AS UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES (UAV) ARE INTEGRATED INTO THE AIRSPACE AT AN INCREASED RATE IT IS ESSENTIAL TO ENSURE SAFE OPERATION AND COMMUNICATION BETWEEN EACH UAV AND THE GROUND CONTROL AND BETWEEN UAVS FLYING IN CLOSE PROXIMITY [BEDFORD ]. TEMPORARY LOSS OF LOCATION AWARENESS (E.G. GPS) AND COMMUNICATION BETWEEN INDIVIDUAL NODES IN A NETWORK OF UAVS COULD LEAD TO CATASTROPHIC MALFUNCTION OF THE ENTIRE SYSTEM. THE MAIN GOAL OF THE CURRENT PROPOSAL IS TO TEST ALTERNATIVE LOCALIZATION AND COMMUNICATION HARDWARE WHICH WOULD ENHANCE CONNECTIVITY BETWEEN SMALL SCALE UAVS THEREBY REDUCING THE RISK OF COLLISION AND ENSURING A SAFE OPERATION WITHIN THE UAV TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT (UTM) ENVIRONMENT. IN THE CASES OF URBAN ENVIRONMENTS SUCH AS THOSE PROPOSED IN UTM TECHNOLOGY CAPABILITY LEVEL (TCL) 4 INDIVIDUAL UAVS SHOULD BE ABLE TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE GROUND STATION EVEN IF THEY LOSE THE LINE OF SIGHT OR THE DIRECT LINK (E.G. USING VEHICLE TO VEHICLE ADHOC NETWORKS TO RELAY THE INFORMATION BACK TO THE GROUND STATION). FURTHERMORE THESE ENVIRONMENTS OFTEN HAVE DEGRADED GPS SO THE USE OF OTHER LOCALIZATION METHODS LIKE VISUAL SLAM WAS PROPOSED [IPPOLITO ET AL. 2018 HENING ET AL. 2017 IPPOLITO ET AL. 2016]. THIS PROPOSAL WILL INVESTIGATE THE FEASIBILITY OF USING SHORT DISTANCE HIGH BANDWIDTH WIRELESS TRANSCEIVER SYSTEMS SUCH AS ULTRA- WIDEBAND (UWB) 3.5-6.5 GHZ (IEEE802.15.4) FOR UAV-TO-UAV COMMUNICATION RELATIVE LOCATION ESTIMATION EXCHANGE OF MAPS OBSTACLE INFORMATION AND A MEANS OF COMMUNICATION TO THE GROUND STATION TO AVOID FUTURE CONFLICTS [CORBAL ?AN AND PICCO 2018]. THE DIRECTIONALITY OF THE TRANSCEIVER UNIT REQUIRES ITS POSITION RELATIVE TO THE UAV TO BE INCLUDED IN THE FLIGHT ALTITUDE CONTROLLER ALONG OTHER FLIGHT RELATED PARAMETERS (VELOCITY PITCH YAW ROLL ALTITUDE ETC.) TO MAINTAIN THE DESIRED FLIGHT PATH AND COMMUNICATION AVAILABILITY DURING FLIGHT. IN THE PROPOSED GRANT THE SYSTEM WILL BE TESTED USING A GROUP OF 2 (OR 3) UAVS FLYING IN FORMATION. THE UAVS WILL BE CONSTRUCTED BY THE RESEARCHERS AT NASA AMES AND BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ (UCSC) STUDENTS. THE TESTING WILL BE CONDUCTED IN THE MOTION CAPTURE ENVIRONMENT AVAILABLE AT THE SHARED ROBOTICS FACILITY AT UCSC.