A Universal Traffic Management System for Unmanned Aerial Systems With Or Without Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast
The meteoric rise of commercial Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) usage in various industries such as agriculture, construction and delivery services, accelerated the need for an integrated air traffic management system to improve control and safety. This paper identifies the limitations with existing surveillance systems for UAV tracking and proposes a Universal Traffic Management (UTM) system aiming to monitor both commercial aircraft and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) flight traffic with and without Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) technologies. The system also aims to create a federated open system architecture that is compatible and interoperable with existing UAS, surveillance technologies and air safety regulations endorsed by International Civil Aviation Organization. Furthermore, the paper presents the findings from its prototype deployment with respect to its feasibility, compatibility and performance, and leads to defining a set of UAS traffic management guidelines required to work in conjunction with such a system.