It’s always exciting when someone has a vision and can implement it into reality. This is not an uncommon practice for the employees working in Flight Standards Service. The team working in the Flight Research and Analysis Branch (AFS-430) at the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center who, for the past eight years have been partnering and collaborating with the engineers and researchers at the FAA’s William J. Hughes Technical Center (WJHTC) in Atlantic City, know what it takes to bring innovation into application.
On April 25, 2023, members of AFS-430 and research engineers at the WJHTC, along with a team from the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia all participated in the WJHTC’s ’Tech Center Tuesday.’ These three entities demonstrated the power of integration when connecting geographically separated organizations with simulated unmanned aerial systems (UAS), electrical vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL), general aviation aircraft, and helicopters all traveling in the same virtual airspace. The connection was conveyed through digital screens using headsets allowing the three Centers to communicate while looking at and maneuvering through the same virtual airspace with varied entrants into the system. This connectivity and research platform has been coming together over the past 8 years among the research technicians and their respective simulators located at each facility, providing further statistical analysis of the importance of aeronautical spacing. Using input from the simulators located at three different locations, researchers can explore new technologies and procedures to enhance efficiencies in the National Airspace System (NAS) while maintaining a margin of safety. These complex facilities don’t have to have every kind of simulator, they just to have the ability to connect to another simulation system wherever it might be located. AFS-430’s team with Randall Cooper, Jeremy Hesselroth and Ryan Weaver have been instrumental in making these virtual connections possible. David Guy, Supervisor Operations Support Specialist shares, "'This is not an easy task. This team has done great work and is right on time as the FAA begins the process of merging Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and Urban Air Mobility into the NAS."'
"'It’s an exciting time to be in aviation. Technology and innovation are moving quickly, we’re looking forward to the future and supporting NAS enhancements,"' says Doug Rodzon, Manager of the Flight Research and Analysis Group. These research platforms allow the exploration, integration and evaluation of concepts using various simulations. The unique components of the NAS are complemented at these facilities. There are components such as air traffic, cockpit simulators, unmanned aircraft simulations, weather data systems, traffic management applications, each of which can be replicated. Anything that operates in the NAS is mirrored in these applications. Such environments help to create an integrated, flexible, and reconfigurable environment. A perfect arrangement for FAA and industry members to explore concepts and development, utilizing many levels of expertise to test prototyping, simulations, and a variety of configurations.
For more information about conducting a potential research study, please contact: Flight Research and Analysis Group (405) 954-3110.
