Overview of the Nordic Challenges for Unmanned Aircraft Systems

Abstract

The European Union (EU) regulations require the pilots of Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) to register and pass a basic theory exam from 2021. Therefore, it is essential to systematically gather information for pilots for utilizing UAS in a safe and meaningful manner especially in Nordic weather conditions. This book chapter describes the Nordic challenges for UAS operations. These can be categorized into two main categories: technological and operational. Based on the extensive literature review and practical experience of the authors, both categories of challenges especially with relevance to the severe Arctic weather conditions are presented. The relevant weather conditions include changing the density of the air, dust and solid particles clouds, extreme light conditions, freezing rain, heavy and gusty wind, heavy clouds, ice fog, rain, mist and fog combinations, rapid temperature changes, snow, storm and hailstorm, temperature crossing 0 C several times within 24 hours, wind shear and whirlwind. Many technical and operational challenges (e.g., weather-related phenomena) are overlapping on both categories and can be mitigated partly by technological advances and partly by operational preparedness. Finally, the future challenges and needs in UAS research are also discussed.

Keywords

• uas
• ua
• uav
• drone
• arctic
• nordic