ABSTRACT

Chapter 1 introduces unmanned traffic management (UTM). Since its inception as a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) research project, UTM has represented a major step integrating unmanned aircraft operations into the national airspace system (NAS). A turning point in aviation history, UTM enables the automation needed to handle the new services and predicted volume of unmanned flights. Challenges to safety and efficiency are presented, for example, by anticipated great quantity (impacting traffic saturation), small size (impacting detect and avoid [DAA] and size-weight-and-power [SWaP]), and overall interaction with the air traffic control (ATC) system (impacting ATC-UTM coordination). Experts from diverse fields have committed to forging an aviation future that is agile and resilient, with innovative and viable new services. The UTM concept has progressed through extensive collaborative research and testing with the private and public sectors.