By Mid-May 2028, the Houme-Terrebonne (KHUM) Blue Skies OAM Operations Center had been up-and-running for two years and was now home to three separate Gulf-Coast eVTOL operations, as well as servicing extensive intra-State traffic from NO and Shreveport and witnessing a steady stream of military test traffic from the Eglin AFB ranges to the East (see Figure 1). This particular Tuesday the METAR read KHUM 131255Z 03012KT 4SM HZ BKN008 OVC055 24/23 A2972 depicting a dull hazy day with low cloud scudding in from the North. The morning shift at the OAM Ops Center checks in at their consoles, while across the airfield the aircraft Operators log into their own systems, the maintainers begin prepping the eVTOL platforms, and the Day Shift out on the rigs begin their handovers.
As the Gulf eVTOL traffic density increased rapidly last year, KHUM introduced a second Vertiport site (VP North) with two additional TLOFs, a passenger/freight facility, four charging stations and a maintenance hangar. The two most recent Operators (Gas-Support and VertiOps) built hangars that directly access VP North, while VP South still services the original Operator (Autonohaul) and the other non-local traffic. The BLU series of Air Corridors had recently been adjusted to integrate the two ‘wreath’ approaches efficiently, with planning and simulation completed using the AAMTEX Airspace Structure Editor (ASE), an example of which is shown in Figure 2. This has been completed by the KHUM Airport Manager working with DoT reps at State and Federal level, but even then only took six months for approval, which was remarkably quick.
The Vertihub Manager (VM) checks the Health-&-Usage-Monitoring-System (HUMS) on the Air Commons® VM screen, confirming the status of the offshore network nodes on the platforms stretching out to over 200 NM to the South. Two appear to be off-nominal and she inputs a maintenance ticket prior to degrading the PPL3 Air Corridor status (see Figure 1) to ‘Marginal’, which would reroute the autonomous traffic via GRN3 and PPL4 tracks.
The weather is suited to Special VFR, not uncommon for this time of year, and two of the three Operators have autonomous waivers to operate in those conditions, the third only flies manned eVTOLs, so a full flying day is expected. Once the VM has ‘greened up the board’ for flight operations a flood of approved Operational Intents (O/Is) begin to auto populate the VM’s Schedule screen.
The O/Is are equivalent to General Aviation (GA) ‘flight plans’ which are entered by each Operators’ scheduling shop and automatically vetted by a series of cloud-based protocols such as PSUs and Essential Services. These check the routes for weather, Demand Capacity-Balancing (DCB, including spaces at the Vertistops on the platforms), Air Corridor health (as altered above by the VM). Finally, the O/Is are reviewed for possible en route traffic conflictions, and any warnings (called Capacity Constraints, CCs, akin to NOTAMs) before Approval is issued.
As the aircraft start to roll out of the hangars to meet their departure times, the VM’s TLOF Board tracks their status and telemetry, and the PSUs constantly watch for any non conformance to the planned O/Is, ready to automatically begin replanning the schedule to ensure safety and efficiency. The status of each of the charging stations is tracked at the VM’s station as an outage could significantly alter the traffic flow throughout the day.
As the first resident eVTOL Operator at KHUM, and especially as their platforms are unpiloted, Autonohaul had to successfully fight itself up a significant set of learning curves. Blue water operations proved challenging for maintenance of ground and air equipment, and the regulatory oversight was, necessarily, stringent. But the company now had 12-months lead on their competitors and had navigated the onerous waiver requirements to operate autonomous aircraft to offshore platforms by day and night and in SVFR conditions (although IMC clearances still eluded them).
Today the schedule called for fifteen, multi-hop, parts and equipment supply runs out to the fields. The Air Commons® Operator Base Station Scheduling and O/I interface, shown in Figure 3, was tied to the local AAMTEX PSU flight management system, and they had recently upgraded two of their Essential Services providers giving real-time low-level weather from the platforms, and a more efficient re-routing tool. Planning the day’s schedule was quick, although two of the hops needed to be retimed to allow for Gas Support aircraft at their charging pads. Competition might be good for the customer, but you have to keep ahead of it. Fortunately, VP South still had some advantages for access to BLU 1, a preferred route.
With a fully Accepted schedule, the Operator passes the O/Is down to the ground staff, who upload them over the network to the heavyweight hybrid UAVs (see Figure 4), ensuring the multi-compartment cargo containers match the destinations on their scheduled flights. When the match is made, the crew pulls them out to the parking stands and the Operator activates the first four, in turn, to commence their deliveries.
As they each take off, the PSUs track their telemetry, providing secure, encrypted, real time position and status across the mesh network. A charging pad outage at one of the platforms meant that the all-electric Gas-Support aircraft had to divert, freeing up a landing slot. A quick update, back to the original O/I plan, was made, Accepted, and passed to the aircraft en route. Sometimes it pays to be hybrid.
The second Autonohaul aircraft airborne had three stops before making it nearly 100 NM out to the A-Big Foot rig within the Terrebonne District. As a fully autonomous resupply asset, all it needed to report was position, vector, routing, and status over the Blue Skies network. That Vehicle-to-Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2V2I) mesh was designed to operate at variable traffic densities (although, the more the better), and as such the aircraft was able to be tracked throughout the flights by the PSU for conformity to the planned O/I. Through the Software-Defined Radio network, the Operator is informed of any issues that might affect the flight plans of both their own fleet, as well as other aircraft that could impact their schedule.
As the autonomous drone approaches the destination vertiport it begins a conversation (called ‘parlance’) with the Vertistop Manager (an automated equivalent of the VM above) that passes local weather and TLOF status to the aircraft so that the approach can be planned. Larger rigs often have a manned position as the VM to provide supervision and support to the various aircraft types and crews (see below).
After the first drop off, ‘Heavy Two’ was delayed getting airborne by an unplanned flare burn-off. The PSU noted the non-conformance and flashed a warning to the Operator back at base, who looked at the flight plan and calculated that by increasing the cruise speed by 20 kts, well within limits, the time could be made back up. A quick update to the O/I was processed, and the new airspeed was uploaded over the network, and quickly executed. One of the VertiOps aircraft was having a little more difficulty as it had lost a propulsor unit and was unable to maintain speed in the corridors as it was returning to base. Their PSU, from a different service provider, had alerted all the local traffic of a ‘Hazard in Road’ warning or CC, and Heavy Two’s Operator saw that they would likely overtake the stricken aircraft on the PPL2 corridor. Fortunately, the Operational Conflict Management (OCM) system within Blue Skies allows for the PSUs to update deconflicting O/I in flight, and Heavy Two simply climbs 200ft (just below the cloud-base) to pass the VertiOps bird. Within 5 NM the two aircraft also automatically begin Tactical Conflict Management (TCM) via their V2V comms link, and a similar ‘parlance’ occurs to ensure they achieve the minimum separation distances. All of this communication traffic, the warning CCs, and the changes to the O/Is is clearly displayed at the respective Operators’ Air Commons® stations.
As one of the largest rigs in the District, A-Big Foot (see Figure 5) had developed one of the first floating Vertihubs, with two TLOFs, four charging pads, and a dedicated gas-powered generator for the significant battery loads. A-Big Foot also put a dedicated VM and crew in place, which report their status through the mesh to the Operators and other stakeholders.
Heavy Two approaches the rig as the final destination on the Southbound leg and begins parlance with the VM station. The aircraft is cleared for TLOF2 with a 210-degree approach heading and, on touchdown, the VM asks it to taxi to Charge Pad 4. On shutdown a team releases the final cargo pouch onto a low loader, while the batteries begin charging for a 20-minute ‘top up’. In the meantime, another Gas-Support eVTOL lands on TLOF2 and begins unloading passengers at Charge Pad 1 while it takes a seven-minute ‘quick charge’ before departing. Just prior to leaving A-Big Foot, the hybrid is topped up with AVTUR, the VM acknowledges an updated O/I from the Autonohaul Operator, and the aircraft flies off to the North. A small fuel spill was detected on Pad 4, which forced the VM to close it for 30 mins, but this didn’t impact the flight schedule.
Unmanned Experts Inc. (UMEX) is leading the AAM hardware/software infrastructure development efforts for both the USAF’s Agility Prime and NASA’s AAM programs. The UMEX-led team of companies (the North Texas Cohort) have developed the World’s only flight-test proven infrastructure that allows eVTOL manufacturers and municipal stakeholders to operationalize a Rural/Urban/Advanced Air Mobility capability in time for certification and commercial operations: Blue Skies Operational Air Mobility.
Blue Skies consists of a series of AAM Air Corridor technologies, tied to robust Concepts of Operations (CONOPs) and Common-Operating Practices (COPs), along with a comprehensive and secure Vehicle-to-Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2V2I) mesh network of hardware and software elements that allow electrified air transportation to become a reality en masse. Each eVTOL, whether piloted, remotely-piloted or autonomous, operates in a dynamic, collaborative and federated air traffic coordination environment that maximizes automation opportunities for airspace and air traffic management. Our NASA validated Provider of Services to UAM capability, or PSU, interacts with Fleet Operator programs, Vertiport Management systems and Airspace Authorization processes to support flight planning and scheduling, as well as tasking and monitoring. Our PSU and the other federated PSU’s operating in the common airspace use scheduling and demand capacity balancing (DCB) services for strategic and pre-tactical conflict management, and V2V communications for tactical conflict management. Our PSU also provides access to a myriad of Essential Services such as Weather Reporting & Forecasting, and Network Health & Usage Monitoring Systems (HUMS). The result of Blue Skies is a deconflicted, coordinated, efficient and safe network of eVTOL operations, all planned and executed within seconds to meet the rapidly growing number of use cases for AAM.
The concept behind Blue Skies is to provide operators and users, from passengers through suppliers and on to local governments, a one-stop-shop for the planning, fielding and implementation of regional AAM capabilities. Blue Skies is based on the ‘jigsaw’ approach of building the larger AAM picture, and a single Vertistop system might prove ideal for utility testing and network planning in many circumstances. The Blue Skies team works through community engagement to map commercially-viable, and population acceptable, Air Corridor and On-Demand Mobility (ODM) traffic patterns and Vertiport placements. Installation and testing of the selected ground-based infrastructure includes an encrypted software-defined radio (SDR) network, integrated and instantaneous weather-sensing platforms, and the user-selected system of Vertiports, Vertihubs and Vertistops across the municipality and adjoining region. Using the Blue Skies integrated and exceptionally-safe test platforms, the reliability and security of the mesh network is thoroughly mapped and finally, the PSU-centric software backbone is installed across the network and tested for functionality. Blue Skies is scalable and interoperable with other adjoining AAM networks via the stringent use of standards-compliant systems.
The inherently deployable nature of Blue Skies makes it extremely well-suited to military applications in the deployment of military eVTOLs across a regional resupply network. Operational use cases include a hub-and-spoke system between Main and Forward Operating Bases (MOB/FOB) or in the rapid set-up/tear down of ‘flash bases’ in high-threat areas. The capabilities of the eVTOL platforms make for rapid, stealthy and coordinated sustainment of front-line forces across the most expansive of Areas of Responsibility (AOR). A recent program built and teste flew a complete ‘deployment kit’ for just such a network using the Blue Skies hardware/software infrastructure. Blue Skies is designed to accelerate the fielding of novel eVTOL aircraft by providing the infrastructure, technologies and CONOPs to integrate variably autonomous platforms into contingency operations at scale and at range.
National Competitiveness: Critically the eVTOL / AAM industrial base needs to “de-risk the potential for this market to move overseas without the engagement of the military as a steadying force” and “not have happen to the eVTOL what happened to the hobbyist drone.”1 The U.S. lost the commercial small UAS technology race to Chinese developers, who still retain nearly 75% of the global market share. Blue Skies is designed to keep U.S. firms in the technological lead throughout the AAM space.
Advanced Air Mobility Market: Based on platform, the air metro segment is estimated to have a viable market in 2028, with a revenue generation of USD 0.9 billion in the first year. Estimates suggest that the number of vehicles would reach up to 23,000 in 2030 from 4,100 in 2028.2 “Deloitte and the Aerospace Industries Association estimates the AAM market in the US to reach approximately US$115 billion by 2035, equivalent to 30% of the present US commercial air transportation”3 Under the current NASA construct, each of
1 Dr. Will Roper, former Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. https://evtol.news/news/agile-change-in-air-force-agility-prime-launch-pays-off
2 UAM Market Study, 2018. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20190002046
3 FAA Aerospace Forecast Fiscal Years 2021-2041, 2021. FAA Aerospace Forecast Fiscal Years 2021-2041. https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/59861
Public Safety: Law Enforcement, Federal agencies and other para-public agencies involved with Disaster Response, including Civil Air Patrol, FEMA and Wildland Firefighters, may all be viable markets for Blue Skies technologies, integrating autonomous aircraft into complex airspace structures and Manned-Unmanned Teams sharing the same airspace.
Autonomous Resupply / Swarming Assets / Munitions: The DoD has a number of swarm and collaborative autonomy programs, to include AFRL Golden Horde, DARPA GREMLINS, DARPA OFFSET and AFWERX Agility Prime, and all have Blue Skies applications. Other launch customers include Contingency Response Wings and Civil Air Patrol in their rapid response and austere support mission sets.
Commercial: As Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) flights, medicine and package deliveries, and crop health monitoring become legal and profitable, the NASA/FAA UTM infrastructure will build out in the lower airspace, with Blue Skies V2V2I and C3 technologies being critical to that expansion. The commercial market will include companies such as Amazon Prime Air (deliveries), Precision Hawk (agriculture) and Bell Helicopters (eVTOL), all of whom will need a robust and tested V2V and asset deconfliction capability such as those developed under Blue Skies.
