RTCA’s Program Management Committee (PMC) held its first 2021 meeting approving six guidance documents, reviewing workplans for the Special Committees (SC), and incorporating changes to the various committee Terms of Reference (TOR) that reflect leadership and work plan changes.

Chaired by Dr. Chris Hegarty of The MITRE Corporation, the 20-member PMC is the RTCA oversight body charged with producing timely and robust standards and guidance documents to ensure interoperability of aviation systems and equipment. The standards encourage innovation and serve as the basis for meeting Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations. An important responsibility of the PMC is ensuring the operational application of the technical standards.

As mentioned, the Members of the PMC approved six standards:

• DO-389 – OSED for Counter UAS in Controlled Airspace, presented by SC-238, Counter Unmanned Aircraft System
  To prevent disruptions from unauthorized Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), the airspace around an airport needs to be protected and these activities need to be detected and reported at the earliest possible stage to flight crews, Air Traffic Control, airports and responsible authorities. In accordance with national regulations, neutralization of the UAS, through the Unmanned Aircraft (UA), the Command & Control Datalink (C2 Link), the Remote Pilot Station (RPS) or even the Remote Pilot (RP), could be considered as part of a risk-based response. The scope of this Operational Services and Environment Definition (OSED) is to introduce the overall capability of a C-UAS System, including the detection capabilities of unauthorized UAS in a protected area of influence around an airport and address the resulting hazard or threat, in a risk-based balanced manner.
• DO-376 – Minimum Operational Performance Standard (MOPS) for Offshore Helicopter Terrain Awareness & Warning System (HTAWS), presented by SC-237, Helicopter Terrain Awareness Warning System
  This document defines the Minimum Operational Performance Standards (MOPS) for an Offshore Helicopter Terrain Awareness and Warning System (Offshore HTAWS). It implements “classic” alerting modes similar to DO-367 TAWS, which is based on recommendations in UK CAA CAP1519 – Offshore Helicopter Terrain Awareness Warning System Alert Envelopes. This MOPS includes Offshore HTAWS functional requirements and not specific equipment requirements. The functionality can be imbedded within existing aircraft systems or in dedicated equipment.
• DO-365B – Minimum Operational Performance Standards (MOPS) for Detect and Avoid (DAA) Systems – Truth Track and Degraded Sensor Track Files, presented by SC-228, Minimum Performance Standards for Unmanned Aircraft System
  This document contains MOPS for DAA systems used in unmanned aircraft transiting and performing extended operations in Class D, E, and G airspace along with transiting Class B and C airspace. It includes equipment to enable UAS operations near Terminal Areas during approach and departure in Class C, D, E, and G airspace, and off‑airport locations, but not operating in the visual traffic pattern or on the surface. This revision Added Class 3 – ACAS Xu, Non-cooperative DWC applicable to all classes, updated ATAR classes for different performance levels.
• DO-365B Supplement – Minimum Operational Performance Standards (MOPS) for Detect and Avoid (DAA) Systems Supplement, presented by SC-228, Minimum Performance Standards for Unmanned Aircraft System
  This supplement is a zip file that includes truth track and degraded sensor track files to test a DAA system’s ability to ingest representative sensor data and meet the performance requirements outlined in DO-365B.
• DO-358B – Minimum Operational Performance Standards (MOPS) for Flight Information Services – Broadcast (FIS-B) with Universal Access Transceiver (UAT), presented by SC-206, Aeronautical Information Services (AIS) and Meteorological Data Link Services
  This document considers an equipment configuration consisting of the airborne processing and cockpit display of aeronautical and meteorological data known as FIS-B provided by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Functions or components that refer to equipment capabilities that exceed the stated minimum requirements are identified as optional features. It specifically adds two new FIS-B products: Temporary Restricted Area (TRA) and Temporary Military Operating Area (TMOA).
• DO-358B Supplement – Test Files for Minimum Operational Performance Standards (MOPS) for Flight Information Services – Broadcast (FIS-B) with Universal Access Transceiver (UAT), presented by SC-206, Aeronautical Information Services (AIS) and Meteorological Data Link Services
  This is a zip file archive that contains test group files described in Section 2.4 of DO-358B. The archive includes 27 sets of test group zip files.

Four special committees (SCs) received approval for changes to their work plans.  These SC-135 – Environmental Testing, SC-227 – Standards of Navigation Performance, SC-228 – Minimum Performance Standards for Unmanned Aircraft Systems, and SC-235 – Non-Rechargeable Lithium Batteries.

Additionally, the PMC discussed way forward for Spectrum Strategy, R&D Collaboration, further collaboration with ICAO, and Forum for Aeronautical Software. RTCA President Terry McVenes announced, in cooperation with EUROCAE, a Software Symposium scheduled for mid-June.  Further details to follow.

NOTE: These new documents are available on the RTCA Store at: https://my.rtca.org/nc__store