Announcement of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Ecosystem Working Groups

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) is hereby requesting registration through this notice from interested parties for the following:

NASA seeks public, private, and academic organizations to collaborate with NASA in Urban Air Mobility (UAM) ecosystem working groups, focused on enabling the UAM ecosystem. The realization of the UAM vision will be possible only through the input and contributions of multiple stakeholders, each possessing the necessary authority, expertise, and/or resources to fulfill a critical role in UAM’s development, approval, and implementation. The applicable participants will become integral to the working groups, which will provide a forum for those stakeholders to comment, collaborate and impact the overall ecosystem.

The primary purpose of the UAM ecosystem working groups is to share input, information and opinions that may help to accelerate the development of safe, high-volume UAM flight operations in the existing and anticipated future national airspace system. A broad participation from many organizations will enable NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the UAM community to supplement the existing efforts in the industry, focusing on understanding the viewpoints of a diverse group of stakeholders and an understanding of the ecosystem as a whole. The UAM ecosystem working groups, in coordination with the Grand Challenge series, industry developments and other ARMD efforts, will contribute to the enablement of UAM markets.

NASA seeks to accomplish the following goals:

• Communicate the current and future state of the UAM ecosystem and align on terminology, challenges, barriers, and solutions.
• Provide a forum to forge collaborative opportunities to advance UAM, including establishing new industry partnerships.
• Increase awareness of NASA’s research and planned transition paths.
• Develop a NASA-curated “Book of Requirements” for UAM technology, systems, and operations.
• Support discussions of regulatory and standards development activities at the federal, state, and local level.
• Inform the community on the current state of the industry to identify research gaps and areas of highest industry need.
• Engage the public on UAM, including stakeholders from state and local governments.

The working group participants will be asked to share their diverse expertise, information and opinions on these topics. The working groups will be a forum to communicate industry demonstrations, research and development (R&D) priorities, and share concepts that may enable UAM. Participants will help identify the critical parameters and standards that may impact the future framework development and approach for safety, certification, airspace, aircraft concepts, technologies, and architectures.

NASA seeks information and viewpoints on the following priority topics:

• The overall approach to the Grand Challenge (GC) Series, including elements of GC Developmental Testing and the first Grand Challenge.
• Requirements associated with each aircraft system and subsystems, airspace system and subsystems, and infrastructure necessary to advance UAM.
• Community wide R&D efforts, with a focus on areas of NASA R&D that will enable critical elements of UAM integration.
• Federal, local, and other industry-led initiatives.

Working Group Execution Approach

NASA plans to commence the UAM ecosystem working groups in March 2020 through an interactive workshop. The workshop will most likely be hosted in the Washington, D.C. area to accommodate a broad suite of federal government organizations and industry.

In addition to the initial workshop, NASA will be hosting periodic working group meetings to continue to facilitate community engagement and information related to the UAM ecosystem. NASA expects inputs from the community will be broad and diverse and are thereby not expecting to reach consensus. The meetings will function similarly to open workshops with specific topics serving to focus discussions. By registering, the parties will be added to the distribution list and informed of all meeting times. This is not a formal membership, and consequently, there will be opportunity for all registered parties to attend any scheduled meetings.

Most frequently, the meetings will be in a virtual environment to minimize impact on participating organizations while maximizing the opportunities to interface. However, the working group’s goals will determine the need and frequency for in-person and virtual meetings.

Benefits

Participation in the UAM ecosystem working groups will give contributors the opportunity to closely collaborate with NASA and other government organizations in discussions relating to standards, policies, and operationalization of UAM. These discussions will leverage NASA's knowledge and lessons learned with extensive experience designing, testing, and flying one-of-a-kind aircraft and airspace management systems. Moreover, participants will receive consistent updates regarding the current state of the UAM ecosystem, allowing them to determine where they can provide the best value to their organizations and industry.

Information Requested

Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) welcomes all potential collaborators looking to enable UAM to respond to this notice through the registration link: https://nari.arc.nasa.gov/aam

Registration will consist of completing the following information:

• Organization
• Category (you can choose multiple, if applicable)
  • Aircraft (please specify the subcategory)
    • Aircraft developers
    • Airframe & propulsion
    • Manufacturing
    • Integrated automation & aircraft Operations
    • Flight automation
  • Airspace (please specify the subcategory)
    • Airspace design
    • Flight procedures development
    • UAM-port design
    • CNS
    • Traditional ATM suppliers
    • UTM USS provides
    • Flight service suppliers
    • Fleet operations
    • Test ranges and FAA UAS test sites
  • Community (please specify the subcategory)
    • Government – Federal, State, and local municipalities
    • Developers
    • Venture capitalists
    • Test ranges and FAA UAS test sites
    • Fixed based operators (FBOs)
    • Community based interest groups
    • Industry based interest groups (e.g. ACI, GAMA, JARUS, etc.)
• Point of Contact: (for each category selected)
  • Name
  • Email
• If requested, can we include your contact information on a list of respondents?
  • Yes
  • No
• Information explaining your organization’s overall interest, long-term vision, and potential contributions to the UAM implementation (1000 characters max.)

After the initial entry, NASA may reach out to gather additional information. Once all responses are collected, participants will be contacted with details regarding the next steps.

The information is requested for planning purposes only. This RFI does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP), Invitation for Bid (IFB), Request for Quote (RFQ) or Announcement for Proposal. This RFI is not an offer nor a commitment by the Government to enter into a contract or any other type of agreement. This RFI does not indicate or intend that the Government will issue a solicitation or award a contract in this area nor does it obligate the government to pay for any information solicited or invest any resources specific to the targeted area.