Development of small UAS beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) flight operations: system requirements and procedures

Due to safety concerns of integrating small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into non-segregated airspace, aviation authorities have required a set of detect and avoid (DAA) systems to be equipped on small UAS for beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) flight operations in civil airspace. However, the development of small UAS DAA systems also requires BVLOS flights for testing and validation. To mitigate operational risks for small UAS BVLOS flight operations, this paper proposes to initially test small UAS DAA systems in BVLOS flights in a restricted airspace with additional safety features. Later, this paper further discusses the operating procedures and emergency action plans for small UAS BVLOS flight operations. The testing results show that these safety systems developed can help improve operational safety for small UAS BVLOS flight operations.