National Aeronautics and Space Administration

www.nasa.gov

AOSP Newsletter

Airspace Operations and Safety Program (AOSP)

OCT-DEC 2023 | Quarter 1

ATM-X Completes NC Integration 

of IAS Team Spiral-2 Flight Testing 

3

SWS Demonstrates Novel Pilot 

Training Technology to AAL 

9
2 AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2023

AOSP IN THE NEWS

Human Pilots Are Helping 

NASA To Advance Autonomous 

Air Taxis—Here’s How

Tech Times (10/5) reports “NASA 

is actively engaged in research to 

ensure the safety of fully autonomous 

flight technology, a critical aspect in 

preparing for the potential future of 

air taxis. This endeavor involves a 

collaborative effort between NASA, 

DARPA, and aircraft manufacturer 

Sikorsky.”

One Headwind Facing Urban 

Air Taxis Is, Well, The Wind

Aerospace America (10/25) 

reports “If hundreds of air taxis are 

ever to ferry passengers or cargo 

around major cities, they will 

have to contend with urban wind 

environments — the most extreme 

being urban canyons between highrise buildings that can funnel and 

accelerate wind and cause turbulence 

on city rooftops. While helicopters 

have served as air taxis in some large 

cities, the anticipated proliferation 

of electric air taxi rotorcraft would 

represent a new scale of aviation in 

such environments. As far as NASA 

knows, no one can yet predict the 

impact of wind and turbulence on 

air taxi operations, or what kinds of 

cityscapes and locations drive the 

strongest winds.”

NASA Completes Key Step In 

Aviation Safety Research

Space Daily (11/2) reports 

“NASA’s aeronautical innovators 

have completed a significant step 

in their pursuit of safer, more 

efficient aviation technologies that 

spot hazards before they occur. 

Through its System-Wide Safety 

project, NASA and its partners in 

government, industry, and academia 

are exploring new technologies 

and techniques to improve current 

aviation safety and potentially 

enable widespread use of new types 

of aircraft such as drones or air taxis.”

FAA Establishes Committee 

to Examine Air Traffic 

Controller Fatigue

FlightGlobal (12/21) reports “the 

US Federal Aviation Administration 

has established a panel to examine 

air traffic controller fatigue. The 

three-person board, which the US 

regulator named on 20 December, 

will investigate ‘how the latest 

science on sleep needs and fatigue 

considerations could be applied to 

controller work requirements and 

scheduling.’ ... Charles Czeisler, 

chief and senior physician, at the 

division of sleep and circadian 

disorders at Brigham and Women’s 

Hospital and Erin Flynn-Evans, head 

of the NASA Ames Research Center 

Fatigue Countermeasures Laboratory 

will also be on the panel.”

Joby, NASA Simulation 

Demonstrates Up to 120 

Air Taxi Operations Per 

Hour In Busy Airspace

AP (12/20) reports “Joby Aviation, 

Inc. (NYSE: JOBY), a company 

developing electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft 

for commercial passenger service, 

today announced it has successfully 

completed a series of air traffic 

simulations with NASA’s Ames 

Research Center that evaluated how 

air taxi operations can be integrated 

into today’s airspace, including 

at busy airports, using existing 

air traffic control (ATC) tools 

and procedures. This press release 

features multimedia.”

Joby, NASA Simulate 

Weaving Air Taxis into 

Busy Airport Activity

Dayton (OH) Daily News (12/21) 

reports “JoeBen Bevirt, founder 

and chief executive of Joby, aims to 

have his company’s quiet, batterypowered flying vehicles entering 

commercial air taxi service by 2025. 

In the meantime, the market and 

an array of regulatory hurdles need 

to be better understood. NASA 

and Joby said they recently had 

representatives from the Federal 

Aviation Administration (FAA), 

the National Association of Air 

Traffic Controllers and others view 

a simulation at NASA’s Ames’ air 
AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2023 3

AOSP IN THE NEWS

traffic control simulation facility, 

called FutureFlight Central.”

NASA Is Conducting 

Research on Air Taxis by 

Autonomously Flying Drones

Mashable (12/25) reports 

“researchers at NASA’s Langley 

Research Center in Virginia have 

achieved a significant milestone 

by conducting successful flights 

of multiple drones to assess the 

autonomous flight capabilities of air 

taxis. These drones were able to fly 

without the need for a visual observer, 

surpassing the visual line of sight.”

To The Skies: 3 Flying 

Car Stocks to Buy for the 

Future of Transportation

Insider (12/28) reports “flying 

car stocks encompass the realm 

of electric vertical takeoff and 

landing (eVTOL) vehicles and have 

been soaring in popularity among 

investors recently. This sector is 

buzzing with activity, with forecasts 

indicating compound annual growth 

rates of 58% from 2022 to 2040. ... 

Further bolstering its position, Joby 

has completed air traffic simulations 

with NASA’s Ames Research Center, 

proving its willingness to effectively 

integrate air taxis into existing 

aerospace systems.”

NASA Drones Offer 

Glimpse of a Future with 

Self-Piloted “Air Taxis”

Washington Post (12/30, Blakemore) 

reports “self-piloted ‘air taxis’ moved 

a step closer to reality recently with 

a recent NASA experiment involving 

multiple autonomous drones. The 

drones flew beyond observers’ line 

of sight, dodged one another and 

successfully maneuvered around 

obstacles before safely landing, the 

agency announced Dec. 21.”
4 AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2023

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

ATM-X Completes NC 

Integration of IAS Team 

Spiral-2 Flight Testing 

POC: WANESSA PRIESMEYER AND ADAM YINGLING

On Oct. 26, the Air Traffic 

Management – eXploration (ATMX) project successfully completed 

the Integration of the Automated 

Systems (IAS) flight test. The 

former Advanced Air Mobility 

project’s National Campaign’s (NC’s) 

IAS team previously conducted 

this work. The test was the third 

and final test of the IAS Spiral-2 

flight test campaign and built on 

the success of the IAS Spiral-1 

tests from late last year and the 

IAS Spiral-2A and 2B tests from 

February and June 2023. The IAS 

team spent two consecutive weeks 

flight testing automation algorithms 

using the Sikorsky Autonomous 

Research Aircraft (SARA) and the 

Sikorsky Optionally Piloted Vehicle 

(OPV). This test used the IAS 

middleware, which commands both 

vehicles simultaneously, to set up 

intentional interactions in which to 

test the NASA-developed Aircraft 

Flight Contingency Management’s 

(AFCM’s) Flight Path Management 

(FPM) and Hazard Perception 

IAS middleware ground display.

SARA and OPV at take-off.
AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2023 5

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

and Avoidance (HPA). The test 

also included improved Ground 

Collision Avoidance System and 

autoland capabilities. Twelve 

successful sorties were accomplished, 

resulting in over 70 test points and 

roughly 30 cumulative flight hours 

for each aircraft. Representatives 

of each of the algorithms tested 

participated in the flight test and 

all parties agree the data collected 

from this experiment provides 

a wealth of knowledge that will 

be used for years to come in 

publications, recommendations for 

standards bodies, and researchers 

looking to further the advancements 

in autonomous aircraft. The 

Spiral-2C flight test incorporated 

NASA personnel from the NC’s 

IAS and AFCM’s FPM and 

HPA. Participation also included 

Sikorsky, the Defense Advanced 

Research Projects Agency and the 

Air Force’s Agility Prime program. 

Overall, the combined team 

included over 35 personnel. The 

IAS team will now transition into 

the Pathfinding for Airspace with 

Autonomous Vehicles subproject 

within the ATM-X project but 

will consolidate their findings into 

the IAS final report, scheduled for 

delivery late in calendar year 2023.

SWS Project Successfully 

Passes TC Tollgate for 

IASMS for Commercial 

Aviation Operations 

POC: KYLE ELLIS

On Oct. 3, the System-Wide Safety 

(SWS) project successfully presented 

its tollgate package for its newest 

technical challenge (TC) focused 

on an In-time Aviation Safety 

Management System (IASMS), 

TC-6: IASMS for Commercial 

Aviation Operations, to Aeronautics 

Research Mission Directorate 

(ARMD) leadership. The research 

specifically addresses the safety call 

to action former FAA administrator 

Billy Nolen put forth for the 

aviation industry to improve the 

Test team participants inside the control room.

Group photo of IAS Spiral-2 flight test team.
6 AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2023

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

way safety management systems 

function and assure safety as new 

entrants introduce new hazards to 

the airspace. The needs the FAA call 

to action and the industry at-large 

identified are directly addressed by 

NASA’s concept of the IASMS. The 

TC-6 focus on maturing current 

safety management systems’ best 

practices in data monitoring and 

analytics to be increasingly in-time 

paves the way to safely transform 

the aviation systems of today and 

tomorrow. This work directly 

supports NASA’s ARMD Strategic 

Thrust 5, In-Time System Wide 

Safety Assurance, and is part of 

the AOSP research portfolio. 

SWS Presents Use of 

Advanced Automation 

to Understand Aviation 

Data and Prediction 

POC: MISTY DAVIES

On Oct. 5, AOSP office safety liaison Misty Davies presented to the 

Commercial Aviation Safety Team 

(CAST) (https://www.cast-safety.

org/). The briefing provided an 

overview of NASA’s aeronautics research on artificial intelligence and 

machine learning, as those topics 

relate to safety. CAST is an organization of government, labor, and 

industry partners founded in 1997 

to share information that allows 

U.S. aviation to detect risks and address problems before accidents occur. CAST now oversees voluntarily 

provided safety data that represents 

99 percent of U.S. air carriers and 

provides insight into millions of 

aviation operations. Davies’ presentation gave CAST members further 

insight into how NASA is using 

advanced automation techniques 

to understand aviation data and 

predict future behaviors, and how 

these new techniques may be assured for safety. 

AOSP Presents to NITRD SPSQ 

on NASA’s Advancements 

Toward Assurance 

of Highly Automated 

Systems Containing 

Untrusted Components 

POC: MISTY DAVIES

On Oct. 5, AOSP office safety 

liaison Misty Davies gave a presentation to the Networking and 

Information Technology Research 

and Development (NITRD) program’s Software Productivity, Sustainability, and Quality (SPSQ) 

interagency working group. In her 

briefing, Davies updated the SPSQ 

members on NASA’s recent advancements toward the safety assurance of highly automated systems 

containing untrusted components. 

She also presented the recent results 

of the NASA Aeronautics Research 

Mission Directorate-funded, independently generated Autonomy 

Validation and Verification Roadmap 2045 (https://ntrs.nasa.gov/

citations/20230003734) and brainstormed approaches for a potential 

whole-of-government response. 

Collaboration and Technical 

Interchange Meeting Held with 

DLR on Aviation Safety Topics 

POC: STEVEN YOUNG AND EVAN DILL

On Oct. 9–10, System-Wide Safety 

(SWS) project researchers Evan 

Dill and Steven Young met with 

colleagues in the German Aerospace 

Agency’s (DLR’s) Institute of 

Flight Guidance in Braunschweig, 

Germany. Over the course of the 

two-day technical interchange, 

research topics being investigated by 

SWS and DLR were discussed with 

a primary focus on safety assurance 

for future aerospace operations such 

as Urban Air Mobility, Advanced 

Air Mobility, and Unmanned 

Aircraft Systems. Two specific areas 

of mutual interest were identified 

and discussed in detail: 1) safely 

enabling required navigation 

performance in challenging flight 

environments; and 2) designing and 

evaluating effective human-machine 

interfaces supportive of risk/

hazard assessment and mitigation. 

Potential collaboration between 

NASA and DLR on these two 

topics was planned in accordance 

with an umbrella interagency 

agreement enacted in 2020 via 

NASA’s Air Traffic Management 

6
AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2023 7

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

– eXploration project, which was 

created to collaborate on research 

that will improve international 

harmonization of airspace operations 

and supporting technologies. 

SWS Kicks-Off Cooperative 

Agreement with ERAU 

POC: NIKUNJ OZA

On Oct. 16, the System-Wide 

Safety (SWS) project hosted a team 

from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical 

University (ERAU). The purpose 

of ERAU’s visit was to present 

its planned work to NASA as 

part of a one-year cooperative 

agreement. The purpose of this 

work is to examine various data 

sources to find evidence of resilient 

performance and continuous 

learning opportunities within the 

National Airspace System. The 

SWS project is working to identify 

opportunities to learn from the 

much larger pool of data that does 

not contain incidents or accidents, 

but where there are examples 

of a system drifting away from 

nominal operation and then being 

corrected well before an incident 

could arise, which demonstrates 

system resilience. The data ERAU 

will examine includes existing 

mishap data, data already collected 

as part of the SWS project’s 

Human Contributions to Safety 

effort, National Transportation 

Safety Board accident dockets, and 

other relevant data ERAU has 

collected independently. The goal 

is to identify data streams that 

reveal strategies and practices that 

promote resilience. 

System-Wide Safety 

Participates in Fourth 

Annual Autonomy in 

Aviation Symposium 

POC: NATASHA NEOGI

On Oct. 18, System-Wide Safety 

project researcher Natasha Neogi 

attended the American Society 

for Testing and Materials’ Fourth 

Annual Autonomy in Aviation 

Symposium in New Orleans. The 

symposium’s theme was “Human 

Roles in Autonomous Aviation,” 

and it allowed for the exploration 

of human roles and responsibilities 

for autonomous flight operations. 

Additionally, the examination of 

various paradigms for human roles 

in urban and regional air mobility 

was considered, as were the types 

of standards needed to advance 

autonomy in aviation. Neogi 

moderated a panel titled “Enabling 

Human-Autonomy Teaming 

Through Run-Time Assurance.” 

The panel consisted of Wes Ryan 

(Northrop Grumman), Pranav 

Nagarajan (German Aerospace 

Center), Loyd Hook (University 

of Tulsa), and Lyle Chamberlain 

(Near Earth Autonomy). The panel 

addressed the safety implications 

of the shifting locus of control for 

safety critical decision making in 

novel, increasingly autonomous, 

human-machine teaming paradigms. 

Discussion time was also devoted 

to how consensus-based standards 

approaches may be used to capture 

patterns in run-time assurance 

architectures that may enable 

assurance of non-traditional roles 

and responsibilities allocations. 

System-Wide Safety 

Subproject Manager 

Participates in ALPA 

IAT Meeting 

POC: NIKUNJ OZA

On Oct. 18–19, the System-Wide 

Safety project’s subproject manager 

Nikunj Oza participated in the Issues 

Analysis Team (IAT) meeting at the 

Air Line Pilots Association’s (ALPA’s) 

United Master Executive Council 

in Chicago. This meeting continued 

discussions previously held at the 

September meeting on the Aviation 

Safety Information Analysis and 

Sharing (ASIAS) Systems Artificial 

Intelligence Strategy, moving ASIAS 

to the cloud, MITRE’s efforts on 

vulnerability discovery, as well as the 

usual discussions around requested 

uses of ASIAS data and getting 

approval from airlines to do so. Oza 

will follow up with United’s Natural 

Language Processing team and with 

MITRE’s Kunal Sarkhel, who leads 

their vulnerability discovery work. 
8 AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2023

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

AMP Project Meeting 

POC: KAREN CATE

On Oct. 23–26, the new Air 

Mobility Pathfinders (AMP) 

project held their first face-toface meeting at NASA’s Glenn 

Research Center in Cleveland. 

This was the first opportunity for 

the newly realigned team to meet 

in person and discuss project 

planning moving forward. The 

project also had the opportunity 

to meet with Chris Williams, the 

NASA Glenn deputy director of 

Aeronautics, and tour the new 

Aerospace Communications Facility 

(ACF). The ACF will house the 

laboratories that will support AMP 

Communications, Navigation, and 

Surveillance research. 

ATM-X DIP Team Conducts 

Virtual Meeting with PANYNJ 

POC: YOON JUNG

The Air Traffic Management – 

eXploration (ATM-X) project’s 

Digital Information Platform (DIP) 

subproject team engaged with the 

Port Authority of New York and 

New Jersey (PANYNJ) via a virtual 

meeting on Oct. 25. Their point of 

contact with PANYNJ was Ralph 

Tamburro. Both parties discussed 

the opportunity to collaborate on 

improving efficiency of operations 

in the New York airspace, using a 

machine learning-based predictive 

engine the DIP team developed. 

The DIP team invited Tamburro 

to NASA’s North Texas Research 

Station to see a live demonstration 

of the Collaborative Digital 

Departure Reroute tool, scheduled 

for January 2024. Tamburro 

also supported the DIP team’s 

engagement with the Northeast 

Corridor Next Generation 

Integration Working Group and 

agreed to share data, such as 

restrictions data in the New York 

Terminal Radar Approach Control 

airspace and surface metering data 

at John F. Kennedy International 

Airport, with the DIP team. 

SWS Demonstrates Novel Pilot 

Training Technology to AAL 

POC: JON HOLBROOK

On Oct. 25–26, System-Wide Safety 

(SWS) project aviation subject 

matter expert (SME) Daniel Kiggins 

and other SWS researchers met with 

American Airlines (AAL) personnel 

at the AAL Flight Training facility 

in Charlotte, North Carolina. The 

purpose of the meeting was to 

discuss applying NASA technology 

to their airline operations. AAL 

managers and instructors identified 

immediate impacts the technology 

can have to airline operations. Next 

steps are to continue discussions 

at the AAL headquarters to 

facilitate licensing and deploying 

8

AMP team at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.
AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2023 9

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

NASA technology at AAL. The 

instructors were enthusiastic 

about the evidence-based training 

and real-time aspects to support 

teaching moments, especially when 

the trainee is a new and proficient 

pilot or when an experienced pilot 

is transitioning between different 

types of aircraft. The instructors also 

noted the potential improvement in 

training and insights into flight crew 

behaviors that contribute to safety 

SWS team participating with AAL
10 AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2023

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

efficiency the NASA technology 

could enable. Comments from 

SMEs included how the NASA 

team’s work addresses future 

planning efforts undertaken by 

major airlines to manage pilot 

shortages and changes in pilot 

demographics or experience level. 

AAL managers and instructors 

recommended further discussion 

with AAL personnel at AAL 

headquarters in Dallas, to enable 

licensing and deploying NASA 

technology at AAL. Follow-on 

meetings are to be scheduled soon. 

ATM-X DIP Visits United 

Airlines’ Arlington Heights 

Network Operations Center

POC: YOON JUNG

On Oct. 26, the Air Traffic 

Management – eXploration 

(ATM-X) project’s Digital 

Information Platform (DIP) 

subproject team visited United 

Airlines’ Network Operations 

Center in Arlington Heights, 

Virginia. The purpose of the visit 

was to observe operations and 

learn about positions that may be 

engaged during the demonstration 

of the Collaborative Digital 

Departure Reroute (CDDR) tool 

in the Sustainable Flight National 

Partnership (SFNP)-Operations-1b 

demonstrations in Houston. The 

CDDR operational evaluation 

in Houston is the second in a 

series of pre-departure reroute 

demonstrations the DIP team is 

conducting in support of NASA’s 

SFNP mission. After a round of 

observations, United Airlines and 

NASA teams shared respective 

near-term plans and discussed how 

NASA’s CDDR capability could 

be integrated with United Airlines’ 

operations. Fruitful exchange helped 

to identify immediate needs. 

SWS Attends ASTM 

Committee Week for F44 

General Aviation Aircraft 

POC: NATASHA NEOGI

On behalf of the System-Wide 

Safety (SWS) project, several 

researchers attended the American 

Society for Testing and Materials 

(ASTM) International’s Committee 

Week in Washington, DC from 

Oct. 30 – Nov. 3. Representing the 

SWS project were Natasha Neogi, 

Nicholas Borer, and Vincent Shultz 

from NASA’s Langley Research 

Center in Virginia; Sean Clarke 

and Ethan Baumann from NASA’s 

Armstrong Flight Research Center 

in California; and David Avanesia 

from NASA’s Glenn Research Center 

in Cleveland. They participated in 

the F44 Main Committee and the 

F44.10 (General), F44.20 (Flight), 

F44.40 (Powerplant), F44.50 

(Systems and Equipment), and 

F44.90 (Executive) subcommittees. 

These standards committee meetings 

allowed for a robust discussion on 

the use of autonomy in aviation 

and how it will impact safety of 

aviation operations under a host 

of emerging market conditions, 

including the incorporation of 

regional air mobility, urban air 

mobility, unmanned aircraft systems, 

and other novel operations and 

technologies. Work relating to 

NASA’s X-57 Distributed Electric 

Propulsion Flight Demonstrator 

was presented throughout the F44 

general meeting as well as during the 

individual subcommittee meetings. 

Neogi helped arrange for a talk 

addressing the electronic subsystems 

of the X-57 to be given to the 

F44.50 subcommittee, which was 

enthusiastically received. 

ATM-X PAAV Team Attends 

2023 Regional Air Cargo 

Carriers Association Annual 

Meeting 

POC: MIWA HAYASHI AND ARWA AWEISS

Representatives from the Air 

Traffic Management – eXploration 

(ATM-X) project’s Pathfinding 

for Airspace with Autonomous 

Vehicles (PAAV) subproject 

attended the Regional Air Cargo 

Carriers Association annual 

meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona, 

from Oct. 31 – Nov. 2. Earl 

Lawrence of Xwing Aviation gave 

the keynote presentation, “Future 

Technologies and the Regional Air 

Cargo Industry.” The researchers 

also attended sessions about 

United Airlines’ new pilot training 
AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2023 11

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

programs, Transportation Security 

Administration (TSA), and safety 

management systems, as well as 

an interactive question and answer 

session with Lawrence. The event 

offered regional cargo aircraft 

displays at the Scottsdale Airport, 

including the Ampaire’s hybridelectric EEL aircraft (modified 

Cessna 337 Skymaster). The goal 

of the visit was to expand NASA’s 

regional air cargo industry and 

government connections, as well 

as learn about the latest issues 

and demands in the industry. 

The researchers successfully 

accomplished these goals by 

renewing and establishing new 

connections with Xwing Inc., 

Sabrewing Aircraft Company, 

United Parcel Service, the 

Department of Homeland Security, 

TSA, Garmin, and others. 

SWS Researcher Participates 

at IEEE International Workshop

POC: ALWYN GOODLOE

On Nov. 2, System-Wide Safety 

(SWS) project researcher Alwyn 

Goodloe participated in the 

Second Institute of Electrical 

and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 

International Workshop on Assured 

Autonomy, Artificial Intelligence 

(AI) and Machine Learning 

(WAAM 2023). The workshop was 

co-located with the Fifth IEEE 

International Conference on Trust, 

Privacy and Security in Intelligent 

Systems, and Applications, and 

was organized by researchers 

representing the National Institute 

of Standards and Technology. 

Approximately 20 invited 

participants from government, 

industry, and academia attended, 

including Darren Cofer (Collins 

Aerospace), Carl Elks (Virginia 

Commonwealth University), Cody 

Fleming (Iowa State University), 

Alessandro Pinto (Jet Propulsion 

Laboratory), and Sandeep Neema 

(Vanderbilt University). The 

workshop was comprised of a 

sequence of panels with rotating 

panelists. Goodloe served on 

two panels. One panel addressed 

questions regarding whether 

traditional software engineering 

processes are effective at producing 

trustworthy machine learningenabled systems. The other panel 

focused on questions involving 

regulation and certification. In 

response to a question about 

regulation of AI, Goodloe suggested 

a model similar to the Institutional 

Review Board model adapted by 

research universities. This generated 

quite a lively discussion. 

AOSP Participates at ATCA 

Global Conference and Expo 

POC: PAUL KROIS, ABIGAIL GLENN-CHASE

AND BARRY SULLIVAN

Representatives from AOSP and 

its projects participated at the Air 

Traffic Control Association (ATCA) 

NASA staff manning the AOSP booth.
12 AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2023

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

Global Conference and Expo in 

Washington, DC, on Oct. 31 – Nov. 

3. The event was held at the Walter 

E. Washington Convention Center. 

AOSP hosted a booth portraying its 

“Sky for All” Vision for 2050, with 

banner stands representing the Air 

Traffic Management – eXploration 

and System-Wide Safety projects. 

Additionally, two Urban Air 

Mobility (UAM) flight simulators 

were brought up from NASA’s 

Langley Research Center in Virginia 

as part of the AOSP exhibit. AOSP 

director Akbar Sultan participated 

in a panel titled “Highest Aviation 

Priorities for Government Agencies,” 

which NASA Aeronautics Research 

Institute Director Parimal 

Kopardekar moderated. Other 

NASA speakers included NASA 

Langley aeronautics director John 

Koelling, who participated on 

the “Sustaining an Invigorated 

Aviation Workforce Now and 

into the Future” panel, and 

researcher Krishna Kalyanam from 

NASA’s Ames Research Center 

in California, who participated 

in the “Artificial Intelligence 

and Aviation – Transformative, 

Trustworthy, Responsible” panel. 

Also noteworthy, both Akbar Sultan 

and AOSP deputy director Cheryl 

Quinn were recipients of ATCA’s 

President’s Award. This award is 

selected by ATCA’s president and 

recognizes individuals, or a group 

of individuals, for their outstanding 

contributions and achievements in 

the advancement of the science of 

air traffic control, and outstanding 

actions in the ongoing preservation 

of a safe flight environment. Other 

personnel supporting the NASA 

booth included Abigail GlennChase, Paul Krois, Steve Weidner, 

Pallavi Hegde, Melody Lin, Jeremy 

Coupe, Yoon Jung, Neil O’Connor, 

Terence McClain, Nelson Guerrero, 

Jason Prince, Bryan Petty, David 

West, Raj Pai, William Chan, and 

Barry Sullivan. The NASA booth 

received numerous visitors from 

the FAA, its contractors, and 

industry consultants. Notable 

visitors included chief scientist 

Steve Bradford in the FAA’s 

NextGen Office, Kristina Carr of 

the FAA’s NextGen Office, and Eric 

Neidermann and Paula Nouragas 

from the FAA Technical Center.

Wide Industry Use of SWSDeveloped Open-Source 

Prognostic Software, ProgPy 

POC: CHRIS TEUBERT

Recent increased use by industry 

partners has brought attention 

to the wide industry use of the 

System-Wide Safety (SWS) project’s 

development of open-source 

prognostic software. Since January 

NASA staff demonstrating UAM Flyers.
AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2023 13

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

2021, SWS, in collaboration with 

the Transformational Tools and 

Technologies and Convergent 

Aeronautics Solutions projects, 

has maintained the open-source 

prognostic software ProgPy. Through 

this software, SWS has transferred 

technology and knowledge in 

predictive algorithms, models, 

architectures, and metrics to industry 

and academia. The software has 

spurred collaborations with Northrop 

Grumman (Space Act Agreement), 

Vanderbilt (Software Usage 

Agreement), German Space Agency 

(DLR) (Software Usage Agreement/

Interagency Agreement), and others. 

Due to its open-source status, full 

use of the software is difficult to 

track. However, since 2021, the 

software has been downloaded more 

than 30,000 times and is used by 

Northrop Grumman, Joby, DLR, 

the U.S. Army, Tyto Robotics 

Inc., University of Central Florida, 

Vanderbilt University, Georgia 

Tech, Technical University, Delft, 

RISE, European Research Center for 

Information Systems, IntelliPredikt, 

University of Zurich, and others to 

build prognostic tools. 

ACERO Receives 

Authority to Proceed 

POC: MARCUS JOHNSON

The Advanced Capabilities for 

Emergency Response Operations 

(ACERO) project received official 

approval from the Aeronautics 

Research Mission Directorate’s 

Program Management Council 

to proceed in the project 

implementation phase following 

the Key Decision Point for Project 

Approval presentation conducted 

on Nov. 7. ACERO project 

manager Marcus Johnson presented 

the project goals, objectives, and 

concept-to-technology transfer 

approach. He also described how the 

project will work to address current 

wildland fire operation challenges. 

The ACERO project briefing also 

included a summary of the project 

plan and additional data to ensure 

project objectives are aligned with 

AOSP goals, evidence provided that 

the project is well planned to meet 

the project objectives. 

ATM-X Hosts Honeywell 

Visit to NASA Ames 

Research Center 

POC: MIRNA JOHNSON

On Nov. 7, the Air Traffic 

Management – eXploration (ATM-X) 

project hosted representatives 

from Honeywell at NASA’s Ames 

Research Center in California. The 

purpose of the trip was to learn 

about AOSP projects and tour the 

various aeronautics laboratories 

at NASA Ames. Air Mobility 

Pathfinders, ATM-X, and SystemWide Safety project presentations 

were provided. Honeywell was guided 

on tours of four labs: FutureFlight 

Central, the Airspace Operations 

Lab, the Vertical Motion Simulator, 

and the ACEL-RATE Lab. Next 

steps with Honeywell will consist of 

them providing AOSP with a Flight 

Management System in the cloud 

introduction, a possible ACEL-RATE 

future lab collaboration, and further 

discussions about project activities. 

Honeywell staff visiting the Unmanned Aircraft 

Systems Traffic Management lab.

Honeywell team visiting the ACEL-RATE Lab.
14 AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2023

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

System-Wide Safety Project 

MIKA Toolkit Published 

via NASA GitHub 

POC: HANNA WALSH

On Nov. 9, the Manager for 

Intelligent Knowledge Access 

(MIKA) toolkit was published via 

NASA GitHub (https://github.com/

nasa/mika), and is now publicly 

available for academia, government, 

and industry to view and use. 

The System-Wide Safety project 

developed MIKA, which includes 

several state-of-the-art natural 

language processing techniques 

that have been tested for use with 

technical engineering documents, 

with particular focus on emerging 

application areas in the Safety 

Demonstrator Series, for example, 

Unmanned Aircraft Systems and 

wildfire response incident reports. 

The toolkit is packaged in a way that 

is accessible for novice users and 

convenient for applying multiple 

techniques to the same dataset. 

MIKA is broadly intended to be 

used to learn from past incidents to 

inform design and operations for 

making safer systems. 

ATM-X/NASA Glenn Participate 

in Stakeholder Tag Up 

POC: RAFAEL APAZA

On Nov. 8, researchers from the Air 

Traffic Management – eXploration 

(ATM-X) project’s NASA Glenn 

Research Center in Cleveland team 

participated in the “Unmanned 

Aircraft System (UAS) and Advanced 

Air Mobility (AAM) A2X Stakeholder Tag-Up” virtual meeting hosted by 

the FAA and MITRE. Representing 

NASA Glenn was the ATM-X project’s Pathfinding for Airspace with 

Autonomous Vehicles subproject 2.0 

Air to Anything (A2X) investigation 

team. Michael Weiler from the FAA’s 

AJW-19 Spectrum Services Office 

delivered an introductory keynote 

address emphasizing the relevance of 

an A2X link toward enabling new capabilities, assisting in the evolution of 

air traffic management, and supporting emerging AAM entrants. Presentations and discussions included FAA 

roles in assisting A2X concept of operations development, needs analysis 

investigation, and roadmap development. Additional discussion topics 

included spectrum challenges, use 

case development, waveform analysis, 

architecture concept development, 

and determination of the work that 

needs to be done in the upcoming 

years in support of standards development. Finally, the status of RTCA 

working group SC-228 activities in 

A2X was provided and a white paper 

on vehicle-to-vehicle communications was shared with the audience. 

The FAA Spectrum Office requested 

input from participants in the areas 

of A2X to link technology need 

identification, use case development, 

and recommendations on how FAA 

can best assist this effort. Meeting 

participants included representatives 

from government and industry. FAA 

Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance 

System program manager Neal Suchy 

and MITRE’s Greg Orrell co-chaired 

the meeting. 

SWS Project Hosts TIM with 

SkyGrid 

POC: NATASHA NEOGI

On Nov. 13, System-Wide Safety 

(SWS) project researcher Natasha 

Neogi organized a technical interchange meeting (TIM) between 

SkyGrid Inc., a Boeing/SparkCognition company, and NASA’s Langley 

Research Center in Virginia. The 

meeting included attendance by key 

technical and managerial personnel. 

SkyGrid Inc. was represented by Jia 

Xu (chief executive officer), Nadine Akari (Boeing UAM program 

integration manager for Wisk and 

SkyGrid), Khin Paing (vice president of program management), Alex 

Natchev (director of research development), and Suda Bharadwaj (head 

of research and development). NASA 

representatives included John Koelling (director, Aeronautics Research 

Directorate at NASA Langley), Kyle 

Ellis (SWS project manager), Robert 

McSwain (Advanced Capabilities 

for Emergency Response Operations 

project deputy lead, Second Shift Capabilities), Louis Glaab, (Advanced 

Air Mobility, High Density Vertiplex 

subproject technical lead), and Eric 

Cooper (branch head). The SkyGrid 

team toured the Airspace Operations 

Laboratory and the Remote Operations for Autonomous Missions 

Unmanned Airspace Systems Opera-
AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2023 15

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

tions Center, where their software 

is being installed and used for flight 

testing activities at the City Environment Range Testing for Autonomous 

Integrated Navigation range. Evan 

Dill gave a presentation surrounding relevant services, functions, and 

capabilities for enabling emerging 

operations related to navigation, 

weather, threat proximity, and separation management. Neogi guided the 

TIM successfully to identify critical 

points of collaboration with SkyGrid 

across multiple projects and line 

organizations. Neogi will co-organize 

a workshop in Q1 of calendar year 

2024 with SkyGrid to formalize 

several key common research thrusts 

with NASA. This has the potential to 

formulate subsequent annexes to the 

current Space Act Agreement that is 

in the process of being executed. 

ATM-X NExCT Team Conducts 

Face-to-Face Meeting 

POC: WILLIAM CUMMINGS

On Nov. 14, the Air Traffic Management – eXploration (ATM-X) 

project’s National Airspace System 

Exploratory Concepts and Technologies (NExCT) subproject members 

gathered for a one-day meeting at 

NASA’s Langley Research Center in 

Virginia. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the upcoming 

year of work for the new subproject. 

NExCT picks up on some of ATMX’s Extensible Traffic Management 

subproject objectives but focuses 

more on development of a cohesive 

system across multiple air traffic 

management domains. The faceto-face meeting was held to build 

relationships between team members, 

better understand the full capabilities of the team, and discuss tasking 

for the next year. Will Cummings 

from NASA Langley hosted the 

group and Elaine Blount organized 

tours of several relevant facilities. 

AOSP Supports NASA 

Aeronautics Day on the Hill 

POC: NELSON M. GUERREIRO AND 

MARCUS JOHNSON

On Nov. 15, the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) 

hosted a “Flight Night on the Hill” 

event at the Russell Senate building 

in Washington, DC. U.S. Senator 

Jerry Moran and NASA Administrator Bill Nelson gave keynote remarks. 

The Air Traffic Management – eXploration project’s National Airspace 

System Exploratory Concepts and 

Technologies (NExCT) subproject 

demonstrated the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Flyer capability. Researchers from NASA’s Langley Research 

Center in Virginia participating in 

the event included Nelson Guerreiro, 

Neil O’Connor, and Dave West. 

The UAM Flyer was featured as part 

of NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility 

(AAM) research area, which highlights NASA’s contributions enabling 

emergent operations in aviation.

The UAM Flyer is a low-cost research platform that simulates vertical takeoff and landing operations 

and allows researchers to immerse 

pilots in a realistic environment as 

ACERO and System-Wide Safety project leads with NASA Ames Research Center in California aeronautics 

director Huy Tran, AAM Mission integration manager Parimal Kopardekar, and ARMD associate 

administrator Bob Pearce.
16 AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2023

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

part of airspace integration research 

activities. At the event, the UAM 

Flyer allowed attendees to experience 

the role of a pilot for these emergent 

operations as they flew through the 

New York city environment. The 

UAM Flyer is a research capability 

supported by NASA’s Air Mobility Pathfinders project and actively 

supports the NASA/FAA Laboratory 

Integrated Test Environment and the 

Operational Integration Assessment 

research area in collaboration with 

the FAA. In addition, the Advanced 

Capabilities for Emergency Response 

Operations (ACERO) project manager Marcus Johnson and outreach 

lead Hillary Smith engaged congressional staffers on the wildland fire 

challenges NASA and ACERO are 

working to address. More than 100 

staffers attended the exhibit. The 

NASA Aeronautics Day on the Hill 

event allowed congressional members and their staffers an opportunity to learn about NASA’s ongoing research activities, specifically 

focused on the aeronautics element. 

The event included attendance from 

several NASA senior leaders, including the NASA administrator.

ATM-X DIP Team Conducts 

Oceanic Operations Technical 

Interchange Meeting 

POC: MIWA HAYASHI

On Nov. 15–16, the Air Traffic 

Management – eXploration (ATM-X) 

project’s Digital Information Platform (DIP) subproject team hosted 

their third workshop. The purpose 

of the workshop was to learn the 

current re-routing process and 

challenges with oceanic flights. Two 

pilot subject matter experts (SMEs), 

Orval Sword and Tom Moser, shared 

their understanding of the current 

oceanic flight operations, re-routing 

process, challenges, and datacom 

limitations. A portion of the workshop was made open for participation by other researchers, while the 

balance focused on discussions with 

specific use cases to support the DIP 

Sustainable Flight National Partnership (SFNP)-Operations (Ops)-2 

demo planning. The pilots performed a transatlantic nominal flight 

walkthrough from John F. Kennedy 

International Airport to London 

Heathrow Airport North Atlantic 

Organized Track System including 

pre-departure (dispatcher and captain), oceanic airspace entry point, 

post-departure altitude changes, and 

route amendments. They presented 

oceanic contingencies, including 

weather deviations and the inability 

to maintain altitude. The second use 

case presented was a walkthrough of 

the Dallas-Fort Worth International 

Airport to Narita International 

Airport North Pacific Route System 

nominal flight. Pilot SMEs also gave 

a demonstration of the Weather 

Services International weather 

app. There was open discussion on 

potential SFNP-Ops-2 use cases for 

airborne trajectory negotiations. The 

team will use this information in 

Ops-2 planning. 

SWS Project Participates at 

RTCA AI/ML Workshop 

POC: NATASHA NEOGI

On Nov. 28, the System-Wide 

Safety (SWS) project’s senior technical advisor of assurance Natasha 

Neogi attended the RTCA Artificial 

Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/

ML) Workshop in Washington, 

DC. Neogi gave a presentation 

regarding the SWS project’s position on the creation and use of AI/

ML standards for aviation. The 

agenda for the workshop focused 

on eliciting the thoughts of RTCA 

members regarding what standards 

are needed to certify AI/ML aviation products. The workshop began 

with a presentation by Trung Pham, 

the FAA chief scientific and technical advisor (CSTA) for AI/ML, and 

continued with a presentation by 

George Romanski, the FAA CSTA 

for Airborne Software. In addition 

to the FAA and NASA, presentations were given from the Department of Transportation, U.S. Navy, 

and MITRE. These rounded out 

the government inputs to the workshop. Industry stakeholders were 

represented by presentations from 

xWing, Joby, Saab, Daedalean, and 

Collins Aerospace. The workshop 

stakeholders agreed that AI/ML was 

an emerging topic that needs immediate focus, but they recognized 

all efforts to standardize needed to 

be considered carefully. Based on 

the warm reception to NASA’s presentation in this forum, RTCA Inc. 
AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2023 17

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

president and CEO Terry McVenes 

invited Neogi to become a core 

team member of the working group 

that will produce the RTCA’s AI/

ML standards roadmap in conjunction with the FAA. 

AMP Hosts KARI Visitors to 

NASA Armstrong 

POC: JEFF LEIGH AND HANBONG LEE

On Nov. 28–29, the Air Mobility 

Pathfinder (AMP) project’s Flight 

Operations subproject team hosted 

the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) to a partnership meeting at NASA’s Armstrong Flight 

Research Center in California. The 

agenda included progress briefings, 

dialog regarding next steps, and 

guided tours of both AMP Urban 

Air Mobility infrastructure at NASA 

Armstrong and the Agility Prime/

Joby flight test facilities at Edwards 

Air Force Base, North Base. 

SWS AOSP Safety Liaison 

Presents at the NASA 

Aeronautics Council

POC: MISTY DAVIES

On Nov. 29, System-Wide Safety 

(SWS) associate chief for aeronautics systems Misty Davies presented 

to the NASA Aeronautics Council. 

Her briefing was on the status of the 

NASA Aeronautics Research Mission 

Directorate’s (ARMD’s) Verification 

and Validation (V&V) work and 

included the successful conclusion of 

the SWS project’s V&V for Commercial Aviation Systems technical 

challenge that closed out in 2021, 

as well as recent progress toward 

the Complex Aviation Systems 

Assurance technical challenge that 

will close out in 2024. Finally, the 

briefing concluded with an update 

on ARMD’s V&V Vision 2045 

roadmap and a discussion of NASA’s 

plans for next steps. 

ATM-X DIP Team Hosts 

Workshop with Collins 

Aerospace 

POC: SWATI SAXENA

On Nov. 29–30, the Air Traffic 

Management – eXploration (ATMX) project’s Digital Information 

Platform (DIP) subproject team 

hosted a workshop with Collins 

Aerospace. The meeting was held 

at the NASA North Texas Research 

Station. Representing NASA were 

ATM-X project manager Shivanjli 

Sharma and DIP subproject leadership. Participants from Collins 

Aerospace included representatives 

from their Air Traffic Solutions 

Development, Aeronautical Radio 

Incorporated Systems, Advanced 

Research and Technology Artificial 

Intelligence/Machine Learning, 

and their Advanced Air Mobility programs. The purpose of the 

workshop was to discuss potential 

collaboration opportunities on a 

series of Sustainable Flight National 

Partnership Operations (SFNPOps) demonstrations the DIP team 

is conducting. The workshop included updates on the SFNP-Ops-1 

Collaborative Digital Departure 

Rerouting (CDDR) capability being demonstrated with the FAA and 

airline partners in the North Texas 

area. Future SFNP-Ops demonstrations, which includes flight deck 

based airborne reroute capability 

(Ops-2), irregular operations and 

disruption management capability 

Photos of combined AMP and KARI teams.

ATM-X staff briefing the Collins team.
18 AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2023

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

(Ops-3), and 4-dimensional trajectory optimization capability (Ops4), were also discussed for potential 

collaboration. Collins Aerospace 

presented their air traffic management solution products in support 

of sustainable aviation, including 

their air-to-ground datalink communication network, online flight 

planning system, and flight profile 

optimizer. The Collins team visited 

the American Airlines Integrated 

Operations Center to see the live 

deployment of the CDDR tool at 

the facility. The workshop concluded with a list of potential collaboration topics, and both organizations 

agreed to conduct follow-on meetings to discuss technical details and 

develop a plan to establish a collaboration agreement.

NASA Signs NonReimbursable SAA with 

AeroVironment

POC: JEFF HOMOLA AND KENNETH FREEMAN

On Dec. 6, NASA signed a nonreimbursable Space Act Agreement 

(SAA) on behalf of the Air Traffic 

Management – eXploration (ATMX) project’s National Airspace 

System (NAS) Exploratory Concepts and Technologies (NExCT) 

subproject, with AeroVironment, 

Inc. The agreement enables AeroVironment to conduct research, 

development, testing, and evaluation of a prototype NASA Upper 

Class E Traffic Management (ETM) 

system. Many entities are interested 

in ETM and are willing to collaborate with the ATM-X project’s 

NExCT subproject to develop safe, 

scalable operations within the NAS 

at high altitudes. AeroVironment, 

Inc. will work with NExCT on an 

experiment to be conducted in the 

spring of 2024, which will use the 

ETM system to enable cooperative 

operations in upper Class E airspace 

through data exchange. 

AOSP SWS Liaison Participates 

at the AAM Interagency 

Working Group Meeting 

POC: MISTY DAVIES

On Dec. 7, System-Wide Safety 

(SWS) associate chief for aeronautics systems Misty Davies 

participated in a Department of 

Transportation quarterly meeting 

hosted at the Naval Post-Graduate 

School in Monterey, California. 

The purpose of the meeting was to 

bring together national experts on 

the topic of advancing automation 

and autonomy for transportation. 

Davies provided an overview of 

the Aeronautics Research Mission 

Directorate’s (ARMD’s) research toward Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) 

and then briefed recent progress 

toward the SWS project’s Complex 

Aviation Systems Assurance technical challenge. Finally, the briefing concluded with an update on 

ARMD’s Verification and Validation 

Vision 2045 roadmap, a discussion 

of NASA’s plans for next steps, and 

a few of the recommendations and 

gaps being discussed by the AAM 

interagency working group’s Automation Strategy subgroup. 

ATM-X DIP Participates in NEC 

NIWG Meeting 

POC: YOON JUNG

On Dec. 7, the Air Traffic Management – eXploration (ATM-X) project’s Digital Information Platform 

(DIP) subproject team participated 

in the Northeast Corridor (NEC) 

NextGen Integration Working 

Group (NIWG) meeting. The NEC 

NIWG is composed of representatives from various aviation communities in the United States, 

including the FAA, the National 

Air Traffic Controllers Association, 

commercial aviation (passenger and 

cargo), business aviation, and the 

Port Authority of New York and 

New Jersey. Their goal is to address 

challenges in the operations within 

the New York airspace and to seek 

solutions to improve operational 

efficiency. Acting deputy subproject manager Swati Saxena gave 

introductory remarks on the DIP 

subproject. This was followed by 

the DIP Sustainable Flight National 

Partnership (SFNP) Operations 

(Ops) lead Jeremy Coupe, who gave 

a briefing on NASA’s SFNP mission. 

This included detailed plans for a 

series of operational demonstrations to support the SFNP mission 

by the DIP team through fiscal year 

2030. The first operational demonstration in the series is currently 
AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2023 19

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

being conducted in the North Texas 

area (Ops-1a) and will be conducted in the Houston area in fiscal year 

2025 (Ops-1b). This demonstration 

will provide participating airlines 

and air traffic control with a pre-departure rerouting capability built on 

machine learning-based predictive 

engine and user interfaces developed by the DIP team. The presentation was well received by the 

NIWG group, and the significance 

of NASA’s contributions made to 

the development of ATM research 

protype systems and technology 

transfer to the aviation community 

was recognized by many participants. Future exchanges between 

the DIP team and the NEC NIWG 

group were also discussed for establishing use cases and potential 

applications of DIP technology to 

address NEC operational challenges. 

ATM-X DIP Team Conducts 

Virtual Meeting with 

Honeywell 

POC: SWATI SAXENA

On Dec. 8, the Air Traffic Management – eXploration (ATM-X) 

project’s Digital Information Platform (DIP) subproject team hosted 

a virtual meeting with Honeywell’s 

Connected Flight Management 

System (cFMS) group. The DIP 

team introduced the ATM-X DIP 

subproject and explained the operational demonstrations the team is 

planning to conduct over the next 

few years. The cFMS group gave 

an overview of their products and 

their capabilities. They presented 

the cFMS ecosystem and the communication data link between FMS, 

cloud, and ground stations. They 

also presented a list of cFMS/Electronic Flight Bag use cases they are 

interested in developing. The DIP 

team discussed potential areas of collaboration opportunities and plan to 

follow up with the Honeywell team 

for further deep dive discussions. 

SWS Participates in the AGU 

2023 Meeting 

POC: JOSEPH COUGHLAN

On Dec. 11–15, System-Wide Safety 

(SWS) senior technical advisor of 

autonomy Joseph Coughlan attended 

the American Geophysical Union 

(AGU) 2023 meeting in San Francisco. This hybrid meeting convened 

more than 25,000 attendees from 

over 100 countries to share research 

and connect with colleagues. Scientists, educators, policymakers, journalists, and communicators attend 

AGU to learn about topics that cover 

a majority of the NASA Science Mission Directorate’s portfolio. Coughlan presented on ODIN-Fire, which 

is an Open Data Integration Framework for Wildland Fire Management, 

in an open-source software session, 

which NASA’s Disasters Program 

co-sponsored. By invitation, Coughlan also judged student posters in a 

session, “Rapid Fire Detection and 

Prediction Using New Generation 

Artificial Intelligence Techniques.” 

ODIN-Fire is part of RACE-ODIN, 

a software architecture to create 

field deployable servers that can 

import, process, and display data 

from heterogeneous sources includCoughlin engages with attendees at the AGU 2023 meeting.
20 AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2023

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

ing geospatial data such as landcover, 

roads, infrastructure, weather, fire 

location, forecasted weather including surface winds, and real-time 

location of aircraft, ground vehicles, 

and personnel. The open-source approach AOSP uses is consistent with 

the broader open science initiative 

to share data, software, analysis, and 

results to accelerate discovery and 

innovation. Unmanned Aircraft 

Systems (UAS) are increasingly used 

in Earth Science studies, and while 

59 submissions mentioned UAS in 

the title, many more used UAS for 

lower remote sensing, measuring and 

monitoring, and filling the observational gap between field measurements, high-altitude aircraft, and 

space-based observations providing 

a low-cost, observing platform for 

localized studies and rapid response.

NASA and MITRE Hold 

Informal Meeting at the Fall 

2023 Aviation Safety InfoShare 

POC: NIKUNJ OZA

On Dec. 12–14, the System-Wide 

Safety (SWS) project delivered 

several presentations at the fall 

Aviation Safety InfoShare Conference in Dallas. Bryan Matthews 

delivered a presentation titled “An 

Approach to Identifying Aspects of 

Positive Pilot Behavior Within the 

Aviation Safety Reporting System” 

on behalf of himself, Immanuel 

Barshi, and Jolene Feldman as part 

of the Human Contributions to 

Safety effort. Following his talk, 

Matthews met with staff from 

American and Southwest Airlines 

regarding applicability to their data 

and another related software. In addition, Mary Keller gave five talks 

on the Aviation Safety Reporting 

System (ASRS) including “NASA 

ASRS Reports: CPDLC Domestic 

Operational Issues” in the Flight 

Operations track, “NASA ASRS 

Reports About Ground Operations” in the Ground Operations 

track, “NASA ASRS Reports About 

Rotorcraft and Drone Interactions 

at Low Altitudes of Operation” in 

the Rotorcraft track, “NASA ASRS 

Reports About Dispatch Operations” in the Dispatch track, and 

“NASA ASRS Reports About Business/General Aviation Operations” 

in the Business/General Aviation 

Operations track. Keller met with 

several InfoShare attendees including members of the FAA, National 

Transportation Safety Board, and 

various industry stakeholders to 

discuss safety topics related to 

ASRS. Jon Holbrook and Immanuel 

Barshi also participated as panelists in a session titled “Learning 

from All Operations: Implementing 

Safety II in Practice” that discussed 

the concepts of Learning from All 

Operations (LFAO) and Safety II 

as well as how it is implemented in 

industry. Barshi was invited to present LFAO and the SWS Human 

Contributions to Safety work at the 

Nikunj Oza, Lance Prinzel, Bryan Matthews, and Dan Kiggins (SWS) and Kyle Quakenbush 

(MITRE) attended the NASA and MITRE technical interchange meeting in person, while Chad 

Stephens (SWS), Ed Walsh (MITRE), and Kristin Heckman (MITRE) attended online.
AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2023 21

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

upcoming Boeing Global Aviation 

Safety Conference in Abu Dhabi 

this February.

AOSP Projects Hold Quarterly 

Review with the FAA 

POC: KEN FREEMAN AND BARRY SULLIVAN

On Dec. 12–14, AOSP and its 

projects hosted a three-day quarterly review with the FAA. The first 

day focused on Urban Air Mobility 

(UAM) efforts including discussions on the FAA’s UAM Airspace 

Management Demonstration, Low 

Density Unmanned Aircraft Systems 

(UAS) Communication Evaluation, 

Automation Framework Working 

Group, Airspace Performance and 

Operations project. This was followed by NASA updates on the 

Air Mobility Pathfinders project 

replanning effort, UAM concepts, 

requirements, use cases, architecture 

and modeling, UAM prototype and 

simulation, and operational integration assessment efforts. Day two 

focused on UAS Traffic Management 

(UTM) Beyond Visual Line-of-Sight 

(BVLOS) operations and included 

FAA presentations on rulemaking, 

UTM policy topics, BVLOS concept 

of use and standards gaps/parameters, 

near term approval process, key site 

updates and UTM implementation 

security considerations. Day three 

began with a presentation on the 

Cross-cutting Research for UAS 

Integration, Services and Engineering 

project. This was followed by discussions on the Digital Information 

Platform, Pathfinding for Airspace 

with Autonomous Vehicles, National 

Airspace System Exploratory Concepts and Technologies, and UTM 

BVLOS Rules of the Road projects. 

Additionally, there were some side 

meetings addressing Research Transition Team activities. The next quarterly review is planned for the spring 

of 2024. 

System-Wide Safety Executes 

Collaborative SAA with 

SkyGrid

POC: NATASHA NEOGI

On Dec. 14, NASA’s Langley 

Research Center in Virginia and 

SkyGrid Inc., a Boeing SparkCognition company, formalized their 

upcoming collaboration via a signed 

and executed Space Act Agreement 

(SAA). The SAA captures the cooperative research that will be conducted in the areas of system safety, 

operational assurance, and domainspecific use cases that were discussed 

in the technical interchange meeting 

on Nov. 13 at NASA Langley. Key 

SkyGrid technical and managerial personnel, such as Jia Xu (chief 

executive officer), Nadine Akari 

(UAM program integration manager 

for Wisk and SkyGrid), Khin Paing 

(vice president for program management), Alex Natchev (director of 

research development), and Suda 

Bharadwaj (head of research and 

development) approved the research 

topics. The agreement will allow for 

the exchange of critical data and 

software between NASA Langley 

and SkyGrid, such as specific services, functions, and capabilities for 

enabling emerging operations related 

to navigation, weather, threat proximity, and separation management. 

System-Wide Safety project researcher Natasha Neogi helped guide the 

SAA successfully to identify critical 

points of collaboration with SkyGrid, Inc. across multiple projects 

and line organizations. She will be 

organizing a kickoff workshop in Q1 

of calendar year 2024 with SkyGrid 

to identify potential cross-project 

touchpoints with the Air Traffic 

Management – eXploration and Air 

Mobility Pathfinders projects. 

ATM-X DIP Team Engages with 

JetBlue Airways 

POC: YOON JUNG

On Dec. 14, the Air Traffic Management – eXploration (ATM-X) 

project’s Digital Information Platform (DIP) subproject team introduced its Sustainable Flight National 

Partnership Operations (SFNPOps) demonstration plan and its 

platform to managers from JetBlue 

Airways. Representing JetBlue were 

members of its Air Traffic System 

Operations, Enterprise Planning, 

and Flight Operations groups. The 

DIP team provided an overview of 

their SFNP-Ops demonstration plan 

and provided information about 

NASA’s cloud-based capability and 

data services that are available on the 

DIP today. JetBlue’s point of contact 
22 AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2023

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

and Business Intelligence team that 

have been engaged with the DIP 

team and actively using DIP services 

for the past 6 months initiated this 

meeting. JetBlue’s managers showed 

interest in the Fuser Streaming and 

the NASA Traffic Management 

Initiative Services. Follow-on discussions will take place in January 2024. 

SWS Researcher Selected to 

FAA Fatigue Evaluation Panel 

POC: ERIN FLYNN-EVANS

System-Wide Safety (SWS) project 

researcher Erin Flynn-Evans was 

selected as one of three experts by 

the FAA to identify new ways to address air traffic controller fatigue on 

a panel. This is in reaction to recent 

reports of FAA air traffic controllers 

undergoing fatigue (https://www.

faa.gov/newsroom/faa-moves-address-air-traffic-controller-fatigue). 

In response to these concerns, the 

FAA has tasked a panel of fatigue 

experts. The three-member panel 

will examine how the latest science 

on sleep needs and fatigue considerations could be applied to controller 

work requirements and scheduling. 

The panel will identify potential 

ways the FAA could better address 

controller fatigue. As part of its 

work, it will review previous controller-fatigue research. The panel 

will begin its work in early January 

and provide a final report to the 

FAA about six weeks later. 

ATM-X NExCT Team and FAA 

Agree on Updated Set of RTPs 

POC: KEN FREEMAN

Established under the interagency 

Research Transition Teams (RTT) 

Convening Authority, the UpperClass E Traffic Management (ETM) 

RTT was established to focus on exploring operational concepts, engineering, data management, security, 

interoperability, and performance 

challenges to realize future ETM 

implementation efforts. This RTT 

has been a collaborative undertaking of research, development, testing, and evaluation activities among 

the ETM stakeholder community. 

On Dec. 18, the Air Traffic Management – eXploration (ATM-X) 

project’s National Airspace System 

Exploratory Concepts and Technologies (NExCT) subproject and the 

FAA Next Generation Air Transportation System Office agreed on 

an updated set of Research Transition Products (RTPs) and activities 

to further the research in ETM 

concepts. These ETM RTPs and 

activities have been documented in 

version 2.0 of the ETM Joint Management Plan. 
AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2023 23

RECOGNITION

AOSP Participates at 

IEEE/AIAA DASC 

POC: STEVEN YOUNG, JORDAN SAKAKEENY

 AND ARWA AWEISS

On Oct. 1-5, several AOSP 

researchers participated in the 

42nd Institute of Electrical and 

Electronics Engineers (IEEE)/

American Institute of Aeronautics 

and Astronautics (AIAA)/Digital 

Avionics System Conference (DASC) 

in Barcelona, Spain. Representing 

the System-Wide Safety project 

were Trey Arthur, Maria Consiglio, 

Evan Dill, Chester Dolph, Mallory 

Graydon, César Muñoz, Natasha 

Neogi, Truong Nguyen, and Steven 

Young. DASC is the preeminent 

research and development 

conference in the field of digital 

avionics, and NASA’s participation 

helps to disseminate recent research 

findings in formal methods, safety 

assurance, certification, and crewvehicle interfaces to an appropriate 

audience. Four papers were 

presented: 1) “Safety Expertise and 

the Perils of Novelty,” by Mallory 

Graydon (presenter), et al.; 2) 

“Position Correlated Vision Dataset 

from Multirotor and Fixed-wing 

sUAS of General Aviation, Fixedwing sUAS, Multirotor sUAS, and 

Birds” by Chester Dolph (presenter), 

et al.; 3) “High Intensity Radiated 

Field (HIRF) Map - An Avoidance 

Approach for Unmanned Air 

Mobility (UAM), Advanced Air 

Mobility (AAM), and Uncrewed 

Aircraft Systems (UAS) vehicles” 

by Truong Nguyen (presenter), 

et al.; and 4) “Pilot Controls for 

a Hybrid Turbine-Electric 17 

Engine Aircraft” by Jarvis (Trey) 

Arthur (presenter), also selected as 

best paper of session. In terms of 

leadership, Consiglio co-chaired the 

Cyber, Systems, and Software track 

(30 papers), while Young co-chaired 

the Unmanned Aircraft Systems and 

AAM track (80 papers). Consiglio, 

Dill, Graydon, Muñoz, Neogi, 

Dolph, and Young also served as 

session chairs within these tracks. 

In addition, several papers 

by members of the Air Traffic 

Management – eXploration 

project’s Pathfinding for Airspace 

with Autonomous Vehicles (PAAV) 

subproject were presented at the 

conference. Jordan Sakakeeny 

and Felix Sievers of the German 

Aerospace Center (DLR) Institute 

of Flight Guidance jointly presented 

their paper titled “Comparative 

Analysis of Airspace System 

Accessibility for Uncrewed Aircraft 

Systems for Regional Operations.” 

Bernd Korn, the department 

head for pilot assistance at DLR, 

attended and remarked that this 

work was an excellent example of 

collaborative work between NASA 

and DLR. Sakakeeny also presented 

work led by David Thipphavong 

titled “Initial Study of Tailored 

Trajectory Management for MultiVehicle Uncrewed Regional Air 

Cargo Operations.” Conrad Rorie 

presented work titled “Assessing 

Helicopter Pilots’ Detect and 

Avoid and Collision Avoidance 

Performance with ACAS Xr”; this 

paper won best of session. Cynthia 

Wolter presented a paper titled 

“Remote Pilot Handoffs in Large 

UAS Multi-Vehicle Operations: 

Best Practices and Supportive 

Technologies,” which summarized 

the fourth in a series of tabletop 

exercises held with subject matter 

experts discussing highly scalable 

remotely piloted operations. Rafael 

Apaza from NASA’s Glenn Research 

Center in Cleveland presented two 

papers at the conference. One paper 

stemming from his PAAV work was 

titled “Communications Concept 

Architecture for Uncrewed Aircraft 

Cargo Operations.” The second 

paper was titled “Multi-Agent 

Deep Reinforcement Learning 

for Spectrum and Air Traffic 

Management in Urban Air Mobility 

(UAM) with Resource Constraints.” 

In addition to presenting papers, 

Sakakeeny and Rorie also served 

as session chairs for several lecture 

sessions. PAAV team members 

also engaged with an international 

audience of scholars and industry 

representatives, attended 

presentations, and promoted the 

increasingly autonomous aircraft 

research ongoing in the PAAV 

subproject. For more information 

go to the following website: 

https://2023.dasconline.org/.
24 AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2023

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System-Wide Safety 

Associate Project Manager 

Awarded Patent 

POC: WENDY OKOLO

On Oct. 3, the System-Wide Safety 

project’s associate project manager 

Wendy Okolo was awarded a U.S. 

patent titled “Aerospace Vehicle 

Entry Flightpath Control” with 

U.S. Patent No. 11,772,828 B2. 

This patent explores the dihedral 

effect of an aerospace vehicle 

(demonstrated on an asymmetric 

deployable entry vehicle) to 

control a vehicle’s bank angle by 

modulating the sideslip. This will 

enable aerospace vehicles to use 

novel control mechanisms for 

control and reduce propulsive 

requirements required to steer 

during entry operations. 

SWS AOSP Safety Liaison 

Participates in Select Group 

of SMEs in Dagstuhl Seminar 

POC: MISTY DAVIES

On Oct. 8-13, AOSP SystemWide Safety (SWS) project liaison 

Misty Davies participated as one 

of a select group of international 

subject matter experts (SMEs) in a 

special Dagstuhl Seminar in Schloss 

Dagstuhl, Germany. The goal of 

this seminar was to understand 

and document the current limits of 

accountability in software systems. 

Participation in this seminar 

confirmed and strengthened NASA’s 

claim to world-class expert status 

on the assurance of autonomy. For 

more about this seminar, please see 

the official website: https://www.

dagstuhl.de/en/seminars/seminarcalendar/seminar-details/23411. 

AOSP Projects Participate at 

INFORMS 2023 Conference 

POC: NIKUNJ OZA AND JEREMY COUPE

On Oct. 15-18, System-Wide Safety 

(SWS) and Air Traffic Management 

– eXploration (ATM-X) project 

members represented AOSP at the 

Institute For Operations Research 

and the Management Sciences 

(INFORMS) Conference in 

Phoenix. INFORMS is the largest 

professional society in the world 

for professionals in the fields of 

operations research, management 

science, and analytics. The annual 

meeting serves as a gathering 

point for researchers, practitioners, 

academics, and students interested 

in these disciplines. The Aviation 

Applications Section of INFORMS 

is interested in any aspects of 

aviation operations including, but 

not limited to, airline operations, 

network planning and scheduling, 

air traffic control, air traffic/airspace 

management, surface operations 

optimization, revenue management, 

data mining and machine learning 

application, and many more 

aviation-related topics. SWS project 

subproject manager Nikunj Oza 

delivered an invited presentation at 

the conference. Oza’s presentation 

was titled “Machine Learning for 

Anomaly Detection and Precursor 

Identification in Commercial 

Aviation,” during the Forecasts 

and Machine Learning in Air 

Transportation session. The 

presentation was an overview 

of machine learning work the 

SWS project performed in terms 

of algorithm development and 

the domain-vetted insights that 

were identified. In addition, 

ATM-X researcher Jeremy Coupe 

participated as a session chair for 

the Sustainable Aviation session 

and also gave a talk in the “Digital 

Air Traffic Services: Human 

Performance Perspective” session. 

ATM-X-NExCT Data Reasoning 

Fabric Presented at AUVSI 

Cascade Fall Symposium 

POC: KENNETH FREEMAN

On Oct. 17, Supreet Kaur, a 

researcher within the Air Traffic 

Management-eXploration (ATMX) project’s National Airspace 

System Exploratory Concepts 

and Technologies (NExCT) 

subproject, presented at the 

Association for Uncrewed Vehicle 

Systems International (AUVSI) 

Cascade Fall Symposium in 

Seattle. AUVSI is the world’s 

largest nonprofit organization 

dedicated to the advancement of 

uncrewed systems and robotics, 

which represents corporations 

and professionals from more than 

60 countries around the world 

involved in industry, government, 

and academia. Kaur’s presentation 

covered her work supporting 

the Data Reasoning Fabric 
AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2023 25

RECOGNITION

concept, which provides a trusted 

service discovery and exchange 

backbone to manage complex 

and dense airspace operations. 

ATM-X Researcher 

Participates in the BayLearn 

Machine Learning Symposium 

POC: JEREMY COUPE

On Oct. 19, Air Traffic 

Management – eXploration (ATMX) project researcher Jeremy Coupe 

participated in the BayLearn 

Machine Learning Symposium. The 

symposium is an annual gathering 

of machine learning researchers and 

scientists from the San Francisco 

Bay area. Google, Apple, Netflix, 

and AT&T Research co-hosted 

the event. While it promotes 

community building between 

local researchers from academic 

and industrial institutions, it 

also welcomed visitors. This 

event combined invited talks 

and posters to foster exchanges 

of ideas. Coupe presented on his 

work in validation of the ATM-X 

project’s Digital Information 

Platform subproject machine 

learning model at the Dallas-Fort 

Worth International Airport. 

AOSP Representatives 

Honored at Global Women 

in Emerging Aviation 

Technologies Awards 

POC: MISTY DAVIES

On Oct. 25, AOSP deputy director 

Cheryl Quinn and System-Wide 

Safety project AOSP safety liaison 

Misty Davies were honored as 

two of the “Women to Watch” 

during the Global Women in 

Emerging Aviation Technologies 

Awards by Women and Drones 

in a special ceremony at the 

Smithsonian National Air and 

Space Museum in Washington, 

DC. Quinn was recognized for her 

leadership in helping develop and 

demonstrating airspace, vehicle and 

safety capabilities that will enable 

routine access to the airspace by 

new entrants such as Unmanned 

Aircraft Systems, Advanced Air 

Mobility, and future autonomous 

systems. Davies was recognized as 

a world-class expert and advocate 

on the safety assurance of complex, 

highly automated aviation 

systems, particularly those which 

components contain machine 

learning or artificial intelligence. 

For more information, please see: 

https://womenanddrones.com/7thanniversary-women-to-watchglobal-awards/. 

SWS Researcher Chetan 

Kulkarni Selected 

as PHM Fellow 

POC: CHETAN KULKARNI

System-Wide Safety (SWS) project 

researcher Chetan Kulkarni 

was recently selected as a fellow 

by the Prognostics and Health 

Management (PHM) Society. The 

PHM Society is an organization 

focused on the advancement of 

PHM technologies that can monitor 

the health and performance of 

systems or components, predict 

their remaining useful life, or 

detect anomalies and faults. The 

award ceremony was held at the 

Hilton Salt Lake City in Salt Lake 

City on Oct. 31. The citation for 

the fellowship reads: “Dr. Chetan 

Kulkarni is a KBR Technical Fellow 

in Fault Diagnostics, Prognostics 

Group photo of awardees (l) and Davies accepting her award (r).
26 AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2023

RECOGNITION

and Predictive Maintenance. 

He leads the KBR team at the 

Prognostics Center of Excellence, 

NASA Ames Research Center. The 

significance of Dr. Kulkarni’s work 

is demonstrated by his ability to 

develop and apply state-of-the-art 

prognostics in six key aerospace 

application areas: Advanced 

Ground Systems maintenance, 

UAVS, Electro-chemical, Electric 

powertrain, Avionics Electronics, 

and Energy storage systems. He 

is an AIAA Associate Fellow and 

leads the Intelligent Systems 

Health Management track at AIAA 

SciTech. He serves as Associate 

Editor of the SAE Aerospace Journal 

and the International Journal of 

PHM.” Kulkarni co-chaired the 

technical program committee 

for the fourth consecutive year 

and has been supporting it for 

over 10 years. The Diagnostics 

and Prognostics group has been 

supporting and contributing to the 

PHM conference significantly since 

inception. This year, four papers 

from the group containing SWSrelevant or -funded research were 

presented at the conference. 

SWS Subject Matter 

Experts Participate in 

DARPA ARCOS Principal 

Investigators Meeting 

POC: MALLORY GRAYDON, PAUL MINER

 AND NATASHA NEOGI

On Oct. 31 – Nov. 1, System-Wide 

Safety (SWS) project researchers 

Mallory Graydon, Paul Miner, and 

Natasha Neogi participated in a 

principal investigators meeting of 

the Defense Advanced Research 

Projects Agency’s (DARPA’s) 

Automated Rapid Certification 

of Software (ARCOS) project. 

ARCOS participants discussed plans 

to refine assurance-case-related 

tooling that they are constructing. 

Graydon, Miner, and Neogi used 

their expertise in safety assessment 

and safety assurance to provide 

constructive feedback that will help 

keep participants on track to deliver 

rapid, low-cost means to assess 

and assure the safety and security 

of high-consequence software 

systems following changes. While 

ARCOS aims to reduce the cost of 

certifying software-intensive military 

systems, the tools and techniques 

it develops may have applications 

to software used in aviation and 

spaceflight applications. For more 

information go to: https://www.

darpa.mil/program/automatedrapid-certification-of-software. 

SWS Participates at the AHFE 

Conference 2023 

POC: JOLENE FELDMAN

System-Wide Safety (SWS) 

project researcher Jolene 

Feldman co-chaired a session on 

the “Application of Emerging 

Technologies: Transportation 

Research II” at the Applied Human 

Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE) 

International Conference 2023 on 

Dec. 4–6 in Honolulu, under the 

sponsorship of 12 international 

scientific boards consisting of 485 

members. Feldman also presented 

SWS-funded work on emerging 

technologies, specifically results 

from a study investigating the 

usability of risk prediction tools 

and services to support small 

Uncrewed Aircraft Systems Traffic 

Management. The resulting paper 

presented is titled “Usability of 

pre-flight planning interfaces for 

supplemental data service provider 

tools to support uncrewed aircraft 

system traffic management.” The 

event was an opportunity to 

interact with fellow international 

associates and learn about related 

research in other governmental 

sectors, academia, and industries. 

There were 589 participants, both 

in-person and online, together with 

48 technical sessions and 77 posters. 

ATM-X Participates at ICAO 

Drone Enable Symposium 

POC: SUPREET KAUR

On Dec. 6, Air Traffic Management 

– eXploration (ATM-X) project 

Feldman presenting at the AHFE Conference.
AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2023 27

RECOGNITION

researcher Supreet Kaur presented 

the Data and Reasoning Fabric 

(DRF) concept at the International 

Civil Aviation Organization 

(ICAO) Drone Enable Symposium 

in Montreal, Canada. ICAO is 

a United Nations agency that 

has helped 193 countries to 

diplomatically and technically 

realize a uniquely rapid and 

dependable network of global air 

mobility, promoting sustainable 

growth and socio-economic 

prosperity wherever aircraft fly. The 

DRF concept provides a trusted 

service discovery and exchange 

backbone to manage complex 

and dense airspace operations, 

enabling global interoperability 

and harmonization in support 

of advanced air mobility. 

DIP Awarded Engineering 

Team of the Year Award 

POC: SWATI SAXENA

The Air Traffic Management – 

eXploration project’s Digital 

Information Platform (DIP) 

subproject team has been 

awarded the 2023 American 

Institute for Aeronautics 

and Astronautics’ San Francisco 

Section Engineering Team of the 

Year Award. The DIP team received 

this award for their achievements 

in 2022 and 2023 with establishing 

partnerships with five major 

U.S. airlines, and for successfully 

conducting field demonstration of 

a pre-departure aircraft re-routing 

model to achieve sustainability 

benefits (fuel and CO2 emissions 

savings). The section celebrated 

the team’s award during their 

annual banquet on Dec. 9. 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Headquarters

300 E. Street, SW

Washington, DC 20024

www.nasa.gov/aeroresearch

www.nasa.gov