This is the second edition of the book and, according to the editors, it is meant to bring it up to date with all the latest developments of the UAS world. The book is well laid out and begins with a preface to the second edition which includes the improvements over the first edition. It then provides the profiles of the editors, followed by the profiles of the contributors of the individual chapters of the book.
Each chapter has a content section at the beginning of the chapter and therefore makes it easier to compile relevant information across the chapters. The advantage of this becomes apparent as one begins to read the book and discovers that a certain topic or subject may be covered in several chapters in the book, as each contributor deems appropriate. Each chapter also has a set of questions for review, a list of references and a possible list of literature for further reading. This makes it convenient for the book to be used as an introductory textbook the way the editors had intended.
The book consists of 17 chapters, followed by an epilogue right at the end which attempts to integrate the material via a coherent summary. The epilogue has one section for each chapter of the book. The chapters can be divided into three sections, namely the first 8 chapters, the second 7 chapters and the last 2 chapters. The first 8 chapters deal with the qualitative aspects of the UAS scene. These include, in running order, the history of UASs, commercial and military applications and UAS-related regulations and operational guidelines. The second 7 chapters form an introduction to the more technical aspects of UASs, which are the overall system, airframe, powerplants, command, control, communication, system integration and testing, and detect and avoid capability. The final 2 chapters deal with public perception and projected future developments.
Chapter 1 provides a history of UAS development since the start of aviation and is predominantly covered from a military angle. There is a significant discontinuity between Chapters 1 and 2, as the various applications covered by Chapter 2 are predominantly civilian in nature and are carried out by civilian UAS or converted military UASs.
Chapters 3 and 4 cover the system and sensors, respectively, from a qualitative perspective. It must be noted that Chapters 2 and 4 are very closely related and the reader is advised to read them in tandem. This is because the sensors carried by a UAS platform is dictated by its application.
Chapters 5–8 cover US aviation regulations, human factors, safety assessments and ITAR restrictions. The content of the chapters are very US centric and international readers have to recognise that it seems to be aimed primarily at a US readership. The approach is also still qualitative and descriptive, which are appropriate for the chapters in question. There is a slight overlap in the contents of Chapter 6 and 7, as the latter also touches upon aspects of human factors.
Chapter 9 begins with the technical design guidelines. It is also the point where the researching reader is advised to relate to the preceding chapters. While Chapter 3 deals with a qualitative description of the ‘system’, Chapter 9 deals with it from a top-down design viewpoint, and begins to introduce more quantitative elements. It acts as a feeder into the following 4 chapters (10 to 13), which logically should follow chapter 9.
Chapter 9 together with Chapter 10 provides technical guidelines for airframe and propulsion design. Ironically (and recognising the fact that is useful to make reference to the best source of information in a particular field), the author has referenced Raymer, who is a specialist in the design of manned aircraft.
Chapter 11 touches upon the electrical (power)-related issues. It seems to be one of the better written chapters with regards to degree of comprehensiveness and detail. The author of this chapter is also one of the editors of the book.
Chapter 12 is the most technical chapter of all, having numerous formulae, worked examples and other methods of calculating communication parameters related to UAV communications. However, the chapter does not seem to be well integrated to the rest of the material in the book. It would have been useful for the author of the chapter to have integrated the calculations with aspects of the restrictions of operation in civil non-segregated airspace for the different classes of UASs, as well as the power consumption and airframe integration of the communication systems in question.
Chapter 13 deals with command and control of UAS, and it is interesting to note that the bulk of this chapter, though not entirely (exceptions are 13.3.1 and 13.3.2), deal with the aspect from a small civilian UAS perspective for which the information is not restricted. When reading this chapter, it would be crucial to read the chapters which do have related information, such as Chapter 6 on Human Factors and Chapter 7 on Operational Safety Assessment.
Chapter 14 covers testing and integration. This chapter touches upon the material in a semi practical way, and can be used as a rough guide for the do's and don'ts during fabrication. It is useful to be read in tandem with the contents of Chapter 7 on safety assessments. While Chapter 7 is more focused on the mission aspect of safety, Chapter 14 addresses the issues of hardware integrity and would be called into question should there be an accident or if the platform is submitted for certification.
Chapter 15, which forms the end of the second section and has the feel of one of the later additions to this edition of the book, is a critical and well thought-out chapter. Nevertheless, once again the reader is advised to read in in synchronisation with Chapter 5 (US aviation regulatory system) and Chapter 7 (safety assessments). At this juncture, it is also important to note that while in Chapter 1, the ‘manned aircraft bias’ was mentioned as part of the psyche of the US military, there is a similar bias detected as a thread in the related aspects of Chapters 5–7 and 15 (i.e., regulations, safety, human factors, and detect and avoid capability). The contents of these chapters deal predominantly with the civilian sector, but is still approached from a very ‘manned aircraft’ perspective.
Chapters 16 and 17 act as an ending to where Chapters 1 and 2 began, which is a timeline with applications. While the earlier chapters looked back in time, the final two do the same looking to the future.
For the maximum benefit to be obtained from this book, it has to be recognised for what it is and more importantly what it is not. The book has been edited in both editions by academics with vast experience in both manned and unmanned areas of aviation. The book chapters are authored by specialists in their field and hence contain some of the most up-to-date information on the subject. However, it is precisely for those reasons that the book has limitations and shortcomings. In an attempt to cover such a wide range of material, brought to bear by a breadth of experience, the editors have opted to produce a book which is a ‘jack of all trades’.
Firstly, it is an introduction and therefore it should be taken as such. The intricacies of actually designing and constructing a small scale civilian UAS for example are not contained in the book. Secondly, because the book is made up of self-contained chapters, there would obviously be a difference in writing styles, as stated by the editors. More critically, however, there is an overlap in content of the chapters, where material might be repeated or spread across multiple chapters. The reader who is using the book for research is advised to survey the entire book for relevant information.
It is also important to note the profiles of the editors and contributing authors. While the editors have attempted to have as broad-based a set of contributors, it must be realised that the editors and authors have a link to University of Kansas or the University of North Dakota. The perceived impacts are that while the material is very relevant to UAVs in North America, the relevance to the rest of the world, and perhaps overseas civilian UAS practitioners maybe restricted. For example, the issuing of 2500 exceptions by the FAA (page 345), while making interesting reading, might be of little use to a European reader little acquainted with the transatlantic differences between US and European aviation law. The only section contrary to that seems to be Section 5.2, where the section is written to relate the US regulations to ICAO regulations. When discussing ITAR regulations, the governing bodies cited are part of the US government (Chapter 8).
The epilogue is a useful summary by the editors of all the material covered in the previous chapters, and provides a quick reference guide to locating related information across the chapters. If used as the authors intended, the book can be a very useful introduction to the world of UAS for the uninitiated reader or a beginning undergraduate textbook. The reader is strongly advised to refer to more technical books if guidance is required for the practical building and operation of UAS systems.
