Many
UAS accidents occur due to the Pilot error or inexperience with the UAS they
are operating. Such accidents like the drone that injured an Australian
triathlete, the UAS that flew into bystanders in Virginia crowd, and the UAS
that flew into people attending a Bull run in Spain were as a result of lack of
Pilot experience with the UAS or loss of situational awareness of the UAS they
were flying.
Other
drone pilots also seem to not understand the hazards of the UAS propellers. Another
major issue affecting UAS operators is the issue of situational awareness and
obstacle avoidance. Many crashes currently involving UAS seems to result from crashes
with objects or into people. FAA PART 107 has
enabled many operators to obtain the training and skill required for
UAS operation but most often struggle to see and avoid obstacles and
aircraft when operating drones at extended range, limiting their current
operation to closed, line-of-sight environments.
As a result of the frequent crashes
and accidents during UAS operation especially BLOS flights, it is necessary to equip
UAS
with GPS tracking and situational awareness onboard systems in order to reduce
pilot/operator error, operational risk, and bring with it a trust that
allows for scalability and use of truly autonomous vehicles (Iris, 2016)
Reference
Iris. (2016, June 15). Retrieved from Irisonboard:
https://www.irisonboard.com/2016/06/15/why-situational-awareness-is-absolutely-necessary-for-industrial-drones/
I totally agree that Situational Awareness is incredibly important for small UAS! I bet that in the near future, the automated capabilities of UAS to detect, sense, and avoid obstacles will surpass the abilities of humans to see and avoid obstacles. That will probably cause a new problem though - UAS operators thinking they can do anything because the automation will stop them from doing something stupid!
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