A Transformative Approach to Flight Test for Autonomous Vehicles

There are established processes to conduct certification flight test of conventional Parts 23 and 25 fixed wing aircraft and Parts 27 and 29 rotorcraft for a certifying agency such as the FAA. Further, NASA and the DoD have well established processes to conduct developmental test and evaluation (DTamp;E) and operational test and evaluation (OTamp;E) of prototype and experimental aircraft. For the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) marketplace that features vehicle designs with increasing automation to full autonomous operations, new flight test technologies are required to execute flight test maneuvers safely and repeatedly when a human pilot is no longer in-the-loop. New test technologies can allow extracting data/information relevant in aircraft development from non-classical developmental type maneuvers. These technologies will include a combination of consolidated analysis and synthesis methods and the application of metrics dedicated to autonomous vehicles, to assess their capabilities in performing the required mission tasks in the absence of the onboard pilotrsquo;s evaluation. The expected high relevance of Mission Task Elements (MTEs) in the emerging AAM certification process requires the capability and offers the opportunity to merge DTamp;E and OTamp;E concepts and practices from first flight to certification. While autonomous drones have been operating for the military for some time, such technologies are required here as well if these vehicles are to transition from restricted air space and in theater operations to national air space operations. To satisfy the evolving test and evaluation analytical and procedural requirements described above, a team led by Systems Technology, Inc. (STI) proposes to create a complete prototype of the Aircraft Standardized Source for Integrated System Testing (ASSIST). ASSIST will support the flight test process from initial parameter and system identification to envelope expansion to mission capability and certification testing using MTEs.