Media Invited to Demonstration of NASA UAS Traffic Management Technologies

May 22, 2017
MEDIA ADVISORY M17-058

Media are invited to see the latest technologies NASA is working on as part of its Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) project Thursday, May 25, at the Reno-Stead Airport in Reno, Nevada.

The flight demonstration, called UTM Technology Capability Level 2 (TCL2) National Campaign, will focus on flying small, remotely-operated aircraft, or drones, beyond the pilot’s line of sight in sparsely populated areas to demonstrate, evaluate, and refine functional designs and UTM technology prototypes.

NASA engineers, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) test site managers, and representatives from participating UAS commercial partners will be available for interviews. Media also will be able to watch and videotape a flight demonstration.
 
The flight campaign began May 15 and runs through June 9 at six FAA UAS test sites around the country. The test sites are partnering with government, industry, and academia to complete the flight tests. It’s the second in a series of four increasingly complicated demonstrations of UTM technology. The first phase took place in 2015, and the second began in 2016 and continues through this campaign.

It is envisioned that UTM will provide basic services such as flight planning, flight monitoring, hazardous weather and wind avoidance, and other services. Most of these services will be provided by a number of commercial UAS service suppliers, rather than by a single system. These service suppliers then support missions by UAS operators.

To attend this event, media must contact one of the following individuals by 7 p.m. EDT May 24, and arrive at Reno-Stead Airport by noon May 25:

    Mark Barker, Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems, 702-629-9327, mark.barker@nias-uas.com
    Brian Kulpin, Reno-Tahoe International Airport, 775-328-6401, bkulpin@renoairport.com
    Jennifer Cooper, Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development, 702-486-2709, jcooper@diversifynevada.com

Because the test range has been reserved for Nevada Institute for Autonomous Systems testing, no additional drones may be brought to the test site during this time.

For information about NASA aeronautics, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/aeronautics

For information about the Nevada FAA test site, visit,

http://nias-uas.com/

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