Manned Aircraft Situation Awareness Technology for Low-altitude Predicted Trajectory Conformance

New entrant operations will require integration with existing traditional aviation users. Currently, low altitude airspace under 3000 ft is often used by aircraft operating under visual flight rules (VFR). Such operations provide a lot of flexibility to the pilot and do not require the filing of a very accurate flight plan. This makes them very difficult to predict, a challenge which could potentially limit the airspace usage for new entrants. Most VFR operations, however, have a specific mission such as reconnaissance, search and rescue, etc. Past research at Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has explored the potential of utilizing this mission information to trajectory prediction. The research presented in this paper investigates the accuracy of the predicted flight trajectory and focuses on a situation awareness tool part of the onboard mission support technology and the alert functionality developed to aid the trajectory conformance. Pilots’ response to issued alerts and post-operational feedback including directions for future improvements are also discussed. Results from a flight test conducted in January and February 2022 are presented and analyzed to validate the trajectory conformance technology and provide directions for future research and improvements.