DACUS has elaborated a consolidated concept of operations for DCB processes in U-space. The concept is based on a series of fundamental principles, which sees the operators as the final decision-makers, reduces constraints on drone trajectories as much as possible, and prioritizes DCB measures based on their impact on the fulfillment of the drone missions.
DACUS has characterized the urban environments from the perspective of the expected ground infrastructure, airspace design, CNS performances, and local regulatory frameworks in order to define the boundary conditions for the implementation of DCB processes in U-space. DACUS proposes three different urban environments according to the level of constraints imposed on the drone operator.
DACUS has also defined a framework of performance indicators that drives the DCB processes from the strategic up to the tactical phase. Decisions such as the most appropriate DCB measures will be taken based on the continuous quantification of such indicators.
DACUS has also developed a separation management process that fits into the previously designed DCB process, providing a description of the set of principles and assumptions that are applied to describe the separation management, as well as the responsibility roles that are going to be determined.
Finally, DACUS has defined the requirements of key U-space services which are part of the DCB process. In particular, the Dynamic Capacity Management service, which is at the core of the overall process, relies on two models that were developed by DACUS: A collision risk model to evaluate the airspace capacity limits due to the probability of fatal injuries; and a societal impact model to evaluate the airspace capacity limits due to the noise emissions and visual impact over the population distribution during the day of operations. DACUS has developed early prototypes of those services and support models. Those prototypes were used in 4 different experiments to analyze a series of research challenges of the U-space DCB process. These questions revolve around the definition of applicable DCB measures for drones, the quantification of the required level of certainty to take decisions, the use of contingency plans within the DCB process, the definition of collision risk and societal impact assessments as a way of determining the airspace capacity limits as well as fairness and equity within the process. Conclusions of the most relevant research challenges are provided by DACUS, as well as a summary of unanswered questions which would need to be addressed in future work.
