In the last decades, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) have been used extensively for various purposes. Considering the advantages of UAS compared to conventional manned aircraft, such as lower manufacturing and operating costs, UAS are creating a new industry with sizable economic potential. In this article, we introduce a novel procedure-based approach for developing a Concept of Operations (ConOps) document that integrates best practices from the aviation industry. A ConOps document should be defined to develop and operate a UAS safely. Since different guidelines are available that attend to different ConOps content, there needs to be a transparent process definition of how to generate a ConOps. In previous works, we developed and published a procedure-based methodology for aircraft design, initially intended for the development of optionally piloted vehicles. The ConOps process in this paper builds upon the existing aircraft development process and follows aviation standards, for example, SAE ARP4754A. Hence, ensuring maximum traceability, conformity, and integration with existing aviation guidelines is achievable while keeping flexibility as high as possible and supporting an agile development process. This novel process is independent of the mission goals and can be applied to manned, unmanned, and optionally piloted aircraft. The first insights from our practical experience in applying the new process are also presented.
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In the last decades, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) have been used extensively for various purposes. Considering the advantages of UAS compared to conventional manned aircraft, such as lower manufacturing and operating costs, UAS are creating a new industry with sizable economic potential. In this article, we introduce a novel procedure-based approach for developing a Concept of Operations (ConOps) document that integrates best practices from the aviation industry. A ConOps document should be def...
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