Original article by Kristen Dennis, published on the Air Force Research Laboratory website
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AFRL) – AFWERX is partnering with NASA to develop a digital operations center for future Advanced Air Mobility, or AAM, efforts through the Civilian Commercialization Readiness Pilot Program, or CCRPP, awardee, ResilienX.
With the fast-growing field of AAM technology, AFWERX’s Airspace Innovation and Prime Partnerships program has partnered with NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration to fill in technological and administrative gaps that present themselves. Earlier in 2023, AFWERX formalized these partnerships with a Memorandum of Understanding and participation in the AAM Interagency Working Group to plot the future of AAM.
The CCRPP is a NASA Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer program which takes mission-relevant technologies in development and infuses them with funding intended to foster commercialization.
This system is intended to enhance base security, special forces efforts, emergency disaster response, and passenger and cargo transportation planning. It is further being developed to include other technologies necessary for air domain awareness.
“CCRPP is a true example of public-private partnership where government stakeholders and an industry consortium are working together on the airspace efforts,” said Darshan Divakaran, head of AFWERX Airspace Innovation and Prime Partnerships.
Utilizing the research expertise of NASA and AFWERX’s subject matter experts, this collaborative project will attempt to meet the needs of the emerging field of AAM operations. It is informed by the U.S. Air Force AAM Operations Center requirements through testing and operator interactions.
The first phase of development will include a detailed need and task assessment, feature development with user interviews and observations, initial integration of baseline technologies, and testing. The second phase will see user testing of human factors, safety development, prototype testing, and a live demonstration of the system.
For this project, ResilienX has received $4.8 million in AFWERX and NASA funding through the CCRPP. The program is planned to progress through October 2025.
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