended for the delivery of Weapons Of Mass Destruction (WMD).
The Regime’s controls are applicable to certain complete rocket systems (to
include ballistic missiles, Space Launch Vehicles (SLVs), and sounding rockets)
and Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) systems (to include cruise missiles, drones,
UAVs, and Remotely Piloted Vehicles (RPVs)). Partners also recognize the
importance of controlling the transfer of missile-related technology without
disrupting legitimate trade and acknowledge the need to strengthen the
objectives of the Regime through cooperation with countries outside the Regime.
How the MTCR achieves its Objectives:
Export Controls: The Regime rests on adherence to common export policy
guidelines applied to an integral common list of controlled items listed in the
MTCR Equipment, Software and Technology Annex. The MTCR does not take
export licensing decisions as a group, rather individual partners are responsible
for implementing the Guidelines and Annex on the basis of sovereign national
discretion and in accordance with national legislation and practice.
MTCR partner countries are keen to encourage all countries to observe the
MTCR Guidelines on transfers of missiles and related technology as a
contribution to common security. A country can choose to adhere to the
Guidelines without being obligated to join the group and a number have done so.
MTCR Partners welcome opportunities to conduct broader dialogue on
proliferation issues with such countries.
Membership
As with all MTCR decisions, the decision to admit a new partner is taken by
consensus. In making membership decisions, partners tend to consider whether
a prospective new member would strengthen international non proliferation
efforts, demonstrates a sustained and sustainable commitment to non
proliferation has a legally based effective export control system that puts into
effect the MTCR Guidelines and procedures and administers and enforces such
controls effectively. The Regime's dialogue with prospective partners is
conducted through the MTCR Chair, visits to capitals by teams comprising of
representatives of four MTCR partners and bilateral exchanges.

8. Meetings:
MTCR partners regularly exchange information about relevant national missile
non-proliferation export licensing issues in the context of the Regime's overall
aims. A Plenary Meeting is held annually and chaired on a rotational basis. In
addition, inter-sessional consultations take place monthly through Point of
Contact (POC) meetings in Paris, while Technical Experts Meetings are held on
an ad hoc basis. The MTCR has no secretariat; distribution of the Regime's
working papers is carried out through a "point of contact" the functions of which
are performed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France.
Dialogue and Outreach:
The MTCR Chair and MTCR partners undertake outreach activities to non-
partners, in order to keep non-partners informed about the group's activities and
to provide practical assistance regarding efforts to prevent the proliferation of
WMD delivery systems. On behalf of the MTCR, the chair pursues a range of
contacts with non-partners, including MTCR-sponsored workshops and seminars
and intensified dialogue concerning the MTCR goals and activities, with the focus
on such topics as export controls, related legislation, transshipment and
enforcement.
The Regime's documents include the MTCR Guidelines and the Equipment,
Software and Technology Annex. The Guidelines define the purpose of the
MTCR and provide the overall structure and rules to guide the member countries
and those adhering unilaterally to the Guidelines. The Equipment, Software and
Technology Annex is designed to assist in implementing export controls on
MTCR Annex items. The Annex is divided into "Category I" and "Category II"
items. It includes a broad range of equipment and technology, both military and
dual-use that are relevant to missile development, production, and operation.
Partner countries exercise restraint in the consideration of all transfers of items
contained in the Annex. All such transfers are considered on a case by case
basis.
Greatest restraint is applied to what are known as Category I items. These items
include complete rocket systems (including ballistic missiles, space launch
vehicles and sounding rockets) and Unmanned Air Vehicle systems (including
cruise missiles systems, target and reconnaissance drones) with capabilities
exceeding a 300km/500kg range/payload threshold; production facilities for such
systems; and major sub-systems including rocket stages, re-entry vehicles,
rocket engines, guidance systems and warhead mechanisms.
The remainder of the annex is regarded as Category II, which includes complete
rocket systems (including ballistic missiles systems, space launch vehicles and
sounding rockets) and Unmanned Air Vehicles (including cruise missile systems,

9. target drones, and reconnaissance drones) not covered in item I, capable of a
maximum range equal to or greater than, 300km. Also included are a wide range
of equipment, material, and technologies, most of which have uses other than for
missiles capable of delivering WMD. While still agreeing to exercise restraint,
partners have greater flexibility in the treatment of Category II transfer
applications.
The MTCR Guidelines specifically state that the Regime is "not designed to
impede national space programs or international cooperation in such programs
as long as such programs could not contribute to delivery systems for weapons
of mass destruction." MTCR partners are careful with SLV equipment and
technology transfers, however, since the technology used in an SLV is virtually
identical to that used in a ballistic missile, which poses genuine potential for
missile proliferation.
MTCR and Trade
Export Licenses:
Export licenses are not banned, but efforts to prevent transfers contributing to
delivery systems for weapons of mass destruction. MTCR controls are not
intended to impede peaceful aerospace programmes or international cooperation
in such programmes, as long as these programmes could not be used to develop
delivery systems for WMD. MTCR controls are also not designed to restrict
access to technologies necessary for peaceful economic development. The
MTCR Guidelines help to build confidence among suppliers that they can provide
access to technology without such technology being diverted to WMD delivery
system programmes.
End-user Undertaking
MTCR partners have agreed that, in a manner consistent with their national laws
and practices and when relevant under the MTCR Guidelines and other existing
undertakings, partner countries should obtain the following undertakings before
the transfer of a controlled item:
a statement from the end user specifying the use and end use location of the
proposed transfer, if necessary accompanied by documents explaining its
business activities and organization; an assurance explicitly stating that the
proposed transfers will not be used for any activities related to the development
or production of delivery systems for WMD; and Where possible and if deemed
necessary, an assurance that a post shipment inspection may be made by the
exporter or the exporting government.
Partners have also agreed that partner countries should obtain assurances that
their consent will be secured, in a manner consistent with their national law and

10. practices, prior to any retransfer to a third country of the equipment, material or
related technology or any replica thereof.
Inter-partner Trade:
MTCR partners have explicitly affirmed the principle that membership in the
MTCR does not involve an entitlement to obtain technology from another partner
and no obligation to supply it. Partners are expected, just as in such trade
between partners and non partners, to exercise appropriate accountability and
restraint in inter partner trade.
Adherence to MTCR Guidelines & Annex by Non-Members: MTCR partner
countries are keen to encourage all countries to observe the MTCR Guidelines
on transfers of missiles and related technology as a contribution to common
security. A country can choose to adhere to the Guidelines without being obliged
to join the group and a number have done so. MTCR and its members welcome
opportunities to conduct technical exchanges and broader dialogues on
proliferation issues with such countries.
Future Regulations
Two major government/industry groups - one in the US and the other in Europe -
are developing UAV policy recommendations. In the US, this is being undertaken
by RTCA Special Committee (SC) 203, for generic Unmanned Aircraft Systems
(UAS which includes airborne and ground elements), Command, Control and
Communications (C3) and Detect, Sense and Avoid (DSA) technologies.
The European Civil Aviation Equipment (EUROCAE) organization is a similar
government/industry body, which established its Working Group (WG) 73, to
review UAV operational aspects in European airspace. WG-73 has parallel
objectives to RTCA's SC-203, and both organizations are committed to
harmonize their outputs.
Until very recently the FAA was considering a long term (15 year), three stage
timeframe. Each step of the plan would have resulted in a Special Federal
Aviation Regulation (SFAR). The first would have been SFAR -01 establishing a
new visual flight rules (VFR)-based regime to replace the current Certificate of
Authorization (COA) procedure. SFAR-01 will be issued for public comment by
2007. It was intended to set up rules for line of sight operation of UAVs. SFAR-02
was planned to be finished by 2013. SFAR-02 would have opened up the US
NAS but it awaited the availability of certified sense and avoids technologies.
SFAR-03, expected by 2020, will produce a complete and open environment with
no restrictions in the US NAS for UAV operations. The FAA has modified this
approach, currently now considering this three step process somewhat simplistic.

11. Recommendations:
• The MTCR regulations pertaining to the UAVs can be made liberal with
respective to the civil applications. As developing nations can adhere to
the latest technology.
• ICAO has to develop the universal standards for the airworthiness, flying
rules, units and measurements and other aspects equal to the pilot
aircraft.
• UAVs have to equipped with global information, with respect to the
aeronautical charts.
• UAVs have to be uploaded with the bilateral treaty as the passenger and
cargo aircrafts has to cross nations.
• Accurate space management technique has to be established. Space
mechanism such as tunnel techniques can be used.
• UAVs have to be programmed in such a way that in the worst case
scenario they have to divert themselves to sparsely populated regions.
• Majority of the accidents happened because of the improper
communication between the pilot and ATC. But in the case of UAV the
communication can be converted into digital hence the communication will
be precise and accurate. With precise communication we can not only
decrease the rate of accidents but can increase the turn around
performance as well.

12. Conclusion:
The UAV can fly day-after-day, night after night, in dangerous weather
conditions, typical endurance up to 50 hours, in an accurate flight path, controlled
by a computer. Network Centric Approach in which data from each UAV in flight
updates a server computer in real time, allowing users to view the real time
information. It costs: less to buy, to fly, to operate, to land and to dispose of than
a piloted plane The UAV is more environmentally and user friendly.
Presently pilot less passenger aircraft remains a dream for various reasons,
prime being the safety. In a piloted aircraft during the emergency situation such
as total system failure, a human brain which can thing rationally is the last resort.
One such example for rational thinking is Hudson River landing. Making
passengers on board on an aircraft with out a pilot needs more sophisticated
technology, utmost reliability, number redundancy levels, fail safe design etc. But
with a proper know-how, troubles like this can be nullified. Hence MTCR
regulations can be liberalized in transfer of technology to other nations for the
better development of new innovations in the civil applications.
“Nobody fly for a thousand years!” Wilber Wright, 1901, Fit of Despair. Two
years later along with his brother kicked off the revolution in aviation. Thou UAV
in civil application remain hard ship today, the conspicuous solution is hidden by
the time. Research and development in many countries are fast track to make
this dream into reality and more importantly to tap the potential in the commercial
market.
For this reason Instead of focusing on vehicle reliability requirements which
severely limit present-day experimentation and development of UAVs, efforts
which focus on operational strategies allow for applications of the technology to
be explored while the systems continue to grow more reliable. However before
that, local and national government should recognize civil UAVs not only as a
new commercial industry of great potential, but also as a latent threat to domestic
security for which regulations should be established sooner rather than later.

13. References:
Aerosonde corporate site www.aerosonde.com
Crossbow Technologies www.xbow.com
UAV directory www.airlineupdate.com/user_data/uav/uav.htm
Earth mapping by Google www.earth.google.com
Federation of American www.fas.org/irp/program/collect/uav.htm
Scientists
Flight International magazine www.flightinternational.com
Israeli Aircraft Industries www.iai.co.il
Model engine corporation of www.mecoa.com
America
Model aeronautics site www.modelaircraft.org
Model planes and UAVs www.miniplanes.net
Model shop www.towerhobbies.com
National Geophysical Data www.ngdc.noaa.gov
Center
Nellis Air Force Base, USA www.nellis.af.mil
Pulse jets www.airtoi.com
RCV Engines www.rcvengines.com
Sander Geophysical Limited www.sgl.com
Silvertone Electronics www.silvertone.com.au
Small gas turbines www.amtjets.com
Small rockets www.aerotech-rocketry.com
Small rockets www.missileworks.com
TAM 5 and Maynard Hill www.tam.plannet21.com
UAV applications www.uav-applications.org
UAV components www.cloudcaptech.com
UAV components www.micropilot.com
Wankel engines for UAV use www.uavenginesltd.co.uk/