Flight Demonstration of Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) at Technical Capability Level 3
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Aweiss, Arwa↗
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Scalable Traffic Management for Emergency Response Operations (STEReO)Airspace Operations Laboratory (AOL) Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)Traffic Management (UTM) (AOLUSS)Tabletop Overview
The Scalable Traffic Management for Emergency Response Operations (STEReO) project requires prototyping software to extend existing Airspace Operations Laboratory (AOL) software capabilities to support research in integrating drone flight activities within an emergency response airspace environment. A presentation encompassing project AOLUSS details, communications and network design will be presented at a Workshop.
STEReO software↗
Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management (UTM) Safely Enabling UAS Operations in Low-Altitude Airspace
Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) Enabling Civilian Low-Altitude Airspace and Unmanned Aircraft System Operations What is the problem? Many beneficial civilian applications of UAS have been proposed, from goods delivery and infrastructure surveillance, to search and rescue, and agricultural monitoring. Currently, there is no established infrastructure to enable and safely manage the widespread use of low-altitude airspace and UAS operations, regardless of the type of UAS. A UAS traffic management (UTM) system for low-altitude airspace may be needed, perhaps leveraging concepts from the system of roads, lanes, stop signs, rules and lights that govern vehicles on the ground today, whether the vehicles are driven by humans or are automated. What system technologies is NASA exploring? Building on its legacy of work in air traffic management for crewed aircraft, NASA is researching prototype technologies for a UAS Traffic Management (UTM) system that could develop airspace integration requirements for enabling safe, efficient low-altitude operations. While incorporating lessons learned from the today's well-established air traffic management system, which was a response that grew out of a mid-air collision over the Grand Canyon in the early days of commercial aviation, the UTM system would enable safe and efficient low-altitude airspace operations by providing services such as airspace design, corridors, dynamic geofencing, severe weather and wind avoidance, congestion management, terrain avoidance, route planning and re-routing, separation management, sequencing and spacing, and contingency management. One of the attributes of the UTM system is that it would not require human operators to monitor every vehicle continuously. The system could provide to human managers the data to make strategic decisions related to initiation, continuation, and termination of airspace operations. This approach would ensure that only authenticated UAS could operate in the airspace. In its most mature form, the UTM system could be developed using autonomicity characteristics that include self-configuration, self-optimization and self-protection. The self-configuration aspect could determine whether the operations should continue given the current andor predicted windweather conditions. NASA envisions concepts for two types of possible UTM systems. The first type would be a Portable UTM system, which would move from between geographical areas and support operations such as precision agriculture and disaster relief. The second type of system would be a Persistent UTM system, which would support low-altitude operations and provide continuous coverage for a geographical area. Either system would require persistent communication, navigation, and surveillance (CNS) coverage to track, ensure, and monitor conformance. What is NASA doing to test the technologies? NASA's near-term goal is the development and demonstration of a possible future UTM system that could safely enable low-altitude airspace and UAS operations. Working alongside many committed government, industry and academic partners, NASA is leading the research, development and testing that is taking place in a series of activities called Technology Capability Levels (TCL), each increasing in complexity. UTM TCL1 concluded field testing in August 2015 and is undergoing additional testing at an FAA site.
UTM Low-altitude↗
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Traffic Management (or UTM)
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Traffic Management (or UTM) develops and validates airspace operational and integration performance requirements to enable safe, large-scale UAS operations in low-altitude airspace.
Jaewoo Jung↗
Unmanned Aerial Systems Traffic Management (UTM): Safely Enabling UAS Operations in Low-Altitude Airspace
Currently, there is no established infrastructure to enable and safely manage the widespread use of low-altitude airspace and UAS flight operations. Given this, and understanding that the FAA faces a mandate to modernize the present air traffic management system through computer automation and significantly reduce the number of air traffic controllers by FY 2020, the FAA maintains that a comprehensive, yet fully automated UAS traffic management (UTM) system for low-altitude airspace is needed. The concept of UTM is to begin by leveraging concepts from the system of roads, lanes, stop signs, rules and lights that govern vehicles on the ground today. Building on its legacy of work in air traffic management (ATM), NASA is working with industry to develop prototype technologies for a UAS Traffic Management (UTM) system that would evolve airspace integration procedures for enabling safe, efficient low-altitude flight operations that autonomously manage UAS operating in an approved low-altitude airspace environment. UTM is a cloud-based system that will autonomously manage all traffic at low altitudes to include UASs being operated beyond visual line of sight of an operator. UTM would thus enable safe and efficient flight operations by providing fully integrated traffic management services such as airspace design, corridors, dynamic geofencing, severe weather and wind avoidance, congestion management, terrain avoidance, route planning re-routing, separation management, sequencing spacing, and contingency management. UTM removes the need for human operators to continuously monitor aircraft operating in approved areas. NASA envisions concepts for two types of UTM systems. The first would be a small portable system, which could be moved between geographical areas in support of operations such as precision agriculture and public safety. The second would be a Persistent system, which would support low-altitude operations in an approved area by providing continuous automated coverage. Both would require persistent communication, navigation, and surveillance (CNS) coverage to track, ensure, and monitor conformance. UTM is creating an airspace management tool that allows the ATM system to accommodate the number of UAS that will operate in the low altitude airspace. The analogy is just because we have a car, whether its autonomous or someone is driving, does not diminish the need for a road or road signs or rules of the road.
traffic management↗
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Traffic Management Project (UTM) Small UAS Communications and Navigation
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sUAS↗
Remote ID for Rapid Assessment of Flight and Vehicle Information
The ability to rapidly identify UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) in the field has emerged as a critical need for the integration of small UASs into the national airspace and counter-UAS operations. This paper proposes an architecture for rapid retrieval of UAS information leveraging NASA's current Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) system. The proposed architecture utilizes UTM components: FIMS (Flight Information Management System), USS (UAS Service Supplier), and vehicle registration and model database in order to provide assessment of the UAS reported in the field including the ability to distinguish between participating and non- participating UTM actors. Detailed system descriptions are provided and preliminary results from field tests conducted during UTM TCL (Technical Capability Level) 3 are discussed. It is found that 94 percent of the remote ID look-ups were successful. The average time of a look-up is found to be 1.2 seconds. Failure cases are examined and recommendations on next steps to advance UAS remote identification are provided.
USS (UAS Service Supplier)↗
Technical Capability Level 2 Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) Flight Demonstration: Description and Analysis
NASA's UAS Traffic Management (UTM) project concluded its second flight demonstration activity in late October 2016. This activity demonstrated the capabilities and functionality incorporated into its Technical Capability Level 2 (TCL2) concept, which envisions future operations that are low density, capable of being performed over sparsely populated areas, and allow for a concurrent mix of longer duration, beyond visual-line-of-sight flights and shorter flights within visual-line-of-sight (VLOS). To incorporate these features into a flight demonstration, a scenario-based approach was taken to address different aspects of the TCL2 environment and to meet defined objectives. This paper will describe elements of how the flight activity was conducted and present analyses regarding UTM operations, system messages, and alerting as they pertained to meeting the demonstration objectives and shedding light on research questions and lessons learned.NASA was able to successfully demonstrate complex UTMoperations in a TCL 2 environment in collaboration withindustry partners and the Reno-Stead Airport UAS test range.A scenario-based approach to the demonstration provided arelevant means through which the key elements and objectivesof the test could be captured. Although issues were identifiedthrough the testing and feedback of test participants, theoverall results were in line with the overall UTM objective ofsafely enabling large-scale UAS operations in low altitudeairspace.
Homola, Jeffrey↗
UTM UAS Service Supplier Specification
Within the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) system, the UAS Service Supplier (USS) is a key component. The USS serves several functions. At a high level, those include the following: Bridging communication between UAS Operators and Flight Information Management System (FIMS) Supporting planning of UAS operations Assisting strategic deconfliction of the UTM airspace Providing information support to UAS Operators during operations Helping UAS Operators meet their formal requirements This document provides the minimum set of requirements for a USS. In order to be recognized as a USS within UTM, successful demonstration of satisfying the requirements described herein will be a prerequisite. To ensure various desired qualities (security, fairness, availability, efficiency, maintainability, etc.), this specification relies on references to existing public specifications whenever possible.
UTM↗
Safely Enabling Low-Altitude Airspace Operations: Unmanned Aerial System Traffic Management (UTM)
Many beneficial civilian applications of UAS have been proposed, from goods delivery and infrastructure surveillance, to search and rescue, and agricultural monitoring. As UAS operations require interactions with a mix of general aviation aircraft, helicopters and gliders, there is a strong need to safely accommodate all of these vehicles at lower altitudes. Currently, there is no established infrastructure to enable and safely manage the widespread use of low-altitude airspace and UAS operations, regardless of the type of UAS. A UAS traffic management (UTM) system for low-altitude airspace is needed, much like today's surface vehicles that operate within a system consisting of roads, lanes, stop signs, rules, and lights, regardless of whether the vehicle is automated or driven by a human. This talk will focus on the UAS Traffic Managment Concept of Operations.
ATM↗
Real-Time Path Planning for Multi-copters flying in UTM -TCL4
NASA's UAS Traffic management (UTM) -TCL-4 focuses on safely enabling large scale small UAS oper- ations in low altitude airspace in dense urban regions. This paper presents an operational architecture of an autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle operating in TCL4. An on-line path planning scheme is proposed which can effectively plan for feasible paths in real time with TCL-4 constraints. An end to end system is designed and tested in high fidelity Reflection architecture which demonstrates the feasibility of the approach.
Chakrabarty, Anjan↗
Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) Communication for Collision Avoidance for Multi-Copters Flying in UTM -TCL4
NASA’s UAS Traffic management (UTM) research initiative is aimed at identifying requirements for safe autonomous operations of UAS operating in dense urban environments. For complete autonomous operations vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communications has been identified as an essential tool. In this paper we simulate a complete urban operations in an high fidelity simulation environment. We design a V2V communication protocol and all the vehicles participating communicate over this system. We show how V2V communication can be used for finding feasible, collision-free paths for multi agent systems. Different collision avoidance schemes are explored and an end to end simulation study shows the use of V2V communication for UTM TCL4 deployment.
Chakrabarty, Anjan↗
Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) Project
This presentation is intended to explain the background and status of the UAS Traffic Management (UTM) project and the efforts underway in integrating public safety operations into the ecosystem. The core priniciples of the concept are explained and the architectural framework is presented as a means of providing the intended audience with an overall understanding of UTM and how the future management of low altitude airspace is envisioned for small UAS use. Within the overall UTM context, the work done in developing the concept to account for public safety UAS applications is presented with examples of work done in the area to date.
UAS↗
UAS Service Supplier Specification
Within the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) system, the UAS Service Supplier (USS) is a key component. The USS serves several functions. At a high level, those include the following: Bridging communication between UAS Operators and Flight Information Management System (FIMS) Supporting planning of UAS operations Assisting strategic deconfliction of the UTM airspace Providing information support to UAS Operators during operations Helping UAS Operators meet their formal requirements This document provides the minimum set of requirements for a USS. In order to be recognized as a USS within UTM, successful demonstration of satisfying the requirements described herein will be a prerequisite. To ensure various desired qualities (security, fairness, availability, efficiency, maintainability, etc.), this specification relies on references to existing public specifications whenever possible.
Rios, Joseph L.↗
Overview of NASA’s Extensible Traffic Management (xTM) Work
NASA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) project introduced a new Air Traffic Management (ATM) architecture that utilizes industry’s ability to supply industry-developed, third-party services that work complementarily with the FAA-provided Air Traffic Service (ATS) to exchange relevant air vehicle information among the UAS operations and between the UTM and the conventional ATM system. The UTM architecture was used to successfully demonstrate the feasibility of safe, efficient, and scalable small UAS operations in low altitudes below 400 feet above ground level. Following the success and adoption of UTM architecture, the foundational UTM requirements and core properties were generalized to become Extensible Traffic Management (xTM) requirements to support operations of new entrants beyond small UAS, such as operations in high altitudes over 60,000 feet, designated as upper Class E in the United States National Airspace System (NAS). In this paper, the generalization of UTM to xTM and NASA’s approach for developing an xTM system for upper Class E Traffic Management (ETM) are discussed. The paper also discusses the planned research to examine the potential xTM-Air Traffic Control (ATC) interactions across multiple xTM systems and identify common coordination procedures, ATC roles/responsibilities, and data exchange requirements. This work is one of the steps for improving interoperability between the xTM systems and ATS, which is critical for safe and efficient sharing of the airspace among the new entrants served by the xTM systems and conventional ATS-serviced operations.
air traffic management↗
Strategic Deconfliction Performance: Results and Analysis from the NASA UTM Technical Capability Level 4 Demonstration
Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) refers to the service-based, cooperative approach to the management of small UAS in the National Airspace System that is safe, scalable, and fair. UTM provides the means to manage the airspace in a complementary manner that does not burden the current air traffic control workforce or infrastructure but allows the Air Navigation Service Provider to maintain its regulatory and operational authority of the airspace. A key feature of UTM is the ability to provide operators the means to strategically deconflict operations from others in the airspace through the digital exchange of information via supporting services. Through this approach, the four-dimensional operation volumes that encompass the intent of operators in a given area are discoverable and can be used for airspace awareness as well as planning conflict free operations that account for and avoid other operations. In certain cases, it is also possible to negotiate volume intersections for shared airspace use without the need to re-plan. In the NASA UTM concept, strategic deconfliction is the first layer of three in the overall conflict management model. The three layers of the conflict management model, which follow the International Civil Aviation Organization’s scheme [ICAO 2005] are: strategic conflict management, separate provision, and collision avoidance. In UTM, the strategic layer mostly occurs prior to departure, but is applicable to en route operations with sufficient planning horizon. The initial requirements for a strategic deconfliction capability within UTM are defined in a NASA publication [Rios 2018]. Within the concept and implementation of service-provided strategic deconfliction is the notion of priority. It is understood that there are instances in which an operation requires a priority designation within the UTM system and special handling accordingly to provide situation awareness and facilitate appropriate responses from other airspace users. Examples of situations requiring priority designation include: when an operator declares an emergency due to problems with the vehicle or its immediate surroundings; operations that are in support of certain organizations (e.g., public safety and first responders); or special missions that also require priority use of airspace (e.g., emergency medical deliveries). UAS Volume Reservations (UVRs) also relate to the topic of priority in the sense that the airspace that the volume encompasses has a different status or classification in which unassociated operations must vacate if inside, or avoid if outside, through strategic deconfliction with the volume. Operations that are specially permitted to access the UVR area are typically assigned priority status given the nature of their mission and their associated credentials. The ability to perform strategic deconfliction, handle certain operations with a priority distinction, and establish UVRs that are communicated throughout the UTM system, is predicated on an architecture that has been established through an evolutionary process in response to close collaboration with stakeholders from government and industry. Another important and influential aspect of these capabilities and architecture is the live, distributed flight tests that have been conducted across the Technical Capability Levels (TCLs) that culminated with a set of complex tests performed as part of TCL4 [Rios 2020]. The TCL4 flight test involved two FAA-designated UAS test sites building teams to collaborate with NASA’s UTM Project on the execution of several detailed, small UAS scenarios in urban environments.
conflict management↗
Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) Project
This is a slide set for use in presenting an overview of NASA's UAS Traffic Management (UTM) Project and most recent activites. The contents of the slides describe the background and need that led to the development of the UTM concept as well as a high level explanation of what UTM is and how it addresses the identified needs. The architecture that was developed to support the UTM environment and its interface with the National Airspace System is also included. The approach that the Project undertook in framing the environments and Technical Capability Levels of its research is also presented with further detail given with respect to the final, large-scale event conducted in 2019. Finally, the broad impact and influence that the project and its activites had across many areas is presented as a concluding statement.
UAS Traffic Management↗
Use of UAS Reports (UREPs) during TCL3 Field Testing
During the NASA Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) Project’s Technical Capability Level 3 (TCL3) demonstration, a service for stakeholders to share weather and aircraft observations was tested. The overall goal was to increase awareness of airspace and weather activity to increase a pilot’s ability to fly safely. To achieve this goal, a mechanism to share data was created, called “UAS Reports” or UREPs, which were generated by client systems and sent to a central data service. The data service provided subscriptions and allowed for data requests to share the reports that had been sent in by stakeholders. To execute this functionality, four FAA (Federal Aviation Administration)-designated UAS test sites performed UREP testing as part of TCL3. NASA provided the centralized service and test site partners flew missions and simulated activity at the test sites to generate data to send to the service. The loop was closed by having other clients (usually other small UAS operators) request those data from the service or subscribe to feeds from the service. Overall, the tests demonstrated the utility of such a service. In this report, the testing setup, data collection, and analysis of results are presented. The concept of UREPs has since been incorporated as a service within NASA’s Conflict Mitigation Model for UTM. The concept will continue to be tested in NASA’s TCL4 activities.
UTM↗