Services for Ongoing Assessment of Risk (SOAR)

The Longbow Group, LLC (LONGBOW), with Daniel H. Wagner Associates, Inc. (DHWA) as a subcontractor, will demonstrate the feasibility of developing key components of a future In-Time Aviation Safety Management System (IASMS) and commercializing those components as IASMS Services, Functions, and Capabilities (SFCs) within one or more Supplemental Data Service Providers (SDSPs) supporting Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM). Services for Ongoing Assessment of Risk (SOAR) will be able to monitor and record real-time telemetry data from UAS and provide efficient safety prognostic decision-supporting tools that can identify and alert the operator about emergent anomalous behaviors to prevent critical system failures. Specifically, SOAR will monitor, record, and assess UAS subsystem health & status, including battery health, RF signals for Command and Control (C2), GPS signal strength, and IMU and Compass data. SOAR will utilize state-of-the-art Machine Learning (ML) models to perform short-term prediction of subsystem status/behavior, where each model has been trained on large amounts of recorded flight data of the same type, including operations with controlled subsystem failures (e.g., lost link, lost GPS, battery failure, etc.). Initial target markets are other ANSPs and UTM providers and UAS Operators with use cases such as Security, Search and Rescue, Disaster Relief and Air Cargo transportation. Future target markets include Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Air Taxi providers.

SOAR will directly support NASA programs/projects related to UAS/eVTOL safety and risk mitigation, particularly the AOSP System Wide Safety (SWS) initiative including NASA’s planned Safety Demonstrator Series (SDS) and NASA's UAS SuperVolo program related to Aerial Wildfire Response. SOAR would also benefit programs involved in human-autonomy teaming (e.g., the HAT Lab), providing a prognostic decision-making tool for humans to monitor, assess and mitigate operational safety risks. With FAA recognition as a Risk Assessment and Mitigation tool for UAS/eVTOL operations, the market opportunity for a fully developed SOAR, as a stand-alone SDSP or as part of a scalable, expandable end-to-end PEGASUS Urban Air Services platform, are excellent and valuable for Security, Disaster Relief, Search & Rescue, air cargo logistics and air taxi companies to gain regulatory approvals for their safety cases.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 1) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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