Saab awarded contract from NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Aviation Safety Program has awarded Saab Sensis a contract to develop scenario-based Verification & Validation (V&V) methods for detecting problems related to Authority and Autonomy (A&A), specifically those associated with assignments of authority to automated systems. Through this project, Saab Sensis will create scenarios and methods that can be used to assess safety in both current and future operational concepts. Emerging aviation concepts are embracing a greater deal of automation and autonomy in the systems used by pilots and air traffic controllers. This creates a challenge to traditional V&V methods that are used to evaluate system safety and integrity. To address this challenge, Saab Sensis will investigate new V&V methodologies, based on operational scenarios and structured subject matter expert inputs, to improve upon existing V&V methodologies for evaluating these complex systems. “Future aviation concepts, such as advanced collision avoidance and trajectory-based operations, hold great potential for improving aviation efficiency and safety, but require rigorous testing before being introduced to the National Airspace System,” said Ken Kaminski, senior vice president and general manager of Saab Sensis. “Saab Sensis will develop new methods and scenarios that can be used by researchers to test these complex concepts with a greater degree of confidence that the concepts successfully address safety requirements.”