Description
The Airspace Operations and Safety Program (AOSP), under the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is conducting a Communication, Navigation, Surveillance, and Security (CNS&S) Roadmap effort for urban air mobility (UAM). The framework as presented is an initial draft approach for CNS&S aspects of mid-term UAM operations within the National Airspace System (NAS) as described in the FAA’s UAM Concept of Operations 2.0. NASA is seeking industry and other government agency feedback as defined in the RFI response questions below to build out a robust roadmap for all CNS&S considerations to help guide future research at NASA. Background NASA ARMD has identified four focus areas to characterize its priorities: Revolutionize Aerospace Engineering Methods, Pioneer High Speed Flight, Automate Airspace and Safety Management Capabilities, and Transform Propulsion. AOSP contributes to the Automate Airspace and Safety Management Capabilities focus area which includes researching new concepts and developing requirements to enable efficient, safe, and scalable operations for current and emergent operations in the NAS. Work is underway to ensure safe integration of remotely piloted vehicles and/or electrified vehicles that are expected to fly in or around urban areas. NASA research seeks to obtain the viability of new concepts and requirements while other government organizations, primarily the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), are responsible for oversight and qualification of industry provided technologies. CNS&S Roadmap Overview Importance to enabling future operations The FAA and industry expect to conduct initial UAM operations under the existing regulatory framework (inclusive of memorandums of understanding (MOUs), waivers, exceptions, or new rules) and automation systems. However, when the tempo increases and/or new and novel operations commence (e.g. remotely piloted air taxis), new technologies, tools, capabilities, and automation (e.g., services) must be developed to accommodate these new operations. Future CNS&S development must fit seamlessly into the NAS and allow new operators to scale and safely integrate with traditional operators. Examples of today’s existing challenges include radio frequency spectrum limitations in urban environments, current dependency on GPS-based solutions, inadequate surveillance coverage, and the evolving cybersecurity threat landscape. Motivation, Objective and Purpose Industry, academia, and other government agencies have expressed a desire for strategic, NASA-led CNS&S strategic product development, such as a roadmap that reflects industry and other government agency input. Through this RFI, workshops, and other collaborative activities, NASA intends to develop a strategic CNS&S product, based on this initial version of the roadmap. The primary function of this initial roadmap is a framework around which to coalesce the aviation community around CNS&S needs, gaps, and roles and responsibilities to enable midterm UAM operations. Key goals of the roadmap include: Identify NS&S capability options, research needs, and gaps Identify areas of general consensus Identify areas of disagreement Identify potential options for roles and responsibilities between government and industry Identify key barriers that, if not overcome, might prevent midterm operations Identify options and pathways for extensibility to mature stage operations and/or barriers to scalability Identify potential impacts and changes to the notional UAM architecture Identify potential stakeholders that may have been underrepresented to this point Future CNS&S roadmap versions will broaden in scope to include the farther-term operations laid out in NASA’s Sky for All vision. These may include package delivery drones and other unmanned air systems (UAS) that will fly at or under 400 ft. above ground level (AGL), operating under the providence of UAS traffic management (UTM), and high-altitude traffic management that monitors operations at 60,000 ft Mean Sea Level (MSL) and above. Approach NASA seeks to collaborate with Industry, academia, and other government agencies to develop a CNS&S Roadmap that is initially scoped to midterm UAM operations, specifically the passenger-carrying remotely-piloted air taxi use case. NASA has drafted an interim roadmap which is being released with this RFI and intended to evolve over time. The interim roadmap seeks to establish the scope, key airspace assumptions, and provides a few key candidate CNS&S needs for comment. Some of these candidate CNS&S needs have been informed from literature, prior engagements and discussions with industry, academia, and other government agencies (OGAs). NASA expects to identify areas of consensus and areas of disagreements, as well as inviting industry to fill in missing content. Areas of consensus indicate potential future CNS&S requirements whereas areas of disagreement indicate where more research is needed. To the best extent possible, the roadmap will reflect thoughts and recommendations of industry, academia, and OGAs, while pointing out relevant disagreements as applicable. The responses to the RFI will be reviewed at NASA-hosted workshops with industry, academia and OGAs to collaboratively work on the remaining content and draft the next version of the CNS&S Roadmap. Requested Content for RFI Responses Interested parties are invited to respond to this notice, no later than March 16, 2026. Submit responses via: https://nari.arc.nasa.gov/cnss-rfi. Any proprietary information must be clearly marked. Submissions will be accepted only from United States companies. This is a request for information only. It is not a procurement commitment to procure services, or a request for proposals. FAR 52.215-3 Request for Information or Solicitation for Planning Purposes (OCT 1997) is hereby incorporated. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by NASA to form a binding agreement or contract. NASA is under no obligation to issue a solicitation or to enter into any agreement or award any contract based on this RFI. NASA will not pay for any information solicited. No evaluation letters and/or results will be issued to the respondents. No solicitation exists; therefore, do not request a copy of the solicitation. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on beta.SAM.gov. Interested firms are responsible for monitoring these sites for the release of any solicitation or synopsis. NASA reserves the right to share all information received in response to this RFI throughout the Government and its support services contractors and to use all information submitted in response to this RFI in NASA's formulation of one or more solicitation(s) seeking competitive proposals related to initiatives described herein. NASA is not requesting competition sensitive or export-controlled data that requires protection. However, if it is necessary to submit competition sensitive data to answer any of the questions in this RFI, that data should be clearly segregated and marked as sensitive. NASA will protect such data from public disclosure to the extent permitted under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and other laws and regulations. Additionally, any International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) or Export Administration Regulations (EAR) restricted information should be appropriately labeled in response to the RFI. Although information contained herein represents current program content and acquisition planning, it is subject to change. Responses to this RFI must provide the following information: Name of Organization, Primary Point of Contact (Name, Position, Email), Secondary Point of Contact (Name, Position, Email). Is company based in the U.S.? Describe type of company (e.g., OEM, avionics manufacturer, automation manufacturer, experience with creating certified aviation products, etc.). Responses to this RFI should include answers to all, or any, of the questions below: Expecting that future roadmaps will expand the scope of this initial version, do you think this initial CNS&S roadmap has the right scope (mid-term UAM operations, remotely-piloted (1:1))? a. Please elaborate on why you indicated “yes” / “no”. Do you concur with the potential CNS&S needs listed in this initial roadmap? a. Why or why not? b. What are the potential needs that are missing? Do you concur with the “tall pole in the tent” / long lead items identified? a. Why or why not? b. What is missing? Would you like to contribute to completing the initial version of the CNS&S roadmap? If so, please briefly describe your ideas from what you would like to contribute and how. In addition, provide suggestions and feedback on preliminary roles and responsibilities between government and industry. Please call out specific roles for NASA.