The Collier Report of U.S. Government Contracting

Sampling of Federal Government Funding Actions/Set Asides

In order by amount of set aside monies.

• $29,000 - Friday the 10th of July 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  MOST CURRENT RESEARCH RELATED TO THE INTEGRATION OF UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEMS (UAS) INTO THE NATIONAL AIRSPACE SYSTEM (NAS) FOCUSES ON SEPARATION ASSURANCE AND THE SEGREGATION OF MANNED AND UNMANNED TRAFFIC TO ENSURE SAFETY OF FLIGHT IN CONTROLLED AIRSPACE. THIS IS A SENSIBLE AND WORTHY NEAR TO MID-TERM GOAL. HOWEVER, THE ULTIMATE LONG-TERM GOAL OF UAS OPERATIONS WILL BE THE ROUTINE AND SEAMLESS OPERATION OF UAS WITH MANNED TRAFFIC, EVEN IN UNCONTROLLED AIRSPACE. WELL-DEFINED STANDARDS CURRENTLY EXIST FOR MANNED FLIGHT IN THE NAS. IF A UAS WERE TO HAVE THE SAME ONBOARD ABILITIES AS A HUMAN PILOT IT WOULD MEET THOSE STANDARDS AND COULD, THEORETICALLY, FLY SEAMLESSLY WITH MANNED TRAFFIC WITH MINIMAL OR NO INFRASTRUCTURE CHANGES. CURRENT INTEGRATION EFFORTS WILL NOT YIELD TECHNOLOGY CAPABLE OF ACHIEVING THIS, AS THOSE EFFORTS FOCUS ON HIGHLY STRUCTURED AIRSPACE USES WHERE ALL AIRCRAFT ARE SIMILARLY EQUIPPED, SUCH AS SCHEDULED AIR CARRIER SERVICE, WHILE IGNORING OTHER USES OF AIRSPACE SUCH AS GENERAL AVIATION. THERE EXISTS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR NASA TO LAY THE FOUNDATION TO ALLOW FOR A MORE THOROUGH INTEGRATION OF UAS WITH ALL USES OF THE NAS. THE PROPOSED EFFORT AIMS TO COMPLEMENT ARMD'S NEW UAS IN THE NAS INITIATIVE BY DEVELOPING TECHNOLOGY THAT ALLOWS UAS TO HAVE THE SAME CAPABILITY OF A HUMAN PILOT S EYE/BRAIN TO DETECT AN AIRBORNE OBJECT IN VFR CONDITIONS IN ORDER TO SAFELY AVOID IT.

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