TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2021//
TI  - Autonomous flight-test data in support of safety of flight certification
JO  - Journal of air transportation (Reston, Va.)
A1  - Costello, Donald H.
A1  - Jewell, Jason
A1  - Xu, Huan
SP  - 93
EP  - 106
VL  - 29
IS  - 2
N2  - The current safety of flight clearances for unmanned aircraft requires a qualified operator who can make decisions and ultimately bears the responsibility for the safe operations of the vehicle. The future of aviation is unmanned, and ultimately autonomous. Yet, a method for certifying an autonomous vehicle to make decisions currently reserved for qualified pilots does not exist. Before we can field autonomous systems, a process needs to be approved to certify them. This paper analyzes the flight-test data (both developmental and operational) of an autonomous decision engine selecting an appropriate landing site for a large rotorcraft in an unprepared landing zone. In particular, this paper focuses on using legacy test and evaluation methods to determine their suitability for obtaining a safety of flight clearance for a system that possesses autonomous functionality. We will show that the autonomous system under test was able to complete a mission currently reserved for qualified pilots under controlled conditions. However, when confronted with conditions that were not anticipated (or programmed), the software lacked the judgment a pilot uses to complete a mission under off-nominal conditions.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 2380-9450
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.2514/1.D0220
ID  - ref1
ER  -