National Aeronautics and Space Administration

www.nasa.gov

AOSP Newsletter

Airspace Operations and Safety Program (AOSP)

JAN-MAR 2019 | Quarter 2

UTM Team Visits TCL4 Nevada 

Test Site

4

Safe2Ditch Steer-to-Clear 6
2 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JAN-MAR 2019

AOSP IN THE NEWS

Proposed FAA Rules 

Loosen Restrictions On 

Drone Flights At Night

Engadget (1/14, Dellinger) “Right 

on the heels of Canada introducing 

new, stricter regulations for drone 

operations, the US Department of 

Transportation proposed a new set of 

rules for drones that would allow the 

unmanned vehicles to fly over populated areas and operate at night. The 

proposal also includes a pilot program for drone traffic management 

that would help to integrate the 

aircrafts into the nation’s airspace. 

...The program, first developed as a 

research project by NASA and operated as a joint effort between that 

agency and the FAA, will be used 

primarily to gather information that 

will help set future rules.” 

DOT UAS Initiatives

Federal Aviation Administration 

(1/14) “On January 14, 2019, U.S. 

Department of Transportation 

Secretary Elaine L. Chao announced 

proposed new rules and a pilot 

project to allow unmanned aircraft 

systems (UAS), or more commonly 

called drones, to fly overnight and 

over people without waivers under 

certain conditions and to further 

integrate drones safely into the 

national airspace system....Developing drone traffic management was 

initiated as a research project by 

NASA and subsequently became a 

major joint effort between the FAA 

and NASA. In April 2017, through 

Congressional direction, the agencies 

combined their respective technology research and began defining the 

scope of the pilot project.”

Feds Make Major Moves 

to Relax Restrictions 

on Use of Drones

Forbes (1/15, Rupprecht) “The 

Department of Transportation made 

three major announcements: (1) 

proposed regulations to allow drone 

operators to fly over people as well as 

at night WITHOUT a waiver or an 

exemption, (2) an advanced notice 

of proposed rulemaking asking for 

recommendations on countering 

problematic drones affecting safety 

and security, and (3) the awarding of 

three contracts to commercial service entities to develop technology 

to provide flight planning, communications, separation, and weather 

services for drones under 400 feet. 

...The UPP, which was originally 

initiated by NASA but subsequently 

became a major joint effort between 

the FAA and NASA, ‘is intended to 

develop and demonstrate a traffic 

management system to safely integrate drone flights within the nation’s 

airspace system.’”

 ‘Get Ready For Flying Cars,’ 

Says Morgan Stanley’s Widely 

Followed Auto Analyst

Business Insider (2/5) “A widely 

followed auto analyst at Morgan 

Stanley told clients that ‘electrified, 

autonomous vertical takeoff and 

landing vehicles,’ or flying cars, are 

gaining traction. Adam Jonas wrote 

that investors ought to consider 

the future of flying cars—without 

naming individual companies’ 

stocks that could benefit from such 

a development. ...Jonas pointed to 

a few factors to bolster his view: 

drone package delivery is already in 

active testing, and NASA launched 

an initiative to encourage urban air 

mobility’s development late last year.”

NASA Tests Urban Drone 

Traffic Management 

In Nevada, Texas

Business Insider (2/19) “NASA has 

selected two organizations to host 

the final phase of its four-year series 

of increasingly complicated technical demonstrations involving small 

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), 

commonly known as drones. The 

Nevada Institute for Autonomous 

Systems in Las Vegas and the Lone 

Star UAS Center for Excellence & 

Innovation in Corpus Christi, Texas, 

will host demonstrations to confirm 

NASA’s UAS Traffic Management 

(UTM) system can safely and effectively manage drone traffic in an 

urban area.”
AOSP NEWSLETTER // JAN-MAR 2019 3

AOSP IN THE NEWS

NASA Teaming Up 

With TAMUCC To Study 

Drone Traffic Safety

MSN (2/19) “Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi was awarded 

a partnership with NASA to test 

drones and make them safer. With 

more companies and people utilizing drones, the partnership will 

help make sure the skies are safe for 

unmanned aircraft systems. At the 

Lone Star UAS Center at TAMUCC, 

research is already underway into the 

future of drone technology.”

NASA’s Drone Traffic Control 

System Moves Into The 

Final Phase Of Testing

New Atlas (2/20) “Here, NASA 

expects to carry out trials that show 

how the UTM can safely coordinate 

drone traffic in urban areas. This will 

involve drone flights over downtown 

Reno, Nevada, and over the campus 

at Texas A&M University, where 

technologies like obstacle avoidance, 

drone-to-drone communication 

and automated landing will be put 

through their paces. The results of 

the trials will then be used to develop 

rules and procedures for drone traffic 

in busy areas.”

Homeland Security, NASA 

Team Up To Tackle Evergrowing Airspace Drone Traffic

Oregonian (2/20) “The U.S. government estimates there will be more 

than 7 million drones in its national 

airspace within a couple of years, and 

that there are ‘serious safety, efficiency 

and security’ problems on the horizon 

if further regulatory measures are not 

taken. The Department of Homeland 

Security reports in a news release that 

it has partnered with NASA and the 

Federal Aviation Administration to 

tackle these concerns.”
4 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JAN-MAR 2019

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

UTM Team Visits TCL4 

Nevada Test Site

POC: RON JOHNSON

The Unmanned Aircraft System 

Traffic Management (UTM) 

project held a kickoff meeting with 

the Nevada UAS test site and the 

Nevada Institute of Autonomous 

Systems (NAIS) in Reno, Nevada, 

on February 4. The purpose of the 

visit was to review NAIS’ progress on 

UTM’s Technical Capability Level 

4 (TCL4) test preparation since 

being awarded the test site contract 

on December 21, 2018. Eight 

UTM team members participated 

in this face-to-face meeting held 

in Reno City Hall to discuss the 

details and test plans of the flights, 

in and around the city of Reno, 

that are planned for May. Mayor 

Hillary Schieve paid a visit and 

underscored the city’s commitment 

to successful testing. The team also 

visited sites in Reno to be used 

for takeoffs and landings, flight 

paths, and contingency areas.

UTM Part of Advanced 

Proposed Rule Making by FAA

POC: JOEY RIOS AND PARIMAL KOPARDEKAR

On February 13, the FAA 

incorporated Unmanned Aircraft 

System (UAS) Traffic Management 

(UTM) as part of an Advance Notice 

of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM). 

The FAA issues an ANPRM 

for public commentary prior to 

implementing proposed rules related 

to air transportation operations. 

Specifically, through this ANPRM, 

the FAA sought to reduce risks to 

public safety and national security, 

as the public commentary process 

may have significant impact to the 

eventual FAA rules that govern 

UTM operations. NASA’s UTM 

concept was referenced in ANPRM 

Section IV.C. and reflects the 

increasingly central role that UTM 

will play in the nation’s small UAS 

operations. The ANPRM referenced 

the UTM implementation plan, 

and the FAA requested public 

input about how UTM should be 

utilized. The public commentary 

period ended on April 15, 2019. 

Typically, NASA aeronautical 

research products do not have this 

much direct airspace impact in this 

short amount of time. Five years 

ago, there were no UTM companies, 

and now they are sprouting up all 

over the world. In fact, other nations 

(Japan, Australia, Singapore, most 

of Europe, Colombia, and more) 

have latched on to the concept and 

are accelerating their own efforts. 

UTM is a potential model for 

other emerging entrants into the 

national airspace, such as urban air 

mobility, high-altitude operations, 

and space traffic management 

by allowing operators to perhaps 

collaboratively manage the National 

Airspace System through data 

exchange, protocols, and rules. 

https://www.federalregister.gov/

d/2019-00758 (overall APRM doc)

https://www.federalregister.gov/

d/2019-00758/p-68 (UTM stuff)

Reno City Hall and adjacent parking garage with 

roof top takeoff and landing areas.

UTM team surveying takeoff, landing, and staging 

areas for TCL4 (left to right: Frank Aguilera, Jaewoo Jung, Jeff Homola, Joey Rios, Marcus Johnson, 

Chris Walach, Juan Ramirez of NAIS, Arwa 

Aweiss, and Joey Mercer).
AOSP NEWSLETTER // JAN-MAR 2019 

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

5

ATD-2 Demo at Future 

Flight Central for NASA 

Deputy Administrator

POC: LINDSAY STEVENS

On February 25, James Morhard, 

NASA Deputy Administrator, 

visited Ames Research Center in 

California. The visit included a 

demonstration of the Airspace 

Technology Demonstration–2 

(ATD-2) Ramp Traffic Console 

(RTC) and a traffic scenario at 

Charlotte Douglas International 

Airport (CLT) from the Assessment 

of Ramp Times 2 human-in-theloop simulation. The demonstration 

included an overview of the ATD-2 

project, discussion of current 

benefits from ATD-2 technology, 

future directions for the technology, 

and the benefits of testing the 

technologies in facilities such as 

NASA’s Future Flight Central 

(FFC). Additional NASA attendees 

included Ames Director Eugene Tu, 

the Aviation Systems Division, 

and Aeronautics Research Mission 

Directorate management teams. 

ATD-2 Training at Atlanta 

and Washington Center

POC: BOB STAUDENMEIER

For three weeks, from mid-February 

through early March, the Airspace 

Technology Demonstration–2 

(ATD-2) team trained the new 

Traffic Management Coordinators 

(TMCs) at both Washington 

Center (ZDC) and Atlanta Center 

(ZTL) that had not been in the 

unit during the previous refresher 

training sessions. This included 

nine TMCs from ZDC and three 

TMCs from ZTL. They were 

briefed on the capabilities of ATD2’s Ramp Traffic Console (RTC) and 

Surface Trajectory Based Operations 

(STBO) Client. During each 

session, TMCs were guided through 

interactions with the RTC and 

STBO Client interfaces and engaged 

with features and data exchange 

between the two tools. There was 

further discussion on how ATD-2 

is integrated into their Time-Based 

Flow Management (TBFM) system 

through the Integrated Departure/

Arrival/Surface capability and 

the non-verbal interaction that 

is available through electronic 

negotiations. TMCs had the 

opportunity to provide feedback 

and discussed how these tools could 

be used in the center environment. 

Outcomes of the center training, 

beyond proficiency on the ATD-2 

systems, included increased 

excitement about the potential use 

of the tool during severe weather 

conditions. The use of electronic 

negotiations has been in place at 

ZDC since November 2017 and 

at ZTL since October 2018.

Lindsay Stevens (right) provided an overview of the ATD-2 subproject to NASA Deputy Administrator 

James Morhard (left) at FutureFlight Central.
6 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JAN-MAR 2019

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

NATCA ATD-2 Lead 

Transition and Visit

POC: ISAAC ROBESON AND BOB STAUDENMEIER

From March 11–12, NASA Airspace 

Technology Demonstration–2 

(ATD-2) team members provided 

a demonstration of the ATD-2 

system in use at Charlotte Douglas 

International Airport (CLT), 

to the new National Air Traffic 

Controller Association (NATCA) 

ATD-2 lead, John Short. Short, a 

traffic management coordinator 

(TMC) from the Dallas/Fort Worth 

facility, observed surface metering 

and overhead stream insertion 

facilitated with the ATD-2 system 

from the CLT Tower/Terminal 

Radar Approach Control Center 

and American Airlines (AAL) Hub 

Control Center (ramp tower). NASA 

briefed Short on the latest ATD-2 

status and addressed questions 

about the project. Pete Slattery, the 

former NATCA lead, also served 

as the CLT local representative 

for ATD-2. The CLT role is now 

assumed by Mike Hoprich, CLT 

TMC. NASA looks forward to 

working with the new NATCA 

ATD-2 leads and is ever grateful for 

the many significant contributions 

of Pete Slattery as ATD-2 NATCA 

lead prior to this transition.

Safe2Ditch Steer-to-Clear 

POC: LOU GLAAB

Flight testing of the Safe2Ditch 

(S2D) Steer-to-Clear mode was 

completed on March 13. Testing was 

performed at the City Environment 

for Range Testing of Autonomous 

Integrated Navigation (CERTAIN) 

range at Langley Research Center 

in Virginia. S2D is an autonomous 

crash management system for small 

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). 

Its function is to enable small UAS 

to execute emergency landings 

to avoid injuring people on the 

ground and damaging property 

while preserving the vehicle and 

payload, if possible. S2D includes 

an internal database of predefined 

ditch sites that the system can 

select when needed. This database 

provides location information for 

sites that have a high probability 

of being unoccupied and suitable 

for emergency use. The system 

triages these sites based on distance, 

size, and terrain characteristics. To 

ensure a ditch site is clear at the 

time of use, a camera-vision system 

developed for S2D by Brigham 

Young University scans the selected 

ditch site for unexpected occupants 

John Short, NATCA (left), visits the AAL Hub 

Control Center with Mike Smith, AAL (right).

Pete Slattery (left) is transitioning his role as the 

NATCA ATD-2 lead to John Short (right).

Test of Safe2Ditch ability to find a safe landing spot and effectively land the small UAS.
AOSP NEWSLETTER // JAN-MAR 2019 

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

7

during the vehicle’s approach and 

descent. This allows S2D to either 

select a different site, if possible, 

or to steer to avoid the occupants 

using the S2D Steer-to-Clear mode.

Once the camera’s field of view can 

no longer scan the entire ditch site, 

a touchdown spot is selected that is 

away from the detected motion and 

the vehicle transitions to autoland 

mode. A second objective of the 

flight tests was to verify the new 

C++ software version of S2D. Prior 

flight testing in 2018 verified the 

S2D ability to trigger a reroute due 

to occupancy when an alternate site 

is in range. The recent round of 

flight testing forced the vehicle to 

engage Steer-to-Clear by restricting 

S2D to a single ditch site option. 

With no reroute available, Steerto-Clear was in operation for the 

entire descent of the vehicle.

UTM Team Visits TCL4 

Texas Test Site following 

Award in February 

POC: RON JOHNSON

On February 13, the Unmanned 

Aircraft System (UAS) Traffic 

Management (UTM) project 

awarded a contract task to the Lone 

Star UAS Center of Excellence 

(LSUASC) test site in Corpus 

Christi, Texas, for conducting a 

demonstration of the UTM system 

with live and simulated UAS flights. 

This demonstration will be part 

of Technical Capability Level 4 

(TCL4) and is the final field test 

of the UTM system which will be 

the most extensive and complicated 

testing to date by the project. 

Flights will take place in and around 

the urban areas of Corpus Christi 

and will investigate the challenges 

of communication, navigation, 

obstacle avoidance, safe landing, 

and beyond visual line of sight UAS 

operations. LSUASC is responsible 

for outfitting several vehicles with 

advanced technologies, leading 

UAS service supplier partners 

in performing UTM, installing 

ground tracking and weather 

instrumentation, and coordinating 

with the FAA for flight approvals 

and the city and public safety 

organizations for range safety. Flight 

tests planned for the July–August 

timeframe will complement the May 

tests being performed in Reno. 

On March 18, the project held its 

kickoff meeting with LSUASC in 

Corpus Christi, Texas. The purpose 

of the visit was to review LSUASC 

progress on UTM’s TCL4 test 

preparation since being awarded the 

test site contract in February. Nine 

UTM team members participated 

in this face-to-face meeting held at 

the LSUASC facilities to discuss the 

details and test plans of the flights, 

in and around the Corpus Christi 

area, that are planned for this 

August. The team also visited the 

Mission Command Center and sites 

in Corpus Christi to be used for 

takeoffs and landings, flight paths, 

and contingency landing locations. 

Particular areas of interest were the 

“urban canyons” in the downtown 

area near the Corpus Christi airport 

where UAS will be flying in and 

out, avoiding manned aircraft. 

Views of urban canyon used for test flights (left) and map view of downtown Corpus Christi with flightpaths 

highlighted in yellow (right).
8 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JAN-MAR 2019

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

IDM Team Conducts 

Demonstration and 

Discussion with FAA 

National TBFM Ops Leads

POC: NANCY SMITH AND PAUL LEE

On March 21, the Integrated 

Demand Management (IDM) 

team held discussions and a 

demonstration session with the 

FAA management and National 

Air Traffic Controller Association 

(NATCA) leads for national TimeBased Flow Management (TBFM) 

operations at Ames Research Center 

in California. The purpose of the 

meeting was to demonstrate the 

IDM concept and get feedback on 

its feasibility, benefits and potential 

barriers for implementation. The 

visit was arranged by Perry Casselle 

and Matt Gammon, management 

and NATCA co-leads for the 

national TBFM operations team, 

respectively. Other FAA visitors 

included Wendy O’Connor, Phil 

Hargarten, and Warren Byrd. 

They were briefed on the potential 

benefits of coordinating strategic 

TBFM systems to precondition the 

traffic into TBFM arrival streams. 

Live demonstrations followed by 

a 4-hour end-to-end simulation 

run allowed the visitors to ask lots 

of questions, interact directly with 

the tools, and see the outcome 

results of the concept. The meeting 

was quite successful. There was 

discussion on how the IDM concept 

could be used complementarily 

with their new TBFM adaptations. 

Overall, they were very positive 

about the work and the quality 

of the research and encouraged 

the IDM team to expand and 

explore the IDM concept further, 

especially in dealing with the 

convective weather problem.

Dallas Love Field Business 

Aviation Pilots Briefed 

on ATD-2 Mobile App

POC: ERIC CHEVALLEY

On March 25, NASA supported 

a kickoff meeting organized by 

the National Business Aviation 

Association (NBAA), FAA NextGen 

and the MITRE Corporation in 

Corpus Christi, Texas. NBAA and 

MITRE described opportunities to 

general and business aviation pilots 

to participate in the research and 

evaluation of the mobile application 

during the Airspace Technology 

Demonstration–2 (ATD-2) field 

evaluation in North Texas. The 

mobile application allows pilots to 

provide their Ready-to-Taxi times 

on to the airport movement area 

and for pilots to receive information 

back from the ATD-2 system about 

their estimated taxi time on the 

surface. The NASA team introduced 

the ATD-2 system use and benefits 

Pilots are briefed on ATD-2 and the ATD-2 mobile app.
AOSP NEWSLETTER // JAN-MAR 2019 9

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

of Earliest Off Block Times as key 

input from flight operators into 

the future surface system. Flight 

operators invited the group to brief 

a local pilot association. The team 

plans to collect data from summer 

2019 until the end of summer 2020. 

NASA/FAA Coordination 

Kickoff for FAA Phase 3 

Field Demo Partners

POC: ERIC CHEVALLEY

On March 26, the NASA ATD-2 

team and its FAA NextGen 

representatives briefed FAA 

field demo partners about the 

engagement plans of the ATD-2 

Phase 3 effort at the NASA/FAA 

North Texas Research Station 

(NTX). The team provided 

a programmatic and concept 

overview, development milestones, 

and a status update to local National 

Air Traffic Controller Association 

(NATCA) representatives, traffic 

managers of Fort Worth Air Traffic 

Control Center, Dallas Terminal 

Approach Control, Dallas/Fort 

Worth Air Traffic Control Tower 

and Dallas Love Field Air Traffic 

Control Tower. The NASA team 

showed the Phase 3 system running 

with live data and opportunities 

for rerouting traffic leveraging 

Trajectory Options Sets (TOSs). 

MITRE briefed the group about 

opportunities for the General 

Aviation pilots from Dallas Love 

Field to participate in the field 

demonstration using mobile 

application technology. Field 

demo partners expressed strong 

interests and confirmed their 

commitment to the NASA Phase 

3 field demonstration. Regular 

follow-up shadow sessions will take 

place at the NTX facility to further 

mature the Phase 3 capability and 

procedures and obtain feedback.

ATD-2 Assessment of Ramp 

Times 3 Human-in-the-Loop 

Simulation Shakedown

POC: LINDSAY STEVENS AND YOON JUNG

The Airspace Technology 

Demonstration–2 (ATD-2) 

experiment team completed the 

Assessment of Ramp Times (ART) 

3 human-in-the-loop simulation 

shakedown testing at NASA’s 

Future Flight Central (FFC) air 

traffic control tower simulator 

facility, from March 26–28. The 

ART studies focus on testing 

various research questions for ramp 

controllers during surface metering 

events and results are used to 

collect user feedback and refine the 

ATD-2 tools for field operations. 

Eight retired Dallas/Fort Worth 

International Airport (DFW) FAA 

Air Traffic Control Tower (ATCT) 

Field demo partners kickoff at NTX. and American Airlines ramp 
10 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JAN-MAR 2019

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

controllers, as well as 12 pseudopilots participated in the ART 3 

shakedown. Participants managed 

traffic per normal DFW operations 

while the ramp control participants 

worked to meet surface metering 

advisories for pushing aircraft off 

of the gate and/or for delivering 

aircraft to the spot between the 

ramp and the airport movement 

area. The simulation environment 

at FFC includes a 360-degree 

tower cab to simulate airline ramp 

operations, and a 270-degree outthe-window view to simulate the 

ATCT). Traffic scenarios were built 

based on live DFW operations 

during the summer of 2018. 

Additional flights were also added 

to the simulation’s traffic scenarios 

in order to reflect planned increases 

in DFW traffic demand beginning 

the summer of 2019. The ramp and 

ATCT controllers managed surface 

traffic in the shakedown using 

the Ramp Traffic Console, Ramp 

Manager Tower Console, and the 

Surface Trajectory Based Operations 

Client ATD-2 user interfaces. 

ART 3 is a precursor to the ART 4 

human-in-the-loop scheduled for 

two weeks beginning April 22.

ATD-2 Presents Phase 3 

Concept of Use to the CDM–

Flow Evaluation Team

POC: ERIC CHEVALLEY

On March 27, NASA briefed 

technical details of the ATD-2 

Phase 3 concept of use, to the 

Collaborative Decision Making 

(CDM) Flow Evaluation Team 

(FET), in Dallas, Texas. Attendees 

at this meeting included FAA 

leads, National Business Aviation 

Association (NBAA), National 

Air Traffic Controller Association 

(NATCA), JetBlue, Southwest, and 

American Airlines representatives. 

The NASA team described the key 

technology supporting the Phase 3 

concept and discussed development 

needs to leverage System Wide 

Information Management (SWIM). 

The NASA ATD-2 system will 

use trajectory options sets (TOSs) 

to help to offload demand/

capacity imbalances at the terminal 

boundary. The system includes a 

user interface to coordinate TOS 

usage that is shared among field 

demo partners. The group identified 

potential development to support 

exchange of TOS information in 

Human-in-the-loop simulation shakedown testing assessed ramp times.

Representatives from FAA, NBAA, NATCA, JetBlue, Southwest, and American Airlines review Phase 3 

concept of use.
AOSP NEWSLETTER // JAN-MAR 2019 11

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

SWIM. In May, NASA will meet 

in Washington, DC, with both the 

FET and the Surface CDM team 

groups who have a CDM task to 

support ATD-2 Phase 3 activities.

Technical Interchange 

Meeting with FAA Systems 

Analysis and Modeling 

Division Manager

POC: YOON JUNG

The Airspace Technology 

Demonstration–2 (ATD-2) team 

hosted a technical interchange 

meeting with David Knorr, Manager 

of the FAA Systems Analysis and 

Modeling Division, on March 

29 at Ames Research Center in 

California. The FAA Systems 

Analysis and Modeling Division 

is responsible for developing a 

post-operational assessment of 

key NextGen capabilities. Knorr 

also serves as co-chair of the Joint 

Analysis Team to conduct analysis 

regarding performance impacts 

and benefits that can be attributed 

to implementation of NextGen 

capabilities. The ATD-2 team 

provided status updates of the 

project, including current benefits 

results of ATD-2 capabilities using 

surface metering and electronic 

negotiation of release times for 

approval request flights. A high-level 

overview of the Phase 3 metroplex 

planner capability that allows 

weather impacted flights to reroute 

utilizing airlines’ trajectory options 

sets during the stormy season was 

also presented. Alternative benefit 

mechanisms for delay reduction and 

throughput increase of both airport 

and terminal airspace traffic were 

also discussed. Knorr showed great 

interest in the results of the ATD-2 

analysis, and is looking forward 

to future technology transfers. 
12 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JAN-MAR 2019

RECOGNITION

Deseret UAS Webinar: 

Commercial UAS/UAM Flight 

Testing hosted by AUVSI

POC: PARIMAL KOPARDEKAR

On February 20, the Deseret 

Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) 

moderated a webinar discussion 

on the current state of commercial 

Urban Air Mobility (UAM) testing. 

Panelists discussed the overall flighttesting environment, current test site 

activities, and opportunities for new 

UAM flight test programs. Panelists 

included Parimal Kopardekar, NASA; 

Jay Merkle, FAA; Adam Robertson, 

Fortem Technologies; Rafal Kicinger, 

Metron Aviation; Chris Walach, 

Nevada Institute of Autonomous 

Systems; John Manning, Electrafly; 

Robert Labelle, XTI Aircraft; and 

Tulinda Larsen, Deseret UAS. 

All About Autonomy 2019

POC: PARIMAL KOPARDEKAR

On March 1, the Silicon Valley 

Chapter of AUVSI (Association 

for Unmanned Vehicle Systems 

International) gathered experts 

from industry and government to 

discuss issues related to autonomy, 

including drones for public good 

and remote identification. A 

NASA panel, featuring William 

Van Dalsem, Starr Gin, Mark 

Ballin, Christopher Teubert, Joseph 

Rios, and moderated by Parimal 

Kopardekar, presented on the 

Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic 

Management Technical Capability 

Level updates and an overview of 

autonomy projects at NASA. The 

event was held at the Hiller Aviation 

Museum, in San Carlos, California. 

Supreet “Sue” Kaur selected 

for Brooke Owens Fellowship 

POC: ANDREW GING

Congratulations go out to Supreet 

“Sue” Kaur, who was selected as one 

of the 2019 Brooke Owens Fellows 

in early March. Kaur has been an 

intern on the Airspace Technology Demonstration–2 (ATD-2) 

Systems Engineering team since 

June 2018, and will be graduating 

with a Bachelor of Science degree in 

Industrial and Systems Engineering, 

and a minor in Green Engineering, 

from San Jose State University in the 

spring of 2019. Kaur’s responsibilities 

on the ATD-2 team have included 

software release testing, participating 

in human-in-the-loop simulations at 

NASA’s Future Flight Central, and 

documentation. Her senior project 

is focused on conducting workflow 

assessments on the ATD-2 systems 

engineering processes and implementing efficiency improvements. As 

one of 38 honorees (or “Brookies”) 

of the Brooke Owens Fellowship, 

Kaur was selected for accomplishments related to her professional 

aptitude, creativity, leadership ability, 

and commitment to serving her 

community. Kaur demonstrated not 

only her dedication to her professional discipline, but her passion for 

mentoring and fostering diversity 

in science, technology, engineering, 

and math (STEM). Kaur was born 

in India and is the first woman in 

her family to obtain a college education. She has been an active mentor 

through the NASA Community 

College Aerospace Scholars program 

(of which she is an alumna) and 

participates in multiple external 

organizations serving diversity and 

STEM interests. Under the fellowship, Brooke will work at the Center 

for Strategic & International Studies with the International Security 

Program. The award was named for 

space industry pioneer and accomplished pilot D. Brooke Owens. 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

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Washington, DC 20024

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