ch. 1. History / Charles Jarnot -- ch. 2. Unmanned aircraft system elements / Joshua Brungardt -- ch. 3. U.S. aviation regulatory system / Douglas M. Marshall -- ch. 4. Certificate of authorization process / Glen Witt and Stephen B. Hottman -- ch. 5. Unmanned aircraft system operations / Theodore Beneigh -- ch. 6. Unmanned aircraft systems for geospatial data / Caitriana M. Steele and Lisa Jo Elliott -- ch. 7. Automation and autonomy in unmanned aircraft systems / Lisa Jo Elliott and Bryan Stewart -- ch. 8. Safety assessments / Eric J. Shappee -- ch. 9. Detect, sense, and avoid / Lisa Jo Elliott, Jeremy D. Schwark, and Matthew J. Rambert -- ch. 10. Sensors and payloads / Douglas M. Marshall -- ch. 11. Human factors in unmanned aircraft systems / Igor Dolgov and Stephen B. Hottman -- ch. 12. The future of unmanned aircraft systems / Richard K. Barnhart.