Verification and Validation Considerations for UAS Test Sites to Facilitate Civil Certification of Remotely Piloted Aircraft

摘要

The conceptual path to certification of Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) into the National Airspace System (NAS) requires substantiation via acceptable and relevant means of compliance. As the maturity of technologies and systems grows from concept to field-proven, verification and validation are key activities to be performed. Test sites offer the closest environment to the targeted RPA operations; as such, careful considerations should be given to the collected data so that they can support the RPA manufacturers' desired approach to claim certification credit based on the collected data, in service or during testing. This paper discusses qualitative criteria to include in the verification and validation strategy to sustain safety risk management and safety assurance through the data collection process.