Implementing a Nodal Environment Matrix for Dynamic Path Planning (DPP)

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) is an emerging aviation ecosystem that leverages an array of innovative propulsion, airframe, and aircraft technologies that are enabling new opportunities for transportation in the National Airspace System (NAS). Developing an operational concept and solution that provides collaborative, scalable, dynamic, efficient, and safe UAM operations in complex urban airspace is an extremely difficult task. As AAM operations become more accepted by the general community, the tempo of operations is expected to increase, which will require significant innovation of airspace management concepts to address dynamic route planning, dynamic scheduling, and NAS integration. As of today, two competing AAM operational models have been identified: pre-defined, or “fixed”, airspace solutions using defined corridors, and dynamic “free-flight”-based solutions, using automation systems to identify available route options. The Nodal Environment Matrix (NEM) developed by The Belmont Group introduces a novel approach to airspace management for AAM operations. The NEM employs a multi-layered mesh structure of nodes overlaying a designated airspace. The nodes serve as navigation waypoints and data exchanges, predicting availability based on aircraft trajectories and their spatial envelopes. The NEM's two main components, the nodal mesh matrix and Aircraft Occupancy Envelopes (AOEs), enable strategic deconfliction, dynamic route planning, and on-demand scheduling while accommodating a diverse set of UAM use cases. Our nodal matrix enables a hybrid airspace management model, utilizing the best concepts from predefined, structured airspace solutions, along with dynamic route pathing flexibility typical of free-flight pathing solutions. Phase I efforts will focus on the required system engineering documentation as well as developing and refining an initial prototype NEM to demonstrate the concept's feasibility.

NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) has made significant contributions by developing air traffic management capabilities for low-altitude unmanned vehicle operations, referred to as "UAS Traffic Management" (UTM). This work is being adapted to safely and efficiently integrate larger Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) vehicles and operations with existing operations and mission types. Our proposed Nodal Environment Matrix (NEM) could be used in NASA’s Operational Integration Assessments (OIA) and research work for evaluating Urban Air Mobility (UAM) operations at UAM maturity level (UML) 3 and beyond. We believe the NEM is a natural progression of NASA’s Dynamic Path Planning (DPP) research that offers an optimized and comprehensive working implementation of the identified framework. Our proposal utilizes the NASA DPP framework to create a solution that answers the critical research gaps for topic A3.02 Advanced Air Traffic Management for Nontraditional Airspace Missions. Initial AAM passenger-carrying operations are predicted to remain low-tempo until they achieve wide community acceptance, and necessary infrastructure improvements are in place. We expect that these initial low-tempo operations will use existing airspace management concepts, such as charted routes and corridors, to ease the integration and acceptance of this new technology into the NAS. As such, the cooperative management services and Providers of Services for UAM (PSUs) may not be required for these early-stage low-tempo operations. The Belmont Group, Inc. has been engaging with several electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to develop relationships and to discuss the advisory capabilities of the Nodal Environment Matrix (NEM). We view the NEM as an effective tool for strategically deconflicting near-term operations, which will allow operators to avoid unnecessary ground delays and costly hover/holding maneuvers. As the operational tempo increases, we envision the NEM being marketed as a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) solution or potential subscription model for Providers of Services for Urban Air Mobility (UAM) (PSUs) to use for flight planning, scheduling, path optimization, and strategic deconfliction. Additionally, the NEM’s design facilitates UAM integration into urban mixed-airspace environments with legacy operations. As the complexity, capacity, and requirements to utilize the cooperative airspace increase, we speculate there will be operators lacking the capability or desire to implement the necessary shared services architecture to access UAM airspaces. Instead of partnering with other OEMs, we believe many of these operators may wish to purchase a service subscription or complete COTS system.

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