Runtime Assurance for Flight Test Research Aircraft

Barron Associates proposes to develop a runtime assurance (RTA) system that provides in-flight protection to research aircraft that are flight testing advanced or experimental controllers. The RTA system monitors key critical parameters to determine if errors in the experimental controller are potentially driving the vehicle to unsafe flight conditions. If such conditions are ensuing, the RTA system activates mitigation strategies to bring the aircraft back to a safe state. The main efforts in Phase I are: (1) develop the RTA system in a desktop simulation environment using a challenge problem with a specific advanced control system applied to a specific flight test vehicle that is of interest to NASA Armstrong, (2) integrate the RTA system into a NASA flight test experiment processing environment, (3) generalize the RTA design approach, and (4) prepare for SUAS Phase II flight tests by designing a flight test article and flight test experiment plan. The unmanned, small scale Phase II flight test will lay the groundwork for larger scale Phase III flight test in manned aircraft at NASA or other test facilities.

The developed technologies will help advanced NASA AFRC flight testing efforts by providing trusted, automatic safety monitoring and mitigation measures. This will ease the burden on the flight test pilots from continually monitoring for unsafe conditions, which can often occur faster than a human pilot can recognize and react to in the first place. This added level of protection will also allow expanded flight envelope testing of more complex, advanced control, guidance, mission management/planning systems, and other onboard support technologies, such as vehicle health monitoring.

The developed technologies will help advanced flight testing efforts of DoD services, such as the Army, Navy and Air Force, as well as defense agencies, such as DARPA, as well as commercial airline services. Other potential opportunities in commercial markets will be in unmanned systems applications. There is substantial interest in unmanned systems that can think on their own and react to unforeseen events without the need for human control and intervention. More commercial companies continue to see the benefits of such tools in helping to deliver their products, manage construction of equipment, process hardware, perform automated tasks, etc. Such unmanned platforms range from airborne vehicles, to unmanned ground vehicles, to robotic applications. Errors, breakdowns, faults and unforeseen characteristics will be commonplace when utilizing these types of advanced autonomy, and there is critical need for runtime protection that can provably bound the behaviors of these unmanned, autonomous systems to avoid unsafe conditions or costly accidents.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 4) — 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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