Tag: AUVSI

Advanced Air Mobility, AI Crucial Topics Planned for 2025 AIAA AVIATION Forum

By Jeremy Wang, Co-founder and COO, Ribbit

The AIAA AVIATION Forum is the venue to tackle both longstanding challenges from detect-and-avoid – to emerging trends like how we’re dealing with decarbonization – combined with autonomy and sustainability coming together on the same platforms.

The event is regarded as the forefront of aviation business, research, development, and technology. This year’s theme, “Navigating the Future: Sustainability, Safety, and Innovation.” I am particularly excited that the program we’ve designed promises to deliver insights about the future of advanced air mobility (AAM) and autonomy.

We expect over 2,500 aviation professionals from academia, industry and government to attend the 2025 AIAA AVIATION Forum on 21–25 July in Las Vegas.

Convergence of Autonomy and Sustainability

An example of convergence is Joby Aviation’s landmark emission-free hydrogen-electric flight last summer that demonstrated the potential for emissions-free regional travel. The air taxi featured a hydrogen-based power plant on board.

There’s talk about hybrid electric being incorporated into some of the newer eVTOL aircraft concepts to try and address the range challenges of pure battery systems.

Must-see Sessions

The Forum’s opening plenary and Forum 360 will give us a glimpse into the aviation industry in 2050. Our opening speakers will share their insights that will define aviation in the next three decades.

“Injecting intelligence,” or bringing together autonomy, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning into platforms, will serve as one of the daylong themes of the conference.

The world is entering a state of increased tension between longstanding adversaries and democratic countries. That’s spurring a lot of pressure for us to innovate more quickly and to onboard new capabilities sooner than we ever have in the past. Three of the Forums 360 panel discussions will cover some of the biggest challenges and opportunities. One will cover U.S. collaborative combat aircraft developments, featuring the director of the U.S. Air Force’s 40^th Test Flight Squadron from Eglin Air Force Base and the deputy director of Data & Analytics Enablement for National Defense Canada.

A key theme with autonomy is the concept of affordable mass, a strategy for developing and deploying low-cost weapon systems and aircraft to counter high-volume adversary capabilities.

There is a huge capability gap between the large Predator and Reaper UAS and the tiny drones used in defense. In this “Goldilocks zone,” aircraft can be scaled to better address the threats from integrated air defense systems.

Autonomy is going to be pretty critical to operating in the kind of environment we’re now seeing in Eastern Europe and increasingly over the Indo Pacific and possibly the Arctic.

We also will be exploring the role of AI and new types of sensors in these autonomous systems and how they should be certified, as well as concepts of human machine teaming and human autonomy teaming.

Finally, the “AI Certification: Busting the Myth” session will address the most prevalent misconceptions about AI technologies in aviation, ranging from “AI will one day directly control aircraft” to “AI systems are not safe.” The speakers will ground the talk in conceptual, scientific evidence and practical, operational experience.

To hear from dozens of expert speakers and join us in the conversation, register now for 2025 AIAA AVIATION Forum, 21–25 July, Las Vegas.

About the Author

Jeremy Wang, a third-year member of the AIAA AVIATION Forum’s Guiding Coalition, is the co-founder and COO of Ribbit, a venture-backed startup developing dual-use autonomous aircraft to serve rural, coastal, and remote regions. Ribbit is credited with the first fully automated gate-to-gate flight in Canada and serving federal contracts delivering advanced autonomy for air and joint operations. Prior to Ribbit, Wang was the CTO of Canada’s top-ranked commercial drone operator where he oversaw the development of special-purpose drones for industrial and defense applications.

Register now for AIAA AVIATION Forum
The 2025 AIAA AVIATION Forum is your direct flight to the forefront of aviation business, research, development, and technology. Registration is now open.

Register for the event here and save before the 23 June Early Bird deadline.

Transitioning AAM Into Reality at AIAA AVIATION Forum

By AUVSI News

Originally published by AUVSI

The 2024 AIAA AVIATION Forum will be held 29 July–2 August in Las Vegas, and this year’s event aims to bridge the gap between visionary concepts and tangible technological reality.

Starr Ginn, Advanced Concepts and Partnerships at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center, served on the forum’s Guiding Coalition. AUVSI met with Ms. Ginn to learn more about NASA’s participation at AIAA AVIATION Forum and the Agency’s vision for how Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) will transform aviation’s role in the everyday movement of people and goods.

Ginn’s Background and AAM Expertise
Ms. Ginn has 27 years of experience conducting one-of-a-kind flight tests. Since 2011, she has played a critical role at NASA Armstrong to develop a roadmap for the AAM ecosystem. In her current role, she builds long-term strategies for complex system integration in partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense and industry.

She recently led the planning, development, and execution of the Advanced Air Mobility National Campaign (AAM NC) series, which consists of flight testing an experimental AAM ecosystem of novel eVTOL and cargo vehicles, infrastructure, and airspace management technologies in the context of increasingly complex safety scenarios enabled by automation.

In parallel to her work on electric propulsion and energy storage, she has also pushed research and certifiable automation software architectures to increase the safety of crewed and uncrewed aircraft.
In addition, she is a proponent for encouraging young women to get into aviation and mechanical engineering careers. As she works with university students and interns at NASA, she says, “It’s exciting to see when they learn about this new area of opportunity” with AAM careers.

Big-Picture View for the AAM Ecosystem
NASA has been working continually on UAM Research Roadmaps assessing where industry is and making sure NASA is providing research to assist them in the near term, mid-term, and long term.

The Agency’s objective is to safely support operations at scale in the National Airspace System (NAS). Ms. Ginn explains her vision of tens of thousands of air taxis and cargo aircraft operations in existing airports and new locations that are closer to urban areas. Reaching this vision will require a lot of new certifiable automation, new airspace tools and routes, and increased digital communications that integrate into the very safe airspace system the U.S. has today.

In the nearer term, Ms. Ginn sees NASA being able to help in a variety of areas, including:

Piloted eVTOL operations and safety systems
Studying human-machine interaction
Making operations more efficient at current airports
Supporting portable charging infrastructure to support electric flight before large-scale charging infrastructure investments are possible
Determining efficient routes and how we can decrease an IFR approach area

In the longer term, Ms. Ginn says NASA is conducting research on automation. More research on 1:N operations and how they will push the envelope of NASA’s vision for UAM. She described how industry is doing a “crawl, walk, run approach” to certification, starting with piloted cargo operations with 2 pilots. Eventually, as the industry transitions to increasing levels of autonomy, there will be opportunities to increase efficiency – but there will also be challenges to prove safety and compliance via detect-and-avoid and flight path management.

AAM Certification, Automation, and Software Considerations
Considering what’s ahead for software and automation, Ms. Ginn says, “I would really like to look at how multiple algorithms being operated at same time, and how automation software can determine which of those algorithms is eminent or most important to safely avoid a hazard.” Software for ground collision avoidance, air collision avoidance, geofencing, and object avoidance like towers are all using different kinds of algorithms relying on different sensors. Ms. Ginn is interested in how software architecture determines which algorithm is needed to protect the vehicle at any given moment and how the system switches between different inputs and algorithms prioritization.

Ms. Ginn emphasizes that autonomy software must verifiable, deterministic, and predictable to be safe enough to fly in the NAS. This will be a challenging and complex state of operations for both NASA and industry to achieve.

This year’s AIAA AVIATION Forum will host discussions on how AI can help keep pilots or aircraft safe – beyond just those on the vehicle. The session will explore ways that AI is being used across the entire aviation ecosystem, from ATC to pilot training, as well as the software concepts behind these types of AI.

Register now for AIAA AVIATION Forum
2024 AIAA AVIATION Forum will feature participation from every NASA site, with representatives sharing AAM research on different use cases, from regional cargo operations to urban air mobility operations, to different types of aircraft configurations and control systems. In addition to AAM, NASA experts will also discuss hypersonics, supersonics, and sustainability.

Register for the event here and save before the Early Bird deadline on June 10th.

Experts Discuss Challenges, Opportunities Around AAM

Aviation Today reported that a panel of experts hosted by AUVSI and the FAA “discussed the challenges and opportunities associated with cooperating internationally on advanced air mobility, or AAM.” Panel moderator Jessica Orquina, Manager of the Implementation Branch for the FAA’s Safety & Integration Division in the UAS Integration Office, “noted that many of the FAA’s current regulations allow AAM aircraft to meet strict safety standards through innovative means.” Further, she “added that the FAA is working with international partners to adopt common certification and integration standards from other countries as AAM is being defined.” Meanwhile, Pulkit Agrawal, Principal Certification Engineer (UAS/UAM) at Honeywell, “spoke about some of the opportunities in the AAM industry” and how the company “believes in the vision of efficient air transportation – electric air taxis that can complete a 100-mile trip in 45 minutes – as well as same-day package delivery via drone.”
Full Story (Aviation Today)

2023 AIAA AVIATION Forum: AAM And Autonomy

By AUVSI News
Written 17 April 2023

Originally published by AUVSI

In June, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) will host their annual AIAA AVIATION Forum. AIAA is the world’s largest aerospace professional society, and the 2023 AIAA AVIATION Forum is the only event that covers the entire integrated spectrum of aviation business, research, development, and technology.

AUVSI met with Jeremy Wang, an AAM expert, to learn more about the event’s programming around autonomy. Wang is the co-founder and COO of Ribbit, a venture-backed startup developing autonomous aircraft with the goal of improving e-commerce supply chains. Ribbit is credited with the first fully automated gate-to-gate flight in Canada and will soon be bringing commercial routes online in collaboration with regulators, communities, and customers.

Leaps Toward a New Age of Aviation
Wang explained that 2023 is a critical year to convene for discussions on AAM, noting: “What’s exciting right now is that we’re seeing proof that the technology to support eVTOL and autonomous flights is operationally ready…. We’re at a point where technologies have been initially validated, and now the question is how we integrate this into civilian airspace.”

Wang identified outdated regulations as a key challenge for reaching operationalization of AAM. As he explained, there is agreement that the starting point is flight with experimental permits and testing and the desired endpoint is a clear basis for certification processes – but the path in between is uncertain and challenging. In the early stages, some companies are focusing on autonomy for operations without passengers, such as cargo, aerial surveillance, and other missions in rural areas.

Regarding regulatory frameworks and U.S. aviation leadership, Wang said: “Entrepreneurs will go wherever opportunities take them. In fact, companies are looking to achieve airworthiness approvals in other regions and convert them over to the United States, which indicates there is a lack of good frameworks here.” He suggested that the industry work together to support the expansion of existing bilateral frameworks that can be converted to the United States to avoid duplicative regulatory work.

Wang has reason to be optimistic, adding: “One thing that’s exciting is the talk around Digital Flight Rules (DFR) being championed by NASA.” These rules recognize there are new technologies available for collision avoidance. NASA is soliciting feedback from the aviation industry, including from airports, ATC, and operators.

As he considers where autonomy is headed, Wang praised the industry collaboration taking place via standards communities, including RTCA and ASTM.
He also shared his hope that the small UAS and AAM communities will identify areas for increased collaboration, saying: “There can be a lot of benefit for both sides to take from each other on new standards and operational risk frameworks.”

Learn More at the 2023 AIAA AVIATION Forum

Given recent advancements in autonomous technology and commercial aviation, Wang anticipates that the 2023 AIAA AVIATION Forum, 12–16 June, will be well-timed to provide informed perspectives on where AAM is going in the next 10–20 years.

The event will cover key topics on aviation and aeronautics, with Daily Forum Themes:

Monday, 12 June: State of the Industry
Tuesday, 13 June: Decarbonization & Sustainability
Wednesday, 14 June: Advanced Air Mobility
Thursday, 15 June: Aircraft Certification
Friday, 16 June: Hypersonics & Supersonics

Why should AUVSI members attend?

Over 1,700 technical presentations on the latest innovations spanning 20+ aviation and aeronautics research topics will be delivered.
Speakers and panelists participating in the sessions are proven business leaders and innovators with their fingers on the pulse of the aviation industry.
Over 2,000 participants from across the globe are expected, representing hundreds of government, academic, and private institutions.

About Jeremy Wang
Jeremy Wang is the co-founder and COO of Ribbit, a venture-backed startup developing autonomous aircraft with the goal of improving e-commerce supply chains. Ribbit is credited with the first fully automated gate-to-gate flight in Canada and will soon be bringing commercial routes online in collaboration with regulators, communities, and customers. Prior to Ribbit, Jeremy was the CTO of Canada’s top-ranked commercial drone operator where he oversaw the development of special-purpose drones for industrial and defense applications. Jeremy completed a BASc in Engineering Science from the University of Toronto and PhD in Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering from the University of Waterloo.