B.3 - System-Wide Safety (SWS) Project | NNH20ZEA001N SWS

Opportunity Information: Apply for NNH20ZEA001N SWS

NASA Headquarters released this grant opportunity under the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) Research Opportunities in Aeronautics solicitation (NNH20ZEA001N), specifically the B.3 System-Wide Safety (SWS) Project topic. It is a discretionary, science-and-technology focused research and development opportunity that anticipates making awards through a cooperative agreement mechanism. Eligibility is listed as unrestricted, meaning proposals may come from a wide range of applicant types, and NASA explicitly encourages team or group proposals rather than isolated efforts.

The core purpose of the opportunity is to produce a forward-looking, comprehensive needs assessment for validation and verification (V&V, written in the notice as "V&V" and "VampV") as it applies to autonomous aviation cyber-physical-human systems. In practical terms, NASA is asking for a structured analysis of what it will take to credibly validate and verify the software and systems that will enable autonomy in aviation, while recognizing that these systems are not purely technical: they combine computing, physical aircraft/ground infrastructure, communications, and humans operating in new roles. The needs assessment is expected to cover both airborne systems (aircraft and onboard autonomy functions) and ground systems (supporting infrastructure, control and monitoring functions, and other elements that interact with autonomous operations).

A key nuance in the call is what it is not focused on. NASA is not seeking proposals centered on validation and verification of artificial intelligence as a standalone technology. Instead, the emphasis is on validation and verification for AI-enabled autonomous aviation systems, meaning the full operational system and its behavior in context. That framing pushes proposers to address end-to-end assurance questions such as: how to validate the integrated autonomy stack, how to verify system behavior across operational envelopes, how to handle interactions among software, sensors, actuators, communications, and humans, and how to establish evidence that a deployed autonomous capability is acceptably safe and reliable.

Another major deliverable NASA is looking for is a roadmap: a clear, staged plan that identifies what V&V capabilities, methods, data, tools, standards, and research advances are needed, and when, to support autonomy applications in aviation. The roadmap is expected to connect needs to the autonomy technologies they support and to the services those technologies enable, building toward a coherent long-term vision. NASA frames this as a 2045 timeframe vision for V&V of autonomy, which signals that proposals should not only address near-term improvements but also anticipate how autonomy, operational concepts, and certification expectations may evolve over the next couple of decades.

Regulatory and certification gaps are explicitly central to the topic. NASA is asking proposers to identify where current regulatory frameworks are insufficient for autonomous aviation and where new or novel V&V techniques are required to bridge those gaps. This includes both existing shortcomings and gaps that are likely to emerge as autonomy becomes more capable and more widely deployed. In other words, the opportunity is as much about shaping the assurance and certification pathway as it is about describing technical verification methods, with an emphasis on producing realistic, actionable mappings between what needs to be assured and how that assurance could be demonstrated.

Human roles and responsibilities are another highlighted theme. As autonomy increases, the relationship between humans and the system changes: humans may shift from hands-on control to supervision, exception handling, mission management, or coordination across multiple autonomous assets. NASA wants proposals to incorporate these shifts and to address how V&V approaches should adapt when safety depends on new human-autonomy interaction patterns, new operational procedures, and shared authority. That implies attention to factors like human-in-the-loop and human-on-the-loop concepts, workload and situational awareness considerations, handoff logic, failure mode management, and how to validate not only the autonomy algorithms but also the operational concept governing human participation.

Finally, NASA encourages proposers to broaden the perspective beyond a single organization by engaging the computational science and engineering community, including industry, academia, and regulators. The intent is to ensure the resulting needs assessment and roadmap reflect practical constraints, current certification realities, and likely future adoption pathways, rather than being purely theoretical. Administrative details included in the notice specify that Notices of Intent are not required, and proposals were due February 15, 2021 at 5:00 PM Eastern Time. The CFDA number listed for this opportunity is 43.002, and the posting referenced Amendment 2 to the broader ARMD ROA solicitation on the NSPIRES platform.

• The NASA Headquarters in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "B.3 - System-Wide Safety (SWS) Project" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 43.002.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-12-16.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-02-15. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

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