Applications of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS): A Delphi Study Projecting Future UAS Missions and Relevant Challenges

Abstract

Over recent decades, the world has experienced a growing demand for and reliance upon unmanned aerial systems (UAS) to perform a broad spectrum of applications to include military operations such as surveillance/reconnaissance and strike/attack. As UAS technology matures and capabilities expand, especially with respect to increased autonomy, acquisition professionals and operational decision makers must determine how best to incorporate advanced capabilities into existing and emerging mission areas. This research seeks to predict which autonomous UAS capabilities are most likely to emerge over the next 20 years as well as the key challenges for implementation for each capability. Employing the Delphi method and relying on subject matter experts from operations, acquisitions and academia, future autonomous UAS mission areas and the corresponding level of autonomy are forecasted. The study finds consensus for a broad range of increased UAS capabilities with ever increasing levels of autonomy, but found the most promising areas for research and development to include intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) mission areas and sense and avoid and data link technologies.

Optimization of UAV structure and evaluation of vibrational and fatigue characteristics through simulation studies

“…Sigala et al apply the Delphi approach and rely on specialists in the field of business, commerce and academics. Future autonomous UAS missions will have great impact in defense and disaster services [5]. Esakki et al [6] developed a unitary Quadrotor Chassis design, which minimizes assembly time.…”

An Embedded Platform for Positioning and Obstacle Detection for Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

“…Flexibility, safety, customizability, high mobility and increasingly low costs, together with efforts in the fields of innovative materials, energy storage, sensors, imaging devices, electronics and computer science, have resulted in the last decade in a phenomenal development of consumer-grade and professional-grade semi-autonomous (Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems, RPAS) or autonomous aerial vehicles (Unmanned Aircraft Systems, UAS), as well as remotely operated vehicles for ground and sea applications (terrestrial rovers, unmanned ships, underwater drones) [1][2][3]. Research on UASs has developed very rapidly due to the wide number of military and civilian applications [4][5][6][7], and to the new challenges presented by different mission scenarios and flight profiles, such as low-elevation flights, hovering, high-dynamic maneuvers, site revisiting, etc. In particular, rotary-wing UASs have been shown to benefit with regards to easier landing and takeoff, improved maneuverability, and capabilities of infrastructure inspection or the monitoring of small areas.…”

An Annular Wing VTOL UAV: Flight Dynamics and Control

“…Since the 1950s, such vehicles have been of interest primarily for defense applications, where special environmental requirements for takeoff and landing are alleviated, while still allowing for efficient high-speed flight [2]. With the advent of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), there has been renewed interest in hybrid VTOL vehicles, particularly for various civilian applications such as surveillance [3], disaster management [4], and package delivery [5].…”