Glossary
Terms and acronyms
Aviation and security research has a lot of shorthand. Here is what the terms on this site mean.
- AADLArchitecture Analysis and Design Language
- A modeling language for describing and analyzing embedded system architectures.
- AAMAdvanced Air Mobility
- NASA’s vision for new air transportation of people and cargo, including air taxis and delivery drones, in and between cities.
- ADS-BAutomatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast
- The position broadcast used by crewed aircraft; the counterpart of Remote ID.
- ArduPilotArduPilot autopilot
- A widely used open-source flight-control software for drones and other vehicles.
- ARMDAeronautics Research Mission Directorate
- The part of NASA responsible for aeronautics research.
- ATCAir Traffic Control
- Controllers who keep aircraft safely separated, largely by voice radio.
- BlueSkyBlueSky air traffic simulator
- An open-source simulator for air traffic management research.
- CNSCommunication, Navigation, and Surveillance
- The infrastructure aircraft and controllers rely on to talk, know where they are, and see each other.
- eVTOLelectric Vertical Take-Off and Landing aircraft
- Battery-powered aircraft that take off and land like helicopters; the basis of most air-taxi designs.
- FAAFederal Aviation Administration
- The U.S. civil aviation regulator.
- GCSGround Control Station
- The software or console an operator uses to plan, monitor, and command a drone.
- GNSSGlobal Navigation Satellite System
- Satellite positioning such as GPS. Its signals can be degraded or spoofed.
- GPSGlobal Positioning System
- The U.S. satellite navigation system, one kind of GNSS.
- LiDARLight Detection and Ranging
- A laser sensor that measures distances to build 3D maps of terrain and obstacles.
- LLMLarge Language Model
- An AI model trained on large amounts of text that can generate and reason over language.
- MARLMulti-Agent Reinforcement Learning
- Several agents, such as aircraft, learning decision policies by trial and error at the same time.
- MAVLinkMicro Air Vehicle Link
- The open protocol most small drones use to exchange telemetry and commands with their ground control station.
- NMACNear Mid-Air Collision
- Two aircraft coming dangerously close; a standard safety measure in separation studies.
- PX4PX4 autopilot
- A widely used open-source flight-control software for drones.
- Remote IDRemote Identification
- An FAA requirement that drones broadcast their identity, position, and velocity so others nearby can see them.
- RFRadio Frequency
- The radio signals that carry wireless links and broadcasts.
- SDRSoftware-Defined Radio
- A radio whose signal processing is done in software, useful for measuring and analyzing transmissions.
- seL4seL4 microkernel
- An operating-system kernel with a machine-checked proof of correctness.
- SITLSoftware-In-The-Loop
- Running the real autopilot software against a simulated aircraft.
- SLZSafe Landing Zone
- An area judged safe for an emergency or planned landing.
- sUASsmall Unmanned Aircraft System
- A drone under 55 lb (25 kg), such as most delivery drones.
- UAMUrban Air Mobility
- The city-scale part of Advanced Air Mobility, such as air-taxi flights between vertiports.
- UASUnmanned Aircraft System
- A drone together with its ground control station and the links between them.
- UAVUnmanned Aerial Vehicle
- The aircraft itself, without the ground equipment.
- ULIUniversity Leadership Initiative
- A NASA program funding university-led teams to tackle aviation challenges.
- USSUAS Service Supplier
- A company providing UTM services such as flight-plan approval to drone operators.
- UTMUAS Traffic Management
- The FAA and NASA framework for coordinating low-altitude drone traffic through automated services rather than air traffic controllers.
- VLMVision-Language Model
- An AI model that reasons jointly over images and text.