Efforts to integrate UAS into the NAS must address and mitigate risks associated with loss of the control link between the aircraft and its ground control station. Under such a scenario, capabilities onboard the UA must ensure safe flight until the control link is re-established or the flight is terminated by means of an FAA-certified procedure. UA conformance to ATC commands during a loss of control link may be critical for the safety of aircraft operating close-by in en route and terminal airspaces. As such, there is a viable need for robust integration of ATC speech recognition with real-time UA re-tasking and conformance monitoring that provides FAR-compliant UA behavior over extended periods of time and across multiple classes of airspace.
Mosaic ATM developed UAACS as a robust solution for real-time, ATC-commanded UA re-tasking in the NAS. UAACS combines automatic ATC speech recognition with a hierarchical mission planning tool and conformance monitoring algorithms to provide a comprehensive safe-transit capability for UA operating in the NAS. Distinguishing features include the following:
- Speech recognition engine that addresses the specific challenges of radio-transmitted ATC voice commands
- Context-filtered ATC command interpretation to reduce false-positive recognition events
- Fully automated, real-time adaptation of mission task plans for:
- Recognized and verified ATC commands
- Detected UA nonconformance to mission task plans
- Autonomous execution of mission task plans
- Conformance monitoring of UA activity during its flight
- Optional use of the mission task planning tool as a recommender system, providing the UA operator with a limited set of FAR-compliant task plans with which to respond to ATC and contingency events.