NextGen UAS Research, Development and Demonstration Roadmap Published

The US Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) has released the NextGen Unmanned Aircraft Systems Research, Development and Demonstration Roadmap (UAS RD&D Roadmap) Version 1.0.

This report represents a significant effort on the part of the JPDO and its six partner agencies to establish a Roadmap of the research and development (R&D) necessary to enable routine operations of UAS in the NextGen National Airspace System (NAS). Collectively, the JPDO and each partner agency contributed executive and technical leadership as well as funding for this effort.

The full report can be downloaded here.

UAS integration into the NAS is a national priority. In fact, the U.S. Government will spend about $19 billion between 2011 and 2015 on UAS research and acquisitions, and many government agencies are already enabling or planning a range of UAS operations. Ultimately, cost-effective implementation will require multi-agency coordination of investment decisions.

The NextGen Senior Policy Committee addressed UAS operations during meetings in 2009 and 2010, focusing on operational requirements, data, and R&D. However, the genesis of the Roadmap was a request by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to the JPDO and its partner agencies. The primary objective was to identify the most critical technology issues involved in establishing a plan for UAS operations.

Although UAS play an increasingly important role in missions—such as border surveillance, wildlife surveys, military training, weather monitoring, and local law enforcement—operations have been hampered by the lack of a common understanding of what is required to safely and routinely operate UAS in the NAS. Challenges (e.g., the lack of an onboard pilot to see and avoid other aircraft, and the wide variation in unmanned aircraft missions and capabilities) must be addressed to fully integrate UAS operations in the NextGen timeframe.

The Roadmap will assist the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in identifying information needed to enable routine UAS access. Ultimately, it will help the NextGen partner agencies:

• Share information, so they can make faster progress in addressing critical R&D challenges
• Capitalize on the research investments of other agencies
• Consider parallel lines of research that complement one another while avoiding duplication
• Allow identification of partners positioned to efficiently address specific issues; and
• Identify opportunities for joint demonstrations that can enhance the value derived from those investments.

The JPDO-led Roadmap has the potential to address a significant portion of the FAA’s research needs for UAS integration more rapidly and at less cost. However, the JPDO found that the technology path for UAS integration into NextGen is not complete, requires further assessment of gaps, and cannot be defined in a piecemeal fashion.

Source: JPDO