AAM Ecosystem Crosscutting Working Group: Autonomy Panel

AgendaOctober 7th, 2020

11:00AM – 1:00PM ET

Topic Speaker Time (ET) Description

Introduction • Dr. Misty Davies, NASA 11:00AM - 11:10AM

• Welcome attendees, share the

meeting agenda, review the

discussion topic (Autonomy), and

introduce the panelists

Panelist

Discussion

• Dr. Lael Rudd, National Academies

Committee for Autonomy Research in

Aviation

• Léonard Bouygues, Head of Aviation

Strategy, Loon

• Dr. Ella Atkins, University of Michigan,

National Academies Committee for

Autonomy Research in Aviation

• Dr. Parimal Kopardekar, Director of the

NASA Aeronautic Research Institute (NARI)

• Hunter Hudson, Head of Autonomy

Technology at Northrop Grumman

11:10AM – 12:50PM

• Each panelist will take 10 minutes to share their views on autonomy and its role in UML-2 and UML-4

• Discussion with Panelists and Active

Participants regarding autonomy

• If time permits or at the facilitator’s

discretion, we will take questions

from the Listen Only Participants

though Conferences.io

Closing • Dr. Misty Davies, NASA 12:50PM – 1:00PM

• Offer a high-level recap of the

feedback session and share the

Crosscutting Working Group next

steps

Platforms and Discussion

• Active Participants

– Platform: MS Teams

– Discussion: MS Teams microphone, chat, and “Raise your hand” functions

• Leave your cameras/webcams off to preserve WiFi bandwidth

• Use your mute/unmute button (e.g. remain on mute unless you are speaking)

• Enter comments/questions in the chat

• Click the “Raise your hand” button if you wish to speak

• Say your name and affiliation before you begin speaking

• Listen Only Participants

– Platform: YouTube Live Stream (go to https://nari.arc.nasa.gov/aamecosystem for the link!)

– Discussion: Conferences.io

• Enter https://arc.cnf.io/sessions/br2k/#!/dashboard into your browser

• Questions will be addressed if times permits or at the facilitator’s discretion3

Vehicles Airspace Community

4

UML-1

Late-Stage Certification Testing and Operational Demonstrations in Limited EnvironmentsAircraft certification testing and operational evaluations with conforming prototypes; procedural and technology innovation supporting future airspace

operations (e.g. UTM-inspired); community/market demonstrations and data collection

UML-2

Low Density and Complexity Commercial Operations with Assistive AutomationType certified aircraft; initial Part 135 operation approvals; limited markets with favorable weather and regulation; small UAM network serving urban

periphery; UTM Construct and UAM routes supporting self-managed operations through controlled airspace

UML-3

Low Density, Medium Complexity Operations with Comprehensive Safety Assurance AutomationOperations include urban core; operational validation of advanced airspace operations and management including UTM inspired ATM, CNSI, C^2, and automation for scalable, weather-tolerant operations; few high-capacity vertiports; noise compatible with urban soundscape; model-local regulations

UML-4

Medium Density and Complexity Operations with Collaborative and Responsible Automated Systems100s of simultaneous operations; expanded networks including closely-spaced high throughput vertiports; many UTM inspired ATM services available,

simplified vehicle operations for credit; low-visibility operations

UML-5

High Density and Complexity Operations with Highly-Integrated Automated Networks1,000s of simultaneous operations; large-scale, highly-distributed networks; high-density UTM inspired ATM; autonomous aircraft and remote, M:N

fleet management; high-weather tolerance including icing; high-volume manufacturing

UML-6

Ubiquitous UAM Operations with System-Wide Automated Optimization10,000s of simultaneous operations (capacity limited by physical infrastructure); ad hoc landing sites; noise compatible with suburban/rural operations;

private ownership & operation models enabled; societal expectation

INITIAL STATE

MATURE STATE

INTERMEDIATE STATE

UAM Framework and Barriers

UAM Maturity Levels (UML)

Panelist DiscussionWhat aviation functions require automation and/or autonomy in

order to achieve UAM Maturity Levels (UML) 2 and 4?

Future Meetings

The Crosscutting Working Group’s meeting dates and times vary depending on the needs of the AAM community.

• Oct 20, 2020: Topic: MBSE Approach

• Nov 17, 2020: Topic: National Campaign (NC) Partnership Strategy

• Jan 21, 2021: Topic: ISSA/IASMS ConOps Follow-Up Discussion

• Feb 9, 2021: Topic: UAM Community ConOps Follow-Up Discussion

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Crosscutting Working Group POCs

• Technical Lead:

– Dr. Misty Davies (misty.d.davies@nasa.gov)

• Coordinator:

– Anna Cavolowsky (anna.e.cavolowsky@nasa.gov)

Comments, questions, suggestions for future topics, and other workgroup information:

• Email us at: arc-cal-nari@mail.nasa.gov; or

• Visit the website: https://nari.arc.nasa.gov/aamecosystem

See you at the next meeting on October 20th!

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Panelist Biographies

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Dr. Lael Rudd joined DARPA in March 2020 as a program manager in the Tactical Technology Office. His expertise is in advanced autonomy systems for space and air domains.

Rudd joined DARPA after serving as chief scientist for BAE Systems' FAST Labs, where he worked to advance autonomy open architecture and technical strategy. Previously, Rudd was at Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, where he was technical director for the Conventional Prompt Strike hypersonic program, advanced the autonomy technical strategy, and worked alternative positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) efforts.

Rudd holds a Doctor of Philosophy in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park; a Master of Science in biomedical engineering from the University of Southern California; and a Master of Science as well as a Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering, both from the University of Maryland, College Park.

10

Leonard is currently Head of Aviation Strategy at Loon. Loon is a network of high-altitude balloons that provide telecommunications access to unserved and underserved populations. It is the first large-scale automated fleet of unmanned vehicles and has already surpassed one million flight hours.

In this role, Leonard is responsible for the development of innovative aviation concepts. He currently leads industry players in the development of the “Collaborative Traffic Management in the Stratosphere” CONOPs. He is also a key contributing author of the initial paper that he presented at Drone Enable 2019. Additionally, Leonard is currently working in partnerships with academia and research organizations to evolve safety frameworks within FAA’s safety continuum, in particular for in-time safety management, risk budgeting and human automation teaming for the supervision of large autonomous fleets.

Leonard holds a Master’s in Aeronautical Engineering from Imperial College London, a M.Sc. in Management of Technology and Innovation form MIT, and a M.Sc. in management from HEC Paris.

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Dr. Ella Atkins is a Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan, where she directs the Autonomous Aerospace Systems Lab. Dr. Atkins holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan.

She is Editor-in-Chief of the AIAA Journal of Aerospace Information Systems (JAIS) and has served on the National Academy's Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, the Institute for Defense Analysis Defense Science Studies Group, and in multiple AIAA technical committees. She pursues research in Aerospace system autonomy and safety and is currently engaged as a Technical Fellow at Collins Aerospace.

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Dr. Parimal Kopardekar (PK) serves as the Director of NASA Aeronautics Research Institute (NARI). In that capacity, he is responsible for exploring new trends and needs related to aeronautics. He also serves as principal investigator for the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management (UTM). For UTM, he and the team won the Service to America Medals (known as Oscars of Federal Workforce) in Promising Innovation Category in 2018. He was named in top 25 most influential people in commercial UAS industry in 2017. He also won NASA exceptional technology medal in 2016. He is co-author of over 50 publications with 3 best paper awards. He is passionate about airspace operations, autonomy, advanced air mobility, and digital manufacturing and supply chains in aeronautics. He is co-editor-in-chief of Journal of Aerospace Operations and a fellow of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

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Hunter Hudson is the Head of Autonomy Technology at Northrop Grumman, leading Autonomy Technology research, development, and technology insertions, focused on the Air and Space domains in the defense sector.

Hunter has previously lead teams working on driving and flying robots in the commercial sector. He was a founding member of the Windows Azure cloud effort at Microsoft and later ran the Amazon AWS edge network. He owned the Windows operating system secure coding effort and the operational cyber security of the Azure cloud environment. He was leading the software platform effort of Amazon’s delivery drone, prior to joining Northrop.

Hunter attended Vanderbilt University and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in the double major of Electrical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering. He earned a Masters of Engineering in Electrical Engineering from University of Washington studying robotic vision systems. He is currently a student pilot at Pinnacle Aviation Academy, along with his teenage daughter who is interested in becoming an astronaut.