SBIR-STTR Award

ATAC and NCAR propose to develop a Low Altitude Wind Hazard Alerting and Rerouting (LAWHAR) service for UAM operations. LAWHAR addresses Subtopic A3.04’s need for dynamic route planning that considers changing environmental conditions and vehicle performance. NCAR’s recent NASA-sponsored study has shown that existing weather observing infrastructure and operational weather guidance have significant gaps at the micro scale, relevant to operating UAM vehicles in the urban airspace. These gaps are in stark contrast with NASA and UAM industry vision of weather-resistant UAM operations. LAWHAR paves the path for achieving this vision by advancing the state-of-the-art in multiple relevant areas: (1) LAWHAR leverages NCAR’s Large Eddy Simulation (LES) model for predicting low-altitude wind speeds, wind shear and turbulence associated with wind-flows across urban canopies, and applies a novel approach to predict temporally and spatially-varying wind hazard regions. This novel approach combines wind prediction data transformation (e.g., clustering) with subject matter expert reviews to predict wind hazard regions. (2) LAWHAR develops an alerting and rerouting algorithm, which considers variability in vehicle performance as regards to vulnerability to wind effects, to provide aircraft-type-sensitive wind hazard alerts and hazard-free reroutes. (3) LAWHAR leverages LES models to find optimum placement for wind sensors in an urban wind sensor network to provide high-quality guidance on wind hazards. (4) The Phase I SBIR provides a proof-of-concept demonstration on a downtown, Dallas, TX, scenario for which we already have significant amount of LES model data. LAWHAR supports the objectives of NASA’s ATM-X project and also supports NASA’s AAM National Campaign by providing guidance on urban wind sensor network design and a prototype wind hazard alerting and rerouting capability for integrated testing along with other NASA and industry UAM traffic management tools. Potential NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words) (1) Wind-sensitive rerouting tool for UAM research using NASA ATM-X Testbed paves the path for high weather-tolerance UAM operations (2) Quantification of wind hazard vulnerabilities for different eVTOL vehicle types feeds NASA’s research into weather-resistant UAM operations (3) LAWHAR enables NASA RVLT to analyze realistic wind-impacted missions for their concept vehicles (4) Meteorological sensor network design provides sensor placement guidance for AAM National Campaign demonstrations Potential Non-NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words) (1) Wind-hazard-alerting tool for UAM operators, as well as operators of helicopters and GA aircraft (2) Wind-sensitive rerouting service (a UTM USS), including routing sensitive to varying eVTOL vehicle performance levels (3) Tool for identifying optimal locations for urban meteorological sensors (4) Tool for evaluating candidate vertiport sites for expected wind hazard impacts

Today’s operational weather guidance does not provide the spatial and temporal granularity necessary to support routing or wind hazard alerting guidance for UAM operations in urban environments. This gap threatens the economic viability and scalability of UAM operations. To address this gap, in Phase I, ATAC and NCAR developed the Low Altitude Wind Hazard Alerting and Rerouting (LAWHAR) service. LAWHAR addresses Subtopic A3.04’s need for dynamic route planning that considers changing environmental conditions (mainly fine-scale wind impacts) and vehicle performance. LAWHAR leverages NCAR’s Large Eddy Simulation (LES) model for predicting building-induced wind-flow effects at fine resolutions, applies clustering to predict dynamically changing wind hazard regions, and reroutes UAM aircraft away from these hazard regions. Phase I provided a proof-of-concept by demonstrating actionable wind hazard guidance for several Dallas, TX downtown Vertiports for a challenging cold weather-front passage scenario. In Phase II, we build on Phase I’s success to create a commercial, licensable low-altitude weather guidance tool for several use cases that benefit NASA UAM researchers, UAM/Helicopter/UAS operators and UAM infrastructure planners. Phase II pursues three thrusts: (1) Make enhancements to Phase I SBIR components in the areas of new LES model development, machine learning-based data reduction techniques, LES validation, aircraft-type dependent wind-hazard-severity thresholds, and customer-focused impact metrics (e.g., ride quality), (2) Develop Minimum Viable Products for top-priority use cases, and (3) Operationalize LAWHAR for promising customer applications. Phase II work supports NASA’s ATM-X project by providing a UAM weather guidance and route design capability to support UAM simulation and trade-space studies. It also supports NASA’s AAM National Campaign by providing a weather guidance SDSP for integrated testing with NASA and industry UAM traffic management tools. Potential NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words): (1) One-stop UAM weather guidance and airspace design tool to support NASA ATM-X project’s X-series of UAM simulations and other trade studies (2) Create fine-scale urban wind fields to support NASA’s research on Strategic Planning with Unscented Optimal Guidance for UAM (3) Fine-scale weather guidance to support NASA’s research of weather impacts on UAM/UAS ride quality, power consumption, and trajectory following (4) Weather guidance SDSP and wind sensor placement guidance for supporting AAM National Campaign flight demonstrations Potential Non-NASA Applications (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words): (1) Wind hazard alerting and rerouting tool for rotorcraft, GA, UAS, and UAM operators (2) Strategic decision support for Part 135 Emergency Medical Service rotorcraft operators (provides guidance on whether it is safe to fly patients to hospital helipads) (3) Tool for urban meteorological sensor placement guidance (4) Tool for assessing candidate Vertiport sites for expected wind hazard impacts Duration: 24