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Overview of NASA’s Extensible Traffic Management (xTM) ResearchNASA’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.
Document ID
20210025112
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Jaewoo Jung
(Ames Research Center Mountain View, California, United States)
Joseph Rios
(Ames Research Center Mountain View, California, United States)
Min Xue
(Ames Research Center Mountain View, California, United States)
Jeffrey Homola
(Ames Research Center Mountain View, California, United States)
Paul Lee
(Ames Research Center Mountain View, California, United States)
Date Acquired
November 29, 2021
Publication Date
January 10, 2022
Publication Information
Publication: NASA Ames Aviation Systems Division Website
Publisher: NASA
URL: https://aviationsystems.arc.nasa.gov
Subject Category
Air Transportation And Safety
Meeting Information
Meeting: AIAA SciTech Forum
Location: San Diego, CA & Online
Country: US
Start Date: January 3, 2022
End Date: January 7, 2022
Sponsors: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Funding Number(s)
PROJECT: 629660
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
Technical Review
NASA Technical Management
Keywords
air traffic management
UTM
xTM
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