Development of unmanned aircraft avionic systems design generally takes two paths: fully autonomous (with update) and semi-autonomous or remotely piloted aircraft. The reliability and systems engineering elements for these aircraft take different forms specifically for the RPV versus the UAV. A generalized comparison of the attributes of these two different types of system is presented along with the major elements of their employment challenges. Both vehicle types are dependent upon significant level of fault detection and isolation, and redundancy management as well as ability to return to base or alternate field in the event of a failure. Mission duration plays a major role in the reliability demands on the system. An element that must be included is the potential for multiple failures or interrupts combined with other effects such as those associated with radiation. This presentation addresses the global system attributes and design reliability elements needed to ensure safety of flight and successful mission completion.

Russell Morris is a Technical Fellow (2004) for Boeing. His work spans many divisions within Boeing including solar power generation and delivery, commercial aircraft, military systems as well as teaching/mentoring Boeing engineers in Reliability, Maintainability and Systems Health topics. He has a broad background in manned and unmanned aircraft systems that include 777, 737, and 787, satellite systems, Darkstar, UCAV, JUCAS, HALE and the Vulture programs. In his 50 years of experience he has held positions from technician to Project and Program Manager in fields such as Aerospace, Testing, Broadcast Television and Medical Diagnostic Ultrasound. He has 38 years of experience as a Reliability Engineer. He is a past Chairman and contributor for the SAE National committees for JA 1000 series of R&M standards. He is recognized as an individual contributor to a wide variety of military and commercial programs. He has published and presented papers nationally and authored a number of internal white papers on modeling, analysis and processes for reliability and maintainability. Russell Morris has a BSEE from San Jose State University (San Jose, California) and a MCSE from Missouri University of Science and Technology. He holds three patents.