Standards organisation ASTM International’s autonomy design and operations in aviation administrative committee (AC377) has published a new white paper on drone airworthiness.
The document specifically addresses the design standards for intrinsic characteristics of the aircraft, such as tail volume, stability, control authority, etc. It does not address operational and/or personnel certification regulations.
This white paper emphasizes that airworthiness standards can be satisfied regardless of where or how functions are performed. The aircraft must consistently demonstrate safe, predictable performance, whether by a human or by automated systems. This approach supports compliance with regulations such as the US Federal Aviation Administration 14 CFR Part 21 and its associated standards, while setting the stage for future integration of increasingly autonomous systems.
ASTM asserts that by applying a safety-intent lens to existing Part 23 regulations, they can be applied – without rulemaking – to a wide variety of uncrewed aircraft, though special conditions may be warranted in some cases. “This is important given the pace at which type design certification projects for uncrewed aircraft with ever-increasing extents of automation and autonomy are emerging and maturing,” the paper states.
“While the industry and the enabling technologies are still new enough that they are not ready for a ‘one size fits all’ requirements set, widely agreed upon safety-intent interpretations of the paragraphs highlighted in the Appendix would be valuable,” the document continues. “Additionally, practices and guides for functional allocations and system-safety analyses for uncrewed aircraft that appropriately capture the safety implications of reducing or removing reversionary modes and taking human pilots out of the loop should continue to be developed, applied, and improved.”
ASTM says further work will be needed to streamline the determination that the certified system functionality of the aircraft can satisfy the operational rules. “Currently, this is covered within the airworthiness certification demonstration that intended functions perform as stated and a subsequent operational approval process. The development of a requirements set that more explicitly connects the intended functions list to the necessary operational capabilities, and how to implement such a set of requirements within the existing landscape, is left as an exercise for future work.”
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