NASA LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER (LARC) IS INTERESTED IN RESEARCHING TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES RELATED TO THE INTEG…

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NASA LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER (LARC) IS INTERESTED IN RESEARCHING TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES RELATED TO THE INTEGRATION OF UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEMS (UAS) INTO THE NATIONAL AIRSPACE SYSTEM (NAS). UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEMS (UAS) CONSIST OF UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES (UAV), GROUND CONTROL STATIONS (GCS) AND OPERATORS, PAYLOADS, COMMAND/CONTROL/COMMUNICATIONS, AND MISSION SUPPORT INFRASTRUCTURE. AN EVER-INCREASING NEED TO USE UASS IN AN EXPANDING NUMBER OF ROLES PRESENTS THE NATIONAL AVIATION INFRASTRUCTURE WITH A PRESSING CHALLENGE TO ADDRESS THE ROUTINE OPERATION OF UASS IN THE NAS. THE MILITARY IS THE LARGEST USER OF UASS, PRIMARILY AS INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE (ISR) PLATFORMS, AND INCREASINGLY AS UNMANNED COMBAT AIR VEHICLES (UCAV). A BURGEONING CIVILIAN USER COMMUNITY IS FAST IDENTIFYING USES FOR UASS AS PLATFORMS FOR REMOTE EARTH SENSORS, COMMUNICATIONS RELAYS, WEATHER RESEARCH, AGRICULTURE, BORDER SURVEILLANCE, AND MANY OTHERS. PRIMARILY FOR SAFETY REASONS, UAVS ARE GENERALLY RESTRICTED FROM FLYING IN THE SAME AIRSPACE AS MANNED AIRCRAFT. AVIATION SYSTEM AND OPERATIONAL STANDARDS FOR UAS OPERATIONS MUST BE DEVELOPED, AND THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION (FAA) FACES THE TASK OF WRITING RULES AND REGULATIONS TO SAFELY ALLOW UASS TO OPERATE IN THE SAME AIRSPACE AS MANNED AIRCRAFT. SIGNIFICANT RESEARCH IS NEEDED TO VALIDATE THE PROPOSED PROCEDURES, AIRCRAFT SENSORS, AND SYSTEMS THAT WILL BE REQUIRED TO SAFELY INTEGRATE UASS INTO THE NATIONAL AIRSPACE SYSTEM. TO ADDRESS THIS NEED, NASA LARC IS DEVELOPING AN UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEM TO TEST AND EVALUATE UAS TECHNOLOGIES REQUIRED TO INTEGRATE UAV OPERATIONS INTO THE NAS. THE RESEARCH CAPABILITY PLATFORM WILL BE A LIGHT, GENERAL AVIATION AIRCRAFT CONTROLLED IN FLIGHT FROM A GROUND CONTROL STATION, AND WILL INCORPORATE AN ON-BOARD SAFETY PILOT. THIS UAV SURROGATE AIRCRAFT CAN OPERATE IN THE NAS WITH NORMAL TRAFFIC AND POTENTIALLY REPRESENTS A BETTER PLATFORM FOR REAL-WORLD UAS SYSTEMS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT THAN EXISTING CAPABILITIES. PRESENCE OF A NASA SAFETY PILOT ALLOWS NEAR-TERM ACCESS TO NAS CONTROLLED AIRSPACE FOR OPERATIONALLY RELEVANT TEST AND EVALUATION OF RESEARCH ARTICLES ESSENTIAL FOR UNDERSTANDING STANDARDS AND REGULATIONS REQUIREMENTS, AS WELL AS EVENTUAL CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR UAS NAS INTEGRATION. AS A FULLY QUALIFIED NASA PILOT, THE ONBOARD SAFETY PILOT CONSISTENTLY ALLOWS COLLECTION OF UAS-TO-MANNED FLIGHT COMPARATIVE DATA. IN ADDITION TO A SURROGATE UAS TEST AND EVALUATION (T&E) PLATFORM, RESEARCH EFFORTS ARE UNDERWAY AT LARC THAT SPAN A FULL RANGE OF UAV OPERATIONS - PERFORMANCE OF MICRO AND SMALL UAVS, PROPELLER-BASED AND JET ENGINE THRUST, A WIDE RANGE OF SENSOR DEVELOPMENT APPLICABLE TO UAVS OF MANY CLASSES, AUTOPILOT WORK, DETECT, SENSE, AND AVOID CAPABILITIES, MODELING AND SIMULATION, AND OTHERS. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS TASK ORDER WILL BE TO IDENTIFY KEY TECHNICAL CHALLENGES APPLICABLE TO SAFELY INTEGRATING UAS INTO THE NAS INCLUDING AN ADVANCED RESEARCH ASSESSMENT THAT IDENTIFES NEEDED RESEARCH REQUIREMENTS AND A STRUCUTRED APPORACH TO ACHIEVE THE NECESSARY TECHNOLOGIES, TO ASSESS NASA LARC CAPABILITES AND ONGOING RESEARCH ACTIVITIES TO PROVIDE RESEARCH PRODUCTS RELEVANT TO THESE TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES, AND TO PREPARE DRAFT TEST PLANS FOR FLIGHT DEMONSTRATIONS OF SELECTED LARC TECHNOLOGIES THAT SUPPORT UAS/NAS INTEGRATION. THE TASK DELIVERABLES WILL SUPPORT THE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE NASA LARC SURROGATE UAS T&E PLATFORM AS WELL AS PROVIDE SPECIFIC TEST SCENARIOS FOR FLIGHT TEST DEMONSTRATION OF THE SELECTED TECHNOLOGIES.