Geospatial technologies for an automated holistic risk assessment of UAS operations

Abstract. The rising number of UAS operations in the European airspace poses a safety issue. The key problem is to ensure safe drone traffic management and their integration into the existing air traffic environment. Thus, risk assessment becomes an integral part of every UAS operation and its automation is of great importance when dealing with growing numbers of flights. There exist many attempts to support such risk assessment, but an optimal solution is yet to be found. This paper presents a prototype of a web application, which automates strategic risk assessment of open and specific UAS operations in Austria with the use of open government geodata. Risk assessment results are visualized on a map, showing spatial distribution of classified risks in the operational area. This prototype is the first attempt to combine the functions of a “drone map” representing relevant geodata and a questionnaire usually used to support specific operation risk assessment. There is a potential to turn it into a tool which is used to create a comprehensive pre-flight safety portfolio or to support the automatic risk assessment performed by a UTM before a UAS operation is checked in. Simplifying the creation of safety portfolios and automating UAS operation risk assessment are important factors in promoting a wider and safer use of UAS.