Like manned aircraft, UAVs need the capability to timely detect and avoid other traffic. In case of a fully autonomous detect, sense and avoid system, every falsely identified threat will cause an unnecessary avoidance maneuver. Furthermore, information that is not explicitly available to the avoidance function cannot be taken into account when computing a maneuver. Given a situation where the time to conflict provides sufficient margin, involving the human operator in the detect, sense and avoid cycle can mitigate these issues. With the appropriate level of system authority, it is possible to combine collision avoidance function availability and continuity (e.g. in case of a control link failure) with the benefits that can be obtained from operator involvement. This paper discusses the integration of conflict probing data into a cockpit display of traffic information and into an enhanced/synthetic vision primary flight display. The resulting user interface concept is intended to support the operator in the assessment of the traffic situation, providing an adequate understanding of the impact of maneuvering on the future separation with traffic. Following this, the design of an experiment to explore the impact of the conflict probes on conflict assessment and maneuvering is presented. Results from an initial evaluation show an improvement in the assessment of the traffic situation, resulting in more effective and efficient conflict resolution maneuvers, and less unwarranted maneuvers.

One of the biggest challenges in the development of detect, sense and avoid systems is to achieve both an extremely low missed detection probability and an acceptable false alarm rate. In case of a fully autonomous system, every falsely identified threat will cause an unnecessary avoidance maneuver. In this paper, a concept is described that combines the requirement of collision avoidance function availability and continuity (e.g. in case of a control link failure) with the benefits from operator involvement in the detect, sense and avoid cycle for those situations where the time to conflict provides a sufficient margin. When involving the human operator, it must be ensured that the positive effects of a warranted contribution outweigh the negative effects of an unwarranted one. A second challenge when involving the operator is to find the right balance between system-and operator authority. This paper starts with an identification and analysis of opportunities and constraints. The requirement of function availability in case of a control link failure is translated into a range of possible authority levels for the detect, sense and avoid functions. Based on the results, a concept for operator involvement is proposed and it is illustrated how the level of system authority affects the role of the operator. From an analysis of earlier work in the area of conflict prediction, assessment and resolution, conflict probing is identified as a means to support the operator in determining, selecting and/or assessing maneuvers. To explore the potential of the probing concept, a multi-dimensional conflict probe has been integrated into a cockpit display of traffic information and a head-up display. Results from an initial evaluation show an improvement in the assessment of the traffic situation, resulting in more effective and efficient conflict resolution maneuvers and less unwarranted maneuvers.

To maintain separation with other traffic, terrain, threats and special use airspace independent of control link availability, UAVs require the capability of autonomous conflict detection and resolution. In previous research it has been illustrated how conflict probing provides the basis for a framework to integrate the results from multiple conflict prediction functions and how conflict probing can be used to find two-dimensional resolution maneuvers.Conflict resolution should be able to use the full performance capabilities of the UAV, rather than command standard resolution maneuvers designed to accommodate the worst performing class of UAVs. The available 3D space for conflict resolution can be maximized by combining vertical and lateral maneuvers. This requires integrated control authority allocation and envelope protection functionality, taking into account the effect of lateral maneuvering on the vertical performance and load factor margin. The maximum safe maneuvering space should also utilize the ability to convert the available speed margin relative to V min or V max (excess kinetic energy) into altitude (potential energy). For humans it is almost impossible to maximize the maneuvering performance in this way without violating one or more maneuvering constraints such as angle of attack, stall speed, load factor and bank angle.The goal of the current research is to develop an autonomous conflict resolution system which uses (well) balanced lateral and vertical maneuver authorities, and if needed, can safely utilize the most aggressive possible vehicle maneuver capability. This paper discusses an approach to provide integrated vertical and lateral airplane maneuver authority allocation and envelope protection functions. These functions have been implemented in the Total Energy Control System / Total Heading Control System (TECS/THCS) design to generate example time responses of single and combined vertical and lateral maneuvers, including energy exchange ("zoom") maneuvers. The methodology also provides for 3D end-state prediction and display on an enhanced SVS PFD. It is also illustrated how information about the maximum safe maneuvering authority is integrated into the conflict prevention/resolution function.

In the current generation electronic primary flight displays, all variables are scaled and displayed without regard to the inherent relationship between airplane flight path and speed related variables, and without regard how the controls of thrust and elevator should be used. This leaves the pilot to solely rely on his experience and skills to realize the desired state of aircraft speed and flight path. The goal of the ecological Energy Management Primary Flight Display, is to make constraints and complex relationships between various flight dynamics display variables visible and directly actionable to the pilot. In this context, the energy domain is identified as a means to normalize and visualize the relationships between speed and altitude targets, acceleration, vertical speed and flight path angle and to bring out control guidance cues for the efficient use of elevator and throttle control. The feasibility of such an ecological primary flight display is addressed through an analysis of the scaling dependencies. Following an overview of the design issues and required design decisions, the practicality is addressed through an example implementation and a comparison with existing display formats and design recommendations. Finally, recommendations for research are provided to assess the suitability and effectiveness of such a display in improving pilot control performance and workload.

Earlier research has explored the potential of aircraft-based route conformance monitoring for airport navigation. In this research, the routeconformance monitoring function was hosted on an experimental Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) and evaluated in a simulated operation. A datalink was used to load the route from Air Traffic Control (ATC). The current research addresses the design, integration and evaluation of a manual input option and the comparison with a previously developed voice input option. Results suggest that with the manual input option it is possible to enter the route during its reception (i.e. instructions from ATC via R/T) and perform the readback based on the data presented on the EFB. This way, the integrity of the route used by the conformance-monitoring function is assessed by ATC.