EUROCAE has announced the availability of ED-348: draft guidelines for the use of multi-GNSS solutions for uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) – medium risk.
Between 2019 and 2022, the SG-6 working group developed ED-301: guidelines for the use of multi-GNSS solutions for UAS – Specific Category – low risk SAIL I and II to support the use of GNSS and showing of compliance with SORA OSO#13 for SAIL I and II UAS operations.
SORA OSO#13 is also applicable to higher SAIL operations in the Specific Category but with different levels of assurance which may take the form of a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with external GNSS service providers.
This changes the approach with respect to low risk operations, so a new standard is to be defined instead of evolving ED-301.
“When discussing the use of GNSS in UAS operations, the assessment cannot be limited to GNSS as an external service only, but should consider other critical aspects such as system architecture, vulnerabilities, performance analysis, receiver design or integration, among other elements,” EUROCAE said.
Further, since the requirements for medium-risk operations are more demanding than for low-risk operations, the scope of the new document not only covers compliance with OSO#13 requirements, where GNSS is considered an external service to support UAS operations, but also considers other relevant SORA OSOs where GNSS plays a relevant role.
Based on this information, these guidelines cover the following OSOs in regard to GNSS support SAIL III operations:
OSO#05: UAS is designed considering system safety and reliability.
OSO#08: Operational procedures are defined, validated and adhered to.
OSO#13: External services supporting UAS operations are adequate to the operation.
OSO#23: Environmental conditions for safe operations are defined, measurable and adhered to.
OSO#24: UAS is designed and qualified to operate under adverse environmental conditions.
The document does not provide guidance on fulfilling requirements on SORA 2.5 Cyber Safety Extension Annex [RD.7], since this Annex has not been adopted by EASA into the European Regulatory Framework. .
Members are invited to review the proposed draft on the EUROCAE Workspace and complete the comment form. Non-member of EUROCAE may register here and click on “Access only to Open Consultation”.
Responses are required by February 2, 2026.
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