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At least 199 records · Page 11

Detect and Avoid: Efforts from NASA's UAS Integration into the NAS Project

NASA's Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) integration into the National Air Space (NAS) project has been working closely with the FAA and RTCA Special Committee 228 to identify and break down barriers to UAS integration. A focus of this work is on detect and avoid (DAA) technologies. A pilot has responsibility to see and avoid other aircraft and to remain "well clear," using their best judgment (Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) Sec. 91.113). For UAS to perform this function, the see function is replaced by sensors to detect the other aircraft. Secondly, the pilot judgment of well clear has to be replaced by a mathematical expression. For Phase 1 of this effort, a well clear violation was defined if all three of these conditions are true: a) the horizontal clearance is less than 4000 ft., and b) the vertical clearance is less than 450 ft., and c) the time to loss of well clear is less than 35 seconds. This definition was developed with a great deal of community input and testing to ensure interoperability with Air Traffic Control (ATC) and pilots of manned aircraft. Appropriate guidance, alerting and displays were developed to allow UAS, with the appropriate sensors, to effectively maintain well clear. This work contributed to FAA Technical Standard Orders: TSO-C211, Detect and Avoid and TSO-C212, ATAR for Traffic Surveillance. Phase 2 of this work extends the operational environment to include the terminal area and lesser capable aircraft that might not have the payload capability to carry the RADAR defined in Phase 1. This session reports on work from Phase 1 and initial work in Phase 2.

Detect and Avoid (DAA)↗

SMART NAS Test Bed Overview

These slides presents an overview of SMART NAS Test Bed. The test bed is envisioned to be connected to operational systems and to allow a new concept and technology to be evaluated in its realistic environment. Its role as an accelerator of concepts and technologies development, its use cases and use-case-driven development approach, and its state are presented.

rapid development↗

NASA's UAS Integration into the NAS: A Report on the Human Systems Integration Phase 1 Activities

This presentation summarizes the technical activities undertaken by the UAS in the NAS project's Human-Systems Integration team during during it's first phase. The technical activites are discussed in terms of the project's stated mission, research themes and technical challenges. The talk also covers the simulation research that has been performed by the HSI in Phase 1. The end of the presentation lays out the group's plans for Phase 2.

Fern, Lisa↗

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration in the National Airspace System (NAS) Project

Phase 1 of the UAS-NAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems-National Airspace System) project focused on MOPS (Minimum Operational Performance Standards) development for large UAS transitioning through Class D, E, and G airspace. Phase 2 activities are currently focused on extended UAS operations in Class D, E, and G airspace, as well as sensors and architectures that will enable DAA (Detect and Avoid) equipment to be installed on a wider range of UAS. Encounters with non-cooperative intruders in low altitude airspace under 10,000 feet will be explored for UAS with a low Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP) radar. New sensors for detecting non-cooperative intruder aircraft will have a more limited detection range and field of regard; therefore, the analysis of non-cooperative encounter geometries may help in developing the requirements for an onboard low SWaP radar (and electro-optical sensor). The current simulation, led by HSI (Human Systems Integration Division at NASA Ames Research Center) as part of the DAA subproject, will support efforts toward developing a modified DAA Well Clear (DWC) definition that would be more appropriate for UAS equipped with limited surveillance and aircraft performance capabilities compared to the Phase 1 DAA system. The findings will inform Phase 2 display requirements for alternative surveillance use cases.

Collision Avoidance↗

Appendix A: NAS-Wide Encounter Rate Evaluation Using Historical Radar Data and the Airspace Concept Evaluation System (ACES)

Regulations that establish operational and performance requirements for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are being developed by a consortium of government, industry and academic institutions. Those requirements will apply to detect-and-avoid (DAA) systems and other equipment necessary to integrate UAS with the National Airspace System (NAS) and are determined according to their contribution to the overall level of safety required to operate in the airspace. Several key gaps must be addressed in order to link equipment requirements to an airspace level of safety. Foremost among these is the calculation of the relative effectiveness of a particular system to mitigate violations of a separation standard with other aircraft, which is known as the systems risk ratio. The risk ratio is calculated as the probability of mid-air collision with a DAA system divided by the probability of mid-air collision without a DAA system. The risk ratio of a DAA system, in combination with the risk ratios of other collision avoidance mitigations, will determine the overall safety of the airspace measured in terms of the number of mid-air collisions per flight hour. Defining the required risk ratio that the DAA system needs to ensure the safety of the airspace requires an evaluation of the current airspace and a simulated evaluation that incorporates UAS aerodynamic performance and the mission characteristics of future UAS operations that are projected to be conducted in areas that interact with current operations. These evaluations will produce the frequency of encounters that currently exist in the airspace and those that could be generated with the introduction of UAS. Together, the frequency of encounters, an evaluation of unmitigated risk of collision, and a desired level of safety of the airspace will yield a required risk ratio of the DAA system. This study will focus on evaluating the encounter rates between aircraft based on historical radar data and encounter rates that could occur based on simulated UAS missions.

Unmanned Aircraft Systems↗

NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division

High Performance Computing (HPC) has become an integral part of NASAs Aeronautics research and application endeavors. HPC requirements for Aeroscience applications are increasing by leaps and bounds as scientists and engineers increase the fidelity of the simulations and the size of the engineering databases needed for NASA missions. In this talk we present several such applications and describe how they have benefited from the use of supercomputing. We provide an overview of the resources available at NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) facility at Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, and also describe the progress in performance of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes on current and future HPC technologies. We also discuss some of the challenges in efficiently exploiting the underlying computational resources for such codes.

Mehrotra, Piyush↗

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration in the National Airspace System (NAS) Project: ACAS Xu Engineering Analysis Results

This presentation provides an overview of the results from a two-part engineering analysis conducted as part of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration in the National Airspace System (NAS) Project. Part one of this analysis examined how to present resolution advisories (RAs) issued by Airborne Collision Avoidance System (ACAS) Xu, which can be in the vertical dimension, the horizontal dimension, or both (i.e., "blended"). The study varied the appearance of the alerting and the verbiage used in the aural alerts. Results revealed high acceptability ratings for the appearance of the RA guidance. Part two of the analysis assessed pilot acceptability of varying levels of automation in the collision avoidance (CA) task. Pilots experienced conditions in which ACAS Xu RAs were executed either manually or automatically (i.e., auto-Collision Avoidance). In some conditions the return to a previously filed course was also executed automatically (auto-Return to Course). Results indicated that improvements are needed to how the state of the automation is presented. Implications of these findings are also discussed.

Detect and Avoid↗

Airspace Safety Threshold Study: NAS-Wide Encounter Rate Evaluation Using Historical Radar Data and ACES

Realization of the expected proliferation of Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) operations in the National Airspace System (NAS) depends on the development and validation of performance standards for UAS Detect and Avoid (DAA) Systems. The RTCA Special Committee 228 (SC-228) is charged with leading the development of draft Minimum Operational Performance Standards (MOPS) for UAS DAA Systems. NASA, as a participating member of RTCA SC-228 is committed to supporting the development and validation of draft requirements as well as the safety substantiation and end-to-end assessment of DAA system performance. With regard to the safety aspect being studied by the SC-228 DAA Safety sub-group, NASA has conducted a study using the ACES (Airspace Concept Evaluation System) simulation capability to determine: 1) the rate at which IFR aircraft encounter other IFR and VFR aircraft, and 2) the rate at which UAS aircraft encounter VFR aircraft as well as the corresponding encounter geometries. Five different separation thresholds were used (two for encounter and one each for well-clear, near mid-air collision, and closest point of approach). The results will be used by the SC-228 DAA Safety sub-group to inform decisions about the safety aspect of UAS DAA systems and future requirements development and validation efforts.

encounter geometry↗

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration in the National Airspace System (NAS) Project: ACAS Xu HITL Overview

This presentation provides an overview of a recently completed human-in-the-loop simulation, conducted as part of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration in the National Airspace System (NAS) Project. This study examined how to present resolution advisories (RAs) issued by Airborne Collision Avoidance System (ACAS) Xu, which can be in the vertical dimension, the horizontal dimension, or both (i.e., "blended"). The study varied the location of the ACAS Xu traffic information - it was either presented within an 'integrated' display or a 'standalone' display, where the traffic information was separated from the vehicle control interfaces and navigational information. The presentation covers the test set-up, scenario design, and facilities utilized in this experiment. The primary dependent variables are listed, but no detailed results are included in this outbrief since data analysis is still underway. Goal: assess ACAS Xu Run 5 in a HITL setting to measure pilot & system performance – RWC alerting and guidance – RA alerting and guidance • Horizontal-only, vertical-only, and blended RAs • Strengthening RAs, reversals and added/removed RAs during blended maneuvers – Incorporate realistic sensor noise into the simulation environment – Compare pilot and DAA system performance back to NASA’s Phase 1 DAA MOPS V&V HITL • We leveraged the findings of an engineering analysis conducted in March to help inform how to implement the Xu logic – Part 1 focused on how to display horizontal-only, vertical-only and blended RAs – Part 2 focused on how to display automated RA responses Xu Engineering Analysis Results Part 1 objectives: – Characterize pilot responses to (canned) ACAS Xu RAs in a variety of display configurations • With vs. Without text accompaniment • Simple vs. ‘Advanced’ aural alerting • Results – Pilots struggled to meet 5 seconds initial response requirement • Particularly against horizontal and blended RAs – Pilots failed to respond more quickly to secondary RAs • Expected response time to subsequent RAs = 2.5 seconds No clear effect of the different alerting conditions on response times – Response times primarily driven by RA type • Pilots demonstrated high level of compliance with RAs and self-reported Xu alerting and guidance as being acceptable – 1/5 reported text as being necessary – 4/5 wanted the aural alert to retain the original RA sequence (i.e., issue a follow-on RA second rather than first) – 4/5 wanted to retain the “Maintain Heading/Vertical Speed” aural alert in the event that the pilot reached their target response at the time of secondary RA Based on these results, we decided on the following for the HITL experimental design: – Incorporated an ‘auto-fill’ feature in Vigilant Spirit that removes the need for pilots to manually enter a heading or altitude for RAs • Pilots only have to click ‘Send’ to upload the RA target heading/altitude – Did not include an RA ‘text box’ • The auto-fill feature largely replaces the purpose of the text box – Using a combination of the ‘Basic’ and ‘Advanced’ aural alerting • In case of blended maneuvers will issue “Maintain Heading/Vertical Rate” if pilot has reached 1st RA target at the time the 2nd RA is issued • Integration and testing with Xu Run 5 also resulted in us adding display logic to modify how horizontal RAs are presented – Target heading was shown to update at approx. 1 Hz making it difficult for pilots to implement – Display logic limited horizontal RA strengthening to once every 5 seconds • Did not impact timing of reversals, new RAs (i.e., blended), or CoC Engineering Analysis Results

human systems integration↗

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration in the National Airspace System (NAS) Project: ACAS-Xu Run 5 Human-In-The-Loop Sim SC-147 Results Outbrief

This presentation provides an overview of a recently completed human-in-the-loop simulation, conducted as part of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration in the National Airspace System (NAS) Project. This study examined how to present resolution advisories (RAs) issued by Airborne Collision Avoidance System (ACAS) Xu, which can be in the vertical dimension, the horizontal dimension, or both (i.e., "blended"). The study varied the location of the ACAS Xu traffic information - it was either presented within an 'integrated' display or a 'standalone' display, where the traffic information was separated from the vehicle control interfaces and navigational information. Results revealed generally positive feedback on the visual and aural presentation of RAs, with special considerations and performance implications noted throughout.

Monk, Kevin J.↗

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration in the National Airspace System (NAS) Project: Low SWaP HITL 2, SC-228 Outbrief, EO/IR & ATAR Breakout

This presentation provides an overview of a recently completed human-in-the-loop simulation, conducted as part of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration in the National Airspace System (NAS) Project. This study explored the differential effects of four low size, weight, and power radar declaration ranges on pilot and system performance. Pilots were to avoid DAA well clear against cooperative and non-cooperative aircraft under 1.5, 2, 2.5, and 3 nautical mile non-cooperative detection ranges. Results revealed that pilot performance was primarily influenced by warning-level alert duration, with sufficient alerting time being most prevalent at 2.5 nautical miles and above.

Monk, Kevin J.↗