UAM, UTM and the FAA's NextGen Directive

 Hello Aces, 

 This week our studies took a closer look at emerging aviation trends and directives. Urban Air Mobility (UAM),  Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) and  NextGen are all relatively recent developments that will shape the future of manned and unmanned aviation and hopefully foster the safe integration of  the two. 

Urban Air Mobility is an emerging market in both the United States and Europe. UAM can be defined as a safe and efficient aerial passenger and cargo system within an urban environment (NASA, 2017). Right now the concept is more theoretical, but many aerospace companies backed by millions in venture capital are optimistic that they can create a viable "air taxi" and/or cargo delivery service operating at low altitudes within dense urban areas (Lunden, 2021).  Most of these companies have developed an electric VTOL aircraft that can be optionally manned once approved for service. 

Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management is a pilot program to provide air space management through the FAA for drone operations under 400ft, especially around airports (FAA, 2020). The current system for manned operations, Air Traffic Management (ATM) would be overwhelmed if required to manage the rapidly increasing burden of both manned and unmanned air traffic. Instead the UTM will provide restrictions to  UAS operators through a complex computer network instead of voice communications. The goal of the program is to facilitate beyond visual line of sight operations which currently require an operator to file weeks in advance for a Certificate of Authorization (COA). If a computer architecture can be developed to automate UTM, this would be a significant reduction in the required human resources to manage air traffic. 

Overarching forward-leaning operations like UAM and UTM is the FAA's NextGen directive.  In the post-9/11 aviation era, the need to modernize the FAA's air traffic management program was evident. The NextGen program has been around since 2003, but has been slow to make progress on key initiatives like UAS integration in the National Airspace System (NAS). This was a milestone identified in 2012 by the FAA and was to be complete by 2015. We are now more than six years beyond that intial target and UAS are still not integrated in the NAS and still required a COA (FAA, 2012)  On other NextGen goals the FAA has made some progress including the implementation of multiple runway operations and performance based navigation and position reporting aids like ADS-B.   

Challenges and the Way Ahead

The greatest challenges for integrating UAS into the NAS will be developing a robust architecture that is reliable enough to assume the traffic load of UTM.  The cost of ownership for a small UAS is much less prohibitive than plane ownership meaning the number of UAVs operating will likely exceed that of manned aircraft. On the human factors side, the skill/professional training of UAS operators may not be on par with licensed pilots which may cause more airspace violations and mishaps. 

Despite these challenges the future of UAS integration in the NAS is not inconceivable. New technology like Detect, Sense, and Avoid Systems which allow unmanned aircraft to detect air traffic in their vicinity and resolve the conflict automatically are promising steps toward integration with manned traffic. DSA could also make lost link operations safer. Currently, unmanned aerial vehicles fly pre-programmed routing and altitude if the link with the operator is lost. DSA would enable contingency maneuvers to avoid conflicts even when lost link. 

In my experience, perhaps the most significant effort toward making UAS integration in the NAS a reality is properly educating both the FAA and public on UAS capabilities.  Many are cautious of "unmanned aircraft" or drones because they simply do not understand that there is a significant human presence in  all aspects of operations  and they do not understand concepts like a lost link mission or return to base function.  If an accurate picture of UAS operations can be presented to both the public and political decision makers and UAS pilots operate responsibly within the regulatory framework that is crafted, I think you may witness manned and unmanned planes operating in harmony in urban environments and at some of the busiest airports across the globe. 

- DP

References

FAA. (2012). FAA Makes Progress with UAS Integration. www.faa.gov. https://www.faa.gov/news/updates/?newsId=68004

FAA. (2020). Unmanned Aircraft Traffic Management (UTM). www.faa.gov. https://www.faa.gov/uas/research_development/traffic_management/

Lunden. (2021). Flying Taxi Startup Pick Up Another $241M, Says Service is Now Two Years Out. https://techcrunch.com (Links to an external site.). https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/02/flying-taxi-startup-volocopter-picks-up-another-241m-says-service-is-now-two-years-out/ (Links to an external site.)

NASA. (2017). NASA embraces Urban Air Mobility, Calls for Market Study. www.nasa.gov (Links to an external site.). https://www.nasa.gov/aero/nasa-embraces-urban-air-mobility