NASA awards Saab Sensis team a research contract

DeWITT — Saab Sensis of DeWitt today announced it is leading a team that will provide flight critical-systems research (FCSR) and related services for the space agency’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.

NASA awarded the contract for the work, Saab Sensis said in a news release. No dollar amount was disclosed.

The team’s work will address aviation-systems technology gaps that stem from the operational challenges of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen), the company said.

The Saab-Sensis team includes Dulles, Va.–based Metron Aviation, a subsidiary of Airbus Americas; Boulder, Colo.–based AeroControl Inc.; Buffalo–based Calspan Corp., as well as Cognitive Systems Engineering.

The team will conduct basic and applied research, technology development, and systems analysis in airborne and ground-based systems critical to flight safety, air-traffic management, and control, according to Saab Sensis.

The work areas include crew systems and aviation operations, which involves aircraft self-separation and distributed air-traffic management; safety-critical aviation systems, including the verification, validation, and certification of safety-critical systems; and flight critical-systems analysis and assessment, including performance of systems analysis and assessment and participation in working groups, according to Saab Sensis.

“The research conducted under this program will focus on addressing the challenges of new technologies and procedures on air travel, such as the increased complexity and connectivity of NextGen systems, greater automation in air traffic control, and the introduction of unmanned aerial-systems operations,” Ken Kaminski, general manager of Saab Sensis, said in the news release.

Saab Sensis has a “long history” of working with NASA researchers to develop innovative approaches, tools, and technologies for NextGen, Kaminski added.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com