With the growth of aviation operations and the emergence of new entrants into the National Airspace System , there has been an increasing demand for aeronautical communications . However , the existing VHF / UHF frequency allocations for NAS operations have become increasingly scarce and unable to support the projected growth in demand . While traditional approaches to address the spectrum scarcity issue ( such as reduction of channel bandwidth ) have provided some relief , there is a need for a more scalable and sustainable solution . Consequently , NASA is investigating a new approach to spectrum management within the NAS using Artificial Intelligence and other advanced technologies . The concept considers both air - ground and air - air communication networks with the anticipated outcome that the proposed concept will meet the spectrum needs of future NAS communications .