D.4 university leadership initiative the university leadership initiative (ULI) is a portfolio item in NASA aeronautics research mission directorate s (armd) university innovation (UI) project

Award: University Leadership Initiative (ULI) – Communication-Aware Dispersed Autonomy and Safety

Funding Agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD)

Federal Grant Program: Aeronautics (CFDA 43.002)

Award Amount: $1,979,972

Award Date: August 15, 2025

Performance Period: August 15, 2025 – August 14, 2029

Prime Awardee: The Regents of the University of Colorado, Boulder

The Regents of the University of Colorado leads a multi-institutional research effort to develop tools, techniques, and algorithms for enabling communication-aware assured autonomous coordination in distributed aviation systems. The project addresses the dynamic communication environment challenges inherent in networked autonomous aircraft operations through research on information flow modeling in dynamic aviation networks, networked control systems optimization, and resilient multi-agent system design. Research deliverables include theoretical frameworks for optimizing collective behavior in networked multi-agent systems, quality of service metrics for aviation networks, cooperative positioning-navigation-timing (PNT) algorithms for GNSS-denied environments, fault detection and isolation schemes for networked systems, and RF environment mapping tools to support advanced aviation concepts of operations.

Collaborating sub-awardees—Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California Santa Barbara, University of Minnesota, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Texas at El Paso, Stanford University, and North Carolina State University—contribute specialized expertise in communication network modeling, multi-agent control theory, cooperative navigation systems, quality assurance metrics development, and experimental validation through the NSF AERPAW wireless research platform. Educational and workforce development components integrate graduate and undergraduate student participation, community college partnerships, and knowledge dissemination through academic publications and stakeholder demonstrations to support NASA's broader goals of advancing assured autonomy for aviation transformation.

The university leadership initiative is a grant and cooperative agreement funding opportunity in NASA s armd UI project. D.4.1 ULI overview and goals armd created ULI for universities to take the lead build their own teams and set their own research path. ULI seeks new innovative ideas that can complement the NASA armd portfolio and support the U.S. Aviation community to benefit the american public. ULI s strategic goals are: assist in achieving aviation outcomes defined in the armd strategic implementation plan 2023 ( strategic plan ) [REF. 1] through NASA-complementary research. Transition research results to an appropriate range of stakeholders that leads to a continuation of the research. Transition can occur in several ways including the following: o creates a new product line in U.S. Industry or a new armd project o whole ULI concept is transitioned to U.S. Industry/armd project o part of the ULI concept is transitioned to U.S. Industry/armd project o ULI findings impact direction of U.S. Industry/armd. Provide broad opportunities for education and workforce development by targeting students at different levels including k-12 community college undergraduate and graduate to participate in aeronautics research and relevant educational opportunities. Promote increased participation of non-R1 institutions [REF. 2] and underrepresented university faculties in ULI activities. ULI provides the opportunity for university teams to exercise technical and organizational leadership in proposing unique technical challenges defining interdisciplinary solutions establishing peer review mechanisms and applying innovative teaming strategies to strengthen the research impact. By addressing the most complex challenges associated with armd strategic thrusts universities will accelerate progress toward achievement of high impact outcomes while leveraging their capability to bring together the best and brightest minds across many disciplines. In order to transition their research principal investigators (PIS) are expected to actively explore transition opportunities and pursue follow-on funding from stakeholders and industrial partners during the award.