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The Next Era of Aviation: Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management Convention

InstantEye unmanned aircraft system
In this image, an unmanned aircraft system is operated in Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard, California during Coastal Trident 2015 field experimentation and exercise activities. The exercises included a demonstration of UTM concepts.
NASA

“The sky could become increasingly crowded as personal and commercial uses of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), commonly called drones, become more popular.” That’s the assessment of Parimal Kopardekar, manager of NASA’s Safe Autonomous Systems Operations project, as innovators constantly conceive new beneficial applications for these aircraft, including goods delivery, infrastructure inspection, search and rescue, and agricultural monitoring.

To address the growth of this quickly evolving technology, NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recognize that a UAS traffic management (UTM) system for low-altitude airspace is needed. Last year, NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley released an open a call to invite government, industry and academic partners to collaborate with NASA to conduct and identify research needs and to accelerate the development of such a system. 

An InstantEye unmanned aircraft system is operated in Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard, California during Coastal Trident 2015 f
An InstantEye unmanned aircraft system is operated in Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard, California during Coastal Trident 2015 field experimentation and exercise activities.

This week, July 28-30, NASA is hosting a three-day UTM Convention to bring together a broad domestic and international audience of government and civilian representatives, industry and academia, aviation, agriculture, film and other industries, to understand and define the UAS impact and challenges ahead. 

Follow the conversation online with #UTM2015.

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