Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) is going to face challenges integrating into the existing airspace. The current airspace is already very complex and constrained, and incorporating AAM aircraft is going to add to that complexity. Given the extensive nature of advanced and autonomous operations in AAM, there is a need to develop third-party services that rely on high-integrity data to improve situational awareness, comprehend flight environments, avoid hazards, and ensure safe navigation.
SkyGrid’s role as a Third-Party Service Provider (TSP) makes us a key enabler of AAM. Our services will provide flight operators with a detailed understanding of the airspace they are navigating so they can plan their flights safely and effectively, regardless of whether or not a pilot is onboard the aircraft.
TSPs are part of a larger AAM ecosystem, a term used to describe the interconnected groups and organizations that must work together to make AAM a reality. This ecosystem contains nine main entities: airspace data and services; communications, navigation, and surveillance (CNS) and physical infrastructure; fleet operators and managers; cooperative air traffic management (ATM); vehicle systems; airspace design and procedures; regulatory authorities; cities and localities; and other airspace users.
The AAM ecosystem functions within the National Airspace System (NAS), a collection of all the systems responsible for planning, managing, analyzing, and executing flights. It encompasses areas like ATM, aircraft and pilots, navigation and communication aids, airports and runways, and regulations and policies. Within the NAS, SkyGrid supports four areas involved on the operational side of AAM: airspace data and services, CNS and physical infrastructure, fleet operators and managers, and cooperative ATM. SkyGrid is developing digital services that facilitate both interaction and data exchanges among these key operational players in the ecosystem.
Airspace Data and Services
Airspace data and services involve third-party services and data provided by entities like air navigation service providers (ANSPs), the global navigation satellite system (GNSS), surveillance towers, and weather radar. SkyGrid’s system will leverage this kind of data and provide third-party digital information services, strategic planning services, tactical planning services, and mission support services to operations managers and remote pilots in command (RPICs).
CNS and Physical Infrastructure
TSPs will help support new infrastructure like vertiports. Similar to helipads, vertiports are the ground infrastructure that will be used by vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) and electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to take-off and land, but they will be able to handle a higher density of traffic. They will also include features like charging stations and a terminal for loading and unloading passengers. TSPs will be responsible for providing data to vertiports so flights can be scheduled efficiently and to avoid congestion.
Other infrastructure from which TSPs will receive information or to which they will send information includes weather sensors, terminal surveillance sensors, enroute surveillance sensors, and the GNSS. Communicating with this infrastructure will enhance SkyGrid’s services, such as flight planning and operating area forecasting.
Fleet Operators and Managers
SkyGrid’s system will act as a digital hub that supports the operations manager and RPIC to execute AAM flights safely and efficiently. The operations manager oversees flight planning, while the RPIC is responsible for executing the flight from take-off to landing. Through a singular system that integrates data and allows for enhanced situational awareness, flight operators can plan flights, make real-time decisions, and avoid hazards in the air.
Operations managers and RPICs will be responsible for flying VTOL, eVTOL, and conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) aircraft. These aircraft may fly uncrewed flights, where no pilot is on board but passengers may be, or crewed flights, where a pilot is on board but the aircraft can still have autonomous functions. In the context of AAM, eVTOLs will be used as air taxis within an urban environment, while CTOLs will be unpiloted cargo flights within a regional environment.
Cooperative ATM
ATM exists to ensure the safe, efficient, and orderly movement of aircraft in the sky and at airports. It is a critical system made up of two functions that protect lives, maintain reliability, and optimize airspace use. The first, air traffic control (ATC), gives flight operators instructions to keep routes safe and clear of hazards. Traffic flow management (TFM) ensures that traffic flow at airports doesn’t exceed a specific airport’s capacity. ATC involves tactical-level tasks since controllers are reacting to traffic conditions in real time, while TFM requires more strategic planning. SkyGrid will act as a decision support tool for ATM, making it easier to control air traffic and ensuring flight paths are clear. Aircraft, ATM, TSPs, and other involved parties will work cooperatively to ensure safe AAM flight.
Enabling Seamless Integration of AAM Through TSPs
To help AAM integrate seamlessly into the airspace, TSPs will be involved in most flight processes- they act as the mediator for these interactions so AAM operations can happen in the safest and most efficient way. As SkyGrid’s system and AAM operations mature, our role as a TSP will evolve. The initial role of the TSP will be to provide flight operators with capabilities to plan and execute both crewed and uncrewed AAM flights effectively. Looking ahead, as Autonomous Flight Rules (AFR) progress, advanced operations may involve TSPs managing operations through responsible automation in AFR, promoting cooperative separation management, and enhancing interoperability through a NAS data exchange.
