Investigating the use of digital twins in networked commercial UAVs

Abstract

The Commercial UAS industry is relatively new and has significant growth potential as new technology are incorporated into it, new applications are found, and new regulations are coming in place. Digital Framework, also a relatively new concept, has found acceptance in various industry but has not yet been applied to Commercial UAS while having great potential. This thesis uses the ARIES framework to investigates how this concept can be applied to Commercial UAS, the possible applications and architecture. Towards this end, a study of the enterprise landscape and a stakeholder analysis are conducted. Next the current architecture of the Commercial UAS is identified. From this understanding, a possible future is identified and possible applications from integrating Digital Framework into Commercial UAS are identified. Finally, an architecture for the future UAS was proposed and four possible architectures that incorporated a Digital Framework into Commercial UAS were identified.