Terry Martin

Terminal airspace modelling for unmanned aircraft systems integration

This paper considers the problem of integrating unmanned aircraft into low altitude airspace above urban environments, including major terminal areas and helicopter landing sites. A simple set of data-driven modelling techniques are used to explore, visualise and assess existing air traffic in a manner more informative to the unmanned aircraft community. First, low altitude air traffic data sets (position reports) are analysed with respect to existing exclusion/no-fly zones. Second, an alternative geometric approach to defining and comparing various exclusion zones is derived based on set theory. The analysis is applied to a region of south-east Queensland, Australia including Brisbane International Airport and three helicopter landing areas. The results challenge some of the current unmanned aircraft regulations, and should help to motivate a more rigorous scientific approach to safely integrate unmanned aircraft.

Low-level air traffic modelling for unmanned aircraft integration

This paper presents a new data-driven air traffic modelling and analysis technique that can support operational risk analysis for unmanned aircraft integration. The proposed technique exploits advances in computer vision to autonomously extract and analyse the spatial distribution of arbitrary traffic densities, which can provide the foundation for quantitative and tailored risk assessments. The framework can manage large volumes of air traffic data at very low computational cost, and can be customised for other traffic analysis tasks. This unique approach represents a more natural way to process and visualise air traffic data for use by unmanned aircraft operators, regulators and air navigation service providers considering future airspace environments.