NASA Seeks New Ideas For Airspace Design

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/NASA-Seeks-New-Ideas-For-Airspace-Design-225402-1.html
NASA Seeks New Ideas For Airspace Design
By Mary Grady


NASA has launched a prize challenge in search of ideas for how to create a new
airspace system by 2035 that could accommodate up to 10 million piloted and
autonomous aircraft operations per day. “Our current system is not equipped to
handle this volume or variety of aircraft,” says NASA. The agency is asking
innovators to “cast aside the restraints of the current transportation model”
and develop new concepts and technologies for the airspace of the future.
Registration opened this week for the “Sky For All” challenge, which offers a
total of $15,000 in prizes.

Submissions should include a full description of the design, including safety
features and an explanation of how the new air transportation system would
interact with other forms of transportation, including ground and sea. Entrants
also should compare the proposed system’s advantages, in safety and security,
to the current system. Submissions will be judged on originality and
innovation, clarity and reasoning, comprehensiveness, and presentation. The
competition
http://www.nasa.gov/feature/challenge-is-on-to-design-sky-for-allis open to
innovators from around the world. The deadline to enter is Feb. 26, and winners
will be announced on March 24.


http://www.nasa.gov/feature/challenge-is-on-to-design-sky-for-all
Dec. 17, 2015
Challenge is On to Design Sky for All

A graphic of a potential future airspace system.

Do you love to think about big-picture systems? Register now for the Sky for
All challenge and share your best ideas for an airspace system of the future.
Credits: NASA

The history of aviation is rich with innovations from citizen inventors
http://www.nasa.gov/solve/history-of-challenges, and NASA is looking to the
public to continue that tradition by contributing new ideas for the future of
air travel.

Sky for All: Air Mobility for 2035 and Beyond is a $15,000 challenge to develop
ideas for technologies that could be part of a clean-slate, revolutionary
design and concept of operations for the airspace of the future. The challenge,
which is administered by HeroX, opens Dec. 21, and participants may
pre-register now. The deadline for submissions is Feb. 26, 2016.

The design challenge, sponsored by NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission
Directorate (ARMD) http://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov, asks potential solvers to
think outside the current air traffic management system box, and consider how
to manage crowded skies, autonomous operations and cyber security of the
system.

“Twenty years from now, people may be surprised about the number and kind of
vehicles sharing the skies,” said Parimal Kopardekar, ARMD’s Safe Autonomous
Operations Systems (SASO) project manager. “We anticipate there will be
personal air vehicles, passenger jets, and unmanned aircraft of various sizes
and speeds flying at a variety of altitudes, as well as commercial space
launches, spacecraft and even stationary objects like wind turbines.”

What the team wants from the public is new ideas – perhaps something
researchers haven't thought of yet that could help revolutionize how traffic is
managed in the airspace. Among the factors NASA wants participants to consider
is how to design a robust system that can scale up to full capacity under
normal operations and scale back to equally safe reduced capacity under poor
conditions, like bad weather. Ideas may also consider autonomous adaptation of
the system, and protection from possible cyber security attacks.

“Because of the complexity of designing a system that is expected to handle 10
million crewed and uncrewed aircraft in the skies, we are looking for
innovative ideas from the public that enhance the work NASA researchers are
doing right now,” said Natalia Alexandrov, lead of the Ab Initio Design for
Autonomous Airspace Operations, a foundational research element in ARMD’s SASO
Project.

NASA is asking innovators to disregard current transportation infrastructure
and constraints. Submissions should include a full description of the design,
including safety features and an explanation of how the new air transportation
system would interact with others forms of transportation, including ground and
sea.

“I am so proud that HeroX and NASA are partnering on this exciting challenge,”
said Peter Diamandis, chairman and chief executive officer of XPRIZE and
co-founder of HeroX. “Incentive prizes have played an incredible historical
role in shaping the aerospace industry ranging from the Orteig Prize to the
Ansari XPRIZE. I can’t wait to see the breakthrough ideas that will result from
the NASA Sky for All Challenge.”

The Sky for All challenge is managed by NASA’s Center of Excellence for
Collaborative Innovation (CoECI). CoECI was established with support from the
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to assist NASA and other
federal agencies in using new tools – such as challenges – to solve tough,
mission-critical problems. The Center launches challenges under the umbrella of
the NASA Tournament Lab and offers a variety of open innovation platforms that
engage the crowdsourcing community in challenges to create the most innovative,
efficient and optimal solutions for specific, real world challenges.

Last Updated: Dec. 17, 2015

Editor: Maria Werries

Tags: Aeronautics, Ames Research Center, Reducing Flight Delays



http://www.nasa.gov/solve/history-of-challenges

Sky for All: Air Mobility for 2035 and Beyond

Be part of this solution by using the social share and invite buttons to
inspire other crazy dreamers to solve this worthy challenge.

The Challenge
Envision the skies of 2035 and design an airspace system that allows vehicles
to safely and efficiently navigate dense and diverse airspace.

Stage

The challenge is in the Enter Stage

Total Prize Amount
$15,000

Follow the Challenge
Sept. 1, 2015

Pre registration
Dec. 21, 2015

Enter
Feb. 26, 2016

Submission Deadline
March 24, 2016

Winners Announced
Overview
Timeline
Guidelines
Updates (4)
Comments (2)

Sky for All: Air Mobility for 2035 and Beyond

Increasing Safe, Secure, Efficient Mobility through Air in Skies of 2035 and
Beyond

Experts predict the skies of 2035 and beyond will be a complex and, at times,
crowded space, populated with diverse vehicles piloted by both humans and
machine intelligence. The estimates are that, twenty years from now, 10 million
manned and unmanned vehicles may traverse the U.S. airspace every day. Our
current system is not equipped to handle this volume or variety of aircraft.

To overcome the limitations of the current system and ensure safe access for
all travelers and users of airspace, the Ab Initio Design (AbI) element of the
NASA Safe Autonomous Operations Systems (SASO) Project is researching a new
airspace design and concept of operations that will allow the air vehicles of
2035, including autonomous vehicles, to safely and efficiently participate in
dense and diverse traffic. Clean-slate airspace architecture and operations,
not constrained in the current system, are the overarching “Big Picture”
target. Given the great complexity and scale of the of the overall objective,
NASA is reaching out to the problem-solving community, asking innovators to
cast aside the restraints of the current transportation model and develop
component concepts and technologies that will enable the transition from the
present system to the airspace of the future.


Background

The U.S. airspace system evolved over time in response to accidents and
changing technology. Current operations support approximately 50,000 operations
per day and boast the highest safety record of any mode of transportation, but
this system has approached saturation and will not scale to accommodate future
needs. Our goal is to build an airspace system that scales to 10 million
vehicles per day (including personal air vehicles, passenger jets, unmanned
vehicles of various sizes and speeds, stationary objects, space vehicles, etc.)
by the year 2035.

To achieve this, a breakthrough in airspace system design and concept of
operations is urgently needed as new vehicles -- such as drones of various
sizes operating at different altitudes, commercial space launches, wind
turbines in jet streams -- are already being introduced into the airspace.
Architectural constraints of the current system may not allow it to accommodate
the complex air traffic of 2035 and beyond. Thus NASA is looking for creative,
clean-slate design constructs, or enabling component technologies and concepts,
that will inform the design of real-world future air transportation.

We want airspace that can scale to full capacity under normal conditions and
scale back to equally safe, reduced capacity under degraded conditions.
Moreover, this adaptation has to happen autonomously. In addition, the airspace
participants need self-protection from cyber-security attacks. Innovators who
participate in this challenge will be asked to disregard current transportation
infrastructure and constraints and use a clean-slate approach to conceptualize
their designs, concepts of operations, and component technologies.


What Can You Do Right Now? https://herox.com/SkyForAll/guidelines

Read the complete Challenge Guidelines to familiarize yourself with the rules
and submission requirements for this challenge.
Click the “Follow the Challenge” button above to be notified of any updates.
Click the “Pre Register” button above to compete in the challenge. You will be
notified when we’re ready to start accepting submissions.
Share this challenge with your friends and family or anyone who might be
interested in creating the future. You can use the “Share” button beneath the
challenge image above.
Use the Comments section above to tell us what you think of the challenge or to
ask any questions.


https://herox.com/SkyForAll/guidelines

Sky for All: Air Mobility for 2035 and Beyond


Be part of this solution by using the social share and invite buttons to
inspire other crazy dreamers to solve this worthy challenge.
Vote Up 145 Share
NOMINATE A FRIEND
to solve the challenge
The Challenge
Envision the skies of 2035 and design an airspace system that allows vehicles
to safely and efficiently navigate dense and diverse airspace.
Stage
The challenge is in the Enter Stage
Total Prize Amount
$15,000
Follow the Challenge
Sept. 1, 2015
Pre registration
Dec. 21, 2015
Enter
Feb. 26, 2016
Submission Deadline
March 24, 2016
Winners Announced
Overview
Timeline
Guidelines
Updates (4)
Comments (2)
Share
Definitions
For the purposes of this challenge, the following definitions hold:

The system: The set of all participants -- vehicles, controllers (human or
automated), information services (ground or airborne), navigation services,
sensor services, etc. -- in the airspace traffic.

Auto-characteristic or self-characteristic: An auto-characteristic or
self-characteristic is an action performed by a participant in the system. This
includes autonomy (self-governance, self-control, self-management); automation
(performance of a task by a machine/software); self-monitoring,
self-diagnosing, self-repair, self-protection, and self-optimization.


Guidelines
This challenge seeks to develop component concepts and technologies that will
facilitate a transition to an airspace with dense, diverse and autonomous
traffic. The following areas (not exhaustive) are of particular interest:

All concepts and technologies related to auto- or self-characteristics of the
system that support safe, efficient, and resilient traffic; for instance,
methods and algorithms for self-organization and self-management in dense
traffic. Consider the following example: in the present system, the paths of
individual vehicles are approved by the air traffic control system. In a future
autonomous system, it is anticipated that individual vehicles would be able to
pursue their objectives with the smallest possible numbers of deviations from
their optimal paths. However, when a group of vehicles has the same objective
(say, flying to the same football game), increased density would require that
the vehicles form organized flows to reach their destination efficiently and
safely. This situation is similar to the current need for increased traffic
control near and at airports. Concepts that allow groups of vehicles to
self-organize dynamically, without external control, would be an example of
self-organization.
All concepts and technologies that improve the situational awareness in the
system (e.g., sensors, information technology) in dense and diverse traffic.
Security, including cyber-security of automated systems; and ensuring safety
and security in the presence of non-cooperative participants.
Any other technologies and concepts, both large and small, that would
facilitate a transition to a diverse and dense autonomous airspace, would be
welcome for consideration.

Successful submissions will include the following elements:

A description of the proposed technology or concept. Does it address vehicles
in the system, the system services, or concept of operations? How does the
technology interact with the system (e.g., with the other systems on a vehicle
or other vehicles or other control)? On what existing and future technologies
does the proposed technology or concept rely? Include a description of the
world in which the technology will be operational. The metrics of success for
the proposed technology/concept and its effects on the system should be clearly
identified (efficiency, capacity, flexibility, predictability, delays, etc.)
A detailed description of the proposed concept/technology functioning as
related to a vehicle’s progression through the system, gate to gate or door to
door or other uses of airspace.
A detailed explanation of the proposed concept’s/technology’s impact on the
system’s safety and security, with comparison to the current transportation
system.
An explanation of the concept/technology robustness (insensitivity to everyday
disturbances) and resiliency (ability to spring back after major disturbances).
An explanation of how the proposed concept/technology aids in transition from
the present system to the future system that accommodates dense, diverse and
autonomous traffic.
Proposed solutions should be accompanied with substantiated discussions of
major obstacles, both technical and societal, and potential approaches to
overcoming them.

Judging Criteria
Evaluation of submissions will be weighted according to the following:

Points

Category

35

Originality and innovation shown in presented future scenario, designed
solutions, and ideas

30

Substantiated, well-reasoned, realistic, and justified assumptions, discussion,
design, and conclusions

25

Thorough and comprehensive pursuit of the problem; all types of stakeholders,
vehicles, and airspace (e.g. altitudes) are addressed by the discussion and
proposed solution

10

Presentation, organization, and clarity of submission; appropriate and clear
use of figures, tables, and text



Submission Format
Submit your response in the form of a single PDF document (20 MB maximum).
Responses are limited to no more than 15 pages total, including all sections
and appendices. Submissions must be in English. Paper size must be 8.5 by 11
inches. Minimum margins are one inch. Font must be minimum 12 pt, single-spaced
(text in tables and figures may be as small as 9 pt).


Challenge Prize
Prizes will be awarded to the top three submissions:

First Place - $10,000
Second Place - $3,000
Third Place - $2,000

Challenge Timeline
December 21st, 2015 - Challenge Launches
February 26th, 2016 - Submissions Due
March 24th, 2016 - Winners Announced


Additional Rules

Who can participate:
The Prize is open to all individuals, age 18 or older, private teams, public
teams, and collegiate teams. Individual competitors and teams may originate
from any country, as long as United States federal sanctions do not prohibit
participation (see:
https://www.treasury.gov/resource-ce...Programs.aspx).
To be eligible to compete, you must comply with all the terms of the Prize as
defined in the Challenge-Specific Agreement.

Registration and Submissions:
All innovators and teams must be registered prior to submitting an entry.
Submissions must be received on or before February 26, 2016 at 11:59 pm EST. No
late submissions will be accepted. Submissions must be made in English. All
prize-related communication will be in English. Submissions must be made online
(only), via upload to the HeroX.com website. All uploads must be in PDF format.
Selection of Winners:
Based on the winning criteria, 3 prizes will be awarded to the top three
submissions: First Place - $10,000; Second Place - $3,000; Third Place -
$2,000. In the case of a tie, the winner(s) will be selected based on the
highest votes from the judges. NASA has absolute and sole discretion to
determine whether to accept any submission, and whether to award one prize,
multiple prizes or no prize based on the volume and content of submissions.

Additional Information:
By participating in the Prize, each competitor agrees to submit only their
original idea. Any indication of copying amongst competitors is grounds for
disqualification.
All applications will go through a process of due diligence; any application
found to be misrepresentative, plagiarized, or sharing an idea that is not
their own will be automatically disqualified.
All ineligible applicants will be automatically removed from the competition
with no recourse or reimbursement.
No purchase or payment of any kind is necessary to enter or win the
competition.
Void wherever restricted or prohibited by law.

On Sunday, December 27, 2015 at 4:48:50 AM UTC-6, Larry Dighera wrote:
http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/NASA-Seeks-New-Ideas-For-Airspace-Design-225402-1.html
NASA Seeks New Ideas For Airspace Design
By Mary Grady

Enuff already from the space cadets, how about upgrading the Interstate lanes in urban areas to handle the traffic load ?? Let the Hindus handle the moonbeam dreams.

On Thu, 31 Dec 2015 14:26:46 -0800 (PST), wrote:

On Sunday, December 27, 2015 at 4:48:50 AM UTC-6, Larry Dighera wrote:
http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/NASA-Seeks-New-Ideas-For-Airspace-Design-225402-1.html
NASA Seeks New Ideas For Airspace Design
By Mary Grady

Enuff already from the space cadets, how about upgrading the Interstate lanes in urban areas to handle the traffic load ?? Let the Hindus handle the moonbeam dreams.

We can expect the world's population of 6.5 billion to become 13 billion by
2067 http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idbsum.html, so expecting to solve the
nation's highway system is futile. More runways, on the other hand, could
significantly reduce airline delays.

The way I see it, if the US government doesn't create an alternate ATC system
to that satellite-based currently marketed, and operating in other countries,
by Boeing, we will be forced to capitulate controls of US skies to
corporations, sworn to put profit above all else. It is my current
understanding that that system's feeble satellite radio signals can be easily
disrupted or worse, commandeered by sufficiently powerful terrestrial-based
transmitters. Additionally, it promotes decommissioning RADARs, in favor of a
GPS (satellite)-based position reporting system that introduces the possibility
of being spoofed by nefarious false coordinates. Further, it promises closer
spaced aircraft than are deemed safe today, and the anticipated increase of the
ATC system's capacity as justification for the switch; how will the ATC system
recover in the event of a sudden technology outage with all that aluminum in
close proximity?

It is likely adoption of such an ATC system will usher in the specter of
use-fees, and all that portends; at least an increase in the cost of air
travel. So, the public pays more, and the corporations have a new revenue
stream cash-cow...

I've been flying over forty years; I am unable to conceive of a single ATC
improvement, system enhancement, or new concept.

Ultimately, I see large hypersonic rocket-planes taking over intercontinental
air travel, with a network of drones hauling freight. Prognostication seems
appropriate for this New Year's Day. :-)

Here's a video that dramatically demonstrates how to bring down drones:

4 WAYS TO TAKE DOWN ILLEGAL DRONES https://youtu.be/X27-2WDIZR0




On Sun, 27 Dec 2015 02:49:02 -0800, Larry Dighera wrote:


http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/NASA-Seeks-New-Ideas-For-Airspace-Design-225402-1.html
NASA Seeks New Ideas For Airspace Design
By Mary Grady


NASA has launched a prize challenge in search of ideas for how to create a new
airspace system by 2035 that could accommodate up to 10 million piloted and
autonomous aircraft operations per day. “Our current system is not equipped to
handle this volume or variety of aircraft,” says NASA. The agency is asking
innovators to “cast aside the restraints of the current transportation model”
and develop new concepts and technologies for the airspace of the future.
Registration opened this week for the “Sky For All” challenge, which offers a
total of $15,000 in prizes.

Submissions should include a full description of the design, including safety
features and an explanation of how the new air transportation system would
interact with other forms of transportation, including ground and sea. Entrants
also should compare the proposed system’s advantages, in safety and security,
to the current system. Submissions will be judged on originality and
innovation, clarity and reasoning, comprehensiveness, and presentation. The
competition
http://www.nasa.gov/feature/challenge-is-on-to-design-sky-for-allis open to
innovators from around the world. The deadline to enter is Feb. 26, and winners
will be announced on March 24.


http://www.nasa.gov/feature/challenge-is-on-to-design-sky-for-all
Dec. 17, 2015
Challenge is On to Design Sky for All

A graphic of a potential future airspace system.

Do you love to think about big-picture systems? Register now for the Sky for
All challenge and share your best ideas for an airspace system of the future.
Credits: NASA

The history of aviation is rich with innovations from citizen inventors
http://www.nasa.gov/solve/history-of-challenges, and NASA is looking to the
public to continue that tradition by contributing new ideas for the future of
air travel.

Sky for All: Air Mobility for 2035 and Beyond is a $15,000 challenge to develop
ideas for technologies that could be part of a clean-slate, revolutionary
design and concept of operations for the airspace of the future. The challenge,
which is administered by HeroX, opens Dec. 21, and participants may
pre-register now. The deadline for submissions is Feb. 26, 2016.

The design challenge, sponsored by NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission
Directorate (ARMD) http://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov, asks potential solvers to
think outside the current air traffic management system box, and consider how
to manage crowded skies, autonomous operations and cyber security of the
system.

“Twenty years from now, people may be surprised about the number and kind of
vehicles sharing the skies,” said Parimal Kopardekar, ARMD’s Safe Autonomous
Operations Systems (SASO) project manager. “We anticipate there will be
personal air vehicles, passenger jets, and unmanned aircraft of various sizes
and speeds flying at a variety of altitudes, as well as commercial space
launches, spacecraft and even stationary objects like wind turbines.”

What the team wants from the public is new ideas – perhaps something
researchers haven't thought of yet that could help revolutionize how traffic is
managed in the airspace. Among the factors NASA wants participants to consider
is how to design a robust system that can scale up to full capacity under
normal operations and scale back to equally safe reduced capacity under poor
conditions, like bad weather. Ideas may also consider autonomous adaptation of
the system, and protection from possible cyber security attacks.

“Because of the complexity of designing a system that is expected to handle 10
million crewed and uncrewed aircraft in the skies, we are looking for
innovative ideas from the public that enhance the work NASA researchers are
doing right now,” said Natalia Alexandrov, lead of the Ab Initio Design for
Autonomous Airspace Operations, a foundational research element in ARMD’s SASO
Project.

NASA is asking innovators to disregard current transportation infrastructure
and constraints. Submissions should include a full description of the design,
including safety features and an explanation of how the new air transportation
system would interact with others forms of transportation, including ground and
sea.

“I am so proud that HeroX and NASA are partnering on this exciting challenge,”
said Peter Diamandis, chairman and chief executive officer of XPRIZE and
co-founder of HeroX. “Incentive prizes have played an incredible historical
role in shaping the aerospace industry ranging from the Orteig Prize to the
Ansari XPRIZE. I can’t wait to see the breakthrough ideas that will result from
the NASA Sky for All Challenge.”

The Sky for All challenge is managed by NASA’s Center of Excellence for
Collaborative Innovation (CoECI). CoECI was established with support from the
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to assist NASA and other
federal agencies in using new tools – such as challenges – to solve tough,
mission-critical problems. The Center launches challenges under the umbrella of
the NASA Tournament Lab and offers a variety of open innovation platforms that
engage the crowdsourcing community in challenges to create the most innovative,
efficient and optimal solutions for specific, real world challenges.

Last Updated: Dec. 17, 2015

Editor: Maria Werries

Tags: Aeronautics, Ames Research Center, Reducing Flight Delays



http://www.nasa.gov/solve/history-of-challenges

Sky for All: Air Mobility for 2035 and Beyond

Be part of this solution by using the social share and invite buttons to
inspire other crazy dreamers to solve this worthy challenge.

The Challenge
Envision the skies of 2035 and design an airspace system that allows vehicles
to safely and efficiently navigate dense and diverse airspace.

Stage

The challenge is in the Enter Stage

Total Prize Amount
$15,000

Follow the Challenge
Sept. 1, 2015

Pre registration
Dec. 21, 2015

Enter
Feb. 26, 2016

Submission Deadline
March 24, 2016

Winners Announced
Overview
Timeline
Guidelines
Updates (4)
Comments (2)

Sky for All: Air Mobility for 2035 and Beyond

Increasing Safe, Secure, Efficient Mobility through Air in Skies of 2035 and
Beyond

Experts predict the skies of 2035 and beyond will be a complex and, at times,
crowded space, populated with diverse vehicles piloted by both humans and
machine intelligence. The estimates are that, twenty years from now, 10 million
manned and unmanned vehicles may traverse the U.S. airspace every day. Our
current system is not equipped to handle this volume or variety of aircraft.

To overcome the limitations of the current system and ensure safe access for
all travelers and users of airspace, the Ab Initio Design (AbI) element of the
NASA Safe Autonomous Operations Systems (SASO) Project is researching a new
airspace design and concept of operations that will allow the air vehicles of
2035, including autonomous vehicles, to safely and efficiently participate in
dense and diverse traffic. Clean-slate airspace architecture and operations,
not constrained in the current system, are the overarching “Big Picture”
target. Given the great complexity and scale of the of the overall objective,
NASA is reaching out to the problem-solving community, asking innovators to
cast aside the restraints of the current transportation model and develop
component concepts and technologies that will enable the transition from the
present system to the airspace of the future.


Background

The U.S. airspace system evolved over time in response to accidents and
changing technology. Current operations support approximately 50,000 operations
per day and boast the highest safety record of any mode of transportation, but
this system has approached saturation and will not scale to accommodate future
needs. Our goal is to build an airspace system that scales to 10 million
vehicles per day (including personal air vehicles, passenger jets, unmanned
vehicles of various sizes and speeds, stationary objects, space vehicles, etc.)
by the year 2035.

To achieve this, a breakthrough in airspace system design and concept of
operations is urgently needed as new vehicles -- such as drones of various
sizes operating at different altitudes, commercial space launches, wind
turbines in jet streams -- are already being introduced into the airspace.
Architectural constraints of the current system may not allow it to accommodate
the complex air traffic of 2035 and beyond. Thus NASA is looking for creative,
clean-slate design constructs, or enabling component technologies and concepts,
that will inform the design of real-world future air transportation.

We want airspace that can scale to full capacity under normal conditions and
scale back to equally safe, reduced capacity under degraded conditions.
Moreover, this adaptation has to happen autonomously. In addition, the airspace
participants need self-protection from cyber-security attacks. Innovators who
participate in this challenge will be asked to disregard current transportation
infrastructure and constraints and use a clean-slate approach to conceptualize
their designs, concepts of operations, and component technologies.


What Can You Do Right Now? https://herox.com/SkyForAll/guidelines

Read the complete Challenge Guidelines to familiarize yourself with the rules
and submission requirements for this challenge.
Click the “Follow the Challenge” button above to be notified of any updates.
Click the “Pre Register” button above to compete in the challenge. You will be
notified when we’re ready to start accepting submissions.
Share this challenge with your friends and family or anyone who might be
interested in creating the future. You can use the “Share” button beneath the
challenge image above.
Use the Comments section above to tell us what you think of the challenge or to
ask any questions.


https://herox.com/SkyForAll/guidelines

Sky for All: Air Mobility for 2035 and Beyond


Be part of this solution by using the social share and invite buttons to
inspire other crazy dreamers to solve this worthy challenge.
Vote Up 145 Share
NOMINATE A FRIEND
to solve the challenge
The Challenge
Envision the skies of 2035 and design an airspace system that allows vehicles
to safely and efficiently navigate dense and diverse airspace.
Stage
The challenge is in the Enter Stage
Total Prize Amount
$15,000
Follow the Challenge
Sept. 1, 2015
Pre registration
Dec. 21, 2015
Enter
Feb. 26, 2016
Submission Deadline
March 24, 2016
Winners Announced
Overview
Timeline
Guidelines
Updates (4)
Comments (2)
Share
Definitions
For the purposes of this challenge, the following definitions hold:

The system: The set of all participants -- vehicles, controllers (human or
automated), information services (ground or airborne), navigation services,
sensor services, etc. -- in the airspace traffic.

Auto-characteristic or self-characteristic: An auto-characteristic or
self-characteristic is an action performed by a participant in the system. This
includes autonomy (self-governance, self-control, self-management); automation
(performance of a task by a machine/software); self-monitoring,
self-diagnosing, self-repair, self-protection, and self-optimization.


Guidelines
This challenge seeks to develop component concepts and technologies that will
facilitate a transition to an airspace with dense, diverse and autonomous
traffic. The following areas (not exhaustive) are of particular interest:

All concepts and technologies related to auto- or self-characteristics of the
system that support safe, efficient, and resilient traffic; for instance,
methods and algorithms for self-organization and self-management in dense
traffic. Consider the following example: in the present system, the paths of
individual vehicles are approved by the air traffic control system. In a future
autonomous system, it is anticipated that individual vehicles would be able to
pursue their objectives with the smallest possible numbers of deviations from
their optimal paths. However, when a group of vehicles has the same objective
(say, flying to the same football game), increased density would require that
the vehicles form organized flows to reach their destination efficiently and
safely. This situation is similar to the current need for increased traffic
control near and at airports. Concepts that allow groups of vehicles to
self-organize dynamically, without external control, would be an example of
self-organization.
All concepts and technologies that improve the situational awareness in the
system (e.g., sensors, information technology) in dense and diverse traffic.
Security, including cyber-security of automated systems; and ensuring safety
and security in the presence of non-cooperative participants.
Any other technologies and concepts, both large and small, that would
facilitate a transition to a diverse and dense autonomous airspace, would be
welcome for consideration.

Successful submissions will include the following elements:

A description of the proposed technology or concept. Does it address vehicles
in the system, the system services, or concept of operations? How does the
technology interact with the system (e.g., with the other systems on a vehicle
or other vehicles or other control)? On what existing and future technologies
does the proposed technology or concept rely? Include a description of the
world in which the technology will be operational. The metrics of success for
the proposed technology/concept and its effects on the system should be clearly
identified (efficiency, capacity, flexibility, predictability, delays, etc.)
A detailed description of the proposed concept/technology functioning as
related to a vehicle’s progression through the system, gate to gate or door to
door or other uses of airspace.
A detailed explanation of the proposed concept’s/technology’s impact on the
system’s safety and security, with comparison to the current transportation
system.
An explanation of the concept/technology robustness (insensitivity to everyday
disturbances) and resiliency (ability to spring back after major disturbances).
An explanation of how the proposed concept/technology aids in transition from
the present system to the future system that accommodates dense, diverse and
autonomous traffic.
Proposed solutions should be accompanied with substantiated discussions of
major obstacles, both technical and societal, and potential approaches to
overcoming them.

Judging Criteria
Evaluation of submissions will be weighted according to the following:

Points

Category

35

Originality and innovation shown in presented future scenario, designed
solutions, and ideas

30

Substantiated, well-reasoned, realistic, and justified assumptions, discussion,
design, and conclusions

25

Thorough and comprehensive pursuit of the problem; all types of stakeholders,
vehicles, and airspace (e.g. altitudes) are addressed by the discussion and
proposed solution

10

Presentation, organization, and clarity of submission; appropriate and clear
use of figures, tables, and text



Submission Format
Submit your response in the form of a single PDF document (20 MB maximum).
Responses are limited to no more than 15 pages total, including all sections
and appendices. Submissions must be in English. Paper size must be 8.5 by 11
inches. Minimum margins are one inch. Font must be minimum 12 pt, single-spaced
(text in tables and figures may be as small as 9 pt).


Challenge Prize
Prizes will be awarded to the top three submissions:

First Place - $10,000
Second Place - $3,000
Third Place - $2,000

Challenge Timeline
December 21st, 2015 - Challenge Launches
February 26th, 2016 - Submissions Due
March 24th, 2016 - Winners Announced


Additional Rules

Who can participate:
The Prize is open to all individuals, age 18 or older, private teams, public
teams, and collegiate teams. Individual competitors and teams may originate
from any country, as long as United States federal sanctions do not prohibit
participation (see:
https://www.treasury.gov/resource-ce...Programs.aspx).
To be eligible to compete, you must comply with all the terms of the Prize as
defined in the Challenge-Specific Agreement.

Registration and Submissions:
All innovators and teams must be registered prior to submitting an entry.
Submissions must be received on or before February 26, 2016 at 11:59 pm EST. No
late submissions will be accepted. Submissions must be made in English. All
prize-related communication will be in English. Submissions must be made online
(only), via upload to the HeroX.com website. All uploads must be in PDF format.
Selection of Winners:
Based on the winning criteria, 3 prizes will be awarded to the top three
submissions: First Place - $10,000; Second Place - $3,000; Third Place -
$2,000. In the case of a tie, the winner(s) will be selected based on the
highest votes from the judges. NASA has absolute and sole discretion to
determine whether to accept any submission, and whether to award one prize,
multiple prizes or no prize based on the volume and content of submissions.

Additional Information:
By participating in the Prize, each competitor agrees to submit only their
original idea. Any indication of copying amongst competitors is grounds for
disqualification.
All applications will go through a process of due diligence; any application
found to be misrepresentative, plagiarized, or sharing an idea that is not
their own will be automatically disqualified.
All ineligible applicants will be automatically removed from the competition
with no recourse or reimbursement.
No purchase or payment of any kind is necessary to enter or win the
competition.
Void wherever restricted or prohibited by law.