Operation Oriented Path Planning Strategies for Rpas

Due to the recent spread of RPAS into the national airfields, civil aviation authorities are actively involved in the development of regulations for RPAS, especially for small vehicles with mass less than 150 kg. These regulations often require that the RPAS operators perform a risk analysis to assess the level of risk of the operations. The paper considers the Italian regulation and describes the implementation of the RPAS risk analysis method proposed by ENAC into a 2D flight path planning software for UAV that is called JavaCube. This tool is able to generate waypoint-based paths based on graph search algorithms which incorporate the risk analysis model within their cost function so that the risk for the aircraft of occurring in catastrophic failure is minimized. The resulting paths are shown on a risk map that is generated according to UAV data, flight altitude and the population density distribution of the overflown area. This tool could provide a useful UAV path planner that meets the requirements of the current Italian regulation.