Examination of Urban Air Mobility Integration into the National Airspace System

The Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) initiative aims to enhance air transportation for people and cargo in areas with limited aviation services. The Urban Air Mobility (UAM) concept, under AAM, focuses on improving transportation connectivity within metropolitan areas. The FAA’s ASSURE UAS Center of Excellence has sponsored a project to provide recommendations for future technological developments, UAM airspace integration, infrastructure enhancements, and new regulations to support UAM flights. The team’s first milestone was a literature review to identify past work relevant to UAM, including airspace and operational constraints, infrastructure requirements, and communication, navigation, and surveillance (CNS) requirements. Two dominant concepts of operations were identified, one by the FAA and one by NASA. The team’s second milestone was to examine a UAM corridor concept in Daytona Beach Class C airspace to determine the impact of UAM operations on ATC. The FAA advocates the use of helicopter routes for a measured approach to NAS integration. Since Daytona Class C lacks published helicopter routes, the team developed UAM corridors with input from various airspace users. Key findings suggest a crawl, walk, run development of UAM into Class C airspace is needed, with airspace concepts and system complexities evolving as new UAM features are developed and integrated to meet each UAM Maturity Level

A Conceptual Model for a Universal Severity of Emergency Report (USER): An Example in Aviation

In emergency situations, it is important that information be communicated quickly, concisely, and efficiently. Breakdowns can occur when the receiver of the emergency call does not fully understand the information that the person is sending. The purpose of this paper is to present a new model for enhancing communication between the sender and receiver in emergency situations. The Universal Severity of Emergency Report (USER) is a model designed to be used in emergency situations and convey more information about the current state of the person declaring the emergency than is currently offered by emergency communication channels. USER provides three key pieces of vital information: severity of the situation, capabilities of the sender, and ability to communicate. Severity identifies the level of the emergency on a scale of 1, 2, or 3. Capabilities use the colors white, yellow, and red to indicate the current self-determined capabilities of the individual. Communicate notifies the receiver if the individual is able to communicate or is unable to communicate. This paper presents this concept in an aviation context, but USER has the potential to be used in any number of industries, including medical, military, shipping, transportation, space flight, and law enforcement

Applications Of Cognitive Transformation Theory: Examining The Role Of Sensemaking In The Instruction Of Air Traffic Control Students

Complex domains require cognitive work for which current approaches to training may be ill-suited. To improve training for cognitive work, Klein and Baxter have proposed Cognitive Transformation Theory (CTT), a learning theory that characterizes sensemaking processes as essential to the development of expertise. The objectives of this research were to compare CTT with the instructional strategies of two expert air traffic control instructors to evaluate the relevance of CTT\u27s four teaching practices, propose refinements to CTT, and identify potential instructional strategies to serve as guidance for the application of CTT. Data were collected using cognitive task analysis methods, including course observation, artifact examination, and knowledge elicitation with two instructors and seven of their students. Data were coded using categories derived from theory and patterns emergent within the data. Results suggest that many of the instructional strategies used were consistent with the teaching practices of CTT and that learning was aligned with the active sensemaking claims of CTT. An integrated set of instructional strategies and a few refinements to CTT are advanced to further its application to training in complex domains. Although this set of strategies may benefit current training practices, further research is needed to evaluate their effectiveness