A Demonstration of Reliability and Certification Standards for Unmanned Aircraft System Control Links

Abstract

As the desire to integrate Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) more fully into the National Airspace System (NAS), significant concerns regarding safety remain. One concern is the possibility of an air vehicle losing link with the controller and causing harm to people on the ground or aboard other aircraft. Since a data link is not a critical component for manned aircraft, the industry lacks standards for such a system. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how minimum reliability standards for UAS links can be established using a Target Level of Safety (TLS) approach...