Formally Bounding UAS Behavior to Concept of Operation with Operation-Specific Scenario Description Language

Abstract

Previous work introduced an approach for formally describing the concept of operations for unmanned aircraft. For this purpose, an existing language for simulation scenario description was adapted. In the context of the specific operation category, an upcoming European regulation for the operation of unmanned aircraft, the description and acceptance of the concept of operations plays a major role for flight approval on a per mission basis. This paper extends the previous approach further with combining the formalized description of the concept of operations with our existing approach for runtime monitoring. Monitoring the behavior at runtime can be used to enforce certain limits on the behavior. Therefore, the concept of operations is an ideal input for the monitoring approach. As a basis for the information relevant for the concept of operations the official annex to the guidelines document for the specific operation risk assessment is used, as well as an internal concept of operations document for a DLR research unmanned aircraft system.