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There is increasing interest by the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) community in the technologies comprising Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast and its potential operational applications. However, there are significant weight, space, power and cost challenges to applying ADS-B to small UAS. The MITRE Corporation has been conducting research on ADS-B for many years and has recently been investigating applying ADS-B to small UAS. From this experience have emerged unique insights about the ADS-B technologies and considerations of interest to UAS and avionics implementers. This paper examines the technology, the key issues affecting weight and performance, and issues that impact UAS avionics costs. The views, opinions, and/or findings contained in this paper are those of the authors and The MITRE Corporation and should not be construed as an official Government position, policy, or decision, unless designated by other documentation. * Communications Engineer, F044, N570, and AIAA Member Grade for first author. † Communications Engineer, F044, N570, and AIAA Member Grade for second author.

As the aviation community moves toward the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen), current airborne collision avoidance technology may become inadequate. The Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) was developed some time ago, and its ability to accommodate the air-to-air applications and Air Traffic Control (ATC) procedures that are envisioned for NextGen is limited. There is a need to analyze the role of future NextGen technologies such as Automatic Dependent SurveillanceBroadcast (ADS-B) in the overall collision avoidance concept and architecture. This paper will describe a MITRE research effort addressing the following three fundamental research questions: What are the desired NextGen operations that are incompatible with current TCAS? What new enabling technologies and design principles could meet the NextGen needs? What are the key functional needs that ensure enhancements and modifications do not detract from safety-the primary function of the collision avoidance system? In this paper we will discuss the technical approach applied to the research, and identify projected TCAS limitations in meeting future air-toair applications and ATC procedures.

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