Basic Strategy ensuring effective implementation of Unmanned Aircraft System

Basic Strategy ensuring effective implementation of Unmanned Aircraft System
   A narrow view of unmanned aircraft system only looks at its military applications and ignore the UAS is becoming increasingly a public good that basic strategy ensuring a successful implementation of its operations in the private and commercial sector becomes essential. One would think that UAS operations implementation could merely mimic the manned aircraft, but this new technology has particularity different from the manned system that emulating regulations, the safety, the ethics, and privacy may not be beneficial. This article frames the best implementation approach by investigating the technological requirement, the local, state, national and international regulations and laws on privacy, safety, data protection and ethics.

       Understanding the technology is the very first step a private or commercial operator should take before starting the exploitation of the unmanned system. The mission defines the technology selection because UASs have different classifications that are a function of the vehicle weight, speed, endurance, radius of action and maximum operating ceiling. The endurance and altitude determine where the UAV falls in the spectrum comprising High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE), Medium Altitude Long Endurance MALE), Tactical UAV (TUAV), Mini UAV(MUAV), Micro UAV (MAV), and the Nano Air Vehicles (NAV). The classification according to the aircraft weight lists Group 1 The aerodynamic specifications of some of the UAS allows vertical takeoff and landing (VLOF). Table 1 shows the US Department of Defense classification of a drone into five categories as a function of size, Maximum Gross Takeoff Weight, Operating Altitude, and Speed.
Table 1 US Department of Defense Classification of Drones
Source: US Army Unmanned Aircraft System Roadmap 2010-2035 (“Eyes of the Army”,2015)
After the technology has been defined, the UAS operator must abide by the regulations affecting the scope and the characteristics of the unmanned systems operations. 
The regulation framework comprises local, state, national and international zone of UAS operations, and the user must bear in mind that such regulation may be different across the state or country. At the national level, the UAS public or private operator should quickly get in touch with the FAA to understand the applicable rules to obtain the certificate of waiver or the certificate of authorization (COA). NIJ (2016) notes, “Analyze whether applicable federal, state and local laws, regulations, and policies allow the agency’s intended use of UAS. Such analysis should include research regarding rules governing airspace or other geographical restrictions.” The operator should also understand that as successful implementation strategy should incorporate the input for the local community who may have significant safety and privacy concern. As the scope of operation move from the national to the international level, a good understanding of international laws and regulation is pertinent. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has implemented some standards and recommended practices that manned aircraft and unmanned aircraft operations must observe. For example, ICAO Article 8 states:
No aircraft capable of being flown without a pilot shall be flown without a pilot over the territory “No aircraft capable of being flown without a pilot shall be flown without a pilot over the territory of a contracting State without special authorization by that State and in accordance with the terms a contracting State without special authorization by that State and in accordance with the terms of such authorization. Each contracting State undertakes to ensure that the flight of such aircraft of such authorization. Each contracting State undertakes to ensure that the flight of such aircraft without a pilot in regions open to civil aircraft shall be controlled as to obviate danger to civil without a pilot in regions open to civil aircraft shall be controlled as to obviate danger to civil aircraft (MDPI, 2017). 
Such regulation certainly applies to unmanned aircraft systems used in the private and commercial sector. It is worth mentioning the embryonic state of regulations relative to the UAVs in the National and the International Airspace as the FAA and the ICAO continue to work on regulations that will ensure a safe integration. Some countries have not yet implemented any regulations on UAS that they have enforced merely stringent operating limitations such as “NO FLY ZONE FOR ANY UAV) or restrict operations over the congested area, crows of people, properties and in the vicinity of airports. The FAA and ICAO focus mostly on the safety aspect of the UAS operations and leave unanswered questions about privacy, ethics, civil liberty and data protection.
         At the inception of UAS operation, many local communities and countries are inclined to reinforce their privacy laws and data protection since the UAS can have the capabilities of collecting data that was not included in the scope of its operation. For example, a UAV that surveys a river may capture images of people who were bathing naked in the river. The ethical question must answer the following question: What should the operator do with this new data that goes beyond the intended coverage?  Such question underlines the need for the community involvement and consent before even the operation begins. Although there is no specific privacy laws and data protection at the national European level, the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) Article 8 on privacy laws is often cited:
       1. A person has a right to respect for their private and family life, home and communications.
2. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well- being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others (European Commission, 2014).
The lack of clear laws protecting people form privacy violation and data protection led Senator Markey Eduard to introduce in US Senate legislation named “Drone Aircraft Privacy and Transparency Act” on May 15, 2017, and the action seems to be pending (. UAS operator will have to obtain the local community and state approval and monitoring unless any drone operation is labeled as “Spy in the Sky.”
            In summary, the primary strategy for a practical implementation of unmanned aircraft system operation must match the worthiness of the mission with the technological requirements. After the technical requirements have been met, the UAS operator should ensure understanding and abide by the International, national, regional and local legal environment asserting the safety, privacy and data protection ethically. Since the laws and regulations are still taking the back seat of technological advance, a proactive and predictive approach in implementing safety and privacy system should take local community input unless their skepticism will only fuel the prohibition of UAS operation. 
References
Eyes of the Army. (2015). US Army Unmanned Aircraft System Roadmap 2010-2035. 
Retrieved from          http://www.rucker.army.mil/usaace/uas/US%20Army%20UAS%20RoadMap%202010%202035.pdf
European Commission. (2014). Study on privacy, data protection and ethical risks in civil Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems operations.Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/8551/attachments/1/translations/en/.../native
MDPI. (2017). Review of the Current State of UAV Regulations. Retrieved from www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/9/5/459/pdf
NIJ. (2016). National Institute of Justice Report. Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/250283.pdf

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