An Object-Oriented Approach for Developing Standard Operating Procedures for Novel Aerial Systems

This paper addresses the need for standard operating procedures in the prototyping phase and final certification of unmanned aerial systems and optionally piloted vehicles. The proposed approach adopts object-oriented principles from software engineering to develop functional and adaptable standard operating procedures. Two paradigms are presented: one focuses on enhancing efficiency, reliability, and safety through an object-oriented approach, and the other emphasizes operations as state spaces. The operations are structured as classes, subdivided into phases, and further broken down into procedures and steps. Constraints are defined based on existing knowledge or testing-generated information to ensure safe state transitions. An initial software tool is developed to enhance procedure validation and verification. While still in progress, this systematic approach promises improved efficiency and reliability in Unmanned Aerial System development.