InterUSS Enables Interoperability Between Multiple Drone Services at FAA UTM Demonstration

The Federal Aviation Administration’s UTM Pilot Program (UPP) recently completed its Phase 2 demonstrations with Virginia Tech Mid Atlantic Aviation Partnership (MAAP) in Christiansburg, Virginia. Phase 2 of the program used the InterUSS Platform, a part of the Linux Foundation, to enable trusted, secure, and scalable interoperability between participating UAS Service Suppliers (USSs) AirMap, ANRA, AiRXOS, and Wing. Additional UPP2 demonstrations took place at the New York UAS Test Site at Griffiss International Airport in Rome, NY.

MAAP’s UPP2 demonstration tested strategic deconfliction, conformance monitoring, and remote identification across five use cases, each of which relied on the InterUSS platform for data sharing. Use cases one, two, and three used InterUSS to support the sharing of operational intent between eight operators controlling twelve UAS across various missions including damage inspection, search and rescue, and recreational flights. In many cases, the operational areas overlapped and required strategic deconfliction between the various operators and USSs. Operators using an AirMap mobile application could view the operational volumes and UAS volume restrictions (UVR) from other partner USSs in the same area, giving them necessary information to visually deconflict with other flights and comply with airspace restrictions.

In use cases four and five, public safety officials used network Remote ID to identify several drones flying nearby. Using a Remote ID display application with enhancements enabled by the ASTM standard, the public safety officials were able to confirm that Wing had FAA permission to fly in a TFR and obtain details about the operator not visible to the general public. When public safety officials used Wing’s application, they were able to request information about an AirMap flight. That flight’s waiver ID and compliance details were retrieved from AirMap and displayed on the Wing application. Curious bystanders could also use an AirMap mobile application to get information about the nature of the Wing operation and to remotely identify a drone operation belonging to any of the other partner USSs connected to the network.

The InterUSS Platform enabled USSs participating in the UPP2 trials to discover other USSs from which they needed to obtain data. When required to support a service such as strategic deconfliction, the InterUSS Platform validates that the USS has obtained all relevant data from other USSs. This enables USSs or USPs to share information only when necessary and ensures interoperability between all participants.

UPP2’s use of the InterUSS Platform demonstrates that industry has ready-made solutions to operationalize UTM, which will pave the way to broader use of UAS in the National Airspace System.

To learn more about how the InterUSS Project enables trusted, secure and scalable interoperability between USSs, visit interussplatform.org.