National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA

UTM Convention 2015

Moffett Field, CA 

Parimal.H.Kopardekar@nasa.gov
Near-term Goal: Safely enable initial low-altitude UAS as early as possible 

Long-term Goal: Accommodate increased demand with highest safety, efficiency, and capacity 

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NATIONAL AND REGIONAL SECURITY

Protecting key assets

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• Safe low-altitude UAS operations with

– Airspace management and 

geofencing

– Weather and severe wind 

integration

– Predict and manage congestion 

– Terrain and man-made objects: 

database and avoidance

– Maintain safe separation (Airspace 

reservation, V2V, & V2UTM)

– Allow only authenticated operations

Self-driving car does not eliminate lanes and rules for efficient and safe operations 

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DIGITAL, VIRTUAL, & FLEXIBLE RISK-BASED APPROACH AND SERVICE INFRASTRUCTURE 
AIRSPACE OPERATIONS & MANAGEMENT

• ~500 ft. and below

• Geographical needs and applications

• Rules of the airspace: performance-based

• Geofences: dynamic and static

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WIND & WEATHER INTEGRATION

• Actual and predicted winds/weather

CONGESTION MANAGEMENT

• Demand/capacity imbalance

• Only if needed – corridors, altitude for 

direction, etc.
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SEPARATION MANAGEMENT

• Airspace reservation

• V2V and V2UTM 

• Tracking: ADS-B, cellphone, & satellite based 

CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT

• Large-scale GPS or cell outage

• 9-11 like situations
BUILD 1 (AUGUST 2015)

• Reservation of airspace volume

• Over unpopulated land or water

• Minimal general aviation traffic in area

• Contingencies handled by UAS pilot

• Enable agriculture, firefighting, 

infrastructure monitoring

BUILD 3 (JANUARY 2018)

• Beyond visual line-of-sight

• Over moderately populated land

• Some interaction with manned aircraft

• Tracking, V2V, V2UTM and internet 

connected

• Public safety, limited package delivery

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BUILD 2 (OCTOBER 2016)

• Beyond visual line-of-sight

• Tracking and low density operations

• Sparsely populated areas

• Procedures and “rules-of-the road”

• Longer range applications

BUILD 4 (MARCH 2019)

• Beyond visual line-of-sight

• Urban environments, higher density

• Autonomous V2V, internet connected

• Large-scale contingencies mitigation

• News gathering, deliveries, personal use

Each build is independent and deployable
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Multiple providers 

could offer some 

UTM services

Tailoring operational 

services based on 

geographical area 

needs

Vehicle performance 

could be different 
Regulator has a key role in certifying UTM system and operations. 

All UTM systems must interoperate.

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Single service provider: 

government entity Single service provider: a 

non-government entity

Multiple service providers: 

state/local government entities 

Multiple service 

providers: nongovernment entities 

UTM POTENTIAL 

BUSINESS MODELS

Web services - General Aviation 

Traditional ANSP, like the FAA flight service station model

Each state may implement or 

delegate to counties/cities Regional implementations by 

various companies - customized
• Research Transition Team with FAA, DHS, and DoD

• 125+ industry and academia collaborators and increasing

• Initial UTM Concept of Operations: Industry, academia, and government

• Client interface is ready – You can connect with UTM

• Build 1 tests with 12 partners begin at the end of August

• UTM Demonstration - Thursday morning 8:30 am 

• Initial UTM system and simulation platform in action – Exhibit Hall

• International interest

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• National initial safe UAS integration campaign: coordinated effort for 

data collection and demonstrations

– Through FAA test sites and other approved locations 

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• NASA will continue to work with industry, academia, and government groups

– Refine operational requirements, system architecture(s), prototype, and 

conduct tests – Continue until safe airspace integration is proven! 

• UTM Build 1 testing in August 

• Development, simulations, and testing of UTM Builds 2-4

• Safety analysis

Parimal.H.Kopardekar@nasa.gov
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Parimal Kopardekar, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator, UAS Traffic Management, and 

Manager, Safe Autonomous System Operations Project

NASA Team: Dr. Joey Rios, John Robinson, Dr. Marcus Johnson, Dr. Thomas Prevot, Dr. Jaewoo Jung, Corey 

Ippolito, Dr. Chris Belcastro, Louis Glaab, Davis Hackenberg, Mark Skoog, Robert Kerczewski, and Denise Ponchak

Collaborators: 125+ industry and academia members, FAA, DHS, DoD, DOI, and NOAA 

UTM Convention 2015

NASA, Moffett Field, CA 

Parimal.H.Kopardekar@nasa.gov