Risk-Aware Routing for Uncrewed Aircraft Contingency Management

This paper investigates the impact of risk-aware routing of uncrewed aircraft on airspace operations during a contingency. Loss of command and control link is the contingency modeled. Amidst such a contingency, uncrewed aircraft are routed based on interaction risk derived from the last known traffic predictions in the airspace en route to a destination. These risk-aware routes are compared with the last cleared nominal routes (without information on traffic prediction) using fast-time simulations. Impacts on safety and operational efficiency are measured. Impacts are measured for a fleet of uncrewed aircraft, and compared between entries into the terminal airspace from four different directions. Routing based on interaction risk from visual and instrument flight rules traffic is considered. Results showed an improvement in safety and efficiency when accounting for traffic interaction risk.