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UTM Concept of Operations

ID: I05 Status: DRAFT (under active revision) Version: 1

Active version: This document is being actively revised by the working group (2025–ongoing). The current working version is maintained as a Google Doc: Open active document

The content below is a snapshot from the original 2021–22 publication. Timelines and milestones are under revision and should not be treated as current.

Authors

  • Sayandeep Purkayasth (corresponding)
  • Hrishikesh Ballal
  • Siddharth Shetty
  • Manish Shukla
  • Amit Garg
  • Siddharth Ravikumar
  • George Thomas

Outline

State of the art

See here.

Actors

  1. Manufacturer
  2. Pilot
  3. Operator
  4. Insurer
  5. Civil Aviation Authority
  6. Data Consumer
  7. UAS Owner
  8. Law Enforcement
  9. Security Agencies
  10. Air Navigation Service Provider
  11. Disaster Management Agencies
  12. Military
  13. BCAS
  14. General Public
  15. Other UTM-SP or instances thereof
  16. Pilot Certifier
  17. UAS Type Certifier
  18. UAS Testing Agency

Use cases

Manufacturer

  1. Manage Registration with CAA

Pilot

  1. Manage Registration with CAA
  2. Plan a Flight
  3. Apply for Flight Permit

Operator

  1. Manage Registration with CAA
  2. Manage Pilots
  3. Manage UASs

Insurer

  1. Accident Investigations

Civil Aviation Authority

i.e. DGCA

  1. Audit
    1. Pilot
    2. Operator
  2. Manage registration
    1. Manufacturer
    2. Pilot
    3. Operator

Data Consumer

Consumer for data collected by a UAS during an operation.

  1. Data access

UAS Ownership, etc.

  1. Lease
  2. Rent
  3. Transfer
  4. Buy
  5. Scrap

Law Enforcement

  1. Find Pilot/Operator against FIR
  2. Track UAS
  3. Find Rogue UAS
  4. Counter UAS action

Security Agencies

  1. Find Pilot/Operator against FIR
  2. Track UAS
  3. Find rogue UAS
  4. Counter UAS action

Air Navigation Service Provider

i.e. AAI

  1. Flight permission in controlled airspace
  2. Traffic Management
    1. Deconfliction

Military

i.e. IAF, Navy, Coast Guard, HAL

  1. Permission in applicable military controlled airspace
  2. Traffic Management
    1. Deconfliction

BCAS

  1. Counter UAS action

General Public

  1. Legal action against Drone Pilot/Operator
  2. Raise claim against accident

Government/Semi-Governmental Bodies

  1. UIDAI
  2. AERA
  3. DGFT
  4. CIN MCA/RoC
  5. GSTIN
  6. MoF
  7. QCI-CB
  8. Passport, VISA/OCI (MEA)
  9. WPC
  10. Driving License RTO
  11. Bharatkosh MoF

UTM Architecture

Considerations for design

Services

Registration

  1. Manufacturer Profile Management
  2. Pilot Profile Management
  3. UIN Application
  4. Permission Management
  5. Operator Profile Management
  6. RPAS Acquisition/Transfer
  7. UAOP Application

Operations

  1. Flight Awareness
  2. Strategic Deconfliction
  3. Conflict Advisory and Alert
  4. Communication and Navigation
  5. Weather
  6. Dynamic Airspace Density
  7. Discovery
  8. Messaging
  9. Airspace Authorisation
  10. Incident Reporting
  11. Log Management
  12. Flight Planning
  13. Flight Notification
  14. Dynamic Reroute
  15. Conformance Monitoring
  16. Risk Reduction
  17. Surveillance
  18. Airspace Organization and Management
  19. Mapping
  20. Restriction Management
  21. Drone Swarm Management
  22. Drone Port Management
  23. Drone Corridor Management
  24. Anti-drone measures /c-UAS
  25. Emergency Management
  26. Interface with ATC

Rules of business

High Priority activities

923/2012 are:
  • police and customs missions
  • traffic surveillance and pursuit missions
  • environmental control missions conducted by, or on behalf of public authorities
  • search and rescue
  • medical flights
  • evacuations
  • firefighting
  • exemptions required to ensure the security of flights by heads of State, Ministers and comparable State functionaries

Ecosystem Evolution Timeline

Phases (high level)

Milestone Services Timeline
M0 Registration, Restriction Management V0, Incident Reporting Till Feb 2022
M1 Communication and Navigation, Flight Awareness, Permission Management, Discovery, Airspace Authorisation, Messaging Feb 2022 - Feb 2023
M2 Flight Notification, Strategic Deconfliction, Conflict Advisory and Alert, Dynamic Airspace Density, Weather Feb 2023 - Feb 2024
M3 Emergency Management, Conformance Monitoring, Restriction Management V1, Log Management, Interface with ATC, Swarm Management, Corridor Management Feb 2024 - Feb 2025

Phases (detail)

Milestone Service Description Timeline
M0 Registration Pilot, Manufacturer Org., Training Org., Operator Org. registration and profile management Till Feb 2022
Restriction Management V0 Airspace Rules
Incident Reporting
M1 Communication and Navigation Till Feb 2023
Flight Awareness Get info about flights in Volume of Interest
Permission Management Allow UTMs to issue flight permits
Discovery Allow UTMs to discover each other
Airspace Authorisation Integration with Non-CAA authorities for seeking flight permission
Messaging Allow Pilots/Ops to create/search TFR/NOTAM/UVR
M2 Flight Notification Get flights in AOI Till Feb 2024
Strategic Deconfliction Pre-flight deconfliction with issued flight plans based on volume restrictions and intersections
Conflict Advisory and Alert Get constraints, advisory, directives for conflicts to aid pilot based deconfliction
Dynamic Airspace Density Get expected airspace density for volume of interest
Weather Get wind, visibility, temperature, precipitation prediction for Flight
M3 Emergency Management UVR/NOTAM/TFR preemption rules Till Feb 2025
Conformance Monitoring Check Remote ID Tracking for conformance with buffers
Restriction Management V1
Swarm Management Allow UTMs to manage swarm coordination
Corridor Management Maintain Corridor geometries and operational constraints, allow UTMs to coordinate ops in corridors
Log Management Flight Log storage and analytics
Interface with ATC