Enhancing UTM Ecosystem Resiliency and Robustness

The Phase II of this SBIR initiative designed and developed ways in which the resiliency and robustness of UAS Traffic Management (UTM) ecosystems can and should be improved. The primary result of those activities was the development of a flexible, service-based architecture for Health & Integrity (H&I) monitoring, assessment, and mitigation of complex, federated System of Systems (SoS). This aptly named Health & Integrity Management System (HIMS) adds another dimension of capability to the UTM architecture wherein it is intended to holistically monitor and respond to the ecosystem, providing continuity between independent UTM services from a system reliability perspective. The HIMS is in direct alignment with NASA’s Strategic Thrust 5 relating to In-time System-wide Safety Assurance (ISSA) capabilities development and integration. Specifically, the HIMS supports progress towards achievement of the first major ISSA milestone, namely the development of domain-specific safety monitoring and alerting tools. The primary objective of our Phase IIE effort is to do a full deployment of our HIMS system, developed under Phase II, to the functioning The Ohio State University (OSU) UTM system for utilization and evaluation with ongoing real-time operations. The deployment will enable the testing, demonstration, and maturation of the HIMS capability that is necessary to take our system to the next stage of a commercialized product. The CAL Team is well positioned to commercialize our innovation, as we have a proven track record of integrating UAS into the National Airspace System and are working with the leading UTM/UAM firms around the world.

Our Phase IIE SBIR has applications throughout the NASA portfolio, where a HIMS product would further NASA efforts and research. This includes the following areas: AAM National Campaign, System Wide Safety (SWS) , both of which CAL is involved with in Ohio. Additionally, this deployment will provide NASA a chance to gain valuable SWS data under real, commercial UTM conditions.

The HIMS concept has already gained traction with DOTs and ANSPs looking to operationalize UTM ecosystems. We are solving critical pain points for complex system of systems with safety, availability or uptime requirements. Our market research has shown that this same technology is applicable to additional markets such as Counter UAS, Smart Cities, Industrial Internet of Things, and Vertiports.

This is a mature technology (TRL 8) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.