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| Rendering of NASA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) integration in the National Airspace System (NAS). Photo: NASA |
[Avionics Today 08-03-2015] Lockheed Martin has deployed the first components of an Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) system aimed to improve situational awareness to UAS operators and pilots as unmanned aircraft begin to enter airspace. The company’s online Flight Service Pilot Web feeds flight plan information directly to the FAA’s National Airspace System (NAS) and UAS operators now have the option to report operating areas via this system.
“Our objective is an open, standards-based system that individual operators and other private UTM systems can use to interact seamlessly and securely with the NAS,” said Paul Engola, vice president of Lockheed Martin’s transportation and financial solutions business. “We look forward to partnering with UAS operators and manufacturers to help create a system that supports the safe coexistence of manned and unmanned flight.”
Lockheed Martin is developing additional UTM capabilities in collaboration with several industry stakeholders including the NASA UTM research project through a Space Act information sharing agreement. These capabilities include standards-based software interfaces that allow UAS ground control stations and other UTM platforms to interact directly with Lockheed Martin’s UTM system; monitoring of UAS to determine if they remain in their intended operating area; and notification of air traffic control when UAS encroach on controlled airspace. Lockheed Martin is also developing capabilities to support Beyond Line-of-Sight (BLOS) UAS operations through ground-based detect-and-avoid capabilities.