Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) represent a new paradigm for commercial aviation. Operated remotely, in some cases 'beyond visual line of sight' (BVLOS) of the unmanned aircraft vehicle (UAV), the pilot no longer has the first person perspective of being in the cockpit. Significant hurdles remain for BVLOS operations to ensure safe operation in a complex environment involving other aircraft and various types of airspace. This paper describes an infrastructure for BVLOS UAS operations that uses a network of low earth orbit satellites. This infrastructure supports both cooperative surveillance as well as communications for control of the UAV. This paper also evaluates the cost, extensibility, resilience and security aspects of this approach and identify elements that need further investigation and research. The proposed environment is patterned after the Global Position System and Wide Area Augmentation System used for aviation navigation purposes today, supplemented by additional capabilities specific to the demands of UAS. Intelligence must be built into the system to ensure that timely control action is implemented to prevent safety and security hazard conditions from propagation. Towards this end, it is imperative that the UAS has the capability to monitor the different system elements of the UAS. The paper will explore different technologies in the design and selection of sensors that are cost effective and accurate to provide the UAS operators and air traffic controllers (for UAS operations in controlled airspace) data necessary to monitor flight and predict trajectories. The option to augment this infrastructure with existing commercial cell tower technology is also considered to develop a framework to build in resiliency and security into the control and design of UAS for different uses.
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