1. NASA Airborne Science Technology Roadmap Development
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Technology Working Group
December 2007

2. Outline Airborne Science Technology Roadmapping Activity Background.
UAS TWG membership roster.
UAS TWG process description.
UAS class definitions used for this study.
Relevance of each capability to the three UAS classes.
Initial set of UAS Enabling Technologies and TWG assignments.
Complete set of UAS Enabling Technologies mapped to capabilities.
UAS Technology Roadmaps (The 7 that were led by the UAS TWG).
Summary.

3. Technology Roadmapping Activity Background
Airborne Science is the sponsor and ARC has the lead for this activity.
A set of science missions and a set of capabilities (that are required to support the science missions) were provided to the six Technology Working Groups (TWG’s).
The TWG’s were asked to identify technologies that advance the required capabilities and develop roadmaps through 2020 for these technologies.
The ultimate goal is to identify those technologies that provide the highest return-on-investment and recommend funding priorities.

4. UAS TWG Membership Core Team Members. Supporting Team Members.
Chris Naftel, DFRC
Geoff Bland, WFF
Brent Cobleigh, DFRC
Dave Fratello, Zeltech
Phil Hall, NOAA
Supporting Team Members.
Technology experts have provided information contained in the technology templates. They are identified on the templates.

5. UAS TWG Process
Capabilities -- Define UAS classes for this effort. Starting with the list of capabilities provided at the beginning of this activity, determine the relevance of each capability to each UAS class.
Technologies -- Starting with the technologies identified in the Civil UAS Capability Assessment (2006), identify the technologies that are the responsibility of the UAS TWG and the technologies that are the responsibility of one of the other five TWG’s. Add additional technologies that could improve the required capabilities.
Technologies/Capabilities Assessment-- Determine which capabilities are directly affected by each UAS technology.
Technology Data Gathering-- Complete and review the templates developed for each technology and gather supporting data from other sources.
Technology Roadmaps -- Using the roadmap format provided for this activity, create a roadmap for each UAS technology that is the responsibility of the UAS TWG.
Next Steps -- Make recommendations on follow-on efforts and potential investment areas.

6. UAS Class Definition for this Effort. (Size/Altitude)
Large/High
Medium/Medium
Small/Low
Three UAS classes were chosen for this activity. The class definitions are based on a combination of the UAS size and maximum altitude capability.

7. Relevance of the Capabilities to the UAS Classes
This matrix shows that the entire list of capabilities provided to the TWG’s have relevance to at least one UAS class, and most capabilities are relevant to multiple UAS classes. Therefore, the entire list of capabilities were considered during the identification of technologies for UAS.

8. Enabling Technologies Identified during the Civil UAS Capability Assessment
In addition to the 5 technology categories (green background) that are the responsibility of the UAS TWG, 2 additional technology areas have been added by the UAS TWG: Aerodynamics and Operations.

9. Each capability is influenced by at least one UAS technology.
Identifying the Capabilities that are Influenced by the UAS Technologies.
Each capability is influenced by at least one UAS technology.

10. Creating the Technology Roadmaps
Technology templates provided by technology experts.
Technology Roadmap
Supplemental Information gathered from other sources.
(Internet searches of Industry and Government studies, research, and future planned development efforts.) 10

11. Capabilities Enabled by this Technology : 5 Capability Imrpovement
Airborne Science Program
UAS Technology Roadmap
Enhanced Structures
Draft
Capabilities Enabled by this Technology : 5
Long Range/Endurance, Very high altitude, Vertical Profiling, Heavy Lift, All Weather conditions.
TRL5
Active Airfoil Shaping – significantly enhanced performance over a wide speed range. NASA F-18B Active Aeroelastic Wing -preliminary flight tests
Flexible Wing Elements
TRL6
TE Active Controls Surfaces, Dynamic Control Algorithms. Many laboratory and aircraft-related development tests. NASA F-15B flight tests, and developmental tests with transport aircraft.
Active Gust Alleviation
Goal: To significantly improve airborne performance and ability to fly in turbulence with advanced structures and controls.
Capability Imrpovement
TRL9
All Composite Wing
Significant improvements in Distance, Duration. NASA Helios flight tests.
Market-driven enhancement slowly move manufacturers toward the widespread use of composite structures

12. Capabilities Enabled by this Technology : 5 Capability Imrpovement
Airborne Science Program
UAS Technology Roadmap
Aerodynamics
Draft
Capabilities Enabled by this Technology : 5
Long Range/Endurance, Very high altitude, Very low altitude, All weather conditions, Mother-daughter ship operations.
TRL5
-- Placeholder -- ? Technology Progress?
?Outcome & Impact?
TRL5
Highly Optimized Low-Rn Airfoils
Increased Performance of small deployable UAV’s at high altitudes for long-duration sensor tasks. Research at NASA LaRC, Selig at Univ. IL
Goal: Improvements in low-speed (low Rn) flight for UAV’s which will lead to significant enhancements to endurance and efficiency.
Capability Imrpovement
TRL7
Highly Efficient Laminar Airfoils
Increased Performance at High Altitudes, Loiter Airspeeds
Relatively modest improvements in low-speed aerodynamics

13. Capabilities Enabled by this Technology : 4 Capability Imrpovement
Airborne Science Program
UAS Technology Roadmap
Intelligent System Health Monitoring
Draft
Capabilities Enabled by this Technology : 4
Long Range/Endurance, Quick deployment, Disposable systems, Access to the NAS.
TRL?
-- Placeholder -- ? Technology Progress?
?Outcome & Impact?
TRL3
Nonlinear optimization for structural faults
Honeywell tests
Goal: The development of comprehensive systems to reliably identify failures and classify them for improved vehicle safety and mission success.
Capability Imrpovement
TRL5
Fault Detection ID and Recovery
NASA HALE ROA, PITEX, & EO-1 flight tests
Health monitoring concepts and limited systems have been around for sometime, but comprehensive systems have languished due to a lack of funding.

14. Capabilities Enabled by this Technology : 9 Capability Imrpovement
Airborne Science Program
UAS Technology Roadmap
Reliable Flight Systems
Draft
Capabilities Enabled by this Technology : 9
Long Range/Endurance, Very high altitude, Very low altitude, All Weather conditions, Payload-directed flight, Quick deployment, Disposable systems, Access to the NAS, Planning/scheduling and flight -tracking tools.
TRL?
-- Placeholder -- ? Technology Progress?
?Outcome & Impact?
TRL4
Neural-net based Adaptive Controls
NASA F-15 simulations with planned flight tests
Goal: The ability of a UAV flight system to adapt to system or hardware failures, ultimately increasing UAS reliability to be comparable to piloted aircraft.
Capability Imrpovement
TRL6
1st-Gen Adaptive Robust Flt. Controls
Several research flight tests to date
Modest flight-safety driven improvements have provided slow progress due to cost of development and implementation.

15. Capabilities Enabled by this Technology : 6 Capability Imrpovement
Airborne Science Program
UAS Technology Roadmap
Sophisticated Contingency Management
Draft
Capabilities Enabled by this Technology : 6
Long Range/Endurance, All Weather conditions, Mother-daughter ship operations, Payload-directed flight, Disposable systems, Access to the NAS.
TRL4
Onboard Contingency or Payload Sensor-driven fully autonomous navigation rerouting, Mission Planning. USAF Global Hawk Block 40 development testing JUMPS for Cont. Mission Management.
Real-time Autonomous Contingency Flight Planning
TRL4
Onboard sensor-driven payload directed flight with navigation rerouting and mission planning. NASA Ikhana system under development
Payload Directed Missions
Goal: Routine UAS operation in the NAS will require a sophisticated onboard and autonomous Contingency Management System.
Capability Imrpovement
TRL6
Conformant and Contingent Planning
Rapid re-planning and automatic recovery when plans fail
Satellite and planet “rover” developments move technology forward slowly

16. Capabilities Enabled by this Technology : 4 Capability Imrpovement
Airborne Science Program
UAS Technology Roadmap
Precision Navigation
Draft
Capabilities Enabled by this Technology : 4
Very low altitude, Terrain avoidance, Formation flight, Precision trajectories.
TRL2
Multi-UAV Navigation Cooperation and Comm.
Formation flight with highly precise navigation capability, and vehicle to vehicle navigational cooperation
TRL3
Next-gen GPS-aided INS Systems
Significant improvement in long-term INS-based Navigational Accuracy, including periods with loss of GPS-coverage
TRL6
UAV SAR - Precision Nav Element
NASA G-3 flight tests demonstrate ability to repeatedly navigate a flight path with less than ±5m deviation (in altitude and lateral cross-track) error
Goal: Improve the precise navigation of one or multiple (e.g. formation flight) UAV’s
Capability Imrpovement
TRL9
Miniaturized NAV Systems
Advanced Capabilities for Small UAV’s
Market incentives cause little additional progress except in small-UAV arena

17. Capabilities Enabled by this Technology : 6 Capability Imrpovement
Airborne Science Program
UAS Technology Roadmap
Operations
Draft
Capabilities Enabled by this Technology : 6
Remote base of operations, Mother-daughter ship operations, Formation flight, Quick deployment, Human factors, Planning/scheduling and flight -tracking tools.
Phase-1 development of Tactical Ground System by the DoD for general C2 of common UAS platforms.
Phase-2 development of CGS to include universal control of multiple, long-duration UAS platforms, to include wideband data collection form onboard sensors.
TRL4
Common UAS Ground Segment
TRL6
Commonality between different UAS’s allows cross training of crews and possible cost savings.
Flight Operations
TRL7
Goal Statement: Improve operational efficiency through commonality between UAS platforms.
Ground Operations
Commonality between different UAS’s allows cross training of crews and possible cost savings.
Capability Imrpovement
TRL7
Common payload interfaces on the aircraft and common payload control stations in the ground segment. This allows plug and play approach and efficient operations.
Payload Operations
Higher cost of training, and staffing of UAS Platforms with incompatible C4 interfaces, infrastructure, and C2 protocols cause slow operational efficiency improvements.

18. Summary
The UAS TWG developed draft roadmaps for 7 of 14 UAS technologies. These roadmaps will need to be combined with the roadmaps created by the other TWG’s into an integrated package.
Some, if not all, of the 7 UAS technology roadmaps could be decomposed into multiple roadmaps at a sub-component level of detail.
Additional work needs to be done to quantify the state-of-the-art of the required capabilities and the effect that advancements in the technologies will have on these capabilities.
The most promising technologies appear to be Reliable Flight Systems and Autonomous Mission Management technologies, based on the number of capabilities that these two technologies influence.

19. UAS Proposals
Modifications to increase the range and endurance of SIERRA
Task A: Add wheel pants; nose; muffler. $30k / Task B: Add aluminum fuselage and tank; wing bladders. $75k
Benefit: These modifications will double the endurance to ~20 hours.
Low Reynolds Number Aerodynamics Test
Task: Fabricate and flight test two wings of similar planform but different airfoils on a vehicle system that is representative of a small UAS. $29K
Benefit: This task will help quantify the potential benefits of high-lift devices and thick, structurally beneficial airfoils for small Earth science UAS’s.
Global Hawk Vertical Profiling Implementation Study
Task: NGC will perform a vehicle performance study, including 6-DOF simulations, to define the vertical profiling capabilities of the Global Hawk system and to define the effects of these maneuvers on the system. $25K
Benefit: The capability for the Global Hawk to perform vertical profiling maneuvers is critical to some expected experiments.
Global Hawk Wing Pod Implementation Study
Task: NGC will perform a study on the required structural, mechanical and electrical modifications, and a pod design. $25K
Benefit: A wing pod capability will greatly increase the options for integrating payloads on the Global Hawk. 19