UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA CRUZ
This task supports NASA Recovery Act work sponsored by the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate and the Airspace Systems Program.
Research funded by this task will focus on addressing the capacity challenges facing the US national airspace. It is forecast that over the next 15 years, air traffic in the United States will double, far exceeding the country’s current capability to safely fly aircraft. To handle this growth, NASA is contributing toward the development of the Next Generation Air Transportation Management System (NextGen).
In support of this effort, the Contractor shall conduct analysis to determine the air traffic impact of having Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) participate in regional air routes. The research shall determine both the impact that UAS have on air traffic and determine ways to route a UAS so that it has minimal impact to overall air traffic. The result of this task is data that can design safe and efficient flight paths for UAS that travel in regional air routes.
For the period of performance, the Contractor shall deliver an interim report and a final report due at dates specified in the task deliverables. The reports will detail the analysis performed and the results. The regions of interest for the analysis are yet to be determined. This will also include presentations to the UAS-NextGen planning team and any interested parties.
The Contractor shall conduct analysis of the traffic impact on regional air routes from the insertion of one to multiple UAS’s. The data from the analysis may be used to design an unmanned flight trajectory that will have the lowest impact on the overall air traffic and to support the safety case for UAS access to the National Air Space (NAS) .
When this task is successfully completed, the developed software may be used to analyze regional air traffic data to determine the optimal flight trajectory for the intended UAS mission that will have the minimal impact on air traffic and what the impact will be. The result of this task is documentation and review material that NASA may incorporate into larger agency deliverables to external government partners.