ASPECTS – A Solution to Airport Secure Perimeter Control against sUAS

Small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS, also known as drones) are becoming increasingly popular among hobbyists, and with this popularity there comes the risk of a runway incursion between a commercial aircraft and sUAS around airports. Despite a 5-mile safe airspace designated by the FAA, there are increasing reports of close encounters between sUAS and manned aircraft as well as full on collisions. To keep airports safe and secure, this research proposes to create a module, called the Airport Secure Perimeter Control System (ASPECTS), that can be attached to every hobbyist's sUAS for the purpose of notification and prevention. Upon startup, the module installed on the sUAS connects to a database containing the central coordinates of every airport in the United States. A 5-mile critical radius as well as an additional one-mile buffer region is established around each point. The buffer region is created in order to inform the user that he or she is approaching a safe airspace and needs to take corrective action. The one-mile radius was chosen to be sufficiently large enough to give the user time to react after receiving a warning message. If the user breaches the 5-mile safe region, autopilot software takes over the manual controls, and the sUAS is landed in a controlled manner. As the sUAS is being landed, the user still has lateral control of the vehicle in order to avoid any potential hazards below it. Upon landing and disarming the operator and the airport receive messages that a sUAS has entered the 5-mile critical space, and has been landed via autopilot software. To demonstrate the proposed design, a prototype was developed that successfully implemented this system, and was formally tested within a controlled environment.

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• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AV090 Standing Committee on Aviation Security and Emergency Management. Alternate title: ASPECTS: Solution to Airport Secure Perimeter Control Against Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Boselli, Chris
  • Danis, Jason
  • McQueen, Sandra
  • Breger, Alex
  • Jiang, Tao
  • Looze, Douglas
  • Ni, Daiheng
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 96th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2017-1-8 to 2017-1-12
• Date: 2017

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 15p
• Monograph Title: TRB 96th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Airports; Airspace (Law); Aviation safety; Drones; Prototypes; Security; Software; Vehicle design; Warning devices
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Design; Safety and Human Factors; Security and Emergencies; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01622486
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 17-02607
• Files: PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Jan 17 2017 9:35AM