Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration

 in the National Airspace System

The TigerShark flew over Edwards Air Force Base on July 9, 2019 for a systems checkout flight.

Credis: NASA /James Ross

NASA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration in the National Airspace System, or 

UAS-NAS project, works to identify, develop and test the technologies and procedures 

that will make it possible for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to have routine access to 

airspace occupied by human-piloted aircraft.

NASA researchers have worked with the UAS 

community since 2011 to address the technical barriers to routine UAS operations. Four 

NASA centers support the UAS-NAS project: 

NASA’s Ames Research Center and Armstrong Flight Research Center both in California, Langley Research Center in Virginia and 

Glenn Research Center in Ohio. The UASNAS project is within the Integrated Aviation Systems Program, managed by NASA’s 

Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate at 

NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

UAS-NAS is a vital mission that provides 

research findings through simulations and 

flight tests to support the development and 

validation of Detect and Avoid (DAA) and 

Command and Control (C2) technologies 

necessary for integrating UAS into the NAS. 

UAS Detect and Avoid Operational 

Concepts and Technologies

NASA works with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and industry to develop 

DAA operational concepts and technologies 

in support of standards to enable a broad 

range of UAS to have Communication, Navigation, and Surveillance (CNS) capabilities. 

The effort is aimed at making UAS operations consistent with FAA’s Instrument Flight 

Rules (IFR) that are required to detect and 

avoid manned and unmanned air traffic. 

Ames, Armstrong, and Langley are developing NASA capabilities in: Modeling and 

Simulation; Guidance and Control, Human 

Systems Integration; and Integrated Test and 

Evaluation, which uses simulations and flight 

test.
FS-2019-07-075 AFRC

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Armstrong Flight Research Center

P.O. Box 273

Edwards, California 93523

NASA Facts

power radar. FT6 will use the Tiger Shark, a Navmar 

Applied Sciences Corporation (NASC) aircraft. FT6 will 

require the TigerShark UAS to perform unmitigated and 

mitigated scripted DAA encounters with manned intruders, and with simulated traffic via the Live Virtual Constructive (LVC) environment.

The TigerShark, a Class 3 UAS, has a 22-foot wingspan 

and weighs about 500 pounds compared to the approximately 8,000-pound and 66-foot wingspan of the Class 

5 Ikhana UAS. These flight tests will evaluate how DAA 

standards developed for larger, faster UAS will need to 

be adapted for smaller and slower aircraft and thus expand NAS access to a larger group of UAS.

Systems Integration and Operationalization (SIO) 

Demonstration Activities

NASA initiated the SIO Demonstration Activity as a 

partnership between NASA and industry partners with 

the goal of accelerating routine UAS operations into the 

NAS. SIO will show robust UAS operations into the 

NAS by leveraging integrated DAA, C2, and state–ofthe-art vehicle technologies with a pathway toward certification to inform FAA UAS integration policies and 

operational procedures. 

NASA is partnering with three companies, Bell in Texas, 

General Atomics-ASI, in California, and PAE ISR LLC 

in Virginia to perform SIO demonstration activities in 

2020 occurring at altitudes greater than 500 feet above 

ground level. The industry partners will lead the development, integration, testing, and certification of their 

UAS. NASA will support by providing consultation.

General Atomics-ASI will use the MQ-9B SkyGuardian for its 

SIO Demonstration Activities. (General Atomics Aeronautical 

Systems, Inc.)

UAS Command and Control Operational Concepts 

and Technologies

The UAS-NAS team develops terrestrial-based C2 operational concepts and technologies in support of standards 

to enable the broad range of UAS that have CNS capabilities consistent with IFR operations and are required 

to leverage allocated protected spectrum. The C2 operational concepts and technologies are supported at Glenn 

and focused on NASA’s communications capabilities.

Data results from the project’s work also inform the 

minimum operational performance standards that the 

FAA is using for development of technical standards and 

operational approval guidance for UAS.

UAS-NAS Milestone

In June 2018, a collaboration among Armstrong, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), 

Honeywell and the FAA led to the first remotely-piloted 

aircraft, Ikhana, to fly in the national airspace without a 

safety chase plane. The Ikhana became the first aircraft 

to obtain a No Chase Certificate of Waiver Authorization 

(COA) from the FAA. The aircraft successfully flew a 

six-hour mission through multiple classes of civilian airspace. The Ikhana used its own DAA systems integrated 

onboard the aircraft and its ground control station to 

maintain safe separation from other aircraft. The teamwork among the various partner organizations made the 

demonstration a decisive success, and accomplished a 

major step toward the integration of UAS into the NAS.

Due to this historic achievement, Aviation Week & Space 

Technology selected Ikhana’s No Chase COA flight as a 

winner of its 62nd Annual Laureate Awards, in the category of Commercial Aviation, Unmanned Systems.

Current Research Activities

UAS-NAS Flight Test 6 Research

The next UAS-NAS project flight test series, Flight Test 

6 (FT6), starts in the summer of 2019 to support development of DAA standards for medium-sized UAS. The 

objectives of these flights from Armstrong will include 

data collection to inform the development of minimum 

operational performance standards (MOPS) for DAA 

alerting guidance, and for small, lightweight and low