In June 2018, NASA’s remotely piloted Ikhana aircraft, based at the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., successfully flew its first mission in the National Airspace System without a safety chase aircraft ( Fig. The project uses modeling, simulations, and flight tests to develop and test technologies that provide safe, effective, secure capabilities including detect and avoid (DAA) and command and control (C2).
The UAS-NAS project is within the Integrated Aviation Systems Research Program, managed by NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. This involves identifying, developing, and testing the technologies and procedures that will make it possible for UAS to have routine access to airspace occupied by human-piloted aircraft.įour NASA centers support the UAS-NAS project: NASA’s Ames Research Center and Armstrong Flight Research Center in California, Langley Research Center in Virginia, and Glenn Research Center in Ohio. As NASA expands its research and development of small unmanned aircraft vehicles, the MicroCub will continue to support UAS efforts that will ultimately change and redefine UAS flight in the future.NASA is pursuing a program that integrates unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into the National Airspace System, or UAS-NAS.
The MicroCub is just one small step in familiarizing the public with a tangible representation of what the future of unmanned flight could look like in the sky above them. MicroCub’s small but versatile design offers a lower-cost solution to validate one-off airframe designs, further define requirements for UAS technologies, integrate payloads, contribute to risk reduction and airworthiness tests, prove autonomous technology capabilities, and achieve a variety of other UAS-NAS related objectives. Since the initial flight in January, the Armstrong crew has since installed an onboard smoke system – a see-and-avoid tool that can be used for visual identification (VID) of the aircraft, ensuring that small to midsize UAS are detectable by other aircraft during flight.īy testing this technology on the MicroCub first, NASA can record VID data during test flight encounters, which will help researchers understand just how visible small UAS aircraft, like SIERRA-B, are from a variety of distances, without the risk or high cost that comes with testing such a technology on larger UAS like NASA’s Ikhana Predator B. “In addition to helping with UAS integration into the NAS efforts, the MicroCub is a configurable aircraft that can be modified and utilized for a variety of flight tests at NASA,” said Justin Hall, an Armstrong operations engineer and UAS pilot. Eventually, this technology will be integrated onto other NASA UAS aircraft, such as NASA Ames’ Sensor Integrated Environmental Remote Research Aircraft, SIERRA-B. The successful maiden flight means the MicroCub will undergo additional aircraft modifications to validate risk reduction technology. This was the first flight of the MicroCub in which the crew validated the airworthiness of the aircraft. Specifications of the vehicle include a 21-foot wingspan, a Piccolo Autopilot guidance system and a JetCat SPT-15 Turboprop–a design only model aircraft fanatics could dream up! The MicroCub, a modified Bill Hempel 60-percent-scale super cub, approaches NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center for a landing. Though small in size, the MicroCub is a powerful vehicle in the realm of small to midsize UAS aircraft. This initial flight was intended to check the ground handling and flight characteristics of the aircraft, along with validating the Command and Control (C2) system, verifying the “remote control only” mechanism, setting the tuning for autopilot gain, performing engine runs, gauging fuel consumption and testing stall speed. On January 18th, 2018, Armstrong’s Subscale Research Lab team piloted the MicroCub for its inaugural flight, successfully demonstrating the aircraft’s airworthiness.
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