IGF::OT::IGF THE INNOVATION PROPOSED IS A FRAMEWORK FOR AUTONOMOUS TRAFFIC FLOW MANAGEMENT (TFM) UNDER TRAJ…

Public award description

IGF::OT::IGF THE INNOVATION PROPOSED IS A FRAMEWORK FOR AUTONOMOUS TRAFFIC FLOW MANAGEMENT (TFM) UNDER TRAJECTORY BASED OPERATIONS (TBO) FOR UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEMS (UAS). THE CONCEPT, CALLED DRIFT-UAS (DISTRIBUTED RESILIENT FRAMEWORK FOR TRAJECTORY MANAGEMENT OF UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEMS), IS A CLOUD-BASED SYSTEM THAT CONSISTS OF ALGORITHMS AND AN INFORMATION-SHARING FRAMEWORK THAT WOULD ENABLE AUTONOMOUS TRAJECTORY PLANNING AND STRATEGIC DECONFLICTING OF TRAJECTORIES OF MANNED AND UNMANNED AIRCRAFT, WHILE OPTIMIZING SYSTEM-WIDE OBJECTIVES SUCH AS SAFETY, EFFICIENCY, AND EQUITY. DRIFT-UAS ENVISIONS FOUR INFORMATION SIGNALS THAT ARE EXCHANGED IN A CLOUD-BASED ENVIRONMENT. THE SIGNALS ARE (A) TRAJECTORY INTENT FROM AN AIRCRAFT TO DRIFTUAS, (B) TRAJECTORY FEEDBACK (E.G., LEVEL OF CONGESTION ON THE PROPOSED ROUTE AS WELL AS NEARBY ROUTES IN TIME AND SPACE) FROM DRIFT-UAS TO THE AIRCRAFT (C) LOADING PROJECTIONS FROM DRIFT-UAS TO NAS ATC RESOURCES, AND (D) CAPACITY SIGNALS DERIVED FROM WEATHER FORECASTS, DYNAMIC AIRSPACE RESTRICTIONS, OR ACCEPTABLE LOADING LEVELS AT VARIOUS NAS RESOURCES. THE SIGNALS ARE PROCESSED BY A CENTRALIZED MDM (MASTER DE-CONFLICTING MODULE) TO GENERATE A TRAJECTORY FEEDBACK SIGNAL, AND ATGMS (AUTONOMOUS TRAJECTORY GENERATION MODULES) AUTONOMOUSLY GENERATE TRAJECTORIES FOR AIRCRAFT BASED ON THE FEEDBACK SIGNAL. DRIFT-UAS IS BASED ON A NEW CLASS OF ALGORITHMS FOR SOLVING LARGE-SCALE TFM PROBLEMS BY SEPARATING TFM OPTIMIZATION INTO TWO PROBLEMS---A MASTER PROBLEM, EQUIVALENT TO THE MDM THAT CHECKS FOR CAPACITY VIOLATIONS AND ALLOCATES RESOURCES TO COMPETING AIRCRAFT, AND A SUB-PROBLEM, EQUIVALENT TO THE ATGM SOLVED BY EACH INDIVIDUAL AIRCRAFT THAT GENERATES 4-D TRAJECTORIES FOR EACH FLIGHT. THE MASTER PROBLEM EXCHANGES DUAL PRICES THAT SIGNAL CONGESTION ACROSS ATC RESOURCES TO GUIDE THE SUB-PROBLEMS TO AN OPTIMAL SOLUTION.