- Morning.
My name's Doug Rohn,
from the first "A" in NASA,
the Aeronautics Research
Mission Directorate.
And I was gonna ask you--
any of you flown recently,
did you see this little display
in the seatback in front of you?
Well, maybe you didn't.
I mean, that's kind of a joke.
You didn't see "Aeronautics is
with you when you fly."
But if you--all of us
are engineers,
we pay attention
to the technology
on board modern airplanes,
and there's been
a long line of innovation
and overcoming challenges
with our partners,
NASA's role with the partners.
We recently celebrated
the hundredth anniversary
of the NACA/NASA continuum,
when it was
the National Advisory
Committee on Aeronautics.
But my point is, is that
with our partners,
NASA Research and Development
has overcome
numerous challenges,
innovations, put things
into practice that are with us
when we--when we fly today.
So I want to talk
a little bit about ARMDs,
the Aeronautics
Research Mission Directorate,
some of the innovation,
some of the challenges,
basically, the challenges that
we're--we're working towards.
And many of them are--all
of them support, ultimately,
the NASA--broader NASA
strategic plan,
where there's pieces in there
to talk about--
revolutionize the current
national transportation--
actually, the worldwide--
but national
transportation system
and how all that works, so...
We, um--we in NASA Aeronautics,
a couple years ago...
I'll do it that way.
Um, embarked on a--
on a, kind of, a planning,
strategic plan development.
And I'm gonna talk a little bit
about some of that--
some of that
internal process thing,
just to set the stage
to--to describe
some of the, uh--
the challenges.
A couple years ago,
we embarked on a plan.
Charlie Bolden,
at an AIAA meeting,
again a couple years ago,
rolled out some of the things
we were doing.
And it--basically,
it's this vision
in the 21st century
where you take a look
at where aviation is going.
It's a--it's certainly global.
There's growth in the--in
the Pacific Rim countries.
There's growth
in the middle class
in some of those countries.
They want to travel more,
just like--just like we
in the--in
the--in the North America
travel a lot.
It needs to be
more sustainable,
and the environmental demands,
as well as just
economic demands,
to make that
community stable.
And then, transformative.
It--we've had, we call it,
tube and wing airplanes
for those last 100 years.
In the future,
that may not be the model,
that may not be
the technologies,
that are all brought together.
So in that--in that vision
of the future of aviation,
at least in the 21st century,
found that there's, basically,
three--we talk about
these three mega drivers.
The--it's global,
global mobility,
um, environmentally responsible,
environmental challenges,
and then the convergence
of technology.
And by that, I mean
we're used to doing
computational fluid dynamics.
We're used to doing combustion,
propulsions, structures,
materials, kind of
the aeronautics world.
Well, there's
a convergence going on
with other energy devices,
communications,
networking,
things that will change,
and I'm gonna talk about
some of those challenges.
What will change the world of--
in the aviation world
in the future.
So in that--in that process,
we came up with these three,
we call 'em--or
six Strategic Thrusts.
And again, I'm setting the stage
for really where the--where
some of the challenges are.
And we talk about safe,
efficient, global operations.
And if you can read that,
enable--this enables,
kind of, the full next gen.
FAA is implementing
the next-generation
air transportation system,
and develop technologies
that can--that can
substantially reduce--
reduce safety risks
as well as substantially expand
the aviation system globally.
Innovation and commercial
subsonic--supersonic aircraft,
and I'll talk about
that a little more,
but this is, basically,
achieving a low-boom standard
which then would enable
the community to expand market.
Third one, ultraefficient
commercial vehicles.
Basically, this is the subsonic
ultraefficient vehicles,
and this is
pioneering technology
that allows
reduced emissions,
reduced noise,
just more
environmentally-friendly
kind of aviation.
Fourth one, transition
to low carbon.
And I might mention,
as I'm reading through
these, you might think,
"Well, those are overlapping,
Doug. They're kind of similar."
Well, there are overlappings,
but we try to think--we
try to think of these
somewhat orthogonally so that
we can clearly define
what the challenges are.
So the transition to low carbon
is specifically,
then, looking at drop-in
alternative fuels,
which again is
a convergence kind of thing,
broadly in the world.
As well as other
propulsion technologies,
whether it's electric propulsion
or other technologies
that would be
lower carbon, ultimately.
The fifth one, real-time,
system-wide safety assurance.
The National Air Transportation
System has been built.
It's the--it's the safest
transportation system.
It's been built
on knowledge of things
that have gone wrong
in the past.
There's been a huge shift
in the recent years
towards being a little
more forward looking.
Looking ahead
to what might go wrong.
Looking at predicting where
the system's being stressed
and what effect that has on,
ultimately, on safety.
But we got to go
a little farther than that,
because as this system grows,
as there's more vehicles,
different vehicles,
there's things we just
don't know yet
that we need to be able
to assure safety.
And then finally,
the sixth Thrust, we titled it,
"Assured Autonomy for
Aviation Transformation."
And actually, a lot of this
is not unlike, I think,
what some of
the planetary missions
or other needs in NASA have.
And that is that
the application of autonomy
directly impacts
what's gonna happen,
or what's possible,
what's the realm of possible.
Think about some
of the companies
that are currently
not aviation companies
but may be in the future.
Companies like Amazon
and Google and UPS
and others
that are--that
are actively
looking at delivering
a package to your doorstep
with a unmanned
aerial system,
with a drone,
dropping it off
in your backyard
or on your doorstep.
Or imagine taxis
and Uber-type
vehicles flying
down the street here
at, you know,
maybe fifth-story level
or maybe tenth-story level,
flying around D.C.
or around Manhattan.
You can imagine--yeah,
it's a little scary,
but you can imagine autonomy.
Autonomy can help there.
The analogy for autonomy
that I always think of is
in "Star Wars," you know.
Luke--Luke had R2-D2 back there
and, you know, that was--
was helping him out.
So things like
that can happen.
All right, so--again,
I'm delving into some process,
but I want to--I want to set
the stage up for other things.
So we've been--we've been
looking at this
model--this continuous loop,
where here over the left,
those six Thrusts that
I just talked about,
we've planned those,
and the key word
here is the outcomes.
And I'm--I keep saying
I'm gonna get to it.
I will. The outcomes are
what are important.
In the top,
we've developed roadmaps.
These are research roadmaps
that enable the outcomes,
which are community-based
outcomes that we've worked
with the community to define
where we want to get to.
Those roadmaps then guide
our internal--
our internal research planning,
as well as identifying
where we need innovation
to overcome challenges.
And then, the actual
delivery of the results,
of the performance
of what we've done
and our involvement
with the partners,
because NASA Aeronautics--
another thing
I like to say is we--other
than the airplanes
that we use for research,
we don't build anything,
we don't operate anything,
and we don't regulate anything.
So our partners,
the manufacturers,
the airlines, and the FAA,
are our customers,
and we have to be very tight
with them in performance
and then in actually defining,
in feedback,
are we doing the right thing.
So that feedback
then will enable
the--all the benefits
that come out of the six things
that I was talking about.
Okay, so we've gone--we've
gone one step farther,
and this is a little bit
of a--little bit
of a advertisement, here.
If you look at the very
bottom of the slide,
we've talked--
we--we rolled out the plan--
actually, Charlie Bolden
talked about it
a couple years ago
at an AIAA meeting.
And I forgot to mention
on one of my earlier slides,
on the aeronautics web--
NASA aeronautics web page,
a copy of the strategic plan--
it's an earlier draft--
is there.
But in a couple weeks,
at AIAA Aviation 2016
on the 14th--
I believe
that's the right date--
Tuesday morning,
here at the D.C. Hilton,
is the large AIAA conference.
And the entire morning,
folks will--from NASA
will be going over
those--these six roadmaps.
But what they're gonna talk
about are community outcomes.
Again, we kind of laid this out,
but--we vetted it, we've
worked it with the community.
Benefits, capabilities,
are very important.
My slide here doesn't say much,
but that's really, really key
to what--to the whole story.
And then, over on the right,
research themes.
I mean, this is classic.
We've got an outcome
we want to get to.
What's the research theme,
and then what are the barriers?
What are the challenges?
What are the specific
technical challenges?
What are the broader challenges
that we have to overcome?
And in my red bubble,
there in the middle,
I just want to say
that those barriers
are the things
that then NASA is tackling,
and we've invited--and
we have partnership
with all those folks
I've mentioned,
the OEMs, the operators,
and the regulators,
to work with us on overcoming
some of those barriers.
But they're not
all currently funded.
And what I'm gonna--what
I'm gonna talk about
on the next couple slides
has a--has a pretty broad range.
As you see, our outcomes span,
kind of, ten-year increments
from the next ten years,
2015, the next ten years,
the next ten years
after that,
and then well beyond 2035.
Okay, so if--if I looked--
if you look
at the aeronautic strategic
implementation plan on the web,
that was a draft
from a year ago.
We've--we're updating
the actual outcomes.
But this is a list
of all--it's,
kind of, a--it's a six by three,
but the third Thrust, actually
has a couple different outcomes.
But it's--in those
three timeframes,
the epochs, or whatever,
of outcomes,
by Thrust.
These are a little
less specific,
maybe, than what we heard
from the other
mission directorates,
but they still characterize,
kind of, that broad challenge,
and they're very
challenging things.
Many of the things
in the left column
we're already working on,
but they're certainly
not solved.
We, NASA Research,
with our partners,
we're working on, really,
all of these boxes in here,
but as you move to the right,
of course,
less and less investment
in the really far-term things.
But it's not like
we're gonna wait
until those years to actually--
actually research them.
So let me talk about--
I've got a bunch of slides
so that you can actually read
the--read the words, there.
And I'm just gonna
step through those
and give you a feel for that.
So for the first one, safe,
efficient growth
in global operations.
As I mentioned,
the current system is safe.
It is efficient.
Well, mostly efficient,
of course,
but next gen is the focus
for the modernization
of that system.
And what we're trying to do here
is to be able to achieve much
greater capacity,
greater efficiency,
in maintaining or even
improving safety,
or any other
performance measures.
And that's all in the face
of growing demand.
I talked about worldwide demand,
possibility of
commercially-successful
supersonic vehicles in
the future,
the possibility
of thousands of drones.
And oh, by the way, we often say
UAS, unmanned aerial systems.
Well, in the paper
you read drones.
So a lot of people have just--
in NASA have just given up.
Drone is, kind of, a negative
word, but hey, whatever.
Whatever floats your boat.
I'll call 'em drones.
I'll call 'em UASs, whatever.
But in terms of--in
that individual domain,
as well as integration
beyond domains,
that's what I'm talking about.
That's building
that broad view
across all capabilities.
Kind of, in the middle range,
the 2025,
this is beyond what FAA
is currently modernizing.
This is the full, kind of,
the beyond NextGen that
talks about gate-to-gate--using
an acronym here, TBO,
that's trajectory-based
operations.
Gate-to-gate,
a simple example,
you know that when you fly
the--often the aircraft pilot
and air traffic
control negotiate.
They level off and level off
and level off in the landing,
or the same thing in takeoff.
Well, that's less efficient
than just, kind of,
just shooting straight in.
Just a trajectory-based
operation
is much more efficient.
So it's being able to do that--
can't be done today,
globally and broadly--
but being able to do that.
And then finally,
out on the right,
I mean this is autonomous
trajectory services.
This is the ability
to do it in a way
that's much,
much more efficient.
So those are--those are,
kind of,
the outcomes that the research
that we've talked
about would enable.
And, like I say,
we've got partnerships.
We're--we've also
got many challenges.
If you're in town
in a couple weeks,
come to the AIAA aviation
2015--or, 2016,
and you'll hear--
you'll hear even more.
So the next one,
Strategic Thrust 2,
this is one innovation
in commercial supersonic.
There's actually an
international community,
there's a number of companies
that are actually interested
in--there's a potential
for a market here,
if, from the studies
and from what we've heard,
if overland supersonic
flight was allowed.
Currently, the rules
are no boom over--I forget
what the--the rules in Europe
and the U.S. are different.
One of 'em,
it's no supersonic flight,
and the other one's no boom.
But essentially,
it's the irritation
of the people on the ground
when you--when you bang 'em
with a sonic boom.
So our initial step
is being able to identify,
can we build an aircraft,
can we design,
can we operate it so that
there's not that boom?
Or so that the boom
is--and Peter Cohen,
who's the project manager,
I think he uses
the term "a thump"
or "a heartbeat,"
or something.
A little thump rather
than a bang perhaps
is acceptable,
and so we're doing
research on that.
And with the International
Civil Aviation Authorities,
ICAO, standards
could be developed, then,
that would then allow
overland sonic boom,
or overland supersonic flight,
which then would enable
the ability of the community,
then, to further innovate
and expand
that as a--as a new market.
That's, kind of, the near term.
Our look beyond
that is once that low boom,
kind of, standard is there.
Okay, then, now--it's,
kind of, one at a time.
Now, we look at,
"Well, what does
that mean for emissions?"
And many of the--much
of the work
that's done in subsonic
aircraft propulsion
can be applied
in supersonic.
And then, ultimately,
in the long range, really,
it's increase the utility.
There are people
that want to fly faster.
You want to fly across
the Pacific Ocean
and not make it
take a long time
and enable the market growth
with all those capabilities.
Okay, so that was--that was,
kind of, the top level.
What I call the--what
we're calling the outcomes
for Thrust 2.
For Thrust 3, we kind
of split it into two pieces,
because in the--in
the commercial
world--in
the commercial world,
there's really two main
Thrusts right now.
The top part, here, is
essentially transport aircraft.
The bottom part
is vertical lift.
Subsonic transport,
long haul--long-haul transports,
what Boeing and Airbus
and many of the others
produce today,
that's gonna be
the backbone of global,
or even domestic,
air transportation for years.
It's gonna be the backbone,
but it probably
won't last forever,
and to be able to sustain
the growth of those,
we need--both
in terms of economic
as well as quality of life,
we need to be able
to meet those economic
and environmental demands
and put us on the path,
as I say here in
the first time period,
on a path to a fleet-level
carbon-neutral growth.
And that's been
an ICAO agreement,
to ultimately get to,
and I forget all the dates,
but carbon-neutral.
And then,
in that middle timeframe,
is to actually
achieve fleet-level,
carbon-neutral growth relative
to the time period
we started with.
And then finally,
in the 2030 plus,
is actually enable the community
to transform their capabilities
to have a 50% reduction
in the fleet-level
carbon output.
So that--there's some,
you might say,
"Well, Doug, you've been working
on aircraft efficiency, CFD,
for the shape
of the aircraft, propulsion,
been working on that
for 100 years."
Well, we have,
but getting to these levels
is really a tough problem.
So there's plenty
of challenges there.
Can high bypass ratio
turbine engines,
jet turbine engines, do it?
Of course. But there's
significant advancements
needed in many
of the pieces parts.
If I look down
on the bottom, here,
we're talking about
vertical lift.
And although vertical lift
perhaps isn't
as big of a market,
it's a significant market
because of the, kind of,
the vision, if you will,
of where--the future
of civil aviation.
I talked about thousands
of little vehicles
or even man-rated vehicles
flying around
the concrete canyons
in a central city.
Well, travelers
want that flexibility.
People--we all want
that flexibility
to be able to go
where we want to go,
when we want to go,
get there fast, make it cheap.
So there's, in terms
of moving people,
moving goods,
or providing a service,
the vertical lift community
is a very important piece
in that broader puzzle.
So some of their challenges:
increasing the capability,
both in terms
of economics, efficiency,
and noise really are the--
are the buzzwords there,
again, economics,
overall efficiency,
and noise.
So in the, kind of,
the near term,
it's all about
reducing operating costs
through that
increased capability.
In the middle one,
it's expanding the markets.
If we can introduce
new configurations,
it will expand the markets
to give us that
additional mobility.
And then finally,
in the out years,
it's just broader,
fuller spectrum
of vertical-lift vehicles
that provide
all the services
that you can imagine, so...
Large--large number of needs.
Pretty significant investment
by NASA research in this,
what I--what we call Thrust 3.
Thrust 4, again, remember
they're not overlapping.
They're not totally orthogonal,
but trying to focus on
what's the challenge.
This one is specifically
about lower carbon,
and there's two pieces to this.
There's alternate fuels.
Petroleum-based fuels
are hugely important,
hugely efficient,
a lot of energy.
But there are other fuels,
other than the
petroleum-based ones,
that could be lower carbon.
So that's one approach.
And then the other approach is
alternative propulsion methods.
Could be electric propulsion.
That's probably
the primary one,
but hybrid electric,
all electric alternative
methods there.
And again--and again,
the vision,
if you think about
the vision for the future,
it has a lot to do
with new vehicles,
new needs, and expansion
of current needs.
More and more aircraft,
the driver is
to have that low carbon.
So in the first ten years,
it was just introduction
of those things.
In the next ten years,
it's actual alternative
propulsion systems,
whether they're
alternate fuel based
or alternate
propulsions themselves.
Actual introduction
in the 2025 to 2035 range.
And then, in smaller vehicles.
And then, in the 2035,
20 years
and more beyond,
introduction of those
alternate systems
into aircraft of all sizes.
And--and by all sizes,
I literally mean
transport aircraft.
In the middle range,
we'll probably have the ability
to do that in the smaller
vehicles in that timeframe.
Okay, the Thrust 5
is probably
the hardest one to explain,
but it's--but it's also
one of the ones
that is really pretty exciting
when you think about it.
We talk about real time,
system-wide safety assurance
as if it's new.
Well, in a way it's new,
but yet it's also
going on right now.
As I mentioned before,
the system is safe.
But if we expand
the awareness,
expand the system's awareness,
of all these new aircraft
that I've already been
talking about.
New operations, new operators,
expand the awareness
so that in real time,
we can monitor and alert
in all of those
new operations
that come up.
In the next timeframe, the
challenge here is really the--
to be able to integrate
that prediction into--
back into all of
the applications
that we have running now.
And then in the out timeframe,
it's make that adaptive.
Make that adapt to
whatever comes our way,
if you will, in the future.
And then provide,
through human automation
teaming,
provide a real-time
safety-threat management.
Provide the feedback.
Provide the warning.
Provide the recommendations
for changes
so that things
can be done.
And in this--in this one,
I forgot to mention
at the beginning,
I am talking about
the whole--the whole--
when I say the system,
I really mean the system.
And that's the pilot,
the aircraft,
the operating
company's dispatchers,
the air traffic control,
what's going on on the ground,
what's actually going on
on the airplane.
We talk about
the internet of things.
Well, the internet of things,
aircraft engines,
pilots, systems on board,
is really pretty
exciting to think
about what could be done.
And then the final one
is autonomy,
and here, kind of, the vision,
as I said earlier,
people want to fly any time,
anywhere, on their schedule,
in a fraction of the time.
There could be
a thousand more vehicles,
little tiny vehicles on up to
the--to the full-size aircraft,
flying at one time.
And all that with
keeping safety in mind
and not harming
the environment.
So again, there's a--there's
a radical kind of opportunity
to expand our ability
to do that by emphasizing
or tapping
into the power of autonomy.
So in the--in the nearer term,
kind of, challenge,
and I think the ones
that were on your sheet
were actually
all this first column,
the near term,
the 2015 to 2025 timeframes.
It's introduction of more
--of more aviation systems.
And I'm--I haven't been
very specific, here,
but capable of carrying out,
kind of, functional-level goals,
more than we have today.
The next range is expanding
that level of trust.
The National Academies
did a study
for us a couple years ago on
assured--
on this subject of
assured autonomy,
and one of
the biggest challenges
is how do you build
that level of trust,
how do you earn
that level of trust,
with a system--with a system
that's gonna--that
we're willing to put ourselves
in the seat on as a passenger?
And then also, how do we have
it be able to learn,
in, kind of,
the out years.
It's distributed,
have the system learn
and be able to carry
out higher-level goals
rather than the--rather than
the more specific functions.
So that one, there's
actually a lot of cross.
We haven't worked it heavy yet,
but there's a lot of cross
with the rest of NASA,
and with the rest of the agency,
in terms of--in
terms of automation.
And our actual researchers
are involved
in multiple mission
directorates.
Okay, I've got just
a couple minutes.
I want to give--I want
to give one quick example.
Actually, it's several examples,
but an internal process
that we mentioned.
Cara mentioned, before,
asking the right questions.
So internally,
we've done an approach
for early-stage innovation.
Just an example of a process
asking the right questions
and, kind of, what do we get.
So if you ask
the right question,
what are the big questions?
What is the system-level issue?
Can we safely and unobtrusively
integrate UASs
into the environment?
Can we do that? Okay,
so think beyond the current.
We've asked our people,
then, to come up
with convergent solutions,
the second box.
Convergent means integrate
the non-aeronautics
traditional work,
whether it's power or networking
or computation,
things that we haven't
done before.
Converge those.
Show the feasibility.
Am I violating the second law
of thermodynamics or not?
And ultimately,
the knowledge that's gained
then can be used to feed back
in to overcome those barriers
and produce the outcomes,
ultimately, they want.
So this is--my last two slides
are just a snipped of
a few things
that have been worked on.
They're certainly
not comprehensive,
and the other thing
I haven't showed you
is what the other
$640-some million investment
in NASA aeronautics research,
what we're actually doing.
This is only
a small fraction of that.
So I ask a question.
Can I create
a maximum efficiency,
top row there,
maximum efficiency system?
Well, here's an idea.
Converge electrochemistry
and nanostructural technology.
Build the structure
and the battery together.
There's value there
in maximizing efficiency.
The second row,
can a UAV fly safely
as a first-class system?
I.E. how we fly
vehicles in the NAS,
in the National
Airspace System today?
Well, the pyramid over there,
pilot in a box.
If the system
operates as a pilot,
even though it's autonomous,
think of it as a pilot.
Create an operating system
that's certifiable.
We've spun in some
actual space technology,
NASA space technology.
And the one on the bottom is,
can I--can I merge
a revolutionary concept
with other challenges?
And the concept is
a digital composite fabrication.
The picture's kind
of hard to see,
but it's thousands
of identical parts,
just like there's thousands
of transistors on a chip.
Thousands of identical parts.
Put 'em together
and build an adaptive wing
that can perform
functions that we need.
Again, it's just digital
composite fabrication.
And the last couple
that I just want to show,
are can we create--top
row there.
This is low carbon.
Can we create
an aviation system,
again, with maximum efficiency?
Well, alternate paths,
overcoming challenges,
high-voltage DC
versus high-voltage AC.
There's materials
and controls problems.
You know, can
the controls handle it?
Is the insulation sufficient?
All those kinds of things,
another example of
solving a problem.
The middle one, um--
I don't know if that...
Ah, it does work.
Okay, learn to fly.
Granted, a bird--a bird
is, you know,
built when it hatches
from the egg.
It's got wings and feathers.
The feathers grow.
It's got wings, and kind
of--you know it's gonna fly.
Well, we don't know
for sure--that particular bird
has to--has to try it,
has to play it.
So--play with it.
So the idea with us
is that we'd take
the current paradigm,
which you can't
quite see there in blue,
which is ground-based testing,
wind tunnels,
build a structural model,
build the control laws,
test the heck out of it,
with a new paradigm
that's learning, like the bird.
The bird already has
wings and feathers
but the bird learns
how to use 'em.
And in real time, also,
we would do the real-time model,
and a bird learns in real time.
So it's rapid flight testing
with learning technologies
to make things
faster and cheaper.
And then the last one
is accelerating certification
of future configurations.
And the little picture,
there, is what we call
a trust-brace wing,
one of our partner's concepts.
Because of the certification
process is so important,
we tend to--uncertainties
tend to accumulate
and make it overdesigned,
if you will.
So the idea here,
and digital twin is something
that's grown in the community,
the idea is to--is
to have a digital twin
that operates digitally,
just like the actual
aircraft operates.
And that allows us, essentially,
to lower the uncertainty bands,
both for future aircraft
as well--as well
as that one.
So those were just,
real fast,
a few examples.
I'll take any
questions from you.
- So I have a question.
When it comes to
assured autonomy,
just in general,
NASA's approach to the concept
of assured autonomy.
We certainly seem to be
quite comfortable with the fact
that we have a human
flying an airplane.
Clearly, we all--most
of us got around today
by that mechanism.
We don't have assurance
that that pilot
is not going to make a mistake.
So why is it that
we hold our technology
to that ideal,
and we've dropped the notion
of risk out of the equation
when we are pushing
our technologies?
How do we balance
that equation?
Because if we push too hard
towards absolute assurance,
we can't get to
those next technologies.
- Right. Okay, so I'll answer
that with, essentially,
asking the same question.
I agree with you.
It's--the bottom line
is the balance.
It's doing that--ensuring
that the balance is there.
There are many
technologies today
that are autonomous.
The system--collision avoidance
on commercial aircraft
gives--it's
total--as a system,
it's totally autonomous
and it tells the pilot,
you know, "Pull up.
Pull up, pull up."
Or, "Dive, dive, dive."
Whatever it actually says.
And then the pilot
takes that action.
But that system
everybody trusts,
because it works.
So that's why I say
I'm answering your question,
kind of, with the same question.
Is we do have to develop
that assurance.
We recognize that the way today
is, the pilots,
the controllers,
all the human elements,
sure they have
their weaknesses,
but they also, sometimes,
save the day, if you will.
I mean, they're able
to think and adapt.
So we're trying
to do that balance.
And as I mentioned,
one of the key things
out of the National
Academy's report
was how to--
how do we--
again, I'm asking
the same question--
how do we get public trust?
How do we ensure that there's
trust in that new system?
- I'm gonna try to
augment that, sorry.
- Sure. Sure thing.
- I was--you made me think.
I'm wondering if--can
the human better identify
that they made the mistake?
Can, you know,
I'm sure autonomy you
can do fault diagnosis,
fault detection,
and isolation recovery.
But when that fault
is that system
that's supposed to make that,
can they recognize it
and adjust for that?
Where the human can,
in most cases.
And the other one
is the human learns
to fly over their experience.
Are we there yet
on the autonomous side?
But fantastic question.
- Yeah.
- In your last two,
three slides, you mentioned
some of the examples.
And many of them
say selected for FY16.
So I was just wondering,
what does that mean?
Is it selected through
a BAA process, or?
- Ah, okay. Those examples
were all internal.
I was giving an example
of a process of starting
with a--starting with a question
and let's see if we can
come up with a solution,
and let's check it out.
We did that internal.
It was, kind of,
like a BAA process
but internal with the folks.
And each of those
activities are,
I don't know,
a couple million dollars,
half a dozen people, working.
Some with partners.
Some actually have external,
either universities,
small businesses.
Trying to think
if any of those actually
have the big businesses.
They may.
I just don't remember.
Okay.
Okay, again, thank you.
Thank you very much.
