SkyGrid Awarded FAA Task Order for Advanced Air Mobility
The FAA's new Center for Advanced Aviation Technologies has awarded its first task order to SkyGrid. The company will lead the development of cooperative separation evaluation tools. The goal is to increase automation and scalability for Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) operations.
- SkyGrid is a subsidiary of Wisk Aero, which is wholly owned by The Boeing Company, placing it at the nexus of aviation manufacturing and autonomous systems development. The company's CEO, Jia Xu, previously served as the CTO for unmanned aerial systems and urban air mobility at Honeywell Aerospace. - This task order, which will run through February 2027, focuses on developing and validating the operational concept and system architecture for cooperative separation. The work will inform future versions of the FAA's UAM Concept of Operations and help define standards for scaled AAM. - The project aims to create a proof-of-concept for cooperative separation tools that enable more systemic strategic and tactical deconfliction. This is a move away from voice-based, human-to-human air traffic control and towards automated, digital communication for in-flight separation in high-density environments. - SkyGrid is one of three "Providers of Services for Urban Air Mobility" (PSU) selected to advance these next-generation airspace services through simulation and standards development. PSUs are envisioned as entities that will provide services for operations planning, flight intent sharing, and deconfliction within dedicated AAM corridors. - This work is a key component of the FAA's "Innovate28" initiative, which aims to have integrated AAM operations at one or more key sites in the U.S. by 2028, coinciding with the Los Angeles Olympic Games. - The development of cooperative separation is a foundational step for the implementation of Automated Flight Rules (AFR), a new set of regulations SkyGrid is jointly conceptualizing with Boeing and Wisk to complement existing Visual and Instrument Flight Rules for highly automated aircraft. - SkyGrid's underlying platform, AerialOS™, utilizes AI and blockchain to create a "digital twin" of the airspace, providing a common operating picture for all stakeholders. This system will integrate surveillance data, weather, and terrain to validate flight plans and monitor operations in real-time. - The Center for Advanced Aviation Technologies (CAAT) is a new national initiative led by the Autonomy Research Institute at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, established by the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024.
