The team followed a three-step approach in order to identify the criteria important to the UAS community and develop a methodology for analyzing the adequacy of loss of link procedures:
- Qualitative
In order to determine the important elements of a UAS loss of link situation, the team conducted interviews with relevant UAS stakeholders. The team met with the following Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) available at MITRE:- Global Hawk UAS pilot
- Air Traffic Control (ATC) human-in-the-loop experiment analyst
- UAS loss of link data analyst
- Lead developer of automated ATC tool
- Traffic flow management lead architect
- Lead UAS Architect
- Absolute Binary
The team determined from discussions with the sponsor and SMEs that a loss of link procedure may be eliminated because it does or does not include a certain element involved or does not meet a specific qualification. Using certain thresholds that must be met by a procedure, the list of procedures can be narrowed. - Analytical
The team developed and identified simulations that allow the analysis of individual procedures based on specific criteria:- UA predictability
- ATC workload