PURPOSE AND SCOPE

Introduction

This document contains Phase 1 Minimum Operational Performance Standards (MOPS) for air-to-air radar for traffic surveillance implemented in Unmanned Aircraft (UA) transitioning to and from Class A or special use airspace, traversing Class D, E, and G airspace in the National Airspace System (NAS). It does not apply to small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) operating in low-level environments (below 500’) or other segmented areas. Likewise, it does not apply to operations in the Visual Flight Rules (VFR) traffic pattern of an airport. These standards specify the radar system characteristics that should be useful for designers, manufacturers, installers and users of the equipment.

Compliance with these standards is recommended as one means of assuring that the equipment will perform its intended function(s) satisfactorily under the conditions specified herein. Any regulatory application of this document is the sole responsibility of appropriate governmental agencies.

Section 1 of this document provides information needed to understand the rationale for the equipment characteristics and requirements in Section 2. It describes typical equipment operations and operational goals as envisioned by the members of RTCA Inc. Special Committee (SC)-228, and establishes the basis for the standards stated herein. Definitions and assumptions essential to proper understanding of this document are also provided in this section.

Section 2 contains the requirements for the equipment. These standards specify the required performance under standard environmental conditions. Also included are recommended bench test procedures necessary to demonstrate equipment compliance with the stated minimum requirements.

Section 3 describes the performance required of installed equipment. Tests for the installed equipment are included when performance cannot be adequately determined through bench testing.

Section 4 contains aircraft operational performance characteristics.

Section 5 contains an informative listing of SC-228 committee members who contributed to these MOPS

Appendix A contains information on the proposed frequency bands for the radar, and their regulatory status.

Appendix B contains analysis and simulations that derive the required maximum range for the radar for different categories of intruders and different encounter geometries between the ownship and intruders.

Appendix C analyzes the frequency of the cases where an intruder enters the radar Field of Regard (FOR) within the Radar Declaration Range (RDR).

Appendix D provides validation of RDR against Detect and Avoid (DAA) alerting requirements.

Appendix E provides results of simulations to estimate the Radar Cross-Section (RCS) of different kinds of aircraft as guidance for radar design against expected intruders.

Appendix F provides a list of acronyms and abbreviations used in this document.