AIR COMMONS - DENIM: Deployed Environment Networked Information Matrix

Airbases both at home and overseas are strategic assets. The surge in Commercial off The Shelf (COTS) unmanned systems has produced an airspace integration problem. Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM), Swarms and Counter-small UAS (C-sUAS) systems all involve tracking large numbers of semi-autonomous aircraft, some friendly, some not, yet all operating in close proximity and within an airbase’s Area of Responsibility (AOR). Around Main and Forward Operating Bases (MOB/FOB), traditional Air Traffic Management (ATM) and Security personnel must maintain Air Domain Awareness (ADA) for safety of flight, airspace deconfliction, optimal flight path planning and successful defense of the perimeter. States-side MOBs and OCONUS FOBs need cyber-secure, standalone (zero backhaul) ATM networks that incorporate either air-gapped or Deployable UTM and any fielded C-sUAS. These integrations would provide total ADA of BLUE, Unknown and RED manned/unmanned assets in the airbase’s AOR. AIR COMMONS™ - DENIM (AC-DENIM) is designed to mitigate these concerns by providing complete ADA of the MOB/FOB low altitude airspace within the AOR by using all available intelligence feeds to detect, identify and factor air assets; and by providing that collated intelligence picture to all fielded systems over a secure mesh network. Unmanned Experts Inc. (UMEX), in conjunction with AFRL, the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) and 87th Security Forces Squadron, will design, build, test and demonstrate a hardware-software solution that integrates Situational Awareness platforms such as ATAK and AERONet, C-sUAS systems such as NINJA, and SHIELD AI, and fielded ATM solutions into UMEX’s TRL7 Air Commons Deployable-UTM and provide a complete air picture, Common Operating Picture (COP) and ADA picture to Air Traffic, Ops and Security personnel at home and abroad. Based on the Air Commons UTM, which was developed for wildland fire and disaster response operations, the AC-DENIM program can rapidly integrate with fielded systems and adopt customer / end-user specific requirements (hardware, spectrum management, security & cyber specs). AC-DENIM builds on the highly successful AFWERX Phase I AIR COMMONS™ - BLUE (AC-BLUE) SBIR program (Contract FA8649-21-P-1048) flown in 2021. To build on that program, UMEX proposes an extensive Phase II, called AC-DENIM which aims for a Deployed Environment Networked Information Matrix to MOBs & FOBs. In AC-DENIM, the air and ground info feeds from many disparate sources, to include ATM, ATAK, AERONet and C-sUAS, and even networked aircraft, are injected into the AIR COMMONS™ backbone. The ground and air ‘pictures’ are then broadcast over the secure mesh network to all nodes, to include the original systems, and other suitably equipped/secured units. AC-DENIM is designed to provide either a full hardware ‘box’ and mesh network for standalone operations, or the integration of a software product within an established Program of Record system.