Overview

This unit provides students with practical experience in uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) operations, focusing on mission planning, regulatory compliance, and risk management. Emphasis is placed on effective communication, professional decision-making, and safety-critical procedures, preparing students for industry roles requiring advanced UAS operational competence.

Teaching periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date
Semester 2
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
03-August-2026
01-November-2026
Last self-enrolment date
16-August-2026
Census date
01-September-2026
Last withdraw without fail date
22-September-2026
Results released date
08-December-2026

Unit learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

  1. Explain UAV operations, regulations, and risk mitigation strategies and and undertake hands-on activities
  2. Develop the skills and experience to engage with regulators to seek permissions, approvals and/or exemptions for UAV Operations
  3. Apply risk assessment methodologies and SORA compliance for safe and legal UAS operations
  4. Effectively plan, analyse, conduct risk assessments and execute ‘real world’ missions in UAV operations

Teaching methods

All applicable locations

Activity Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)

On-Campus Workshop

 1 12 weeks 12
On-Campus Lecture 2 12 weeks 24
Online Learning Activities 1 12 weeks 12
Unspecified Learning Activities (Independent Learning) 8.5 12 weeks 102
Total     150

Assessment

Type Task Weighting ULOs
Assignment 1 Individual 30 - 40 % 2, 3
Assignment 2 Group 30 - 50 % 1, 2, 3, 4
Online Tests Individual 20 - 30 % 1, 2, 3, 4

Content

  • Overview of Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) and Visual Line of Sight (VLOS) operations, regulatory framework
  • Flight planning and airspace integration
  • Flight route planning tools and software
  • Communication protocols (VHF, 4G/5G, satellite links)
  • Detect-and-avoid (DAA) systems and technologies
  • Autonomous vs. remote piloted BVLOS operations
  • Redundancies and contingency planning in BVLOS missions
  • Hands-on workshop: BVLOS flight planning using simulation software
  • Risk assessment exercises for BVLOS operations
  • Flight Simulation & Practical Sessions

Study resources

Reading materials

A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.