WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - NASA is helping shape the future of U.S. urban air travel with a new simulation that will manage how electric air taxis and drones can successfully operate within busy areas.
The demonstration, held at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley, focused on a system called the Strategic Deconfliction Simulation, which helps coordinate flight plans before takeoff, reducing the risk of conflicts in busy urban environments
At the event, researchers demonstrated NASA's Situational Viewer and Demand-Capacity Balancing Monitor, which visualizes air traffic and adjusts flight plans in real time. The simulation demonstrated traffic scenarios involving drone operations throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area, testing how preplanned flights could improve congestion and manage the demand and capacity of the airspace - ensuring that all aircraft can operate smoothly even in crowded conditions.
NASA is working with industry partners to develop and refine technologies needed for future air mobility. During the simulation, the company, ANRA Technologies, demonstrated its fleet and vertiport management systems, which are designed to support the coordination of multiple aircraft and ground operations.
'Simulating these complex environments supports broader efforts to ensure safe integration of drones and other advanced vehicles into the US airspace,' said Hanbong Lee, engineer at NASA Ames.
This demonstration is another step toward the NASA team's plan to hold a technical capability level simulation in 2026. This upcoming simulation would help shape the development of services aimed at managing aircraft flying in urban areas, the U.S. space agency said in a press release.
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