Developing Local Knowledge for Advanced Air Mobility (DLK)

NASA has identified a clear and pressing need for education of both local decision makers and the local flying and nonflying public to enable AAM operations to commence in a timely manner. The goal of this research effort is to develop a robust and cost-conscious capability to support local organizations and local decision makers with materials that support community education, engagement, and outreach for AAM. Developing Local Knowledge (DLK) for AAM will address this need by establishing the capability to provide local community partners with educational materials for AAM that are tailored specifically to their community education and engagement efforts. DLK will enable and enhance the ability for local, regional, and state agencies to provide community education, engagement, and outreach for AAM tailored for their constituencies. NASA has correctly noted that current local, regional, and state-wide transportation planning is focused on ground transportation, with aviation-related planning typically limited to airport architecture, engineering, and construction activities. Our DLK effort directly addresses NASA’s A2.03 subtopic, Scope Title: Support Community AAM and Community Engagement Planning, and focuses specifically on meeting AAM educational and outreach needs. Our approach for the DLK effort builds on existing educational materials and outreach activities for AAM. DLK provides a one stop, easily accessible resource for community stakeholders to access and become educated on the technology and concepts under development. DLK doesn’t just point the user to material, it assists in translating the material to easily understood concepts. Our DLK effort supports NASA’s goal of enhancing AAM community engagement by developing a cost-conscious and sustainable business model to provide tailored educational materials to local, regional, and state agencies. The primary focus of the Phase II effort is to develop an intelligent, web-based portal for AAM educational materials that provides a one stop, easily accessible resource for community stakeholders to access and become educated on key aspects related to AAM that may be of interest or concern to them based on their role within their organization. The Phase II Technical Objectives are: 1. Develop an intelligent, web-based portal for AAM educational materials for use by public agencies, 2) Identify, curate, and create appropriate educational materials for use by public agencies, and 3) Support public agencies in the development of engagement plans for public education and outreach. The Phase II technical deliverables are: 1) a Kickoff Briefing within 30 days of contract start; 2) seven Quarterly Demonstration Reports; 3) four Demonstrations of the web-based portal; and 4) a Final Report at the completion of the project. An IT Security Plan and New Technology Report(s) (NTR), as appropriate, and a final New Technology Summary Report (NTSR) are also delivered.
Benefits: The DLK effort directly supports NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) AAM mission its contributing projects. While the focus of this work is on developing materials to support local community education for AAM, the methods, tools, and materials also support education of the public regarding NASA’s role in aviation research and development, and aviation research being conducted under ARMD programs and projects. The target market for our DLK web-portal and DLK services includes municipal, regional, state, and federal agencies that are involved in or affected by AAM planning, design, development, testing, and implementation activities. In addition, DLK web-portal and DLK services could be of use to non-government organizations including business associations and trade groups with an interest in AAM.