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NASA NTRS2018

Testing Enabling Technologies for Safe UAS Urban Operations

A set of more than 100 flight operations were conducted at NASA Langley Research Center using small UAS (sUAS) to demonstrate, test, and evaluate a set of technologies and an overarching air-ground system concept aimed at enabling safety. The research vehicle was tracked continuously during nominal traversal of planned flight paths while autonomously operating over moderately populated land. For selected flights, off-nominal risks were introduced, including vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) encounters. Three contingency maneuvers were demonstrated that provide safe responses. These maneuvers made use of an integrated air/ground platform and two on-board autonomous capabilities. Flight data was monitored and recorded with multiple ground systems and was forwarded in real time to a UAS traffic management (UTM) server for airspace coordination and supervision.

Moore, Andrew J.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Effects of Autonomous sUAS Separation Methods on Subjective Workload, Situation Awareness, and Trust

The Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) concept was designed to support autonomous small UAS operations at a large-scale and without direct human intervention. However, human-autonomy interactions will be impacted by situation awareness, workload, and trust in the autonomy. Method: Nine participants monitored live small UAS operations in a representative UTM system during a series of traffic conflict scenarios and then provided subjective responses regarding situation awareness, workload, and trust in the autonomous separation method. The study employed a 3 (Separation Method: Autonomous Sense and Avoid, Geofence, Manual) × 2 (Incursion: High, Medium) within subjects design. Results: Situation awareness ratings for both autonomous separation methods were significantly lower than the manual condition. An interaction indicated differential workload ratings for the Autonomous Sense and Avoid separation ratings. Trust ratings significantly dropped when the Geofencing separation method failed. Conclusion: Subjective responses of remote operators in the UTM system are affected by the vehicle separation methods. Operators’ understanding of decisions made by the autonomous systems onboard the vehicle likely influence this effect

UAS↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Pathfinding for Airspace with Autonomous Vehicles (PAAV) Multi-Vehicle Operations with Digital Trajectories

The Path Finding for Airspace with Autonomous Vehicles (PAAV) subproject under ATM-X is developing concepts and solutions to allow pilots to supervise multiple uncrewed flights at a time. This line of research stems from industry's desire to leverage Uncrewed Aircraft (UA) operations to achieve maximum productivity from pilot and aircraft resources, driven partially by pilot staffing shortages. Trajectory based solutions delivered by data link offer a potential solution to the multi-vehicle (m:N) problem by minimizing the number of instructions between remote pilots and air traffic controllers. Furthermore, such solutions avoid the need for pilots to monitor multiple voice frequencies at a time for air traffic control instructions to manage multiple flights. This panel presentation will give a brief introduction to PAAV followed by a description of NASA's AutoResolver capability for generating comprehensive air traffic control clearances and communicating them via data link for controller approval and flight execution.

multi vehicle control, trajectory based operations↗
NASA NTRS2010

Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Integrated Systems Research Program (ISRP) and UAS Integration in the NAS Project

Program Goal: Conduct research at an integrated system-level on promising concepts and technologies and explore, assess, or demonstrate the benefits in a relevant environment.Criteria for selection of projects for Integrated Systems Research: a) Technology has attained enough maturity in the foundational research program that they merit more in-depth evaluation at an integrated system level in a relevant environment. b) Technologies which systems analysis indicates have the most potential for contributing to the simultaneous attainment of goals. c) Technologies identified through stakeholder input as having potential for simultaneous attainment of goals. d) Research not being done by other government agencies and appropriate for NASA to conduct. e) Budget augmentation. Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) Project Explore and assess new vehicle concepts and enabling technologies through system-level experimentation to simultaneously reduce fuel burn, noise, and emissions Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration in the National Airspace System (NAS) Project Contribute capabilities that reduce technical barriers related to the safety and operational challenges associated with enabling routine UAS access to the NAS Innovative Concepts for Green Aviation (ICGA) Project Spur innovation by offering research opportunities to the broader aeronautics community through peer-reviewed proposals, with a focus on making aviation more eco-friendly. Establish incentive prizes similar to the Centennial Challenges and sponsor innovation demonstrations of selected technologies that show promise of reducing aviation s impact on the environment

Wolfe, Jean↗
NASA NTRS2016

Weathering the Storm: Unmanned Aircraft Systems in the Maritime, Atmospheric and Polar Environments

Unmanned systems have the potential to efficiently, effectively, economically, and safely bridge critical observation requirements in an environmentally friendly manner. As the United States Atmospheric, Marine and Arctic areas of interest expand and include hard-to-reach regions of the Earth (such as the Arctic and remote oceanic areas) optimizing unmanned capabilities will be needed to advance the United States science, technology and security efforts. Through increased multi-mission and multi-agency operations using improved inter-operable and autonomous unmanned systems, the research and operations communities will better collect environmental intelligence and better protect our country against hazardous weather, environmental, marine and polar hazards. This presentation will examine UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) operations which includes developing a coordinated effort to maximize the efficiency and capabilities of unmanned systems across the federal government and research partners. Numerous intra- and inter-agency operational demonstrations and assessments have been made to verify and validated these UAS observations. The NASA-specific elements will consist of an overview of NASA UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) available to science and recent missions.

Atmospheric↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Development of a Safety Hazards Risk Assessment Tool for Uncrewed Aircraft System Traffic Management during Preflight Planning

Tremendous growth in the uncrewed and remotely piloted vehicle market is expected in low-altitude, uncontrolled airspace, resulting in potential decreases in safety without systems that support monitoring, assessing, and mitigating risk. At NASA, the System-Wide Safety (SWS) project has been developing a suite of data-driven tools to predict hazards so that the potential risks that these hazards pose can be mitigated. Services to predict various hazards have been developed, including battery capacity, proximity to static obstacles, population risks, global positioning system signal strength, radio frequency spectrum interference risk, and vertiport congestion. These services can monitor hazards along a flight path and if any risks posed by these hazards exceed a threshold, the uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) fleet manager can be alerted to mitigate the risk by modifying the flight path, changing the scheduled departure or arrival times, and/or diverting the vehicle to an alternate vertiport. These services were originally developed to monitor and assess risks during flight, but they have been adapted to assess hazard risks prior to departure so that a fleet manager can evaluate the potential risks for a fleet of UAS along their planned flight paths. These services have been integrated into a prototype tool called the Supplemental Data Service Provider-Consolidated Dashboard (SDSP-CD), developed at NASA Ames Research Center. The tool consists of a dashboard which provides a comprehensive overview for a number of risks and a map display that shows the details of the hazards along each flight’s path. Based on the findings from three previous studies, the SDSP-CD has been updated with new design elements and functions. In this paper, we describe lessons learned from the previous studies, changes made to the interface, and the feedback received during a follow-up usability study. Overall, participants reported that there is a substantial benefit of having a fleet manager use a consolidated dashboard to assess hazards for the vehicles in their fleet and to provide situational awareness to potential risks so that they can be mitigated prior to flight. Once the SDSP-CD matures, it will need to be integrated into flight and mission planning tools. Some initial thoughts on how this integration should be accomplished are shared in this paper. Finally, the functional differences between preflight vs. in-flight risk assessment and the differences in fleet manager vs. UAS pilot roles that may require different information and user interactions are discussed.

preflight↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Incorporating UAS Traffic Management into Wildland Firefighting Operations: Initial Findings of Subject Matter Expert Interviews

Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UASs) are being utilized throughout the disaster and emergency response domain, including in wildland firefighting operations. While UASs can offer safety benefits in comparison to crewed aircraft, such as removing the human pilot from the vehicle so that they are not exposed to the same risks and the ability to operate in low-visibility conditions, they are not without tradeoffs. For example, it can be challenging for UAS pilots (UASPs) to build situation awareness of the airspace in which their UAS is operating. In order to address some of the challenges associated with using UASs and provide greater assistance to the firefighters and incident personnel in the wildland firefighting environment, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched the Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) project. Building on previous NASA research, ACERO will explore the implementation of a traffic management system in the wildland fire environment to enhance safety and support situation awareness. ACERO draws on the UAS Traffic Management (UTM) system previously demonstrated in an urban environment. However, a traffic management system implemented in the wildland fire environment is expected to look and function much differently in order to meet the unique needs of this domain. At the outset of the ACERO project, interviews were conducted with five UASPs who operate UASs at wildland fire incidents. The interviews focused on exploring UASPs’ initial insights about the application of a traffic management system in wildland firefighting and understanding the unique needs of this environment. The UASPs discussed a range of topics including, the shape, size, and organization of UAS operations in the wildland fire environment, information needs for a user interface, such as traffic and map information, an alerting function when other traffic nears their operation area, and the importance of conformance monitoring. The UASPs also discussed their willingness to share operational information to support safety. In this paper, we describe the foundational work upon which ACERO will build and summarize the information and insights gathered during the UASP interviews, some of which have already informed the development of the ACERO work.

Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS)↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Incorporating UAS Traffic Management into Wildland Firefighting Operations: Initial Findings of Subject Matter Expert Interviews

Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UASs) are being utilized throughout the disaster and emergency response domain, including in wildland firefighting operations. While UASs can offer safety benefits in comparison to crewed aircraft, such as removing the human pilot from the vehicle so that they are not exposed to the same risks and the ability to operate in low-visibility conditions, they are not without tradeoffs. For example, it can be challenging for UAS pilots (UASPs) to build situation awareness of the airspace in which their UAS is operating. In order to address some of the challenges associated with using UASs and provide greater assistance to the firefighters and incident personnel in the wildland firefighting environment, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched the Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) project. Building on previous NASA research, ACERO will explore the implementation of a traffic management system in the wildland fire environment to enhance safety and support situation awareness. ACERO draws on the UAS Traffic Management (UTM) system previously demonstrated in an urban environment. However, a traffic management system implemented in the wildland fire environment is expected to look and function much differently in order to meet the unique needs of this domain. At the outset of the ACERO project, interviews were conducted with five UASPs who operate UASs at wildland fire incidents. The interviews focused on exploring UASPs’ initial insights about the application of a traffic management system in wildland firefighting and understanding the unique needs of this environment. The UASPs discussed a range of topics including, the shape, size, and organization of UAS operations in the wildland fire environment, information needs for a user interface, such as traffic and map information, an alerting function when other traffic nears their operation area, and the importance of conformance monitoring. The UASPs also discussed their willingness to share operational information to support safety. In this presentation, we describe the foundational work upon which ACERO will build and summarize the information and insights gathered during the UASP interviews, some of which have already informed the development of the ACERO work.

Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS)↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Identifying Information Needs and Tools to Support Interactions between Upper Class E Traffic Management (ETM) Operations and the Air Traffic System (ATS)

With the introduction of high-altitude long endurance (HALE) vehicles and balloons designed to operate above 60,000 feet, the frequency and duration of operations in Upper Class E airspace are expected to increase. In response to the need for scalable traffic management for these diverse operations at higher altitudes, the FAA introduced the Upper Class E Traffic Management (ETM) concept. Like the successful demonstration of Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM), the ETM concept is also designed as a community-based, industry-driven cooperative approach to traffic management. As these vehicles and balloons ascend to/descend from ETM Cooperative Areas in Upper Class E, they will transit through Class A controlled airspace where they will interact with various entities of the conventional Air Traffic System (ATS) (e.g., Air Traffic Control (ATC)). This work explores tools that will help support ETM-ATS interactions for users throughout the ATS, as well as ETM Operators. An information needs analysis using ETM-ATS interaction use cases, revealed that the needed functionalities generally grouped themselves into two main themes, the visualization of flights and airspace designations, and digital communication capabilities across various human users. In this paper, we describe two envisioned tools, 1) an Integrated Visualization Tool to display flight information and airspace designations, and 2) an Integrated Digital Communication Tool to facilitate two-way information exchange between users about vehicle position information, the coordination of airspace approvals, and notifications. The tools we describe create an integrated visual representation of vehicles and airspace designations with a set of communication capabilities to consolidate information into a single display interface. These tools may be used to guide the development of prototype tools for demonstrations at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center to further explore ETM-ATS interactions within the ETM concept.

Upper Class E Traffic Management (ETM)↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Identifying Information Needs and Tools to Support Interactions between Upper Class E Traffic Management (ETM) Operations and the Air Traffic System (ATS)

With the introduction of high-altitude long endurance (HALE) vehicles and balloons designed to operate above 60,000 feet, the frequency and duration of operations in Upper Class E airspace are expected to increase. In response to the need for scalable traffic management for these diverse operations at higher altitudes, the FAA introduced the Upper Class E Traffic Management (ETM) concept. Like the successful demonstration of Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM), the ETM concept is also designed as a community-based, industry-driven cooperative approach to traffic management. As these vehicles and balloons ascend to/descend from ETM Cooperative Areas in Upper Class E, they will transit through Class A controlled airspace where they will interact with various entities of the conventional Air Traffic System (ATS) (e.g., Air Traffic Control (ATC)). This work explores tools that will help support ETM-ATS interactions for users throughout the ATS, as well as ETM Operators. An information needs analysis using ETM-ATS interaction use cases, revealed that the needed functionalities generally grouped themselves into two main themes, the visualization of flights and airspace designations, and digital communication capabilities across various human users. In this paper, we describe two envisioned tools, 1) an Integrated Visualization Tool to display flight information and airspace designations, and 2) an Integrated Digital Communication Tool to facilitate two-way information exchange between users about vehicle position information, the coordination of airspace approvals, and notifications. The tools we describe create an integrated visual representation of vehicles and airspace designations with a set of communication capabilities to consolidate information into a single display interface. These tools may be used to guide the development of prototype tools for demonstrations at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center to further explore ETM-ATS interactions within the ETM concept.

Upper Class E Traffic Management (ETM)↗
NASA NTRS2018

Operational Overview for UAS Integration in the NAS Project Flight Test Series 3

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration in the National Airspace System Project has conducted a series of flight tests intended to support the reduction of barriers that prevent unmanned aircraft from flying without the required waivers from the Federal Aviation Administration. The 2015 Flight Test Series 3, supported two separate test configurations. The first configuration investigated the timing of Detect and Avoid alerting thresholds using a radar equipped unmanned vehicle and multiple live intruders flown at varying encounter geometries.

UAS in the NAS↗
NASA NTRS2009

UAS Related Activities at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center

NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center is completing its refurbishment and initial flights of one the pre-production Global Hawk aircraft it received from the U.S. Air Force. NASA Dryden has an agreement with the Global Hawk s manufacturer, Northrop Grumman, to partner in the refurbishment and flight operations of the vehicles. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has also partnered on the project and is assisting NASA with project management and pilot responsibilities for the aircraft. NASA and NOAA will be using the Global Hawks to conduct earth science research. The earth science community is increasing utilizing UAS of all sizes and capabilities to collect important data on a variety of issues including important global climate change issues. To pursue the data collection needs of the science community there is a growing demand for international collaboration with respect to operating UAS in global airspace. Operations of NASA s Ikhana aircraft continued this past year. The Ikhana is a modified Predator B UAS. A UAS dedicated to research at NASA Dryden is the X-48B blended wing body research aircraft. Flight tests with the 500- pound, remotely piloted test vehicle are now in a block 4 phase involving parameter identification and maneuvers to research the limits of the engine in stall situations. NASA s participation in the blended wing body research effort is focused on fundamental, advanced flight dynamics and structural design concepts within the Subsonic Fixed Wing project, part of the Fundamental Aeronautics program managed through NASA s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. Potential benefits of the aircraft include increased volume for carrying capacity, efficient aerodynamics for reduced fuel burn and possibly significant reductions in noise due to propulsion integration options. NASA Dryden continues to support the UAS industry by facilitating access to three specially designated test areas on Edwards Air Force Base for the development of small UAS.

Bauer, Jeffrey E.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Initial testing of the Uncrewed Aerial System Pilot Kit (UASP-kit) in Operational Settings

Pilots for small uncrewed aerial systems (sUAS) are at a disadvantage for building situation awareness of the remote airspace in which they are flying, simply because they are distant from their vehicles. A tool to provide increased air traffic situation awareness for an sUAS pilot is being developed. The UAS pilot kit, “UASP-kit,” is small and self-contained, with its chief capability being to collect and display Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast reports of local aircraft. UASP-kits were taken into the field, introduced to users during a training course, and then left with them for the summer fire season. sUAS pilots used the prototypes when it was appropriate throughout the summer. The UASP-kits were operational for a total of 79 flight-days. Users reported that the UASP-kits supported their situation awareness but also identified several usability issues. The findings contribute to validation of the UASP-kit, and support continuing the work to improve the tool and develop additional functionality.

STEReO↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Developing a Cybersecurity Architecture for Extensible Traffic Management (xTM)

This paper explores the development of a cybersecurity architecture tailored for Extensible Traffic Management (xTM) to address emerging challenges in managing diverse aerial vehicles within the National Airspace System (NAS). Driven by technological advances and the rise of uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), urban air mobility (UAM), and high-altitude traffic (ETM), the NAS is undergoing a paradigm shift. Traditional air traffic management, reliant on traditional Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) control, will give way to decentralized coordination among autonomous and semi-autonomous systems. The proposed xTM Security Architecture, designed as a high-level framework, focuses on ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data and operations in this evolving ecosystem. Utilizing threat modeling, the research identifies potential risks across key flight phases, operations and use cases to offer security control recommendations. Key objectives include analyzing interactions between novel airspace entrants and existing NAS traffic, cataloging vulnerabilities, and developing mitigative strategies to ensure safety, operational stability, and secure data exchanges. This research lays the groundwork for regulatory and industry adaptation, providing critical insights into managing cybersecurity risks in this complex, multi-domain environment.

UAM↗
NASA NTRS2017

Flight Test Evaluation of an Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) Concept for Multiple Beyond-Visual-Line-of-Sight Operations

This study evaluates a traffic management concept designed to enable simultaneous operations of multiple small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in the national airspace system (NAS). A five-day flight-test activity is described that examined the feasibility of operating multiple UAS beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) of their respective operators in the same airspace. Over the five-day campaign, three groups of five flight crews operated a total of eleven different aircraft. Each group participated in four flight scenarios involving five simultaneous missions. Each vehicle was operated BVLOS up to 1.5 miles from the pilot in command. Findings and recommendations are presented to support the feasibility and safety of routine BVLOS operations for small UAS.

UTM↗
NASA NTRS2017

Flight Test Evaluation of an Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) Concept for Multiple Beyond-Visual-Line-of-Sight (BVLOS) Operations

This study evaluates a traffic management concept designed to enable simultaneous operations of multiple small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in the national airspace system (NAS). A five-day flight-test activity is described that examined the feasibility of operating multiple UAS beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) of their respective operators in the same airspace. Over the five-day campaign, three groups of five flight crews operated a total of eleven different aircraft. Each group participated in four flight scenarios involving five simultaneous missions. Each vehicle was operated BVLOS up to 1.5 miles from the pilot in command. Findings and recommendations are presented to support the feasibility and safety of routine BVLOS operations for small UAS.

UA↗
NASA NTRS2021

Decentralized Control Synthesis for Air Traffic Management in Urban Air Mobility

Urban air mobility (UAM) refers to air transportation services within an urban area, often in an on-demand fashion. We study air traffic management (ATM) for vehicles in a UAM fleet, while guaranteeing system safety requirements such as traffic separation. Existing ATM methods for unmanned aerial systems, such as UAS traffic management, utilize alternative approaches which do not provide strict safety guarantees. No established infrastructure exists for providing ATM at scale for UAM. We provide a decentralized, hierarchical approach for UAM ATM that allows for scalability to high traffic densities as well as providing theoretical guarantees of correctness with respect to user-provided safety specifications. Our main contributions are two-fold. First, we propose a novel UAM ATM architecture that divides the control authority between vertihubs that are each in charge of all UAM vehicles in their local airspace. Each vertihub also contains a number of vertiports that are in charge of UAM vehicle takeoffs and landings. The resulting architecture is decentralized and hierarchical, which not only enables scalability, but also robustness in the event of any individual vertihub or vertiport no longer being operational. Second, we provide a contract-based correct-by-construction reactive synthesis approach that provably guarantees safety properties with respect to user-provided specifications in linear temporal logic. We demonstrate the approach on large-volume UAM air traffic data.

Urban Air Mobility↗
NASA NTRS2023

Safety Case for Small Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (sUAS) Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Operations at NASA Langley Research Center

This Technical Memorandum (TM) is written to provide for dissemination of the methods and safety considerations for operations of small Uncrewed Aerial Systems (sUAS) Beyond Visual Line-of-Sight (BVLOS)at NASA Langley Research Center. It includes the Safety Case used to acquire a BVLOS Certificate of Authorization (COA) from the FAA and is being published to enable others to benefit from this work. The intended operations, subject to approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), will include a combination of Within Visual Line of Sight (WVLOS) and Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flights, comprising of at most five sUAS operating concurrently, with no more than three operating BVLOS. Flights will occur in a subset of the Langley Air Force Base (LAFB) Class D airspace (KLFI) at a maximum altitude of 400 ft AGL. Most operations within this subset will take place in the City Environment Range Testing for Autonomous Integrated Navigation (CERTAIN) Range. The CERTAIN Range includes airspace inside the borders of NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC). Additional airspace over the northern section of CERTAIN will be requested as part of the Certificate of Authorization (COA). NASA LaRC BVLOS operations on the CERTAIN Range can be broken down into five critical components needed to meet the 14 CFR § 91.113 see and avoid requirement: 1) procedural deconfliction with LAFB for UAS operations at or below 400 ft and manned aircraft at or above 900’ AGL; 2) ground equipment for detection of intruder aircraft and to support communications between crewmembers ; 3) sUAS vehicles with advanced onboard automation capable of autonomously maintaining safe separation; 4) BVLOS standardized operating procedures (SOPs); 5) and personnel to execute the flight operations in accordance with the SOPs and respond to airborne contingencies. The introduction of new ground equipment includes the use of the Remote Operations for Autonomous Missions (ROAM) UAS Operations Center, development and use of an Integrated Airspace Display (IAD), use of the L-STAR and GA-9120 radars, and the incorporation of standardized Vertiports. The ROAM Operations Center will be the central point for all BVLOS sUAS operations. All command and control (C2), voice communications and airspace awareness displays will reside inside ROAM. The IAD will provide raw data from ADS-B, FLARM, radar tracks and telemetered GPS vehicle positions for interpretation by an Airspace Monitor. The radars will search the class D airspace around the CERTAIN Range and serve as a backup to procedural deconfliction procedures coordinated with LAFB. In the event of a procedural deconfliction breakdown, radar detections of non-participating aircraft will be available so that the 91.113 see and avoid requirement can still be safely met. Finally, the incorporation of Vertiports will have video and network connectivity that enables large numbers of sUAS launches and recoveries from a single location. This is a continuation of the remote command and control of unpiloted aircraft component focused on evaluating unpiloted aircraft flight crew roles and responsibilities, control interfaces and the associated data links needed to operate a fleet of aircraft within a UAM Ecosystem. This work supports the development of future aviation operational concepts based on an Urban Air Mobility Maturity Level (UML) 4 environment (Patterson, 2020). It is assumed that future airspace will include hundreds of simultaneous aircraft operations within the airspace, therefore scalable operations are essential for enabling this future airspace to become a reality. Follow on work includes envisioned flights that expand operations beyond the CERTAIN range and lead to an effective Maritime Surveillance capability.

Matthew W Coldsnow↗