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NASA’s SIO Project Ends

Over the past few years NASA has been testing and validating research associated with unmanned aircraft through a project called Unmanned Aircraft System Integration in the National Airspace System or UAS in the NAS project. This project spanned several years and addressed many of the early concerns of how unmanned aircraft would be integrated into our national airspace. After years of study the UAS in the NAS project has tackled many of the early concerns but one last big hurdle remains to successfully demonstrate how unmanned aircraft will work in harmony within the national airspace. With this in mind the final phase of testing is called the Systems Integration and Operationalization Demonstration activity or SIO. The goal of SIO is to work toward commercial UAS operations in the NAS. In order to accomplish that goal, NASA has partnered with American Aerospace Technology Incorporated (AATI), Bell, and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI), Inc. to conduct fight demonstrations in the NAS that emulate commercial missions and begin working toward Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) type certification. On this episode of NASA X, we will take a look back at years of testing and development that have led up to the SIO demonstration flights. We’ll meet the companies that are making these flights happen. Credits: NASA

Innovative remotely piloted aircraft are being designed all over the world, but the challenge now is to certify these aircraft to fly in the national airspace system (NAS). NASA helped with this effort through the Systems Integration and Operationalization (SIO) demonstrations, which resulted in three different types of remotely piloted aircraft demonstrating commercial missions in the NAS.   

The first flight demonstration took place in April 2020. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) used its SkyGuardian Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) to demonstrate a commercial mission for performing inspections. This included monitoring miles of rail; power line; communication and canal infrastructure; agriculture and topological surveys; wildfire and flood monitoring.

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. flew its SkyGuardian unmanned aircraft to conduct a NASA Systems Integration and Operationalization demonstration
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. flew its SkyGuardian remotely piloted aircraft to conduct a NASA Systems Integration and Operationalization demonstration activity on April 3, 2020.
Credits: General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc.

The next flight demonstration by Bell Textron Inc. in September 2020 used its APT 70 UAS. Bell performed a representative urgent medical transport mission. It is envisioned in the future that an operational APT 70 could provide rapid medical transport for blood, organs, and perishable medical supplies.

The Bell Textron Inc. APT 70 Unmanned Aircraft System flew for 10 minutes from Bell’s facility
The Bell Textron Inc. APT 70 Unmanned Aircraft System flew for 10 minutes from Bell’s facility on Floyd Carlson Field, near Fort Worth, Texas, on Sept. 28, 2020.
Credits: Bell Textron Inc.

To wrap up the series, American Aerospace Technologies Inc. (AATI) flew its AiRanger in February 2021. The demonstration consisted of aerial inspections of several miles of gas and petroleum pipelines. The use of UAS for these types of inspections can help identify pipeline leaks early to prevent environmental disasters.

American Aerospace Technologies Inc.’s AiRanger unmanned aircraft system (UAS) flew with the Citabria plane observing
American Aerospace Technologies Inc.’s AiRanger Unmanned Aircraft System flew with the Citabria plane observing the flight during NASA’s Systems Integration and Operationalization demonstration Feb. 25, 2021.
Credits: American Aerospace Technologies Inc.

NASA’s role in SIO was to leverage its years of research experience in Detect and Avoid (DAA) and Command and Control (C2). The project facilitated discussions between industry and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and provided technical insight as technology and policy evolved for UAS larger than 55 pounds for commercial uses.

NASA has documented best practices from the SIO activity that the UAS community can use to increase industrywide progress toward routine commercial remotely piloted aircraft operations.

This partnership with the FAA aimed to accelerate the safe integration of UAS into the NAS. Although SIO has come to an end, NASA’s work of spearheading integration of new types of vehicles into the NAS continues.

Author: Teresa Whiting

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Last Updated
Jul 26, 2023