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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Upper Class E Traffic Management (ETM)

This is a slide set as part of a meeting series with members of a working group aimed at the development of a concept that addresses needs and gaps in the management of high altitude airspace operations. This concept leverages elements developed through the UAS Traffic Management project with respect to a cooperative, service-based approach that provides services and capabilities in areas (e.g., Upper Class E airspace) that currently receive no or limited service from Air Traffic Control. This concept is meant to provide a safe, fair, and scalable approach to management of Upper Class E operations that reduces the burden on ATC while providing the flexibility and access desired by current and new users of the airspace. This set of slides includes an overview of discussions and industry news covering the time since the previous group meeting, a discussion of service applicability to the ETM environment and examples from UAS Traffic Management, an update on modeling and simulation work, and an announcement of an upcoming ETM workshop.

Upper E↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

ETM: Upper Class E Traffic Management

This is a slide set as part of a meeting series with members of a working group aimed at the development of a concept that addresses needs and gaps in the management of high-altitude airspace operations. This concept leverages elements developed through the UAS Traffic Management project with respect to a cooperative, service-based approach that provides services and capabilities in areas (e.g., Upper Class E airspace) that currently receive no or limited service from Air Traffic Control. This concept is meant to provide a safe, fair, and scalable approach to management of Upper Class E operations that reduces the burden on ATC while providing the flexibility and access desired by current and new users of the airspace. This set of slides includes an overview of discussions and industry news covering the time since the previous group meeting, an overview of relevant activities by NASA's Airborne Science Program, a review of the 2023 ETM Workshop, a placeholder for a presentation on an approach to an International Framework for operations, and an update on NASA's preparations for upcoming simulations.

Upper E↗
NASA NTRS2022

Overview of NASA’s Extensible Traffic Management (xTM) Research

NASA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) project introduced a new Air Traffic Management (ATM) architecture that utilizes industry’s ability to supply industry-developed, third-party services that work complementarily with the FAA-provided Air Traffic Service (ATS) to exchange relevant air vehicle information among the UAS operations and between the UTM and the conventional ATM system. The UTM architecture was used to successfully demonstrate the feasibility of safe, efficient, and scalable small UAS operations in low altitudes below 400 feet above ground level. Following the success and adoption of UTM architecture, the foundational UTM requirements and core properties were generalized to become Extensible Traffic Management (xTM) requirements to support operations of new entrants beyond small UAS, such as operations in high altitudes over 60,000 feet, designated as upper Class E in the United States National Airspace System (NAS). In this paper, the generalization of UTM to xTM and NASA’s approach for developing an xTM system for upper Class E Traffic Management (ETM) are discussed. The paper also discusses the planned research to examine the potential xTM-Air Traffic Control (ATC) interactions across multiple xTM systems and identify common coordination procedures, ATC roles/responsibilities, and data exchange requirements. This work is one of the steps for improving interoperability between the xTM systems and ATS, which is critical for safe and efficient sharing of the airspace among the new entrants served by the xTM systems and conventional ATS-serviced operations.

air traffic management↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Overview of NASA’s Extensible Traffic Management (xTM) Work

NASA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) project introduced a new Air Traffic Management (ATM) architecture that utilizes industry’s ability to supply industry-developed, third-party services that work complementarily with the FAA-provided Air Traffic Service (ATS) to exchange relevant air vehicle information among the UAS operations and between the UTM and the conventional ATM system. The UTM architecture was used to successfully demonstrate the feasibility of safe, efficient, and scalable small UAS operations in low altitudes below 400 feet above ground level. Following the success and adoption of UTM architecture, the foundational UTM requirements and core properties were generalized to become Extensible Traffic Management (xTM) requirements to support operations of new entrants beyond small UAS, such as operations in high altitudes over 60,000 feet, designated as upper Class E in the United States National Airspace System (NAS). In this paper, the generalization of UTM to xTM and NASA’s approach for developing an xTM system for upper Class E Traffic Management (ETM) are discussed. The paper also discusses the planned research to examine the potential xTM-Air Traffic Control (ATC) interactions across multiple xTM systems and identify common coordination procedures, ATC roles/responsibilities, and data exchange requirements. This work is one of the steps for improving interoperability between the xTM systems and ATS, which is critical for safe and efficient sharing of the airspace among the new entrants served by the xTM systems and conventional ATS-serviced operations.

air traffic management↗
NASA NTRS2022

UAM Research – X4: Introduction to Community Based Rules (CBRs)

Recent advances in technology have enabled industry development of new and innovative vehicle types, offering lower operating costs and highly automated functionality that facilitates the introduction of new types of operations. These include low-altitude airspace operations with small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs), short distance urban and intercity operations, and high- altitude Upper Class E operations. These and other new operations are expected to result in a much higher operational tempo than is currently experienced across the National Airspace System (NAS). The projected increase in operations, as well as the introduction of new aircraft form factors and supporting technologies—including increasing autonomy—will present challenges to the existing Air Traffic Management (ATM) system, which is currently unable to cost-effectively scale and deliver needed services. In response to these challenges and opportunities, a highly automated, cooperative environment incorporating a federated network has been envisioned and described through multiple operational concepts, depicting the future operating environment as part of the NAS. Foundational to the success of this future operating environment is the establishment of common business rules and understandings across relevant stakeholders, referred to as Community Based Rules (CBRs). Development, adoption, and implementation of CBRs will require collaboration across multiple stakeholders, including operators, support services (industry), and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), to identify and resolve a broad range of questions and challenges. Examples of these questions include “what rules are needed?”, “how are they expressed?”, and “how will they be managed?” This document identifies and describes an initial set of questions and considerations to be examined as efforts begin to create the innovative, automated, cooperative operating environment of the future. The goal is to establish a common frame of reference to support discussions and decisions regarding the future implementation of CBRs as part of the NAS.

Community Based Rules↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Identifying Common Use Cases across Extensible Traffic Management (xTM) for Interactions with Air Traffic Controllers

NASA’s Extensible Traffic Management (xTM) builds on the foundation and the architecture of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) concept and extends it broadly to other domains, such as Advanced / Urban Air Mobility (AAM/UAM) and Upper Class E Traffic Management (ETM). These xTM concepts assume the ability to fly in airspace that is authorized to operate solely under xTM services and mostly without any air traffic control (ATC) support. However, they also assume circumstances in which the xTM vehicles would need to operate in conventional ATC-managed airspace, both during nominal and off-nominal scenarios. Due to the vast differences in the xTM vehicle performances and missions, there is a concern that ATC may have difficulty in safely managing the xTM traffic and providing appropriate services to all vehicles, unless a consistent set of roles, procedures, and data exchange requirements are defined across the diverse set of xTM vehicle operations. In this paper, we describe a set of use cases that have been identified in UTM, AAM/UAM, and ETM operations that are related to ATC interactions, and we propose to categorize these use cases across xTM domains based on common trigger events. Organizing the use cases from the perspective of ATC roles per each trigger event is expected to provide the first step in discovering common procedures and data requirements across xTM domains that could help ease the controllers’ cognitive task load and allow them to manage these interactions more safely.

Extensible Traffic Management (xTM)↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Upper Class E Traffic Management (ETM) and ATM-X

This is a slide set for presentation at the 4th Federal UAS Workshop jointly hosted by NASA and USGS. The contents of the slide cover the work currently being performed with respect to the Upper Class E Traffic Management (ETM) concept, which addresses the needs and gaps in the management of high altitude airspace operations. This concept leverages elements developed through the UAS Traffic Management project with respect to a cooperative, service-based approach that provides services and capabilities in areas (e.g., Upper E airspace) that currently receive no or limited service from Air Traffic Control. This concept is meant to provide a safe, fair, and scalable approach to management of Upper E operations that reduces the burden on ATC while providing the flexibility and access desired by current and new users of the airspace. This set of slides includes an overview and rationale of the ETM concept, a recap of the progress made, the road ahead, and the place of ETM within its parent project: Air Traffic Management-eXploration (ATM-X).

Upper E↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NAS Exploratory Concepts & Technologies (NExCT) Upper Class E Traffic Management (ETM) Collaborative Evaluation #1 (CE-1)

NASA, in partnership with AeroVironment and Aerostar, recently demonstrated a first-of-its-kind air traffic management concept that could pave the way for aircraft to safely operate at higher altitudes. This work seeks to open the door for increased internet coverage, improved disaster response, expanded scientific missions, and even supersonic flight. The concept is referred to as an Upper-Class E traffic management, or ETM. NASA and its partners have developed an ETM traffic management system that allows aircraft to autonomously share location and flight plans, enabling aircraft to stay safely separated. This concept was demonstrated during the recent traffic management simulation in the Airspace Operations Laboratory at Ames, data from multiple air vehicles was displayed across dozens of traffic control monitors and shared with partner computers off site. The study details and the initial results are presented at a regular, informal ETM industry meetings held virtually.

Upper Class E Traffic Management (ETM)↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

From the Knowledge-based Digital Platform (KbDP) Concept for Advanced Air Mobility Research to a Preliminary Prototype

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) encompasses a range of innovative operational and technological changes to aviation (electric aircraft, increasingly automated aircraft, increasingly automated airspace operations, etc.) that are transforming aviation’s role in everyday movement of people and goods. There are multiple associated concepts and use cases for AAM, all interrelated, including small Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM), Upper-Class E Traffic Management (ETM), Extensible Traffic Management (xTM), Regional Air Mobility (RAM), and Urban Air Mobility (UAM). These AAM operations must integrate with traditional Air Traffic Management (ATM) operations, as well as non-aviation modes of transportation and logistics. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is spearheading an innovative digital engineering approach to integrate, communicate, and facilitate the research of multi-modal transportation systems. The Knowledge-based Digital Platform (KbDP) is a concept being developed that ties the workflows of Project Managers (PM), Principal Investigators (PI), and System Engineers together across organizational boundaries. It does so through the management of an information database defined by mathematical, data science, and system engineering principles. Machine Learning (ML) algorithms play a key role in this concept by extracting meaningful knowledge from the information database, which the human user leverages to greatly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their research. Expected benefits of this concept include improved technology transfers from research to production, improved research portfolio investments, and research outcomes that are more integrated with all aspects of the multi-modal transportation problem. The preliminary KbDP prototype has been realized using UAM as a pathfinder use case and developed by a team of system engineer, software developer, data scientist, and interns.

Systems Engineering↗
NASA NTRS2024

Federal USS Synthesis Effort: 2023 Flight Test Report. A NASA and Department of Defense Joint Evaluation of Multi-Domain Airspace Integration

In recent years, advancements in technology have greatly improved the utility and applicability of Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) and have highlighted the need for and importance of UAS Traffic Management (UTM). Onboard sense and avoid systems, ground-based sensors, and long- range command and control (C2) systems have significantly expanded the possibilities for UAS beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations. Initially, research on UTM flights focused on their interactions with other UTM operations, but that has since been expanded to include interactions with the flight profiles of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) and upper Class E Traffic Management (ETM) operations. Recognizing the potential of these systems and the increase in UAS autonomy, the Department of Defense (DoD) is working towards integrating these missions and systems into a unified DoD Federal ecosystem. The Federal USS Synthesis Effort (FUSE) aims to develop a live system that can efficiently combine this wide range of UTM, AAM, and ETM systems, thus enabling expanded operations within a single common operating environment. The goal of the Federal USS Synthesis Effort (FUSE) is for NASA and the DoD to develop a live system that can efficiently combine UTM, AAM, and ETM systems. The most recent endeavor in this effort was a live flight test conducted near Grand Forks Air Force Base in June, 2023, where the FUSE ecosystem successfully demonstrated integrating UTM, AAM, and ETM operations while providing a single, shared COP to users. Additional investigations were made during the test, including assessing the usefulness of the system and its capability to support UAS weighing over 55 lbs.; testing user messaging capabilities and a DoD adaptation of a Federal USS; and assessing user workload, automated vs manual control, and the usability of NASA’s XTMClient.

Federal USS↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Identifying Common Coordination Procedures across Extensible Traffic Management (xTM) to Integrate xTM Operations into the National Airspace System

New categories of missions and vehicle types, such as drone delivery services, on-demand air taxi, and high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) vehicles are being proposed to operate using a novel, highly automated information exchange infrastructure and a community-based, cooperative traffic management concept. Collectively, these new operations are called Extensible Traffic Management (xTM). As these xTM vehicles become more prevalent, their operations will increasingly overlap with existing conventional aircraft and with each other. In order to seamlessly co-exist with current conventional aircraft operations, new coordination procedures, tools and services will be needed to integrate xTM into the future National Airspace System (NAS). In our prior work, we have identified a set of use cases for xTM interactions with air traffic control (ATC), categorized across different xTM operations based on trigger events. Events consisted of ones such as nominal xTM vehicle transition into the ATC environment or an off-nominal emergency landing situation. In this paper, we have extended the prior work to identify commonalities in the coordination procedures across xTM, as well as differences that are specific to the individual xTM operations. The overall results showed that two types of xTM-ATC interactions were prevalent: 1) xTM vehicles transitioning between xTM and ATC operational environments; 2) xTM vehicles being allowed to continue xTM operations in areas that are normally controlled by ATC. The results also suggested that emergency and rare off-nominal events may need specialized procedures for each vehicle type. The overall results suggest that there is a pathway to define a common method of handling and integrating diverse xTM operations in the future NAS, but there need to be procedures for individualized handling of xTM vehicles in infrequent, safety-critical events.

Extensible Traffic Management (xTM)↗