Fully-automatic geofencing module for unmanned air systems in two dimensional space

When Unmanned Air Vehicles are operated beyond visual line of sight, the highest level of safety needs to be ensured. Therefore, remote pilots are restricted by aviation authorities to operate the aircraft within a certain flight zone, which is defined prior to the flights. If the Unmanned Air Vehicle leaves the flight zone, the probability for hazardous or catastrophic events rises potentially due to airspace violation and thus, possibly penetrating an increased-populated area on ground. A fully-automatic geofencing functionality mitigates the risk by preventing the aircraft from leaving the flight zone. This paper focuses on the design, development and implementation of a fully-automatic geofencing module for Unmanned Air Vehicles in two-dimensional space. The presented geofencing module comprises all necessary functions to keep the aircraft within an arbitrary boundary. Prior to flight, an algorithm verifies the flight zone selected by the operator and generates appropriate safety zones. The online part of the presented algorithm is executed in real-time during the entire flight and prevents the aircraft from leaving the flight zone. The approach is underlined by appropriate model-in-the-loop simulations of a novel reference Unmanned Air Vehicle configuration and can be generalized and applied to any other Unmanned Air Vehicles.