Geofencing requirements for onboard safe operation monitoring

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Geofencing requirements for onboard safe operation monitoring

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Torens, Christoph / Nikodem, Florian / Dauer, Johann C. / Schirmer, Sebastian / Dittrich, Jörg S.

The new concept for operation of drones, published by EASA in 2015, enables new ways to influence and possibly reduce the necessary safety targets of certain system components without reducing the overall safety of the unmanned aircraft system (UAS). Based on the safety assessment, the specific category enables new aircraft system architectures and mission designs. In this context, this paper analyzes runtime monitoring as a strategy to contain the UAS in its operational volume. To assure predefined properties in flight and thus assure the safety of the operation in progress with a high robustness, a formal methodology for safe operation monitoring is utilized. With this approach, this work targets to link the concept of safe operation monitoring with the upcoming regulations regarding the specific category and the specific operation risk assessment (SORA). One particular aspect of this safe operation monitoring is geofencing, the capability to contain a UAS in a previously restricted area. In the regulatory framework of a specific operation, risk assessment is required and so is the containment of the UAS in its operational volume. The functional and safety requirements for geofencing regarding their impact on the underlying specific operation risk assessment are discussed. To facilitate this discussion, a taxonomy of geofencing characteristics is derived based on a literature survey. Consequently, the geofencing requirements are assessed regarding their robustness and applicability for certification purposes. As a result, by monitoring the integrity of the system at runtime using geofencing as an example, it is investigated if the requirements and thus costs of development and certification process for the remaining components can be reduced.