m:N Working Group Fall 2024 Meeting Summary

From October 22nd to 24th, 2024 the m:N UAS working group and its subgroups (Evaluation Methodologies, Exceptions/Interventions, and Initial Operating Capability for Airspace Integration) met at the FAA Southwest Regional Office in Fort Worth, Texas for an in-person meeting. The subgroups meet virtually throughout the year, and twice a year participants from all the subgroups come together to further identify and discuss challenges and paths forward for incorporating UAS into the airspace. During this meeting, the sUAS working group was also in attendance, presenting insights from their latest report Personnel Selection, Roles, and Training for sUAS.

The m:N UAS working group is run by Jay Shively (Adaptive Aerospace) and is comprised of members from government, industry, and academia in an effort to identify and reduce barriers to m:N operations. This includes identifying requirements, use cases, metrics, and the development of white papers to support organizations including the FAA, RTCA, and ASTM.

The goal for 2024 was for the m:N subgroups to focus on covering evaluation methodologies, interventions/exceptions, and initial operating capabilities for airspace integration; with the premise that the outcomes from these subgroups will be white papers. Additionally, these white papers can inform one another to ultimately become a master whitepaper.