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Projecte llegit

Títol: Development of a Safety Analysis FMEA tool for OSO#05 Compliance for Low Level of Robustness Operations

Estudiants que han llegit aquest projecte:

Director/a: ROYO CHIC, PABLO

Departament: DAC

Títol: Development of a Safety Analysis FMEA tool for OSO#05 Compliance for Low Level of Robustness Operations

Data inici oferta: 19-02-2025     Data finalització oferta: 19-10-2025


Estudis d'assignació del projecte:
    MU DRONS
Tipus: Individual
 
Lloc de realització: Fora UPC    
 
        Supervisor/a extern: Javier Balaguer
        Institució/Empresa: Applus+ Laboratories
        Titulació del Director/a: Aerospace Systems Engineer
 
Paraules clau:
UAS, SORA, OSO#05, FMEA, Database, FTS5
 
Descripció del contingut i pla d'activitats:
 
Overview (resum en anglès):
The rise in UAS operations requires constant updates to the regulatory framework to support safe operations. In response, EASA and international standardization bodies have been publishing new standards and Means of Compliance (MoCs) that provide applicants with practical ways to demonstrate conformity with regulatory requirements.

Currently, UAS operations classified under the Specific category are characterized by higher operational complexity or risk than those in the Open category. These operations usually require an operational risk assessment and formal authorization from the competent authority. Compliance is typically demonstrated using the SORA methodology, which maps the identified operational risks to specific Operational Safety Objectives (OSOs). An OSO is a specific safety requirement or goal that shall be met to reduce the operation's risk to an acceptable level.

However, despite the publication of MoCs and standards, applicants often face practical challenges regarding OSOs compliance. Existing documents are structured too broadly and do not provide clear guidance on how to start or proceed with the analysis. This project has taken the specific example of OSO#05, which requires that the UAS be designed with adequate system safety and reliability. The MoC for OSO#05, already published for SAIL III operations, recommends conducting a Functional Hazard Analysis (FHA) and a Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) to perform a UAS system safety analysis. What is provided, hence, are recommendations rather than step-by-step instructions. In many cases, this may leave applicants uncertain about how to translate the required high-level requirements into specific and documented assessments.

To address this, the project provides a two-part solution. For starters, an Excel-based FHA and FMEA framework that applicants can directly use to structure their safety assessment has been developed. Secondly, a prototype Python tool connected to a regulatory database, which automatically retrieves relevant standards content and guidance for specific FMEA fields has been created.
The database, implemented in SQLite with FTS5, segments documents into hierarchical sections and enables fast retrieval of relevant information.

It should be highlighted that this project has been carried out in collaboration with Applus+ Laboratories, which provided real-world context to ensure the developed framework aligned with industry practices.

The approach allowed defining a clear FHA and FMEA structure and building a structured database with properly organized content. Additionally, FTS5 demonstrated fast retrieval when matches were found. Nevertheless, the main limitation has been the construction of queries to obtain accurate results. Therefore, looking ahead, instead of performing literal text searches and focusing on improving query robustness, techniques that can capture the contextual meaning of words could be explored.

Overall, the outcome is not a deployable product. It shall be treated as a methodology and a prototype aimed at reducing ambiguity, providing structured evidence for compliance, and establishing a scalable foundation for systematic UAS safety analysis.

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