An Integrated Safety and Systems Engineering Methodology for Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems

This paper presents an integrated methodology for addressing safety concerns during the systems engineering of small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS). We describe both the systems and safety engineering activities performed, their interrelations, and how they complement range safety analysis. The broad goal of this work is to support the derivation of an airworthiness statement, and the subsequent application for a Certificate of Authorization (COA) to operate sUAS in the National Airspace System (NAS). We exemplify our methodology by presenting its application to the Swift UAS and its payload data system, both of which are under development at NASA Ames Research Center.