## 5 Results: Application of the European Drone Regulation to Mosquito Release Operations
### Urban Scenario  
Once the ConOps was defined in Section 3.2, it is possible to start with the application of the SORA methodology to analyze the level of risk of the operation, as well as to identify the mitigating measures to reach an acceptable risk in order to carry out the operation safely. For the GRC evaluation, the drone is considered to fly over a controlled ground area. This means the ground area where the drone is operated and within which the operator can ensure that only the involved persons are present. In this way, taking into account the size considered for the drone, the resulting GRC is one. This is the lowest value of the GRC in the final evaluation table, so it is considered acceptable in this case. When controlling the ground area is not feasible, the GRC increases a lot since the case would turn to VLOS in a populated environment, resulting in a GRC of four. In this case, some mitigation measures should be applied to reduce this GRC, such as the integration of a parachute and the creation of ground risk buffers, which should both be approved by the authority through analysis and results. Regarding the risk assessment in air, considering the type of VLL operation and in controlled airspace, an ARC-c is obtained. It is possible to apply both strategic and tactical mitigations to try to reduce that ARC level. First, strategic mitigations can be applied due to operational restrictions that may imply the geographical limitation of the volume in which the operation takes place or the temporal limitation to establish specific terms in which the operation is executed. It is also possible to establish strategic mitigation measures by establishing common structures and rules for all aircraft that will share such airspace. The last possibility is to apply tactical mitigations, which correspond to the measures that are applied once the aircraft is in flight, to reduce the risk of an encounter with another aircraft. This includes measures such as situational awareness through VLOS or alternative detect and avoid (DAA) systems. According to [15], if the applicant considers that the assigned initial ARC is correct, which makes sense in this scenario, then that initial ARC becomes the final one, resulting in an ARC-c. This has implications at the level of the TMPR. In this scenario, the fact that the operation is VLOS is considered as an acceptable tactical mitigation for all levels of ARC. Despite this, the operator is advised to consider additional means to increase situational awareness of the air traffic operating in the vicinity. Additionally, the operator is required to have a conflict resolution scheme in which the applicant explains the methods used for detection and defines the criteria and decision-making in the case of possible encounters. Once the GRC and ARC have been defined, it is possible to determine the SAIL associated with the operation. Taking into account the previous consideration, the result obtained is SAIL IV. This implies that the robustness levels required for the different OSOs are between medium (M) and high (H), meaning that the requirements that must be met in relation to the technical aspects of the drone and operation, operational procedures, pilot competencies, design, dependence on external systems such as GPS, human error, and operational conditions are moderately demanding and, in some cases, very demanding. This high level of SAIL is mainly because most cities have airports in their proximity and therefore are immersed in controlled airspace, which implies a high ARC and, therefore, a high SAIL. This also occurs for all levels of GRC less than or equal to 2, that is, for aircraft less than 25 kg, as can be seen in the SAIL allocation table shown in Table 2. Section 5.3 will show other alternatives for this kind of operation that offer more relaxed conditions. This result comes from the formal application of the SORA to the ConOps described, with the result as analyzed being a fairly high SAIL for the reasons that have been discussed.