Flight Demonstration of NASA's UAS Traffic Management Technologies to Take Place at Reno-Stead Airport

WHO:

Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems, Governor's Office of Economic Development, NAS

WHAT:

Media are invited to see the latest technologies NASA is working on as part of its Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) project.

The flight demonstration, called UTM Technology Capability Level 3 (TCL3) will focus on flying small and large, remotely-operated aircraft, or drones in various NASA communication, navigation, and surveillance (CNS) and drone detection scenarios. For the first time, Nevada is unveiling an innovative Unmanned Traffic Management Drone Detection capability with participation of the top global drone detection companies. Drone detection is major concern across the UAS Industry and Nevada is leading the way to advance this technology in the Public Safety category. Nevada is doing this through an innovative airspace management system that sets Nevada apart from other states. Nevada is also demonstrating long-range communications between Reno and Las Vegas during this demonstration, which is important for NASA beyond visual line of sight operations and future Nevada operations. These new Nevada capabilities are routed through the Switch Fiber Optic SUPERLOOP – Nevada has the first FAA-designated UAS Test Site to advance such capability in the U.S. 

It is envisioned that UTM will have a mechanism to allow for basic services such as flight planning, flight monitoring, hazardous weather and wind avoidance and other potential services. Most of these services will be provided by a number of commercial UAS Service Suppliers (USS) rather than by a single system. These USS's then support missions by UAS operators.

The flight campaign, which is to run March 5 to March 9 at the Nevada FAA- designated UAS Test Site at the Reno-Stead Airport will be the third iteration of UTM testing. The test sites are partnering with government, industry, and academia to complete the flight tests. This second phase will demonstrate, evaluate, and refine functional designs and technology prototypes that will advance airspace traffic management for NASA and the highly competitive DOT / FAA UAS Integration Pilot Program set to be awarded in April 2018.

WHEN:  

Thursday, March 8, 8:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. PST

WHERE:

Reno-Stead Airport, 4895 Texas Avenue, Reno, NV 89506

MEDIA:  

NASA engineers, FAA UAS Test Site Directors, Global Drone Detection leaders, and representatives from participating UAS commercial partners will be available for interviews and exhibiting their innovative technologies. Media will be transported from the terminal building to the UAS test range which is approx. 10 minutes from the terminal building. Reporters also will be able to watch and videotape an actual flight demonstration.