As part of a joint flight demonstration with NASA, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA‑ASI) flew its SkyGuardian Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) in the skies above Southern California on April 3.

Since 2014, GA-ASI and NASA have worked together to prove the safety of flying large UAS in the National Airspace System (NAS). GA-ASI was selected to participate in NASA’s Systems Integration and Operationalization (SIO) activity, which includes multiple flight demonstrations that focus on different types of UAS and their respective flight environments.

“Our work with NASA is opening the eyes of regulators to the safety and utility of unmanned aircraft systems in the performance of certain tasks for public and commercial good,” says Linden Blue, CEO, GA-ASI.

“The SIO demonstration highlighted how the aircraft can be used for many other civilian and commercial missions.”

SkyGuardian took off from GA-ASI’s Gray Butte Flight Operations Facility near Palmdale, California, and flew through the Southern California NAS towards Yuma, Arizona while being operated by a remote pilot based at Gray Butte. Situational awareness of air traffic near the UAS was provided by the GA-ASI-developed Detect and Avoid System (DAAS), which includes a Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS II) used in manned aircraft that fly in civil airspace. The DAAS can also provide detection and tracking capability of any nearby aircraft which may not have active transponders thanks to being equipped with an air-to-air, “Due Regard” Radar.

The DAAS allowed the remote pilot to “see” and navigate around airborne traffic just like an airborne pilot.

During the demonstration, GA-ASI showcased how SkyGuardian can be used for a variety of commercial and public services applications, using its onboard sensors. These applications included inspections of hundreds of miles of rail, power line, communication and canal infrastructure, agriculture monitoring and topological surveys, and wildfire and flood monitoring.

“NASA’s goal to help accelerate routine UAS operations into the national airspace has moved one step closer with this successful flight demo,” says Mauricio Rivas, UAS integration in the NAS project manager at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center.

“Our efforts with General Atomics and our other SIO industry partners will help commercial UAS move closer towards certification.”

Honeywell and Collins Aerospace were GA-ASI’s technology partners for the demonstration. Honeywell supplied the TCAS II for the DAAS, while Collins Aerospace supplied the Command and Non-Payload Communications (CNPC) datalink radios, which is part of the Command and Control datalinks system.