Cooperative and Coordinated Digital Flight
A capability of cooperative and coordinated flight operations founded on a platform of secure digital information exchange, distributed authority, and intelligent onboard automation for flight path management in four dimensions (lateral, vertical, & time) to promote ubiquitous, safe, seamless, and efficient airspace utilization for all operators and with flexible architectures that enable operators to achieve their unique and diverse mission objectives with minimal restriction.
Operate From Anywhere
A substantial expansion of the locations and operational conditions under which vehicles can access the National Airspace System, including expanded use of the nation’s existing uncontrolled aerodromes and flexible creation of new temporary and permanent aerodromes with minimal required permanent infrastructure, and support for low-visibility and high demand operations.
Intelligent and Adaptive Automation
Collective learning and dynamic information processing that augments operations and optimization of shared resources, with built-in resilience through intelligent and adaptive automation and applications, such as enhanced weather forecasting and predictive routing efficiency.
In-Time System-Wide Safety Assurance
A broad range of safety systems that proactively mitigate risks and demonstrate innovative solutions while ultimately ensuring safety to the community on the ground and in the airspace, employing services, functions, and capabilities that perform comprehensive monitoring and communication of the aviation system state, assessment of elevated risks, and mitigation actions to assure safety.
Micro-Services for Flight Operators
A diverse marketplace of appropriately authorized service providers distributed throughout the aviation ecosystem supporting flight operations with a wide range of micro-services to meet the varied needs of each operator in the local airspace.
Data and Decision Support Marketplace
A data-and-reasoning fabric providing an open virtual ecosystem of secured software infrastructure, tools, protocols, governance and policies to implement, manage and operate data sharing and reasoning services across the entire span of mobility for real-time decision support.
Digital Airspace
A capability of airspace and air traffic management founded on a platform of digital information and automation to promote safe, seamless, and flexible airspace utilization for all operators and considers airspace constraints dynamically by digital means to ensure system performance and safety.
We envision two community groups, day of use and contributing. Contributing stakeholders perform research, development, and implementation to ensure the day of use stakeholders are successful.
Day of Use Stakeholders
Contributing Stakeholders
Planning
A wholesale distributor is coordinating the transportation of freight of goods a specified distance to another distribution facility.
Robotic assistants coordinate the availability and freight identification for delivery.
Operational service professionals coordinate autonomous aircraft availability. Flight operators leverage Micro-Services for Flight Operators providers for flight planning using information available from the Data and Decision Support Marketplace.
Operation
A Micro-Services for Flight Operators provider notifies the uncrewed aircraft of the location of the freight. Robotic assistants coordinate the loading of the freight on the autonomous cargo aircraft for delivery.
The uncrewed cargo aircraft publishes position, operational intent, and departure time to the Data and Decision Support Marketplace, enabling coordinated operations in the airspace.
Regional Micro-Services for Flight Operators providers facilitate the exchange of cooperative traffic information. The operator uses Cooperative and Coordinated Digital Flight to ensure safe and flexible transit through local airspace using current and forecast airspace constraint data managed by Digital Airspace.
The uncrewed cargo aircraft initiates landing sequence. After landing, the warehouse robos automatically unload the freight for later distribution.
Success
The cargo is added to the inventory of the distribution warehouse.
New transportation plans can be coordinated via the same process to move the cargo via autonomous air vehicles to the next node in the distribution system.
The distributor can deliver goods to customers or retailers using local transportation means.
Help us identify research questions to guide further exploration.
Help us identify barriers to describe obstacles we will need to address.