FAA issues RFI for research into uncrewed systems integration

The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is seeking feedback from aviation stakeholders on research areas conducive to supporting and informing standards, technology and development for the safe, secure, and efficient integration of new entrants into the National Airspace System (NAS).

“Research is foundational for the safe integration of new entrants into the NAS, including but not limited to uncrewed aerial systems (UAS) and Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) vehicles,” the Request for Information states. 

The RFI sets out a list of research areas and asks for feedback on whether these are adequate to support the integration of new entrants into the NAS.

The research areas are:

• Beyond Visual-Line-of-Sight Operations.
• Command and Control Link Technologies.
• Traffic Management including: UAS Traffic Management (UTM), Extensible Traffic Management (xTM), Upper Class E Traffic Management (ETM), and Evolution of Air Traffic Management (ATM).
• Noise and other societal and environmental impacts.
• Industry consensus standards including: Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), Aircraft-to-Everything (A2X), and Detect and Avoid (DAA).
• Collisions between new entrants vehicles of various sizes travelling at various speeds. 
• Electronic Conspicuity.
• Human Factors including: Human-system interface, Procedures, and Pilot/crew qualifications.
• Advanced Automation including: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
• Infrastructure Enablers for new entrants including: Airports, Droneports and Vertiports.
• Risks of Hazardous Materials aboard UAS as either cargo or as a power source.

The RFI is not a request for proposals. Responders are invited to comment on or add to this list by December 2.