Directions of use of unmanned aerial vehicles at the airports

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Directions of use of unmanned aerial vehicles at the airports

Surkova Kateryna, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor, Head of Physical and Mathematical Disciplines an Use of Information Technologies in Aviation Systems Department, Lomakina Maryna, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Assistant Professor of Professional and Aviation Language Training Department, Danylko Oksana, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor of Physical and Mathematical Disciplines an Use of Information Technologies in Aviation Systems Department, Flight Academy of the National Aviation University

Summary

Key words: unmanned aerial vehicles, airport activity, areas of use, research, trial, practice, expert assessments.

Introduction

Currently, there is a rapid development of the service provision by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in various fields of practical activity: security monitoring; transportation of small-sized cargo; visual, spectral and thermal inspection of structures; monitoring of linear network infrastructure (railway tracks, power lines and pipelines, etc.); photography and mapping; introduction of agricultural fertilizers and chemicals; atmospheric research, etc.

In the course of the world practices analysis, it can be noted that the use of UAVs in the airfield area is also dynamically developing, they allow to solve many systemic problems related to air navigation, radio technical maintenance, aerial photography, aviation safety, etc. In Ukraine, the UAVs use at the airports is an urgent issue and requires the identification of such use areas and the development of a model for the use of UAVs at the airports, which is aimed at systematizing the process of implementing the chosen direction.

The goal of the work

To single out promising directions for the UAVs use at the airports by analyzing and summarizing information from various sources, expertly justifying the identified directions.

Results and discussion

When performing various types of activities (airfield support; electro-lighting support; radio technical support and aviation telecommunications; aviation security support; passenger, baggage, mail and cargo service support; search and rescue support; meteorological support, etc. [1]) at the airport there are many problems of an organizational, technical and financial nature. Such problems can be solved by using UAVs.

In order to identify promising directions for the UAVs use at the airports, considerable work has been carried out on the analysis and summarization of information from various sources, this is information from the websites of well- known airports, aviation organizations, drone companies, websites of scientific institutions, information from scientific research on the subject of drones. In addition, the regulatory and legal support for UAVs flights and related to airport activities has been analyzed.

As a result of the study, a list of promising directions for the UAVs use at the airports has been formed:

1. Checking the quality of airfield equipment (radio engineering, light signaling, etc.).

2. Digital scanning of the working area (runways, taxiways, parking places, etc.).

3. Aerial photography, mapping, creating a three-dimensional map.

4. Searching for possible obstacles and the cleanliness of the glide path at the airports.

5. Airport perimeter control.

6. Control of objects that attract birds and pose a danger to aircraft.

7. Delivery of goods to airport facilities.

8. Removal of snow and ice on runways by spraying chemical reagents.

9. Monitoring the condition of airport buildings.

10. Meteorological measurements and research.

11. Control of emergency situations at the airport.

12. Inspection of structural integrity of aircraft after landing, detection of coating damage.

The analysis of numerous sources regarding the UAVs use at the airport zone and the territory around it has allowed to reveal the implementation levels of such directions. The following implementation levels of the UAVs use are proposed in the work: research; trial; practice.

All considered and analyzed sources are divided according to the proposed ways of implementation and presented in tabular form (table.1).

The analysis of the received data has showed that all directions are sufficiently worked out, there are scientific studies of a theoretical and experimental nature, there are trial and practical implementations at the large airports (Atlanta, Edmonton, Seville, Schiphol, Charles de Gaulle, etc.). The largest number of sources is devoted to the first and third direction of UAVs use at the airports.

Table 1. A table fragment on directions and sources of information by implementation levels

Unfortunately, the very useful direction "Control of emergency situations at the airport" is still insufficiently worked out at all levels of implementation, while it is known that the majority of aviation events occur precisely during the aircraft take-off and landing. Thus, American scientists [2] studied the factors associated with the use of UAVs in order to support the speed of response to an aircraft accident at the airport. The effectiveness of responding to an emergency depends on the quality, accuracy, timeliness and ease of information use about such an event. At the airport, where such a process is established, it is possible to determine and report the location of the injured people quickly, reduce the probability of not providing assistance to injured passengers, and reduce the overall response and coordination time of specialists (rescue, fire services, etc.).

Figure 1 shows the realization results of the directions of UAVs use.

We can see that there are directions that have only one implementation level (search for possible obstacles and runway cleanliness; removal of snow and ice on the runway by spraying chemical reagents; control of emergency situations at the airport; inspection of the structural integrity of aircraft after landing, as well as damage detection paint coating). But, as it has already been mentioned, UAVs are developing rapidly, therefore the indicated areas of use will also develop in theory, testing and practical terms, depending on the expediency of use in airport activity.

Fig.1 Realization of directions of UAVs use

In the future, the highlighted directions were discussed with experts working in the aviation field (experts in airport operations and UAVs).

The number of experts in the expert group depends on many factors and conditions. In most cases, the minimum possible number of experts is determined, in our case, the number of experts was calculated based on the level of significance/permissible level of expert error [3]:

m - number of experts;

р - the permissible level of expert error.

At the significance level of 5%, the working group should include at least 6 experts. The group of experts included: experts from UAVs and airport operations; teachers of professionally oriented disciplines of the Flight Academy of the National Aviation University.

Experts were asked to evaluate the proposed directions from the point of view of the importance and expediency of using UAVs in each direction.

Thus, during the discussion of directions, it was clarified, for example, that the fourth direction (search for possible obstacles and the cleanliness of the glide path at the airports) is relevant when modernizing the airport, introducing a new runway, designing a new airport, designing a maneuvering area taking into account all obstacles. Regarding the tenth direction (meteorological measurements and research), experts noted that weather probes are disposable devices that disintegrate at high altitudes (40-50 km). Therefore, experts of weather stations launch a new one every time, in this case it is advisable to use UAVs.

Directions of use create a kind of system in which each of them occupies a suitable place. The experts' task was to determine the priority of each area using ranking. During the assessment, the experts could not clearly distinguish the directions between the 12 positions, therefore, the rank standardization procedure was carried out, and the experts' assessments were further processed in MS Excel. The main task of such processing is to determine the consistency of experts' judgments, which was carried out using the coefficients of variation and concordance. It was found that there is a fairly high consistency of experts' judgments regarding the expediency of using UAVs and the importance of each direction in airports. On the basis of the received data, a system of experts' priorities regarding the importance of using UAVs at the airport activities according to the identified directions was built. The first three places were respectively occupied by the following directions: control of emergency situations at the airport; checking the quality of airfield equipment (radio engineering, light signaling, etc.); airport perimeter control. These areas, from the point of view of experts, are the most appropriate and need to be implemented.

airport unmanned aerial vehicle

Conclusions

Thus, the results of the study showed the expediency of using UAVs in airport operations. The implementation of any direction of UAVs use at the airport is a very complex process with many components. Therefore, further research on the implementation of such a complex process requires a systematic approach, the creation of a model for the implementation of important areas of UAVs use at the airport.

References

1. Авіаційні правила України. Правила сертифікації аеропортів.

2. Terwilliger B., Vincenzi D., Ison D., Witcher K., Thirtyacre D., Khalid A. (2015) Influencing Factors for Use of Unmanned Aerial Systems in Support of Aviation Accident and Emergency Response. Journal of Automation and Control Engineering 3 (3), 246-252.

3. Суркова К.В., Тимошенко Г.С. (2021) Основи теорії прийняття рішень: Методичні вказівки з теми: «Експертні методи прийняття рішень». Кропивницький: ЛА НАУ.

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