João Batista Camargo

Guidelines for the Integration of Autonomous UAS into the Global ATM

The growing social and economic interest in new unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) applications demands that UASs operate beyond the segregated airspace they are currently able to fly. However, UAS operations in non-segregated airspace should be regulated by aeronautical authorities before UASs can share airspace with manned aircraft. It has been a challenge for regulatory authorities to define these regulations because they do not understand the topic well. In addition, there is no consensus in the academic community regarding UAS concepts, such as taxonomy and features. This study proposes guidelines that could support UAS regulations for the future integration of autonomous UASs into the Global Air Traffic Management System (GATM). These guidelines are based on three viewpoints: the aircraft, the piloting autonomous system (PAS) and the integration of autonomous UASs into non-segregated airspace. We recommend that the UAS concept should be based on genuine aeronautical precepts, which would be directly applied, without terminology or conceptual adaptations, for the integration of these aircraft into airspace according to the GATM paradigm.

Quantitative analysis methodology in safety-critical microprocessor applications

Abstract In this paper, a quantitative methodology to be considered in safety-critical microprocessor applications is proposed. Some important aspects that must be considered in safety analysis work are discussed. We discuss how to evaluate the dangerous detectable and undetectable system failure rates in a single microprocessor board and the mean time to unsafe failure (MTTUF) of a critical system. The proposed methodology is finally applied to a practical system which employs a triple modular redundancy (TMR) architecture. The results obtained by employing this methodology are extremely relevant, especially to those aspects related to the impact of the computational blocks in the final safety integrity level (SIL) of a critical system. In this paper, we also consider how the software can influence the evaluation of the fault cover factor, another important aspect in safety analysis work.

Safety and Security in Critical Applications and in Information Systems ¿ a Comparative Study

In this paper a comparative study is made between Safety-Critical Applications and Information Systems. These kinds of systems have the need for protection, each against specific kinds of problems. In both types of applications, it is necessary to adopt measures to assure their perfect operation, safety and security, preventing dangerous situations. The main concepts of these two kinds of applications are presented and compared. The techniques to guarantee systems safety and security are also considered. The purpose of this paper is to show that it is possible to combine those techniques, forming a unique set for safety and security guarantee.

An Approach to Assess the Safety of ADS-B-based Unmanned Aerial Systems: Data Integrity as a Safety Issue

The increasing demand for the use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in various social and economic applications has pressed aviation authorities to draw up rules and regulations in order to allow such aircraft to fly in non-segregated airspace. However, issues related to the safety of air traffic operations arise when considering the possibility of both manned and unmanned aircraft coexisting. Thus, surveillance plays a key role in monitoring and controlling air traffic in new scenarios. The positional information provided by the Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast (ADS-B), originally designed to improve situational awareness for pilots and support controllers in air traffic management, interacts with the Sense and Avoid Systems (S&AS) of the UAS in order to avoid exposure to events of loss of minima separation distances and collisions. As positional information is essential to UASs control systems operation, parameters such as accuracy and integrity reflect the correctness and trustworthiness of this information. This paper presents a qualitative approach to assess safety when using ADS-B systems integrated with UASs in aeronautical operations considering the influence of data integrity as a safety-related parameter. In addition, the possibility of using a methodology previously applied on manned systems for assessing safety on UASs is discussed. A new testing platform (PIpE-SEC) is presented as a possible approach for this safety evaluation.

Using Data Integrity as an Improvement Characteristic to Assess the Safety of ADS-B-based Systems

The increasing demand for the densification of the national airspace in various social and economic applications have pressed aviation authorities to reduce aircraft separation, allowing more efficient operations in Air Traffic Management (ATM) in a given airspace. However, issues related to the safety of air traffic operations arise when considering the possibility of reducing aircraft separation. Surveillance plays a key role in monitoring and controlling air traffic in new scenarios in which a better flight performance is required. Accuracy of positional information provided by the Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast (ADS-B), originally designed to improve situational awareness for pilots and support controllers in air traffic management, is essential in order to avoid exposure to incidents and accidents such as events of loss of separation (AIRPROX) and collisions for new Global ATM paradigm. This paper presents a qualitative approach to assess safety when using ADS-B systems considering its data integrity as a relevant factor in aeronautical systems and operations for different scenarios. A testing platform -- the Integrated Platform for Testing Critical Embedded Systems (PIpE-SEC) -- is also presented as a possible solution for this safety evaluation.

An approach to assess the safety of ADS-B based unmanned aerial systems

The increasing demand for the use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in various social and economic applications have pressed aviation authorities to draw up rules and regulations that permit the release of such aircraft in non-segregated airspace. However, issues related to the safety of air traffic operations arise when considering the possibility of coexistence of manned and unmanned aircraft simultaneously. Thus, surveillance plays a key role in monitoring and controlling air traffic in new scenarios. The positional information provided by the Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast (ADS-B), originally designed to improve situational awareness for pilots and support controllers in air traffic management, interacts with the Sense and Avoid Systems (S&AS) of the UAS in order to avoid exposure to events of loss of separation (AIRPROX) and collisions. This paper presents a qualitative approach to assess safety when using ADS-B systems integrated with UASs in aeronautical operations. In addition, the possibility of using a methodology previously applied on manned systems for assessing safety on UASs is discussed. A new testing platform (PIpE-SEC) is presented as a possible solution for this safety evaluation.

The Safety Analysis Case in the São Paulo Metro

The purpose of this paper is to present the experience acquired with the studies about Safety Analysis, realised for “Companhia do Metropolitano de Sao Paulo”, the company that manager the Metro system of Sao Paulo City, focusing the signalling and control systems of the metro net.

Concerns on the Differences Between AI and System Safety Mindsets Impacting Autonomous Vehicles Safety

The inflection point in the development of some core technologies enabled the Autonomous Vehicles (AV). The unprecedented growth rate in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) capabilities, focusing only on AVs, is expected to shift the transportation paradigm and bring relevant benefits to the society, such as accidents reduction. However, recent AVs accidents resulted in life losses. This paper presents a viewpoint discussion based on findings from a preliminary exploratory literature review. It was identified an important misalignment between AI and Safety research communities regarding the impact of AI on the safety risks in AV. This paper promotes this discussion, raises concerns on the potential consequences and suggests research topics to reduce the differences between AI and system safety mindsets.

An airspace capacity-based safety assessment model considering UAS integration

Complexity is a measure of the difficulty that a particular air traffic situation represents to Air Traffic Controller (ATCo). This measure impacts on ATCo workload, which is an important factor for defining airspace capacity. This paper presents an evaluation of the impact of the insertion of Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) on safety levels within a non-segregated airspace based on the calculation of airspace capacity. The experiments consider a sector of a complex Terminal Control Area (TMA) as well as failures of command and control (C2) link of RPA. This research considers different scenarios, varying the presence of RPA (0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50%) in the sample, applying contingency procedures in the case that the C2 link is lost. Finally, the proposed experiments showed that, considering the additional activities related to RPA operation, the contingency operation land at nearest appropriate designated landing site presents the most significant impact.

A Practical Analytical Approach to Increase Confidence in PLD-Based Systems Safety Analysis

The use of programmable logic devices (PLDs) in safety-critical systems has meaningfully increased over the past years, driven by advantages such as reduced development costs and time-to-market. Despite such increasing use, current standards that support the development of safety-critical systems have still not appropriately addressed how to certificate PLD-based systems. Recent bibliography on the use of PLDs in safety-critical systems has not filled this gap as well, reinforcing the need for a safety analysis methodology for PLD-based safety-critical systems. This paper proposes an extension of the practical analytical approach presented in 2015 by Vismari et al., inserting the safety analysis of PLDs into a broader system safety analysis process. The PLD safety analysis is based on the code inspection of the hardware description source code. It checks for inappropriate coding practices and aids in minimizing the exposure of the system to an unsafe state due to an inadequate PLD design. A case study based on the authors’ experience by applying the proposed approach in real independent safety analysis projects of safety-critical systems, together with its results, is then presented. Based on such results, the proposed approach is deemed appropriate for the safety analysis of PLD-based safety critical systems, supporting its use in a system certification context.