(Aug 26, 2019)

NASA Ames Research Center was selected as Winner for the 2019 NASA Software of the Year (SoY) award for their UAS Traffic Management Services (UTM) software. The Agency-wide annual SoY competition rewards high-quality, innovative, and robust software using efficient software engineering processes that meet NASA's stringent safety and reliability standards. Sponsors of the competition include the NASA Chief Engineer, the NASA Chief Information Officer, and the NASA Office of Safety and Mission Assurance.

The UAS Traffic Management Services (UTM) software is a novel concept with the goal of enabling small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), or drones, to access low-altitude airspace in a safe, efficient, and fair manner. The true innovation of UTM is the overall concept embodied within the system architecture. Traditional Air Traffic Management (ATM) relies on a central body (like the FAA) to manage and control the airspace. UTM allows for distributed management of the airspace wherein private companies collaborate to maintain a safe and accessible environment. The UTM Team includes Human Systems Integration Division researchers Lauren Claudatos, Jeff Homola and Joey Mercer. The rest of the team includes Joseph Rios, Irene Skupniewicz Smith, Priya Venkatesen, David Smith, Vijay Baskaran, Sherry Jurcak, Punam Verma, Daniel Mulfinger, Natalie Paremski, Parimal Kopardekar, Marcus Johnson, Jaewoo Jung, Tom Prevot, Ron Johnson, Arwa Aweiss and Leo Wang.