UTM: Air Traffic Management for Low-Altitude Drones

Long before stories of Unmanned Aircraft 

Systems (UAS), commonly known as “drones,” 

were frequent in the news, NASA and the Federal 

Aviation Administration (FAA) recognized the need 

for a way to safely manage UAS flying at low 

altitudes in airspace not currently managed 

by the FAA.

For more than 25 years, NASA has conducted 

air traffic management system research in 

partnership with the FAA, providing a variety of 

computer-based tools that help improve flight 

efficiency, reduce delays, and reduce fuel use 

and emissions all while maintaining safety in 

increasingly crowded skies.

Today, with innovators constantly identifying new, 

beneficial applications for UAS – goods delivery, 

infrastructure inspection, search and rescue, 

agricultural monitoring – a safety system may 

be needed to help ensure this newest entrant 

into the skies does not collide with buildings, 

larger aircraft, or one another. Building on its 

legacy of work in air traffic management for 

crewed aircraft, NASA is researching prototype 

technologies such as airspace design, dynamic 

geofencing, congestion management and terrain 

avoidance for a UAS Traffic Management (UTM) 

system that could enable safe, efficient 

low-altitude operations.

NASA’s concept for a possible UTM system would safely manage diverse UAS operations in the airspace above buildings and below 

crewed aircraft operations in suburban and urban areas.
NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., with 

its extensive experience in autonomous systems and air 

traffic management, is leading the UTM research in close 

collaboration with NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in 

Edwards, Calif.; NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland; 

and NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. Ames 

has a history of conducting research in autonomy-related 

topics, and is experienced at developing systems that can 

adapt their behavior to environments that are complex, rapidly 

changing and incompletely understood.

To test UTM technologies, NASA works with many partners 

that provide vehicles and other subsystems, with NASA 

responsible for airworthiness, and range and flight safety. 

To conduct UTM tests with its public, academic and private 

partners, NASA uses its Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) 

with the FAA for UAS testing and operations in certain types 

of remote airspace. When testing requires operations beyond 

the scope of the MOA, NASA applies for Certificates of Waiver 

or Authorization (COAs) from the FAA. These FAA-authorized 

operations mutually benefit NASA and the partners involved. 

Aircraft operated under COAs and the MOA are flown as 

NASA aircraft.

While negotiating additional arrangements, NASA already 

has a large number of partner agreements on UTM research 

in place. To view this list go to: www.nasa.gov/aeroresearch/

programs/aosp/saso/partners. 

In early 2016, NASA and operators from the Federal Aviation Administration’s 

six drone test sites across the country flew multiple drones simultaneously to 

test rural operations of NASA’s traffic management research platform. 

Credit: NASA / Dominic Hart

NASA is also collaborating with federal entities such as 

Department of Homeland Security, Department of the Interior, 

and National Weather Service. Additional collaborators will be 

added to ensure that technologies being tested address the 

public need for safety, security and privacy.

NASA’s development and demonstration of technologies for a 

possible future UTM system take place during four Technology 

Capability Level (TCL) activities: 

• UTM TCL 1: Concluded field testing in August 2015/

ongoing testing at FAA site. Addressed rural UAS

operations for agriculture, firefighting and infrastructure

monitoring. In this TCL, the UAS ground pilot reserved

the airspace and adjusted the flight plan if notified of

a conflict.

• UTM TCL 2: Tests in October 2016 to address beyondvisual line-of-sight operations in sparsely populated

areas, and provide flight procedures and traffic rules for

longer-range applications.

• UTM TCL 3: Tests in January 2018 to include cooperative

and uncooperative UAS tracking capabilities to ensure

collective safety of manned and unmanned operations

over moderately populated areas.

• UTM TCL 4: Test dates to be determined. Would involve

UAS operations in higher-density urban areas for tasks

such as news gathering and package delivery, and largescale contingency mitigation.

NASA’s UTM technologies research and development is taking 

place in collaboration with the FAA. Results are expected 

to be transferred from NASA to the FAA in 2019 for their 

further testing. 

NASA’s concept for a possible UTM system would not require human 

operators to continuously monitor every vehicle. Two types of UTM systems 

could be developed: Portable -- would move between geographical areas 

and support operations such as precision agriculture or disaster relief; 

Persistent -- Would provide continuous coverage for a specific geographical 

area. Human managers would use data to make strategic decisions about 

initiating, continuing and terminating UAS flights to ensure that only 

authenticated UAS are in the airspace.

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