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Sharma, Vivek

Publications and source records attributed to Sharma, Vivek.

A Flight Deck Decision Support Tool for Autonomous Airborne Operations

NASA is developing a flight deck decision support tool to support research into autonomous operations in a future distributed air/ground traffic management environment. This interactive real-time decision aid, referred to as the Autonomous Operations Planner (AOP), will enable the flight crew to plan autonomously in the presence of dense traffic and complex flight management constraints. In assisting the flight crew, the AOP accounts for traffic flow management and airspace constraints, schedule requirements, weather hazards, aircraft operational limits, and crew or airline flight-planning goals. This paper describes the AOP and presents an overview of functional and implementation design considerations required for its development. Required AOP functionality is described, its application in autonomous operations research is discussed, and a prototype software architecture for the AOP is presented.

Ballin, Mark G.↗

Optimal Category-A Helicopter Flight Trajectories for Operation From a Clear Heliport

Engine failure represents a major safety hazard to helicopter operation. As a result, FA certifies helicopters according to their abilities to survive engine failures. Federal Aviation Regulation Part 29 specifies that transport helicopters must be certified as either category A or B. Category-B certification applies to either single or multi-engine helicopters with gross weight less than 20,000 lbs. A Category-B helicopter must be able to land safely in the case of one or all engine failures. There is no requirement for continued flight capability. In contrast, Category-A certification applies to multi-engine helicopters with independent engine systems. It requires that helicopter can continue flight with one engine inoperative (OEI). Therefore, Category-A helicopters are capable of operating from rooftops and oil rigs and flying to areas where no emergency landing sites are available. While there is no maximum weight limit, a Category-A helicopter must be able to satisfy OEI operation requirements within the available runway field. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Sharma, Vivek↗