AI-Based Assistant for SORA: Approach, Interaction Logic, and Perspectives for Cybersecurity Integration †
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. The SORA Methodology
3. The Role of an AI-Based Assistant
4. Methodological Approach to Model Development
4.1. Terminology Processing and Knowledge Structuring
4.2. Contextual Responsibility and Interpretive Boundaries
4.3. Integration of the SORA Process Logic
4.4. Behavioral Modeling for Guiding the Completion of the Process
4.5. Real-World Scenario Validation: Application of the Assistant in a Mission Planning Context
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
Abbreviations
AI | Artificial Intelligence |
ARC | Air Risk Class |
BVLOS | Beyond Visual Line of Sight |
ConOps | Concept of Operations |
EASA | European Union Aviation Safety Agency |
GRC | Ground Risk Class |
JARUS | Joint Authorities for Rulemaking on Unmanned Systems |
MITRE ATT&CK | MITRE Adversarial Tactics, Techniques, and Common Knowledge |
NIST | National Institute of Standards and Technology |
OSO | Operational Safety Objective |
SAIL | Specific Assurance and Integrity Level |
SORA | Specific Operations Risk Assessment |
STS | Standard Scenario |
UAS | Unmanned Aircraft Systems |
UTM | Unmanned Traffic Management |
UX | User Experience |
VLOS | Visual Line of Sight |
References
- Andrysiak, J.; Fraczek, S. Risks of Drone Use in Light of Literature Studies. Sensors 2024, 24, 1205. Available online: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10892979 (accessed on 13 February 2025). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
- JARUS. Guidelines on Specific Operations Risk Assessment (SORA). 2017. Available online: https://jarus-rpas.org (accessed on 10 February 2025).
- EASA. Easy Access Rules for Unmanned Aircraft Systems; European Union Aviation Safety Agency: Brussels, Belgium, 2024. [Google Scholar]
- Martinez, C.; Sanchez-Cuevas, P.J.; Gerasimou, S.; Bera, A. SORA Methodology for Multi-UAS Airframe Inspections in an Airport. Drones 2021, 5, 141. Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/5/4/141 (accessed on 15 January 2025). [CrossRef]
- Schnüriger, P.; Schreiber, J.; Widmer, K.; Lenhart, P.M. SORA Tool—A Specific Operation Risk Assessment Tool for Civilian Drone Operations. Drones 2025, 9, 1–11. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Jeelani, I.; Gheisari, M. Safety Challenges of UAV Integration in Construction. Saf. Sci. 2021, 144, 105473. Available online: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753521003167 (accessed on 12 February 2025). [CrossRef]
- Tran, T.D. Cybersecurity Risk Assessment for Unmanned Aircraft Systems. Ph.D. Thesis, Université Grenoble Alpes, Saint-Martin-d’Hères, France, 2021. Available online: https://hal.science/tel-03200719v1 (accessed on 4 February 2025).
- Available online: http://jarus-rpas.org/publications/ (accessed on 19 January 2025).
- Available online: https://www.eurocontrol.int/ (accessed on 22 February 2025).
- Wyszywacz, W. SORA: Assumptions and Evaluation of the Method. Rev. Eur. De Derecho De La Naveg. Marítima Y Aeronáutica 2023, 39, 25–45. [Google Scholar]
- Denney, E.; Pai, G. Tool Support for Assurance Case Development. Autom. Softw. Eng. 2018, 25, 435–499. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Pinto, G.; De Souza, C.; Rocha, T.; Steinmacher, I.; Souza, A.; Monteiro, E. Developer Experiences with a Contextualized AI Coding Assistant. arXiv 2023, arXiv:2311.18452. [Google Scholar]
- Nogueira, A.; Silva, J.; Reis, A. Unmanned Aircraft Systems: A Pathway to Obtain a Design Verification Report. J. Airl. Airpt. Manag. 2024, 14, 19–37. Available online: https://www.jairm.org/index.php/jairm/article/viewFile/421/160 (accessed on 9 February 2025). [CrossRef]
- Denney, E.; Pai, G.; Whiteside, I. Modeling the Safety Architecture of UAS Flight Operations. In Proceedings of the Computer Safety, Reliability, and Security (SAFECOMP 2017), LNCS 10488, Trento, Italy, 13–15 September 2017; Springer: Berlin/Heidelberg, Germany, 2017; pp. 162–178. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Denney, E.; Pai, G.; Whiteside, I. Model-Driven Development of Safety Architectures. In Proceedings of the 2017 ACM/IEEE 20th International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems (MODELS), Austin, TX, USA, 17–22 September 2017; pp. 156–166. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Maharaj, A.V.; Qian, K.; Bhattacharya, U.; Fang, S.; Galatanu, H.; Garg, M.; Hanessian, R.; Kapoor, N.; Russell, K.; Vaithyanathan, S.; et al. Evaluation and Continual Improvement for an Enterprise AI Assistant. arXiv 2024, arXiv:2407.12003. [Google Scholar]
- Castro, D.G.; García, E.V. Safety Challenges for Integrating U-Space in Urban Environments. In Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS), Athens, Greece, 15–18 June 2021; Available online: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9476883 (accessed on 15 January 2025).
- Del Guercio, A.M. Development of a WebApp for Safe Mission Planning for UAS in Urban Areas. Master’s Thesis, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy, 2024. Available online: https://webthesis.biblio.polito.it/secure/33138/1/tesi.pdf (accessed on 24 February 2025).
- Rana, M.; Saboor, K.; Vishal, S.; Hussain, A. AI-Enabled Intelligent Assistant for Personalized and Adaptive Learning in Higher Education. arXiv 2023, arXiv:2309.10892. [Google Scholar]
- Available online: http://jarus-rpas.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/SORA-v2.5-Cyber-Extension-Release-JAR_doc_31.pdf (accessed on 23 January 2025).
- Tran, T.D.; Thiriet, J.M.; Marchand, N.; El Mrabti, A. A Cybersecurity Risk Framework for Unmanned Aircraft Systems under Specific Category. J. Intell. Robot. Syst. 2022, 104, 4. Available online: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10846-021-01512-0 (accessed on 16 January 2025). [CrossRef]
- Barber, D. Bayesian Reasoning and Machine Learning; Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK, 2012. [Google Scholar]
Input/Output | Text |
---|---|
Prompt: | “What is ARC?” |
Answer: | “ARC stands for Air Risk Class. In the context of SORA (Specific Operations Risk Assessment), ARC refers to the evaluation of the risk of collision with another aircraft during a drone mission. It is one of the two primary types of risk addressed in SORA—the other being Ground Risk Class (GRC).” |
Input/Output | Text |
---|---|
Prompt: | “Can I fly a drone over a city without special authorization if I use a parachute?” |
Answer: | “That depends on several factors, including the maximum kinetic energy upon impact, the specifics of the operational scenario, and the requirements of the national aviation authority. While using a parachute may serve as a mitigating measure, it does not automatically authorize the operation. I recommend consulting with your national aviation regulator and applying the SORA methodology to assess the associated risks.” |
Input/Output | Text |
---|---|
Prompt: | “How do I determine the ARC for my operation?” |
Answer: | “To determine the ARC (Air Risk Class), you first need to identify the type of airspace in which the operation will take place. For example, if you are flying in uncontrolled airspace (such as Class G), the ARC will likely be lower. However, if the operation is near an airport or within controlled airspace, the air risk class will be higher. If you have already assessed the ground risk (GRC), we can use both values to calculate the SAIL (Specific Assurance and Integrity Level). Would you like to proceed with that step?” |
Input/Output | Text |
---|---|
Prompt: | “What is GRC?” |
Answer: | “GRC stands for Ground Risk Class. It is an indicator reflecting the likelihood of a person on the ground being affected in the event of a loss of control over the drone. The GRC assessment is based on factors such as the type of operational area (e.g., urban, industrial, sparsely populated), flight altitude, and the presence of mitigating measures such as a parachute or energy limiters. Example: A BVLOS flight at 60 m over a suburban area with a parachute installed would typically result in a lower GRC compared to the same mission flown over a densely built-up urban area. Would you like to proceed to calculating or analyzing the Air Risk Class (ARC), which is the next element in the SORA framework?” |
Prompt: | “Okay, let’s look at ARC.” |
Answer: | “ARC (Air Risk Class) represents the level of risk related to a potential collision with another aircraft. It depends on the characteristics of the airspace where the operation will take place—for example, whether the airspace is controlled, near airports, or in remote, uncontrolled areas. For operations in low, uncontrolled airspace (such as Class G), the ARC is generally lower. Once you have both the GRC and ARC values, the next step is to determine the SAIL (Specific Assurance and Integrity Level)—the level of reliability that must be achieved for your overall operation. Would you like to calculate that now?” |
Prompt: | “Yes, let’s see what the SAIL will be.” |
Answer: | “SAIL is determined using a table that combines the GRC and ARC values. For example: GRC = 4 ARC = b → SAIL = IV (according to the table in JARUS SORA v2.0, Annex B) SAIL indicates the level of rigor required in selecting safety measures (OSO) and in the corresponding documentation. For SAIL IV, nearly all OSOs must be addressed, with some requiring a higher degree of reliability. Are you ready to move on to selecting and justifying the Operational Safety Objectives?” |
Disclaimer/Publisher’s Note: The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content. |
© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Share and Cite
Puliyski, A.; Serbezov, V. AI-Based Assistant for SORA: Approach, Interaction Logic, and Perspectives for Cybersecurity Integration. Eng. Proc. 2025, 100, 65. https://doi.org/10.3390/engproc2025100065
Puliyski A, Serbezov V. AI-Based Assistant for SORA: Approach, Interaction Logic, and Perspectives for Cybersecurity Integration. Engineering Proceedings. 2025; 100(1):65. https://doi.org/10.3390/engproc2025100065
Chicago/Turabian StylePuliyski, Anton, and Vladimir Serbezov. 2025. "AI-Based Assistant for SORA: Approach, Interaction Logic, and Perspectives for Cybersecurity Integration" Engineering Proceedings 100, no. 1: 65. https://doi.org/10.3390/engproc2025100065
APA StylePuliyski, A., & Serbezov, V. (2025). AI-Based Assistant for SORA: Approach, Interaction Logic, and Perspectives for Cybersecurity Integration. Engineering Proceedings, 100(1), 65. https://doi.org/10.3390/engproc2025100065