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20 In conversation | Anthony Pucciarella he was approached by a UAV company seeking consultation on how to win a particular Department of Defense contract. “I told them their chances of winning that contract weren’t great. They didn’t know how many hours they’d amassed on their airframes, which components were deemed safety-critical, how often they were to inspect and replace their components, how to determine the average lifetime of their airframes – the list of safety-critical items they needed to know just went on and on,” he recalls. “We realised that there were many other companies in that position. I’d already had the idea to create a kind of easy-to-understand database for that purpose, because even manned aviation didn’t really have anything in that vein.” Therefore, in 2014, Pucciarella began sketching out concepts for how parameters of airworthiness-critical UAV components could be arranged in easy- to-use menus, drop-downs and databases, from the user interface front end to minute details, logs and external ports. He quickly realised that this software would need to securely handle huge quantities of data, firewalled and depersonalised to protect UAS manufacturers’ information while still trusting it to be used for analyses and reports on how UAVs and their components could be deployed and managed while adhering to trusted safety standards. After hiring key software developers who could take these ideas from paper to the computer screen, the AlarisPro software was born, and a new company was split off to head its development (also called AlarisPro). AlarisPro Although the software has been updated and revamped over the years, its front end – that is, its main dashboard – has stayed largely the same. For operators, it comprises lists of their UAVs, each of which can be selected for more detailed profiles displaying key usage specs such as ground hours and flight hours. Component lists for each UAV are also available, with their recommended remaining flight hours until replacement (colour-coded for urgency). “Before and after each flight, there are mission logging forms for them to fill in, which are preset with fields of required data for compliance with aviation standards. With a single glance they can go from having no understanding of what constitutes airworthiness to having a visible and tactile education of everything they need to know and report. “Most recently we’ve added menus and forms for users flying BVLOS to type in information that the FAA and other regulators demand to document those flights. These include the distances and minutes spent travelling BVLOS, or if the UAV was grounded there’s a drop-down list of FAA-standard reasons for doing so. “In addition to our maintenance recommendations and implicit airworthiness education, we send weekly reports on the status and readiness of their aircraft and crews, including when their pilots’ certifications to legally fly UAVs are due to expire.” Modules for pre-mission planning – including flight planning, weather and airspace information, and a range of other features – have also been integrated as an extension from the largely post-mission focus of the software. The modules integrate the UAV and pilot status information to maintain operator awareness of airworthiness- critical information. At the opposite end, UAV OEMs using AlarisPro can fill in requirements on the use and maintenance of their systems, as well as transmitting their own service bulletins over it. This will alert all current users of a given component or system about an issue such as a firmware update. As Pucciarella explains, “We’re not directly connected to specific aircraft types. As operators use the software for logging flights and maintenance, and as manufacturers use it for listing the components in a new UAV model, they click on the pertinent menus and drop- down lists and select or fill in boxes as the labels imply. “We do however have a proprietary system for tracking components, without relying on serial numbers, but users can opt to include them if they so choose.” He adds that the ‘de-identification’ of all the data is critical for operators to know their data is non-attributable – particularly since the more advanced December/January 2021 | Unmanned Systems Technology AlarisPro’s mobile application allows offline logging of flight data in remote locations, and is also designed to comply with FAA airworthiness requirements