Ensuring Safety of Machine Learning Components Using Operational Design Domain

The introduction of machine learning in the aviation domain is an ongoing process. This is also true for safety-critical domains, especially for the area of Urban Air Mobility. A significant growth in number of air taxis and an increasing level of autonomy is to be expected allowing for operating a large number of air taxis in complex urban environments. Due to the complexity of the tasks and the environment, key autonomy functions will be realized using machine learning, for example the camera-based detection of objects. However, the safety assurance for avionics systems using machine learning components is challenging. This work investigates safety and verification aspects of machine learning components. A camera-based detection of humans on the ground, e.g. to assess a potential landing area, serves as an example for an machine learning-based autonomy functio and was integrated into an Unmanned Aircraft. In the context of this exemplary machine learning component, the concept of Operational Design Domain as recently adapted European Aviation Safety Agency in the context of machine learning assurance is described along with other key concepts of machine learning assurance. Furthermore, runtime assurance is used to monitor conformance to the Operational Design Domain during flight. The presented flight test results indicate that monitoring the Operational Design Domain can support performance as well as the safety of the operation

Standards für UAV - Nachweismöglichkeiten für die Umsetzung des SORA-Prozesses im Bereich niedriger Risikoklassen

Der Betrieb unbemannter Fluggeräte (UAS) erfolgte lange Zeit außerhalb der geltenden Regulierungen, wie sie aus der bemannten Luftfahrt seit etlichen Jahren bekannt und europäisch harmonisiert sind. Durch die kommerziell getriebene Entwicklung von UAS, die auch immer mehr Einsatzmöglichkeiten eröffnen, ist der Regulierungsprozess auch hier stärker in den Fokus gerückt. Mit den EU Verordnungen 2019/947 und 2019/945 der Europäischen Kommission ist der von den Joint Authorities for Rulemaking of Unmanned Systems (JARUS) entwickelte Prozess für das Specific Operations Risk Assessment (SORA) als risikobasierter Ansatz zur Beurteilung der Sicherheit des UAS als Leitfaden verankert. Aus diesem Prozess werden missionsabhängige Maßnahmen in Form von Operational Safety Objectives abgeleitet, mit denen die Sicherheit systemseitig nachgewiesen wird. Zusätzlich werden Maßnahmen zur Vermeidung von Risiken im Betrieb (Mitigations) einbezogen. Das Ergebnis des Prozesses sind qualitative Anforderungen an die Mission und das Luftfahrtgerät. Zur Umsetzung der aufgestellten Anforderungen sind, ähnlich dem Vorgehen in der bemannten Luftfahrt, anerkannte Nachweismöglichkeiten, sogenannte Acceptable Means of Compliance (AMC) nötig. Diese Nachweismöglichkeiten bestehen aus unterstützendem Material, meistenteils Standards, die das Vorgehen und die Zielgrößen für Analysen und Tests definieren. Die AMC werden durch die entsprechenden Behörden, im Falle einer Musterzulassung der europäischen Luftfahrt also durch die europäische Luftfahrtbehörde EASA, anerkannt. Im Rahmen des Forschungsprojektes AW-Drones wird das Ziel verfolgt, bestehende Standards als mögliche AMC für die entstehenden Regulierungsprozesse für UAS zu identifizieren und ihrer Eignung nach einzuschätzen. Der Fokus des Projektes liegt in einem schrittweisen Ansatz, der zunächst darauf ausgelegt ist, geeignete AMC für die Risikoklassen SAIL I-IV des SORA Prozesses zu finden. Dieser Ansatz soll später auf Themenbereiche wie U-Space erweitert werden. Der erste Schritt zur Umsetzung der Untersuchungen beginnt mit dem Aufstellen einer Datenbasis UAS relevanter Standards, die zusätzlich nach Themenkomplexen strukturiert ist, um eine grobe Übersicht herzustellen. Anschließend erfolgt eine Bezugserstellung zu den Anforderungen der SORA und als letzter Schritt die eigentliche Analyse der Eignung eines Standards als mögliches AMC anhand verschiedener, gewichteter Kriterien. Daraus werden zum einen potentielle AMC, zum anderen Lücken in unterstützenden Standards identifiziert

Standards for UAS - Acceptable Means of Compliance for Low Risk SORA Operations

Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) have been in civil use since several years. A new risk-based approach was developed by the Joint Authorities for Rulemaking of Unmanned Systems (JARUS) which relies on the so-called Specific Operations Risk Assessment (SORA) for the medium risk category. Following this process, operational authorization is based on the assessment of the safety of the operation and not solely on the safety of the aircraft design. To comply with the resulting mitigations it is necessary to convince authorities using Acceptable Means of Compliance (AMC). The goal of the European research project AW-Drones is to identify and assess existing standards as a possible AMC for the existing and upcoming regulations. The research in AW-Drones is performed by an international consortium of both, industry and research agencies. Additional stakeholders support the project, i.e. EASA and also other groups of experts, committees and Standard Development Organisations (SDOs). In this paper, the approach and methodology of the project is described, including the current state of work. The results of the data collection step and the assessment will be discussed. The used criteria will be shown and the proposed impact on the SORA process discussed. An Outlook will detail on remaining tasks and the dissemination of the results in a public database, nicknamed the metastandard

Urban Air Mobility Use Cases and Technology Scenarios for the HorizonUAM Project

Increasing urbanization and a growing need for mobility are pushing the transport infrastructure in many cities to its limits. Many different mobility solutions are being investigated to solve this problem. In addition to ground-based transportation, Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is discussed as a possible solution to create a new type of urban transport mode, which could fulfill different transport needs in several application fields. The cross-institutional and interdisciplinary research project "HorizonUAM - Urban Air Mobility Research at the German Aerospace Center (DLR)" brings together a wide variety of DLR departments to research on the vision of Urban Air Mobility. In order to coordinate the different research focuses of the project partners, it is necessary to create a common basis for the upcoming work. Therefore, five different use cases were defined. All use cases are selected in order to cover a broad spectrum of challenges for vehicles, safety, air traffic management, infrastructure and operations. In addition, different types of ground-based infrastructure (vertidromes) and their characteristic properties as well as two different concepts of operation (ConOps) for an on-demand and a scheduled UAM service are considered. For each use case and based on the ConOps, application-specific mission profiles, which form the basis for the design of the vehicles, are outlined. As the future of UAM also strongly depends on technological advances, a short-term (2025+) and a long-term (2050+) scenario capture the development of the most important fields of technology for UAM until 2050. Based on the defined use cases, missions and technology scenarios, various aspects regarding to technical feasibility, efficiency, sustainability, market development potential and social acceptance will be investigated in the course of the project

Can Urban Air Mobility become reality? Opportunities, challenges and selected research results

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) is a new air transportation system for passengers and cargo in urban environments, enabled by new technologies and integrated into multimodal transportation systems. The vision of UAM comprises the mass use in urban and suburban environments, complementing existing transportation systems and contributing to the decarbonization of the transport sector. Initial attempts to create a market for urban air transportation in the last century failed due to lack of profitability and community acceptance. Technological advances in numerous fields over the past few decades have led to a renewed interest in urban air transportation. UAM is expected to benefit users and to also have a positive impact on the economy by creating new markets and employment opportunities for manufacturing and operation of UAM vehicles and the construction of related ground infrastructure. However, there are also concerns about noise, safety and security, privacy and environmental impacts. Therefore, the UAM system needs to be designed carefully to become safe, affordable, accessible, environmentally friendly, economically viable and thus sustainable. This paper provides an overview of selected key research topics related to UAM and how the German Aerospace Center (DLR) contributed to this research in the project "HorizonUAM - Urban Air Mobility Research at the German Aerospace Center (DLR)". Selected research results that support the realization of the UAM vision are briefly presented.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures, project HorizonUA

Urban Air Mobility Research at the DLR German Aerospace Center - Getting the HorizonUAM Project Started

Efficiency, safety, feasibility, sustainability and affordability are among the key characteristics of future urban mobility. The project “HorizonUAM - Urban Air Mobility Research at the German Aerospace Center (DLR)” provides first answers to this vision by pooling existing competencies of individual institutes within DLR. HorizonUAM combines research about urban air mobility (UAM) vehicles, the corresponding infrastructure, the operation of UAM services, as well as public acceptance and market development of future urban air transportation. Competencies and current research topics including propulsion technologies, flight system technologies, communication and navigation go along in conjunction with the findings of modern flight guidance and airport technology techniques. The project analyses possible UAM market scenarios up to the year 2050 and assesses economic aspects such as the degree of vehicle utilization or cost-benefit potential via an overall system model. Furthermore, the system design for future air taxis is carried out on the basis of vehicle family concepts, onboard systems, aspects of safety and security as well as the certification of autonomy functions. The analysis of flight guidance concepts and the sequencing of air taxis at vertidromes is another central part of the project. Selected concepts for flight guidance, communication and navigation technology will also be demonstrated with drones in a scaled urban scenario. This paper gives an overview of the topics covered in the HorizonUAM project, running from mid-2020 to mid-2023, as well as an early progress report