The DAA system combines automatic collision avoidance with the ability for the pilot to remain ‘well clear’ of other airspace users. The DAA system installed on Ikhana, a NASA-owned Predator B/MQ-9 UAS, enabled the UAS to meet the FAA’s 14 CFR 91.113(b) requirement to “see and avoid” other aircraft during the flight. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc.’s (GA‑ASI) Detect and Avoid (DAA) avionics system played a key role that enabled an unmanned aircraft flight through the National Airspace System (NAS).
NASA successfully worked with its industry partners to develop a standard for Detect and Avoid technologies, complied with the requirements of the FAA Technical Standard Orders, and garnered flight approval from the FAA. Engineers at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center monitor the remotely piloted Ikhana aircraft from a mission-control room during a test flight on June 12, 2018. The FAA granted NASA special permission to conduct this flight under the authority of a Certificate of Waiver or Authorization on March 30. The certificate permitted Ikhana’s pilot to rely on the latest Detect and Avoid technology, enabling the remote pilot on the ground to see and avoid other aircraft during the flight.Ģ. The Ikhana flew in accordance with the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Technical Standard Order 211-Detect and Avoid Systems-and Technical Standard Order 212-Air-to-Air Radar for Traffic Surveillance. “We worked closely with our Federal Aviation Administration colleagues for several months to ensure we met all their requirements to make this initial flight happen.”įlights of large aircraft like Ikhana, have traditionally required a safety chase aircraft to follow the unmanned aircraft as it travels through the same airspace used by commercial aircraft. “This is a huge milestone for our Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration in the National Airspace System project team,” says Ed Waggoner, NASA’s Integrated Aviation Systems Program director. Figure 2 shows the mission-control room for the Ikhana flight. The technology in this aircraft could, at some point, be scaled down for use in other general aviation aircraft. (Credit : NASA Photo / Carla Thomas )įlying these large, remotely piloted aircraft over the United States opens the doors to all types of services, from monitoring and fighting forest fires, to providing new emergency search and rescue operations. NASA’s Ikhana aircraft could be the first large unmanned aircraft system to fly in the National Airspace System without the requirement of an escort aircraft, outside of Class A and Special Use Airspace.
This historic flight moves the United States one step closer to normalizing unmanned aircraft operations in the airspace used by commercial and private pilots (see below for details on the first successful trans-Atlantic remotely piloted aircraft).ġ. In June 2018, NASA’s remotely piloted Ikhana aircraft, based at the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., successfully flew its first mission in the National Airspace System without a safety chase aircraft ( Fig. The project uses modeling, simulations, and flight tests to develop and test technologies that provide safe, effective, secure capabilities including detect and avoid (DAA) and command and control (C2). The UAS-NAS project is within the Integrated Aviation Systems Research Program, managed by NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. This involves identifying, developing, and testing the technologies and procedures that will make it possible for UAS to have routine access to airspace occupied by human-piloted aircraft.įour NASA centers support the UAS-NAS project: NASA’s Ames Research Center and Armstrong Flight Research Center in California, Langley Research Center in Virginia, and Glenn Research Center in Ohio. NASA is pursuing a program that integrates unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into the National Airspace System, or UAS-NAS.
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