Sensors and Payloads
Douglas M. Marshall, Richard K. Barnhart, Stephen B. Hottman, Eric Shappee, Michael Thomas Most · 2016
It can be safely said that there are two broad categories of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA). The rst is the kind that can be seen looping, rolling, and performing entertaining aerobatics, perhaps at a dedicated aero modelers airstrip or out on a deserted eld. These types of RPAs are own recreationally by hobbyists for no other reason than the joy of operating the aircraft and watching it respond to operator commands and doing things that would be impossible or nearly so in a manned aircraft. The second category includes everything else that is own remotely or without a human pilot on board. These aircraft, rotorcraft, or lighter-than-air blimps are operated for a purpose, and that purpose is to carry an instrument aloft that has some function independent of the navigation or operation of the aircraft. That function is secondary to the physical parameters of ight but primary to the purpose of the ight. In addition to the payload that the aircraft carries, there may be other instruments aboard that generate information for the operator about the health or status of the aircraft, where it is going, how fast and how high, and perhaps assisting the operator in his or her obligation to avoid collisions with other aircraft or persons or property on the ground. This chapter will discuss the history and types of these instruments, their purposes, the regulatory challenges that face the operators, the technological limitations that inuence the choice of instruments, and will close by taking a brief look into the future.