NASA Project to Integrate Air Cargo and Air Taxi Flights into the National Airspace
Remotely piloted aircraft could revolutionize the way people and goods are transported, providing our communities with better access to important services, such as medical supply delivery and efficient transportation.
NASA’s PAAV program is working with partners to safely integrate air cargo aircraft and remotely piloted air taxis into the national airspace alongside traditional manned aircraft.
These new vehicles could make air cargo and air travel cheaper and more convenient across the country.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) predicts that the U.S. fleet of large cargo aircraft will grow significantly by 2044 to meet cargo demand.
However, pilot shortages remain a challenge for the air cargo industry, exacerbated by early retirements and crew reductions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the future, a single pilot may be able to remotely control multiple aircraft. This could help meet growing air cargo demand, ease pilot shortages and costs, and increase the amount of cargo shipped daily.
Additionally, remote-controlled air taxis can avoid busy highways and roads, reducing travel time for passengers and easing traffic congestion.
Identifying Technical Challenges
Commercial companies are investing in autonomous driving technology to enable remote air cargo and air taxi operations.
NASA is working with the aviation industry to identify the unique technical challenges that must be overcome to safely and routinely operate these new aircraft.
The agency has identified several challenges that must be addressed to ensure safe and scalable remote operations. These challenges include airspace integration, avoiding air and ground hazards, and resilient communications technology.
The main difference between traditional drones and remote-controlled aircraft is the location of the pilot. The remote pilot operates the aircraft from a ground control station rather than a cockpit.
This means that the remote pilot needs new automation and decision support systems to operate the aircraft because they cannot rely on eyes and vision in the cockpit. Since the remote pilot is on the ground, they need a reliable communication link so that they can interact with the aircraft and maintain command and control.
NASA researchers say that if command and control capabilities are lost, autonomous systems will need to take over to ensure that the drone can fly and land safely. Proper plans and procedures must be in place to safely manage the nominal loss of command and control capabilities.
While air traffic control systems may help keep the drone’s course clear of certain traffic during takeoff and landing, onboard automation technologies are needed to avoid all other traffic, guide the aircraft along a known route, and ensure that the runway is clear for landing.
A related major challenge is that the pilot is typically responsible for watching for approaching aircraft out the window and staying away from them. Since the pilot is not remotely located inside the aircraft, he needs an electronic system to detect and avoid the aircraft. Detect and avoid systems rely on information, sensors, and algorithms to help remotely piloted aircraft stay away from other aircraft. Some detect and avoid configurations are expected to use ground surveillance systems to monitor nearby low-altitude air traffic.
These systems can provide a more comprehensive real-time traffic picture, improving the overall understanding of traffic conditions near airports.
In addition, automation and decision support tools can assist remote pilots in other duties that typically require cockpit decision-making, such as traffic integration at airports without control towers.
Implementing Solutions
To address these and other challenges, NASA researchers are working with industry partners to study and test technologies, concepts, and airspace procedures that will enable remote flight operations.
For example, the industry is developing automated taxi, takeoff, and landing capabilities to help integrate remotely piloted aircraft operating at busy airports.
These technologies could allow aircraft to autonomously navigate and merge with traffic at other airports, following standard routes and air traffic control orders, ensuring safe sequencing and spacing between other aircraft. Automatic hazard detection would allow aircraft to identify potential conflicts or hazards and take corrective action without intervention from the remote pilot. This ensures the safety of the aircraft.
Automatic hazard detection could allow aircraft to identify potential conflicts or hazards and take corrective action without intervention from the remote pilot. This would ensure aircraft can safely navigate through airport environments even when the remote pilot is monitoring multiple aircraft or reacting late.
NASA researchers have begun testing emerging technologies for remotely piloted aircraft operations with commercial partners. The goal is to assist in the development of technical standards and to assist in the development of certification requirements and procedures needed to integrate remotely piloted operations into the airspace.
NASA aims to bridge technology and regulatory gaps through industry collaborations that include research, testing, and development. Ultimately, NASA hopes to enable pilots to remotely fly multiple large aircraft simultaneously to airports across the country, moving people and cargo more efficiently.
This would enable airlines to meet growing demand for air travel and transportation in a safe, affordable, and scalable manner, expanding their access to new communities.
The PAAV project is a sub-project of the Air Traffic Management Exploration Program under NASA’s Aeronautics Research Directorate.
