UAV or UAS?

An Unmanned Aerial, or Air, Vehicle (UAV) is according to MSN Encarta an "uncrewed reconnaissance vehicle: an uncrewed aerial vehicle that can fly over combat zones and staging areas, dropping supplies to troops, releasing bombs, carrying out reconnaissance on enemy forces." This definition would have everyone believe that UAVs are only used in military scenarios. This is far from the truth. An unattributed definition used by the US military is: UAVs are capable of operating without an internal pilot; are tethered by a radio control link; and can be preprogrammed for both flight and payload operations prior to launch. This second definition gives a much clearer perspective on the uses and roles of a UAV. UAVs differ from ordnance and missiles in that the air vehicle is designed to come back and be re used. They also differ from remotely controlled aircraft and re-used. remotely-controlled especially especially small hobby planes in that they operate out of line of sight and at altitudes where a person on the ground cannot readily see them. Like guided missiles UAVs are sophisicated systems incorporating lightweight airframes,

advanced proplusion systems, secure data links, and high technology control systems and payloads. These air vehicles still need a pilot who rather than being seated in the aircraft itself is located in a control centre normally referred to as a Ground Control Station. The degree of sophistication now required to field an UAV is leading to people in the business referring to these systems as Unmanned Aerial Systems or UAS.

One final note on the UAV acronym: it has many extensions, as all-acronyms.com has noted 10 including plurals:

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(s) Unmanned Aerospace Vehicle(s) Uninhabited Aircraft Vehicle Unmanned Air Vehicle Unmanned Airborne Vehicle Unmanned Autonomous Vehicle Unmanned Vehicle Upper Atmosphere Vehicle

For UAS, all-acronyms.com has only one aerospace variant, Unmanned Aircraft Systems. It is perhaps this definition that is the most important. However within these extensions there is one very important word, Autonomous. UAVs or UAS will in the future become fully autonomous. Like advanced artifical intelligence these systems will be able to sense where they are, what they are doing, what they should be doing, where they should go to complete the pre-programmed task and how they can complete that task most efficiently and effectively and with a certain degree of luck return to base. In the future the UAS rather than the UAV pilot will be the biggest decision-maker during a mission with the UAV pilot just monitoring what the vehicle is doing.

Industry and the regulators have now adopted UAS rather than UAV as the preferred term for Unmanned Aircraft or Aerial Systems as UAS encompasses all aspects of deploying these aircraft and not just the platform itself.

Purpose of a UAS
The purpose of a UAS is to deliver a message or package or collect data. The delivery aspect is not only munitions as in the case of Reaper but it could also be the deployment of a life raft in a maritime search and rescue mission or the deployment of a marker flare to pinpoint a position for subsequent manned investigation or operations. On a more benign perspective a loitering or long endurance UAS could also provide the communications bridge between two communications systems. Providing temporary cell or mobile phone coverage is one application that has been muted for the future. Collection of data is however the most important purpose of a UAS. UAS can penetrate areas and locations that manned expeditions cannot do without exceptional risks and the data collected by the payload can be critical in assessing the next stage of an operation or mission. However the primary purpose of a UAS is that it is reuseable: it comes back. A loitering munitions or a Cruise Tomahawk missile is not a UAS even though the onboard systems have a lot of similarities. These vehicles are not designed to come back. The secondary purpose is that it has a commercial justification. The user is paying for the delivery or collection service. In terms of collection, the data has a value. In terms of delivery the package delivered has a consequent or subsequent value. This is where UAS differ from remotely-controlled or operated aircraft: UAS are involved in paid aerial work and any remotely-controlled aircraft carrying

out a mission for payment must be classified as a UAS and must come under the national and international regulations and certifications governing aerial work.

UAS Components
A UAS is just not the vehicle that flies. An Unmanned Aircraft or Aerial System can be divided into three succinct elements:

The vehicle or platform itself Its payload, and Its Ground Control System or Station

These three elements can be further subdivided: The Vehicle or Platform

The airframe The propulsion system The flight control computer or system The precision navigation system Sense & Avoid System

The vehicle is the means to deliver the payload to its optimal position. UAS operate at all altitudes and the propulsion system has to be tailored to the mission. Electric engines are used for silent operations whereas UAS operating over long distances and at high altitude need jet engines. The flight control system ensures the UAS follows the pre-programmed or Ground Control Station-updated mission flight path in the most economical way avoiding obstacles and other air users.

The Payload

Electro-optical Sensing Systems and Scanners Infra-Red Systems Radars Munitions

One or more can be carried on a UAS at any one time. It should be noted that munitions will never legally be permitted to be carried on a UAV operating in European and American civil airspace. The purpose of a UAS is deliver or collect data usually in a dull, dirty or dangerous environment. The payload is the most important element of the whole UAS as this determines the payback or the economic or other gains. The vehicle itself does not deliver the message or the data: it merely gets the payload to the best location. The Ground Control System or Station

An avionics flight display Navigation Systems System Health Monitoring and Prognostics Display Graphical Images and Position Mapping Secure Communications Systems Inward Data Processing

The Ground Control Station (GCS) in tomorrows UAS environment will be part of an integral part of managed airspace. It will house the UAS pilot and the UAS commander and will appear to the outside world as if both people are actually aboard the air vehicle. To achieve all this, the GCS must have secure communications with both the air vehicle and the international, national, regional and local air traffic management infrastructure.

Advantages of UAVs
The advantages of using an Unmanned Air Vehicle, relative to use of a manned aircraft, are that the UAV:

Does not contain, or need, a qualified pilot on board Can enter environments that are dangerous to human life Reduces the exposure risk of the aircraft operator Can stay in the air for up to 30 hours, performing a precise, repetitive raster scan of a region, day-after-day, night-after-night in complete darkness, or, in fog, under computer control: o performing a geological survey o performing visual or thermal imaging of a region o measuring cell phone, radio, or, TV coverage over any terrain Can be programmed to complete the mission autonomously even when contact with its GCS is lost.

Applications of UAVs

UAV applications are usually referred to as 3D or D3, dull, dirty and/or dangerous. The primary applications identified and used to date all involve putting the UAV and its payload in environments where the pilot in a manned operation might be significantly at risk of losing his life or dying of boredom. There is also a cost justification for using UAVs. They can have longer operational duration: they can require less maintenance: they can be cheaper on fuel to operate: they can be operated remotely and sometimes autonomously carrying out the mission with the minimum of human intervention and supervision: and they can be deployed in a number of different terrains and are not always dependent on prepared runways. Some argue that the use of UAVs in the future will be a more responsible approach to certain airspace operations from an environmental, ecological and human risk perspective.

There are of course marked differences and similarities between the civilian or commercial and military applications.

Civil or Commercial Applications Security

Security and Control Aerial Reconnaissance Aerial Policeman and Crowd Monitoring Aerial Traffic and Security Watch

Search and Rescue

Maritime and Mountain Search and Rescue Liferaft Deployment Rescue point marking

Monitoring

Civil engineering sites Waterways and shipping Oil and gas pipeline Forestry Fishery Protection The countryside Pollution Control and Air Sampling Crop Performance Litter on beaches and in parks

Disaster Management

Disaster effects management Rescue and clear up effort supervision Disaster damage estimation

Crop Management

Countryside and Agriculture Agricultural Activities Crop Dusting

Communications

Telecommunications Telecom relay and signal coverage survey

Survey

Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Mineral exploration Geophysical surveys

Military Applications Security

Security and Control Aerial Reconnaissance Aerial Traffic and Security Watch Battlefield Management Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Conditions Telecommunications Traffic Opposing Control Centre Communications

Search and Rescue

All Terrain Search and Rescue Life Raft Deployment Rescue point marking

Monitoring

Waterways and Shipping Pollution Control and Air Sampling Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Deployments

Impact and Disaster Management

Impact and Disaster Effects Management Rescue and Clear Up Effort Supervision Disaster Damage Estimation

Communications

Secure Telecommunications Telecom Relay and Signal Coverage Survey

Munitions

Air to Ground Missiles Guided Shells Anti-Tank Missiles Air to Air Missiles Wide Area Munitions Deployments