Management of Operations under Visual Flight Rules in UTM for Disaster Response Missions

The disaster response domain has experienced an increased focus in recent years. As part of this focus, JAXA and NASA have been collaborating on the integration of manned and unmanned aircraft in support of disaster response operations through integrated testing of their respective mission planning and optimization system (Disaster Relief Aircraft Information Sharing Network, or D-NET) and a UAS traffic management (UTM) system. In 2018, JAXA and NASA jointly participated in a large-scale disaster drill in Japan where the integration of systems was successfully demonstrated through coordinated airspace management of a manned helicopter under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) conditions and unmanned small UAS operating in common areas. This work details a flight test consisting of two flights that were conducted December 2019 in Tokyo, Japan, which focused on the evaluation of pilots operating under VFR communicating through D-NET and sharing intent and position information within UTM. Experienced disaster response helicopter pilots provided insight on the development of the operation plans and their usability during disaster response operations. Results from the flight test supported the use of landmarks for planning and positional awareness and highlighted the need for future research in advanced visualization capabilities.