The Mature Unmanned Aircraft Ground Control Station (MUAGCS)

Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are a novel component in the aviation system, offering advancements which may open new and improved civil/military applications as well as improvements to the safety and efficiency of all civil aviation. Progressive improvements of today’s UAS in several areas, e.g. reliability, interoperability, networked capabilities, mission planning, safety monitoring and user friendliness, will consequently lead to the requirement of advanced common Ground Control Systems (GCS). These should be based on a common understanding of existing interoperability standards and apply those standards in all command and control capabilities offered, from pre-flight mission planning to debriefing. Interoperability as one of the key factors will not only increase the flexibility and efficiency to meet mission objectives through the sharing of assets, but will also facilitate a common utilization of the information generated from UA systems. In order to validate the design of a future GCS, operational testing in a safe environment is necessary. In this paper a UA GCS is described that is based on existing interoperability standards and is designed with an open and flexible architecture. This presented approach enables the applicability of the MUAGCS not only with different (or even multiple) UAS, but also in combination with various simulation facilities and environments.