Federal award (DELIVERY ORDER, fiscal year 2021)
Recipient: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF AEROSPACE ASSOCIATES
Awarding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Funding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Period of performance: 2016-02-08 to 2017-07-15
Current total value of award: $652183
Description: ON-DEMAND MOBILITY STUDIES: INVESTIGATING VEHICLE PLATFORMS ABLE TO CARRY SMALL PACKAGES TO 9 PASSENGERS, WITH INVESTIGATIONS OF THEIR ENABLING COMPONENT TECHNOLOGIES  ON-DEMAND MOBILITY (ODM) IS AN ENVISIONED NEW TRANSPORTATION CHOICE THAT ACHIEVES GREATER PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH HIGH SPEED TRAVEL FOR BOTH PASSENGERS AND GOODS WHEREVER AND WHENEVER USERS DESIRE. ODM COMBINES THE IMMEDIATE AND FLEXIBLE TRAVEL ACCESS OF AUTOMOBILES WITH AVIATION'S SPEED AND ABILITY TO TRAVEL IN A DISTRIBUTED FASHION, INDEPENDENT OF GROUND TERRAIN AND ROUTE INFRASTRUCTURE PATHWAYS. TWO KEY TECHNOLOGIES FOR ENABLING ODM ARE ELECTRIC PROPULSION AND SIMPLIFIED VEHICLE OPERATIONS (WHICH INCLUDES AUTONOMY TECHNOLOGIES). IF THESE TECHNOLOGIES ARE ADVANCED AND TRULY ON-DEMAND SYSTEMS CAN BE DEVELOPED, THERE WOULD BE MAJOR IMPROVEMENTS TO THE U.S. ECONOMY. THE TASKS IN THIS STATEMENT OF WORK ARE FOCUSED ON INDIVIDUAL TECHNOLOGIES THAT MAY HELP ENABLE ODM IN ADDITION TO GENERAL STUDIES INTO THE FEASIBILITY OF AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENTS REQUIRED FOR MISSIONS RANGING FROM PACKAGE DELIVERY TO THIN-HAUL (9-PASSENGER COMMUTER) MISSIONS. BELOW ARE THE EIGHT (8) ODM-RELATED INVESTIGATION/DEVELOPMENT SUBTASKS TO BE PERFORMED UNDER THIS TASK ORDER (TASK):  1. FEASIBLE NEAR-TERM CONCEPT FOR OPERATIONS FOR A SMALL UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEM (SUAS) PACKAGE DELIVERY SCENARIO (IDENTIFIED IN THE SOW) 2. THIN-HAUL MISSION 3. HIGH-LIFT PROPELLER DESIGN 4. STATE OF THE ART MANUFACTURING TECHNIQUES FOR FLEXIBLE, AUTOMATED COMPOSITE LAYUP AND ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING 5. EXISTING NOISE METRICS TO FOUR CLASSES OF AIR VEHICLES 6. TIME AND COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH PILOT TRAINING FROM AB INITIO THROUGH A COMMERCIAL INSTRUMENT, MULTI-ENGINE CERTIFICATION LEVEL 7. LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA (LA) METROPOLITAN AREA AS A POTENTIAL EARLY ADOPTER MARKET FOR ON-DEMAND AIR TRANSPORTATION 8. CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS OF A CENTRIFUGAL FAN (CF) SYSTEM DESIGNED FOR USE A SMALL VTOL AIRCRAFT AS PART OF A DISTRIBUTED ELECTRIC PROPULSION SYSTEM