Incorporating emerging markets into NAS collaborative planning

Abstract

Aviation evolution points to new entrants such as Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), urban air taxi and other on-demand mobility (ODM) vehicles, and commercial space vehicles, operated by individuals and different kinds of organizations [1, 2], To date, there has not been significant research focused on the planning needs of the various stakeholders involved in these operations and on envisioning a NAS that supports collaborative operations planning for a wide variety of vehicles and operations [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8], The future NAS must be shared equitably among all classes of vehicles used for various missions that present different safety and planning challenges. In a preliminary effort to advance research in this area, Mosaic ATM developed a software prototype, named the NAS Integrated Collaborative Planning System (NICoPS), to support all NAS users in planning their operations in collaboration with traffic managers and licensing personnel. NICoPS supports a variety of airspace users, including emerging markets with different operation and vehicle types. It considers the information requirements of both traffic management and operations licensing personnel in carrying out negotiation across different time scales. It supports airspace users in developing, proposing, and negotiating safe and efficient routes; FAA traffic management personnel in maintaining safe and efficient NAS operations; and licensing personnel responsible for evaluating individual operations to manage risk to the general public. This paper summarizes a research effort performed by Mosaic ATM for the NASA Ames Research Center and provides an overview of NICoPS, beginning with a section that explores documenting planning needs of various NAS stakeholders, continuing with a section on the design of the software prototype that meets those needs, and finishing with a brief section that covers ideas for future research to advance the concept.