Description: Emergency response applications such as wildfire suppression present an important and challenging proving ground for autonomous aviation in the near future. Autonomous operation is desirable because these scenarios are dangerous for pilots and can be more cost-effective. They are challenging because autonomous decision-making has to work with incomplete information (e.g., partial visibility with smoke) in a dynamically evolving environment such as loss of communication. To meet these challenges the autonomy stack has to establish a higher degree of resilience to off-nominal conditions. Systems should have the ability to dynamically adapt to changes in the external environment - such as visibility, GPS availability, connectivity to human operators and other agents in the fleet - as well as internal (vehicle-level) failures and degradation. The system should be able to rationally self-organize the sensing and communication architecture based on current estimate of available resources. Finally, system designers should be able to provide evidence for certifying the safe operation of the whole system at design time and monitor its performance at runtime. Towards accomplishing these goals, and more broadly aligned with NASA's strategic plans for enabling aircraft autonomy, our team at Rational CyPhy Inc. will develop SkyAID - a framework for enabling autonomous aircraft operations. The fundamental technical breakthroughs anticipated are: * Fast timescale adaptation with safe, multi-objective, detect-and-avoid algorithms that lower workload in beyond visual line of sight operations; * Autonomous adaptation to changing environment for optimized perception and communication, based on recent innovations in safe learning-enabled control; * Continuous verification, validation, and certification technologies reducing development cycles and increasing overall safety and mission success.

Benefits: Increase in the frequency and severity of wildfires globally, alongside urbanization has led to complex structural fires. The economic impact on communities is escalating, necessitating advanced solutions for disaster management. Additionally, multi-modal Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) is an adjacent application with a growing demand. Despite rapid advances in autonomy and drone technology they are not used by emergency responders due to the lack of tools and situational awareness for responders to see where firefighting drones are operating. NASA's Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) project is developing airspace management technologies to share information between crewed aircraft, drone operators, and ground crews during wildfire responses. The technologies developed in SkyAID will significantly advance the goals of the ACERO project. In particular, SkyAID's ability to rapidly adapt to environmental changes, such as shifts in visibility or the presence of fire, gives operators an unprecedented level of situational awareness and responsiveness, crucial for effective decision-making in emergency scenarios. Next, the development of risk aware natural language interface will enable smoother sharing of information between crewed aircraft, drone operators, and ground crews. Finally, by automating mission planning and execution, SkyAID significantly reduces the cognitive and operational workload on operators, enabling a single individual to manage multiple drones simultaneously.The global market for drone services, which includes firefighting, search and rescue operations, is projected to experience significant growth. The drone services market size is expected to reach USD 40.7 billion by 2026, from USD 13.9 billion in 2021, growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 23.8%. According to a report by GlobeNewswire, the global market for ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance) was estimated at USD 43 Billion in the year 2022 and it is projected to reach a revised size of USD 61 Billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of approximately 4.2% during the forecast period. Further, the evolving regulatory landscape increasingly favors certification for drones that are used in emergency and public safety operations, further boosting market opportunities for RCP. Emphasizing software solutions that offer low size, weight, and power consumption to significantly enhance the operational capabilities of drones in complex and hazardous environments, the development of SkyAID represents a leap forward in leveraging technology for competitive advantage in emergency response and ISR markets. Firstly, SkyAID's ability to rapidly adapt to environmental changes, such as shifts in visibility or the presence of fire, gives operators an unprecedented level of situational awareness and responsiveness, crucial for effective decision-making in emergency scenarios. Secondly, its advanced detect-and-avoid systems automate risk management, allowing drones to operate safely in densely populated or highly dynamic areas without intensive human oversight. Next, by automating mission planning and execution, SkyAID significantly reduces the cognitive and operational workload on operators, enabling a single individual to manage multiple drones simultaneously. Finally, the development of a continuous assurance pipeline that incorporates formal verification, offers a mechanism to prove the correctness of software under all operational conditions.