AutonoNAS Airspace Management System Shows Promise

Aero-News has just received word from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University that a team of 20 ERAU Computer and Software Engineering students recently took first place in the Junior/Senior design category of the American Society of Engineering Education Southeastern Section conference competition, with an autonomous national airspace system that controls aircraft movement between airports.

The Embry-Riddle team demonstrated their AutonoNAS project, an unmanned flight system that can autonomously taxi, take-off, navigate, and land multiple aircraft. This simulated environment system provides collision avoidance and routing from a plane’s departure to its destination.

"Our student team’s project has tremendous potential for application in the real world," said Dr. Massood Towhidnejad, chairman of Embry-Riddle’s Computer and Software Engineering Department and advisor to the team. "As expected increases in air traffic materialize, systems such as AutonoNAS can help optimize the capacity of our national airspace."

The students created the AutonoNAS system as part of their two-semester capstone project, which is required to complete the B.S. degrees in Computer and Software Engineering at Embry-Riddle. ERAU's team of undergraduate students, as well as 20 other teams representing 13 other colleges, competed in four categories at the ASEE-SE annual meeting and conference held April 2-4 at the University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa.

The Embry-Riddle team consisted of students Ashley Adams, Jaya Aswani, William Bach, Paul Brandau, Romain Cherchi, Nicolas Chevalier, Samuel Chilcote, Jay Daw, Ken Evensen, Nolen Glore, Daniel Gustavsson, Damien Granveaux, Jonathan Jaynes, Il Hwan Lee, Matt Link, Esteban Lugo, Stuart Meyers, Nathan Neitzke, John Shingler, and Joey Wallace. They were divided into six groups: Graphical User Interface,  Flight System, Data System, Control System, Operating System, and Hardware.

Dr. Towhidnejad’s co-advisor to the team was Farahzad Behi, associate professor of computing at Embry-Riddle, with support from graduate student assistant Jayson Clifford.

Some of the schools represented at the ASEE-SE student competition included The Citadel, Mercer University, Mississippi State, University of Alabama, University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, University of Alabama-Birmingham, University of Puerto Rico, Virginia Military Institute, and Virginia State.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace.

FMI: www.erau.edu