Autonomous communication between air traffic control and remotely piloted aircraft

This paper describes the development and simulation testing of a system that will allow a Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) to communicate autonomously with an Air Traffic Controller (ATCo). The objective is to develop a system that will enable the RPA to interact directly with an ATCo and respond in a similar manner to that of a human pilot. An existing Voice Recognition and Response (VRR) system developed by UFA Inc. was used for speech and audio conversion. A RPAS simulation was used to test the system. The results showed that the RPAS was able to interact with an ATCo in a similar manner to a conventional pilot; with the RPAS being able to follow a set of simple clearances. The simulation revealed a number of practical challenges, advantages and disadvantages of enabling automated RPA to ATCo communications. These are presented with discussion focussing on those issues that reduce ATCo and Remote Pilot workload, and ensure RPAS operations are in accordance with existing procedures.