Enhancing the Safety of Multi-UAS Urban Operations with SORA

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) play a pivotal role in a variety of modern applications, with traffic monitoring emerging as a critical use case. This study presents the Specific Operations Risk Assessment (SORA) 2.0 framework as applied to UAS operations dedicated for traffic monitoring in urban environments. A comprehensive risk assessment is provided by incorporating real-world scenarios and addressing practical aspects of traffic monitoring missions. A fleet of semi-autonomous drones is employed to safely acquire video footage of traffic for further analysis, based on a detailed elaboration of SORA methodology steps. In this regard, enhancements are proposed for structuring the Air Risk Class assessment and corresponding mitigation measures, as well as recommendations concerning Multi-UAS and autonomous operations, aiming to improve the methodology. As the demand for UAS operations in urban environments, including efficient and secure traffic management solutions, constantly increases, this study aspires to contribute to the UAS operational safety and regulatory framework.