UAS Demand Generation Using Subject Matter Expert Interviews and Socio-economic Analysis

摘要

Two approaches employed in developing traffic demand estimates for nineteen civilian and commercial applications ("missions") of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are described in this paper. The missions were sourced from RTCA's DO-320 report and selected using two criteria: 1) UAS flights are operated within continental US (CONUS), and 2) the flights present the maximum potential for interaction with commercial airline traffic in CONUS. The first approach used input from subject matter experts (SMEs) via email and phone interviews to gather information on the state-of-the-art in conducting the missions, operationg costs, constraints involved, and regulatory, operational and economic challenges pertaining to the use of UAS. Information obtained from survey of scholarly literature and other publicly available data sources was used in conjunction with SME input. The second approach involved socio-economic analysis using the Transportation System Analysis Model (TSAM), and relied on socio-economic data such as population census, demographic distribution and income distribution. The paper also presents a Java-based interactive computer tool to help users develop tailored traffic data from the demand estimates, using criteria such as geographic area of operation of UAS flights, cruise altitude, cruise speed and flight duration.