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Science and technology
科學技術
Pilotless aircraft
無人駕駛飛機
This is your ground pilot speaking
呼叫，這里是你的地面飛行員
Autonomous civil aircraft could be flying before cars go driverless
民用飛機會先于汽車實現無人駕駛
WITHIN the next few weeks a twin-engined Jetstream will take off from Warton Aerodrome in Lancashire, England, and head north towards Scotland.
在接下來的幾周里，一架雙引擎飛機噴流將會從英格蘭蘭開夏郡的沃頓機場起飛，向北飛往蘇格蘭。
Like any other flight, the small commuter airliner will respond to instructions from air-traffic controllers, navigate a path and take care to avoid other aircraft.
與其他班機一樣，這架小型通勤客機將會根據空中交通管制員的指示，沿著一條航路飛行，注意避開其他飛機。
But the pilot flying the aircraft will not be in the cockpit: he will have his feet firmly on the ground in a control room back at Warton.
但是駕駛這架飛機的飛行員卻沒在駕駛艙里：他在沃頓機場的一個控制室里駕駛著飛機，雙腳仍然穩穩地踩在地面上。
Pilotless aircraft are now widely used by the armed forces, but those drones fly only in restricted airspace and conflict zones.
無人機現在已廣泛應用于軍隊之中，但這些無人機僅用于在禁飛區及沖突地區。
The Jetstream mission is part of a project to develop the technologies and procedures that will allow large commercial aircraft to operate routinely and safely without pilots in the same skies as manned civilian flights.
而噴流的任務是某個技術及程序開發項目的一部分，該項目的目的在于能讓大型商用飛機在沒有飛行員的情況下安全的進行常規飛行，與有人駕駛的民航班機在同一片天空中飛行。
Fasten your seat belts
系緊您的安全帶
To reassure those of a nervous disposition, the test flights do not carry passengers and pilots remain in the cockpit just in case things go wrong.
為了讓那些神經質的人安心，測試的飛機不會有乘客，駕駛艙中仍然有駕駛員以防萬一，
In that way they are similar to Google’s trials of driverless cars, which have drivers inside them to take over if necessary while on public roads.
這有點類似于谷歌無人駕駛汽車的實驗，在公路上行駛時，如有必要，車中的駕駛員可以控制汽車。
Yet unmanned commercial aircraft are likely to enter service before people can buy autonomous cars.
但是無人駕駛的商用飛機很可能在人們可以買到無人駕駛汽車前便能投入使用。
Modern aircraft are already perfectly capable of automatically taking off, flying to a destination and landing.
現代的飛機已經完全有能力進行自動起飛，自動飛往目的地，自動著陸。
These tests are trying to establish whether they can do those things safely without a pilot in the cockpit and at the same time comply with the rules of the air.
而要進行的測試是想確認在駕駛艙沒有飛行員的情況下，飛機能否在遵守飛行規則的同時，還能安全的完成以上三件事情。
Progress is being made, a conference in London heard this week.
筆者本周從在倫敦召開的一次會議上獲悉，事情正在取得進展。
It was organised by the Autonomous Systems Technology Related Airborne Evaluation and Assessment, the group staging the British test flights.
本次會議是由機載無人系統技術評審組織舉辦的，就是該組織在英國進行了無人機測試。
This 62m programme, backed by the British government, involves seven European aerospace companies:
該項目獲得了英國政府的支持，投資達六千兩百萬英鎊，共有七家歐洲的航空工業公司參與其中：
AOS, BAE Systems, Cassidian, Cobham, QinetiQ, Rolls-Royce and Thales.
機載觀測系統公司，英國宇航系統公司，凱西典公司， 科巴姆公司，奎奈蒂克公司，勞特萊斯公司及泰雷茲公司。
It is potentially a huge new market.
這是一個潛在的巨大新興市場。
America’s aviation regulators have been asked by Congress to integrate unmanned aircraft into the air-traffic control system as early as 2015.
美國國會已要求該國的航空協調員要在2015年將無人駕駛飛機加入空中交通管制系統。
Some small drones are already used in commercial applications, such as aerial photography, but in most countries they are confined to flying within sight of their ground pilot, much like radio-controlled model aircraft.
有些小型無人機已經應用于航拍等商業用途，但在大多數國家，小型無人機的飛行范圍被限制在其地面飛行員的視野以內，很像無線電遙控的模型飛機。
Bigger aircraft would be capable of flying farther and doing a lot more things.
再大一點的無人機能夠飛的更遠一些，可以做更多的事情。
Pilotless aircraft could carry out many jobs at a lower cost than manned aircraft and helicopters—tasks such as traffic monitoring, border patrols, police surveillance and checking power lines.
無人駕駛飛機可以完成很多工作，并且比有人駕駛的飛機和直升機成本更低，比如說交通監測，邊境巡邏，警務監視及電纜檢查等任務。
They could also operate in conditions that are dangerous for pilots, including monitoring forest fires or nuclear-power accidents.
無人機還可以在對飛行員有危險的環境下工作，包括監視森林火災或核電事故。
And they could fly extended missions for search and rescue, environmental monitoring or even provide temporary airborne Wi-Fi and mobile-phone services.
而且無人機還可以執行更多的任務，如搜索救援，環境監測，甚至提供臨時的機載無線網絡和移動電話服務。
Some analysts think the global civilian market for unmanned aircraft and services could be worth more than $50 billion by 2020.
有分析師認為，到2020年，無人駕駛飛機及其服務的全球民用市場的價值可超過500億美元。
Whatever happens, pilots will still have a role in aviation, although not necessarily in the cockpit.
無論發生什么，飛行員仍會在航空業占有一席之地，雖然不一定是在駕駛艙里。
As far as the eye can see there will always be a pilot in command of an aircraft, says Lambert Dopping-Hepenstal, the director of ASTRAEA.
在可以預見的未來，飛機一直都會由飛行員掌控， ASTRAEA的主任Lambert Dopping-Hepenstal說，
But that pilot may be on the ground and he may be looking after more than one unmanned aircraft at the same time.
但飛行員或許會留在地面上，有可能同時照看好幾架無人機。
Commercial flights carrying freight and express parcels might one day also lose their on-board pilots.
運送貨物和快遞包裹的商用飛機某天也可能會失去其隨機的飛行員。
But would even the most penny-pinching cut-price airline be able to sell tickets to passengers on flights that have an empty cockpit?
但就算廉價航空公司再怎么精打細算，它能把沒有飛行員的飛機的機票賣出去嗎？
More realistically, those flights might have just one pilot in the future.
更現實點說，未來的商用飛機可能只有一名飛行員。
Technology has already relieved the flight deck of a number of jobs.
飛行班組的許多職位已經被技術取代了。
Many early large aircraft had a crew of five: two pilots, a flight engineer, a navigator and a radio operator.
許多早期的大型飛機上有五名機組成員：兩名飛行員，一名飛行機師，一名領航員及一名無線電話務員。
First the radio operator went, then the navigator, and by the time the jet era was well under way in the 1970s flight engineers began to disappear too.
最先是無線電話務員消失了，然后是領航員，等到了20世紀70年代，進入噴氣機時代后，飛行機師也消失了。
Next it could be the co-pilot, replaced by the autonomous flight systems now being developed.
下一個消失的會是副駕駛，被現在正在開發中的自主飛行系統取代。
The flight over Scotland will test how well air-traffic controllers can communicate with the ground pilot through the aircraft.
在那架飛往蘇格蘭的飛機上將會測試空中交通管制員通過飛機與其地面飛行員通話的質量。
The project is also exploring ways to make the radio and satellite links secure and reliable.
該項目還在探尋使無線電及衛星連接安全可靠的方法。
But engineers still have to prepare for the eventuality that the link breaks; the aircraft then has to have enough autonomy to operate safely until communications are restored or it can land using its own guidance systems.
但是工程師仍必須為連接中斷的可能性做好準備；然后飛機必須要有足夠的自主權來保證飛行安全，直至通訊恢復正常，或者能夠使用自己的導航系統著陸。
Unmanned aircraft will, therefore, need a sense and avoid capability.
因此無人駕駛飛機需要感應并規避的能力。
This can be provided by transponders that bleep the aircraft’s presence to other aeroplanes and air-traffic controllers.
異頻雷達收發機便具備這一功能，它會發出嗶嗶聲來提示其它飛機及空中交通管制員本飛機的存在。
But not all manned aircraft have such kit.
但并非所有的有人駕駛飛機都有該功能。
Some light aircraft and gliders operating at low altitudes in clear weather are not required to have even radios, let alone transponders or radar.
一些在晴朗天氣下進行低空飛行的輕型飛機和滑翔機甚至不需要無線電，更別提異頻雷達收發機或雷達了。
Which is why pilots keep their eyes peeled when such traffic might be about.
這也是為什么在可能發生這種情況時，飛行員要時刻保持警惕。
ASTRAEA’s Jetstream, therefore, also uses video cameras to allow the ground pilot to look around outside the cockpit.
因此ASTRAEA的捷流號還使用了攝像頭以便使地面飛行員可以查看駕駛艙外的情況。
Image-recognition software can warn of other aircraft.
影像識別軟件可以在出現其它飛機時發出警告，
This is being tested against different backgrounds, such as a cluttered landscape or a hazy sky.
目前正在不同的環境下對該功能進行測試，如地形復雜或天空霧蒙蒙的環境。
In other trials, different aircraft are being flown in the vicinity of the Jetstream, and some of them will be flown deliberately towards it on a potential collision course, to see if these intruding aircraft can be recognised by the automated systems and the appropriate avoiding action taken.
在其它的試驗中，不同的飛機飛至捷流附近，其中幾架故意以可能與之相撞的航線飛向捷流，以測試自動系統能否識別這些入侵的飛機并采取適當的規避措施。
These flights are taking place in an area cleared of other aircraft over the Irish Sea.
以上飛行測試是在愛爾蘭海上空一片沒有其它飛機經過的空域進行的。
The results to date suggest you can do sense-and-avoid as well as a human, says Mr Dopping-Hepenstal.
迄今為止的測試結果表明系統的感應并規避的能力能做到和人一樣， Dopping-Hepensta說。
A pilotless plane must also be able to act autonomously in an emergency.
在發生緊急狀況時，無人機必須能夠自行采取行動。
In the event of an engine failure, for instance, it could use its navigational map to locate a suitable area to put down.
比如，如果一臺引擎發生故障，無人機需要使用其航行圖來找到合適地點降落。
But what if this was an open field that happened to be in use for, say, a fair?
但如果其選擇的空地恰好被占用了，比如說成了集市，怎么辦？
A forward-looking video camera might show a ground pilot that.
此時前視攝像頭會將此影像傳給地面飛行員。
But if communications were lost the aircraft would rely on image-recognition software and an infra-red camera to detect the heat given off by people and machines and so decide to try to land elsewhere.
但如果通訊中斷，飛機將依靠影像識別軟件及紅外攝像頭來感知人或機器發出的熱量，以此來決定去其它地點降落。
The ASTRAEA researchers are carrying out a lot of their work using flight simulators and air-traffic-control data.
ASTRAEA的研究人員的許多工作都是通過飛行模擬裝置及空中交通管制數據來完成的。
But eventually they will still have to prove that their systems can work in the real world—even during emergency landings.
但最終他們還是要證明他們的系統要能應用在現實的世界里，甚至在緊急迫降時也能使用。
In order to satisfy risk-averse aviation regulators, the researchers are working with Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority to certify a virtual pilotless aircraft for use in civil airspace.
為了讓民航協調員在規避風險方面滿意，研究人員與英國民航局一起驗證了虛擬的無人機用于民用空域的可行性，
The intention is not to certify an actual aircraft, but for both sides to learn what will be required to do so.
其目的并非是要對真正的無人機進行驗證，而是為了讓雙方了解需要為此做些什么。
Some of the technologies being developed are also likely to find their way into manned aircraft as a backup for pilots, and possibly for cars too.
開發出來技術中有一些可能作為飛行員的后備而應用到有人駕駛飛機，還有可能應用到汽車上。
Systems that provide automatic braking and motorway-lane control, for instance, already feature in many types of car.
例如，許多種的汽車都已經配備了自動剎車及公路車道控制系統。
These features take cars some of the way towards autonomy.
這些功能讓汽車走上了無人駕駛之路。
But driverless cars, like pilotless planes, will have to fit in with existing infrastructure and regulations, not least insurance liability, before they can take off.
但是無人駕駛汽車與無人駕駛飛機一樣，在出發前，需要先符合現有的基礎設施及規章，尤其是明確保險責任。
