National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASA Aviation Safety Program – Overview
Douglas A. Rohn, Program Director
ADCA/AIAA
January 4, 2011
www.nasa.gov
NASA Aeronautics R&D Strategy
Technology
Transfer
Integrated Systems Level Research
Technology
Transfer
Seedling Fund for
New Ideas
Fundamental Research
• Foster revolutionary ideas with “Seedling” fund
• More robust technology transfer to industry and other government agencies through innovative
fundamental research and further maturation of technologies and concepts in system level
research
• Conduct integrated systems research in relevant environments (e.g., flights, full simulations) to
realize next set of technological breakthroughs and inspire next generation
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NASA Aeronautics Portfolio
Integrated
Systems
Research Program
Fundamental Aeronautics Program
Conduct cutting-edge research that will
produce innovative concepts, tools, and
technologies to enable revolutionary
changes for vehicles that fly in all
speed regimes.
Airspace Systems Program
Conduct research at an integrated
system-level on promising concepts and
technologies and explore/assess/demonstrate
the benefits in a relevant environment
Directly address the fundamental ATM
research needs for NextGen by developing revolutionary concepts,
capabilities, and technologies that
will enable significant increases
in the capacity, efficiency and
flexibility of the NAS.
Aviation Safety Program
Conduct cutting-edge research that will produce innovative
concepts, tools, and technologies to improve the intrinsic safety
attributes of current and future aircraft.
Aeronautics Test Program
Preserve and promote the testing capabilities of one of the United States’
largest, most versatile and comprehensive set of flight and ground-based
research facilities.
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History of NASA’s Aviation Safety Program
•
Original Program began FY98/00
– Responding to a White House Commission, NASA created a program,
complementing FAA and industry activities, to develop and demonstrate technologies
that would contribute to the national goal to reduce accident and fatality rates by a
factor of five by 2007
– Intensive NASA-Gov’t-Industry team effort to define investment strategy
•
FY06/07 Restructure of NASA Aeronautics
– Focus on “core competencies of aeronautics research”
• Mostly a bottoms-up portfolio
– Integration of best out-of-house research ideas (via NRA process)
• Strong partnerships with Universities
• Intellectual partnerships (via Space Act Agreements) with industry
– Program goal: “By 2016, identify and develop tools, methods, and technologies for
improving overall aircraft safety of new and legacy vehicles operating in the Next
Generation Air Transportation System.”
– Some Projects have revised their plans since FY07
•
FY10 Re-plan of AvSP
– Top-down refocus; not a total restart
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FY07 – FY10 Program
•
AvSP
– Conduct cutting-edge research that will produce tools, methods, concepts, and
technologies to improve the intrinsic safety attributes of current and future aircraft.
– Overcome safety barriers that could otherwise constrain the full realization of
NextGen
•
Aircraft Aging and Durability (AAD)
– Research in aging science to enable integrated methods
for the detection, prevention, and mitigation of aging and
durability-related hazards
Aircraft Aging &
Durability
•
Integrated Intelligent Flight Deck (IIFD)
– Research, development, test, and evaluation of complex
human-automation systems in the context of NextGen
•
Integrated
Intelligent Flight
Deck
Integrated Resilient Aircraft Control (IRAC)
– Stability, maneuverability, and safe landing in the
presence of adverse conditions
Integrated Resilient
Aircraft Control
•
Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM)
– Develop validated tools, technologies, and techniques
for automated detection, diagnosis, and prognosis to
enable mitigation of adverse events during flight
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Integrated Vehicle
Health
Management
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National Aeronautics R&D Plan Goals
•
Safety Goals & Fundamental Challenges
– Goal 1: Safer Vehicle Designs, Structures, and Subsystems
• Monitoring and assessing aircraft health at both the material and
component level.
• Rapidly and safely incorporating advances in avionics.
• Stabilizing and maneuvering next-generation aircraft in response
to safety issues in the NextGen airspace.
– Goal 2: Safer Vehicle Air and Ground Operations
• Understanding and predicting system-wide safety concerns of the
airspace system and the vehicles envisioned by NextGen.
• Understanding the key parameters of human performance in
aviation.
• Ensuring safe operations for the complex mix of vehicles
anticipated within the next generation airspace.
– Goal 3: Enhanced Crash Survivability
• Enhancing the probability of passengers and crew to survive
crash impact and escape safely when accidents do occur.
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Aviation Safety Program
Program Goal: Proactively identify, develop, and mature tools,
methods and technologies for improving overall aircraft
safety of new and legacy vehicles operating in NextGen
Project Objectives
• “Assure system-wide safety”
–
•
Unsafe
“Maintain and improve vehicle safety in key areas”
–
•
Provide knowledge, concepts and methods to proactively
manage increasing complexity in the design and operation of
vehicles and the air transportation systems
Identify risks and provide knowledge needed to avoid, detect,
mitigate, and recover from hazardous flight conditions, and to
maintain vehicle airworthiness and health
Safe
Invariant Set
Unsafe
“Deal with the presence of atmospheric risks”
–
Investigate sources of risk and provide technology needed to
help ensure safe flight in and around atmospheric hazards
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Aviation Safety Program Organization
Aviation Safety Program (AvSP)
Program Director: Douglas Rohn
Deputy Director: Richard Barhydt
Technical Integration Manager: John Orme
Program Integration Manger: Brenda Bentley
System-wide Safety and Assurance
Technologies (SSAT) Project
(ARC hosted)
Vehicle Systems Safety Technologies
(VSST) Project
(LaRC hosted)
Project Manager: Dr. Ashok Srivastava
Deputy Project Manager: Dr. Jessica Nowinski
Project Scientist: Dr. Robert Mah
Project Manager: Dr. Christine Belcastro
Deputy Project Manager: Sally Viken
Project Scientist: Richard Ross
Project Scientist: Dr. Steve Young
Project Scientist: Dr. Christine Belcastro
Assure system-wide safety
Note: All project positions currently acting
Maintain and improve vehicle safety in key areas
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Atmospheric Environment Safety
Technologies (AEST) Project
(GRC hosted)
Project Manager: Dr. Renato Colantonio
Deal with the presence of atmospheric risks
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Resources, Planned, FY11
FY11 Program Budget
$79.3M
Project Resources
System-Wide Safety and Assurance Technologies
Vehicle Systems Safety Technologies
Atmospheric Environment Safety Technologies
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38%
45%
17%
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Management by Technical Challenges
•
AvSP has adopted a strategy to manage by key Technical Challenges
– “The Program will be successful if these challenges are met.”
•
Technical Challenges developed for the purpose of
– Forming the basis for the “contract” between the Program and the Project
• Progress will be measured by milestones along their paths
– APGs, “Level 1”, and “Level 2” milestones
– The use of APGs, Project milestones and Program milestones will be within
the context of Technical Challenges
– Informing portfolio management
– Communicating & coordinating a common shared vision with aviation safety
community
– Providing a construct to assist in identification of partnering and other integration
activities
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Project Technical Challenge Areas
•
System-wide Safety and Assurance Technologies
–
–
–
–
•
Assurance of Flight Critical Systems
Discovery of Safety Issues
Automation Design Tools
Prognostic Algorithm Design
Vehicle Systems Safety Technologies
– Vehicle Health Assurance
– Crew-System Interactions and Decisions
– Loss of Control Prevention, Mitigation, and Recovery
•
Atmospheric Environment Safety Technologies
– Engine Icing
– Airframe Icing
– Atmospheric Hazard Sensing & Mitigation
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A Full Range of Outputs
Desired Impact:
Advance knowledge in the
broader research community…
– Interim Outcome:
Citations with others adopting our
work
– Necessary Output:
Publications in respected venues
Desired Impact:
Enabling implementation of new
technologies to the benefit of
safety…
– Interim Outcome:
Transition to FAA and Industry
– Necessary Output:
Invention disclosures and patents;
Standards and guidelines; Methods
for design and evaluation
Courtesy: Gulfstream, Inc.
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Tech Transfer Strategies
•
Publications and Formal research outputs
– Journals; Conferences
– Patents
•
Partners
– NRA partners (103 awards, 80 currently active to transition to new Projects)
– 26 Space Act Agreements; 12 Inter Agency Agreements; 5 International Agreements
•
Committees
– Aviation committee membership
– AvSP-led Working Groups
– Community-led Teams
•
Rapid dissemination
– Open source & open platform
– DASH link
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Thank you.
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