Independent and Configurable Architecture for Reliable Operations of Unmanned Systems (ICAROUS) is a software architecture that enables the robust integration of mission specific software modules and highly assured core software modules for building safety-centric autonomous unmanned aircraft applications. The set of core software modules include formally verified algorithms that

• detect, monitor, and control conformance to safety criteria;
• avoid stationary and dynamic obstacles and maintain a safe distance from other users of the airspace; and
• compute resolution and recovery maneuvers, autonomously executed by the autopilot, when safety criteria are violated or about to be violated.

ICAROUS is available under NASA's Open Source Agreement from GitHub.

ICAROUS won 2nd place at the XCELLENCE Awards by the Association for Unmanned Vehicles Systems International (AUVSI) in the category of Detect and Avoid solutions. The AUVSI XCELLENCE Awards honor innovators in the unmanned systems industry, including individuals and organizations, with a demonstrated commitment to advancing technology, leading and promoting safe operations, and developing programs that use unmanned systems to improve the human condition.

In the News

• "Testing shows drones can use autonomous technology to dodge other air traffic."

Videos

• ICAROUS Sense and Avoid Characterization (ISAAC) Flight Tests, 2019
• ICAROUS Pathfinder Flight Tests, 2018-2019
• ICAROUS, 2016
• Free-flying drones for in-space inspection with ICAROUS

Publications

• Laura R. Humphrey and César A. Muñoz, Preliminary application of formal verification to an autonomy architecture for unmanned aircraft, Proceedings of the 34th International Congress of the Aeronautical Sciences (ICAS 2024), 2024. BibTeX Reference.
• Andrew Peters, Swee Balachandran, Brendan Duffy, Kyle Smalling, María Consiglio, and César Muñoz, Flight Test Results of a Distributed Merging Algorithm for Autonomous UAS Operations, Proceedings of the 39th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC 2020), Virtual Conference, US, 2020. BibTeX Reference.
• Brendan Duffy, Swee Balachandran, Andrew Peters, Kyle Smalling, María Consiglio, Louis Glaab, Andrew Moore, and César Muñoz, Onboard Autonomous Sense and Avoid of Non-Conforming Unmanned Aerial Systems, Proceedings of the 39th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC 2020), Virtual Conference, US, 2020. BibTeX Reference.
• Sami Mian, Tyler Garrett, Alexander Glandon, Christopher Manderino, Swee Balachandran, César Muñoz, and Chester Dolph, Autonomous Spacecraft Inspection with Free-Flying Drones, Proceedings of the 39th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC 2020), Virtual Conference, US, 2020. BibTeX Reference.
• Swee Balachandran, Christopher Manderino, César Muñoz, and María Consiglio, A Decentralized Framework to Support UAS Merging and Spacing Operations in Urban Canyons, Proceedings of 2020 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS 2020), 2020. BibTeX Reference.
• Brendan Duffy, Swee Balachandran, María Consiglio, Louis Glaab, César Muñoz, Kyle Smalling, Nicholas Rymer, David Bradley, David Hare, Richard Grube, Matthew Coldsnow, Scott Sims, Jeffrey Hill, and Mahyar Malekpour, Sense and Avoid Characterization of the ICAROUS Architecture , Technical Memorandum, NASA/TM-2020-220591, May 2020. BibTeX Reference.
• Swee Balachandran, Viren Bajaj, Marco Feliú, César Muñoz, and María Consiglio, A Learning-Based Guidance Selection Mechanism for a Formally Verified Sense and Avoid Algorithm, Proceedings of the 38th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC 2019), San Diego, California, US, 2019. BibTeX Reference.
• María Consiglio, Brendan Duffy, Swee Balachandran, Louis Glaab, and César Muñoz, Sense and Avoid Characterization of the Independent Configurable Architecture for Reliable Operations of Unmanned Systems, Proceedings of the 13th USA/Europe Air Traffic Management Research and Development Seminar (ATM2019), ATM-2019-50, 2019. BibTeX Reference.
• George N. Szatkowski, Andrew Kriz, Larry A. Ticatch, Robert Briggs, John Coggin, and Christopher M. Morris, Airborne Radar for sUAS Sense and Avoid, Proceedings of the 38th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC 2019), San Diego, California, US, 2019.
• Brendan Duffy and Louis Glaab, Variable-power ADS-B for UAS, Proceedings of the 38th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC 2019), San Diego, California, US, 2019.
• Swee Balachandran, Anthony Narkawicz, César Muñoz, and María Consiglio, A geofence violation prevention mechanism for small UAS, Proceedings of the 31st Congress of the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences (ICAS 2018), Bello Horizonte, Brazil, 2018. BibTeX Reference.
• Swee Balachandran, César Muñoz, María Consiglio, Marco Feliú and Anand Patel, Independent Configurable Architecture for Reliable Operation of Unmanned Systems with Distributed On-Board Services, Proceedings of the 37th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC 2018), London, England, UK, 2018. BibTeX Reference.
• Swee Balachandran, César Muñoz, and María Consiglio, Distributed Consensus to Enable Merging and Spacing of UAS in an Urban Environment, Proceedings of the 2018 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS 2018), Dallas, Texas, USA, 2018. BibTeX Reference.
• Andrew J. Moore, Swee Balachandran, Steven Young, Evan Dill, Michael Logan, Louis Glaab, César A. Muñoz, and María Consiglio, Testing Enabling Technologies for Safe UAS Urban Operations, Proceedings of the 2018 Aviation, Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference, 2018. BibTeX Reference.
• Andrew J. Moore, Matthew Schubert, Nicholas Rymer, Swee Balachandran, María Consiglio, César A. Muñoz, Joshua Smith, Dexter Lewis, Paul Schneider, Inspection of electrical transmission structures with UAV path conformance and lidar-based geofences, Proceedings of the 2018 IEEE Power & Energy Society Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference (ISGT), 2018. BibTeX Reference.
• Andrew J. Moore, Matthew Schubert, Nicholas Rymer, Swee Balachandran, María Consiglio, César A. Muñoz, Joshua Smith, Dexter Lewis, Paul Schneider, UAV Inspection of Electrical Transmission Infrastructure with Path Conformance Autonomy and Lidar-based Geofences NASA Report on UTM Reference Mission Flights at Southern Company Flights November 2016, Technical Memorandum, NASA/TM-2017-219673, October 2017. BibTeX Reference.
• Marco A. Feliú, Camilo Rocha, and Swee Balachandran. Verification-driven Development of ICAROUS Based on Automatic Reachability Analysis, International SPIN Symposium on Model Checking of Software (SPIN 2017), Santa Barbara, CA, USA, July 2017.
• Swee Balachandran, Anthony Narkawicz, César Muñoz, and María Consiglio, A Path Planning Algorithm to Enable Well-Clear Low Altitude UAS Operation Beyond Visual Line of Sight, Proceedings of the 12th USA/Europe Air Traffic Management Research and Development Seminar (ATM2017), ATM-2017-16, 2017. BibTeX Reference.
• Swee Balachandran, César Muñoz, and María Consiglio, Implicitly Coordinated Detect and Avoid Capability for Safe Autonomous Operation of Small UAS, Proceedings of the 17th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference (ATIO 2017), AIAA-2017-4484, 2017. BibTeX Reference.
• María Consiglio, César Muñoz, George Hagen, Anthony Narkawicz, and Swee Balachandran, ICAROUS: Integrated Configurable Algorithms for Reliable Operations of Unmanned Systems, Proceedings of the 35th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC 2016), Sacramento, California, 2016. BibTeX Reference.

*The ICAROUS logo was designed by Mahyar Malekpour (NASA).

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