The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently entered into three unique Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) with General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA); GE Aviation Systems, LLC (GE); and AAI Corporation.
The collaborative research is in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), and is the first of its kind for the FAA.
The objectives of this research are for the FAA and collaborating parties to perform a variety of operational and technical assessments to meet specific objectives to support integration of the UAS into the National Airspace System (NAS), and to assist in Next Generation Air Transportation System planning efforts and future UAS technology development to foster mutual successes and enable early technology deliverables.
The point of contact for each collaborating party is:
- GA: Michael Cooper, 856-525-6578
- GE: Adam Daley-Fell, 616-241-7502
- AAI: Rose Karolenko, 410-628-8604
The CRADAs were awarded in June 2009 and have a duration period of 24 months.
The results are expected to assess the impact of UAS operations in the NAS; establish configuration and performance baselines; assess UAS operational and technical performance in normal and contingency operating conditions; and establish a suite of UAS-NAS modeling, simulation, and analysis capabilities.
More info: Deborah Germak, 609-485-9862
