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Airspace Integration Considerations for Increasingly Autonomous Flight and Operations

There is much interest in autonomous systems and their operations. When it comes to autonomous systems, it is critical to understand various levels of proposed autonomy, reasons for selecting autonomous capabilities, certification approaches and various challenges or research needs associated with the integration of autonomous systems in the National Airspace System (NAS). Furthermore, there are levels of autonomous systems proposed for different types of aircraft including: single pilot operations, remotely piloted operations, fully autonomous operations, and multiple aircraft managed by a single, remote pilot. This preliminary article aims to provide a broad overview rather than concentrate on a specific element of autonomous flight. Hence, the focus of this article is on enabling various types of increasingly autonomous aircraft and their operations routinely within the next five to ten years, consistent with the FAA’s Info-Centric NAS (ICN) vision. Under ICN, a fully integrated information environment supports collaboration across diverse traffic management services and shifts decision-making to the most appropriate actor supported by automation. However, the roles and responsibilities of Air Traffic Services (ATS) personnel providing traditional services are likely to be very similar to today in that humans will still be responsible for majority of decision making. There is another NASA research effort beyond ICN is underway called Sky For All which is not covered in this article as it is in the planning stages.

autonomy↗

Machine Learning Airport Surface Model

Future needs of the National Airspace System require decision support tools to adopt a service-oriented architecture in alignment with the FAA’s vision for an Info-Centric NAS. To achieve this, many existing systems will need to undergo a digital transformation from a monolithic decision support tool to a service-oriented architecture where individual services are exposed through well defined Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). To enable this transformation, NASA has developed the Digital Information Platform as a cloud based foundation for development of aviation services with a special focus towards Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (ML) services. This paper describes the work required for the transformation of NASA’s legacy surface management system to a real-time ML based decision support system deployed in the cloud. Details of the Machine Learning Operations (MLOps) infrastructure and best practices are described which enabled the end-toend lifecycle management of ML within an integrated software system. Validation results are provided from an operational field evaluation where performance was benchmarked against the legacy approach.

Jeremy Coupe↗

Development of WMS Capabilities to Support NASA Disasters Applications and App Development

During the last year several significant disasters have occurred such as Superstorm Sandy on the East coast of the United States, and Typhoon Bopha in the Phillipines, along with several others. In support of these disasters NASA's Short‐term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center delivered various products derived from satellite imagery to help in the assessment of damage and recovery of the affected areas. To better support the decision makers responding to the disasters SPoRT quickly developed several solutions to provide the data using open Geographical Information Service (GIS) formats. Providing the data in open GIS standard formats allowed the end user to easily integrate the data into existing Decision Support Systems (DSS). Both Tile Mapping Service (TMS) and Web Mapping Service (WMS) were leveraged to quickly provide the data to the end‐user. Development of the deliver methodology allowed quick response to rapidly developing disasters and enabled NASA SPoRT to bring science data to decision makers in a successful research to operations transition.

Bell, Jordan R.↗

Development of WMS Capabilities to Support NASA Disasters Applications and App Development

During the last year several significant disasters have occurred such as Superstorm Sandy on the East coast of the United States, and Typhoon Bopha in the Phillipines, along with several others. In support of these disasters NASA's Short‐term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center delivered various products derived from satellite imagery to help in the assessment of damage and recovery of the affected areas. To better support the decision makers responding to the disasters SPoRT quickly developed several solutions to provide the data using open Geographical Information Service (GIS) formats. Providing the data in open GIS standard formats allowed the end user to easily integrate the data into existing Decision Support Systems (DSS). Both Tile Mapping Service (TMS) and Web Mapping Service (WMS) were leveraged to quickly provide the data to the end‐user. Development of the deliver methodology allowed quick response to rapidly developing disasters and enabled NASA SPoRT to bring science data to decision makers in a successful research to operations transition.

Bell, Jordan R.↗

The GOES-R Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) and the Global Observing System for Total Lightning

for the existing GOES system currently operating over the Western Hemisphere. New and improved instrument technology will support expanded detection of environmental phenomena, resulting in more timely and accurate forecasts and warnings. Advancements over current GOES include a new capability for total lightning detection (cloud and cloud-to-ground flashes) from the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM), and improved temporal, spatial, and spectral resolution for the next generation Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI). The GLM will map total lightning continuously day and night with near-uniform spatial resolution of 8 km with a product latency of less than 20 sec over the Americas and adjacent oceanic regions. This will aid in forecasting severe storms and tornado activity, and convective weather impacts on aviation safety and efficiency among a number of potential applications. The GLM will help address the National Weather Service requirement for total lightning observations globally to support warning decision-making and forecast services. Science and application development along with pre-operational product demonstrations and evaluations at NWS national centers, forecast offices, and NOAA testbeds will prepare the forecasters to use GLM as soon as possible after the planned launch and check-out of GOES-R in 2016. New applications will use GLM alone, in combination with the ABI, or integrated (fused) with other available tools (weather radar and ground strike networks, nowcasting systems, mesoscale analysis, and numerical weather prediction models) in the hands of the forecaster responsible for issuing more timely and accurate forecasts and warnings.

Goodman, Steven J.↗

An Open Specification for Space Project Mission Operations Control Architectures

An 'open specification' for Space Project Mission Operations Control Architectures is under development in the Spacecraft Control Working Group of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astro- nautics. This architecture identifies 5 basic elements incorporated in the design of similar operations systems: Data, System Management, Control Interface, Decision Support Engine, & Space Messaging Service.

spacecraft ground systems↗

Collaborative Arrival Planning: Data Sharing and User Preference Tools

Air traffic growth and air carrier economic pressures have motivated efforts to increase the flexibility of the air traffic management process and change the relationship between the air traffic control service provider and the system user. One of the most visible of these efforts is the U.S. government/industry "free flight" initiative, in which the service provider concentrates on safety and cross-airline fairness, and the user on their business objectives and operating preferences, including selecting their own path and speed in real-time. In the terminal arrival phase of flight, severe restrictions and rigid control are currently placed on system users, typically without regard for individual user operational preferences. Airborne delays applied to arriving aircraft into capacity constrained airports are imposed on a first-come, first-serve basis, and thus do not allow the system user to plan for or prioritize late arrivals, or to economically optimize their arrival sequence. A central tenant of the free-flight operating paradigm is collaboration between service providers and users in reaching air traffic management decisions. Such collaboration would be particularly beneficial to an airline's "hub" operation, where off-schedule arrival aircraft are a consistent problem, as they cause serious air-port ramp difficulties, rippling airline scheduling effects, and result in large economic inefficiencies. Greater collaboration can also lead to increased airport capacity and decrease the severity of over-capacity rush periods. In the NASA Collaborative Arrival Planning (CAP) project, both independent exchange of real-time data between the service provider and system user and collaborative decision support tools are addressed. Data exchange of real-time arrival scheduling, airspace management, and air carrier fleet data between the FAA service provider and an air carrier is being conducted and evaluated. Collaborative arrival decision support tools to allow intra-airline arrival preferences are being developed and simulated. The CAP project is part of and leveraged from the NASA/FAA Center TRACON Automation System (CTAS), a fielded set of decision support tools that provide computer generated advisories for both enroute and terminal area controllers to manage and control arrival traffic more efficiently. In this paper, the NASA Collaborative Arrival Planning project is outlined and recent results detailed, including the real-time use of CTAS arrival scheduling data by a major air carrier and simulations of tactical and strategic user preference decision support tools.

Zelenka, Richard E.↗

Data Communications Performance of AOCDL and AUTOMET Over a VDL Mode 2 Link

Airline Operational Control Data Link (AOCDL) is a service that allows for downlink of in-flight data to help an airline operate efficiently. Automated Meteorological Transmission (AUTOMET) is a weather reporting system that provides forecasts and atmospheric conditions to pilots during flight. These are two examples of new or extended services that will be enabled by implementation of the ATN and its digital air/ground communications data links. One of the possible data links identified for these services is VDL Mode 2. This research focuses on the data link performance of AOCDL and AUTOMET services in a 2015 scenario using VDL Mode 2 as the data link. In the near term, it is expected that the Controller-Pilot Data Link Communication (CPDLC) and Decision Support System Data Link (DSSDL) services will also use the VDL Mode 2 link. CPDLC and DSSDL are high-priority services that communicate aircraft control information and require low end-to-end delays for safety. VDL Mode 3, which is the preferred link for these services because it provides priority-based link access, will not be deployed in time for earlier implementations of these services to use. As such, the research also investigates the impact of CPDLC and DSSDL services on the same VDL link as AOCDL and AUTOMET. Performance of these services over the data link will be separately examined for the airport, terminal, and en route domains. OPNET simulations are performed for each domain. The number of aircraft for each domain is representative of the expected peak aircraft in 2015. Results are collected during a steady-state condition, with aircraft neither entering nor exiting the domain. The study explores the services in terms of the traffic load they present to the VDL Mode 2 radio. The amount of load each service contributes to the data link will be shown for each domain. The end-to-end delays for each service will be discussed. Data link metrics such as subnetwork and queuing delays, channel utilization, and protocol overhead will be used to show the impact of these services on VDL Mode 2. All results will be presented both with and without the inclusion of CPDLC and DSSDL services.

Bretmersky, Steven↗

Verification and Validation of NASA-Supported Enhancements to PECAD's Decision Support Tools

The NASA Applied Sciences Directorate (ASD), part of the Earth-Sun System Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, has partnered with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to enhance decision support in the area of agricultural efficiency-an application of national importance. The ASD integrated the results of NASA Earth science research into USDA decision support tools employed by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) Production Estimates and Crop Assessment Division (PECAD), which supports national decision making by gathering, analyzing, and disseminating global crop intelligence. Verification and validation of the following enhancements are summarized: 1) Near-real-time Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) products through PECAD's MODIS Image Gallery; 2) MODIS Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time series data through the USDA-FAS MODIS NDVI Database; and 3) Jason-1 and TOPEX/Poseidon lake level estimates through PECAD's Global Reservoir and Lake Monitor. Where possible, each enhanced product was characterized for accuracy, timeliness, and coverage, and the characterized performance was compared to PECAD operational requirements. The MODIS Image Gallery and the GRLM are more mature and have achieved a semi-operational status, whereas the USDA-FAS MODIS NDVI Database is still evolving and should be considered

McKellipo, Rodney↗

Nebraska NativeGEM (Geospatial Extension Model)

This proposal, Nebraska NativeGEM (Geospatial Extension Model) features a unique diversity component stemming from the exceptional reputation NNSGC has built by delivering geospatial science experiences to Nebraska s Native Americans. For 7 years, NNSGC has partner4 with the 2 tribal colleges and 4 reservation school districts in Nebraska to form the Nebraska Native American Outreach Program (NNAOP), a partnership among tribal community leaders, academia, tribal schools, and industry reaching close to 1,OOO Native American youth, over 1,200 community members (Lehrer & Zendajas, 2001).NativeGEM addresses all three key components of Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) goals for advancing decision support, education, and workforce development through the GES. The existing long term commitments that the NNSGC and the GES have in these areas allow for the pursuit of a broad range of activities. NativeGEM builds upon these existing successful programs and collaborations. Outcomes and metrics for each proposed project are detailed in the Approach section of this document.

Bowen, Brent↗

An Analysis of Depolarization Streaks for Anticipating Lightning in Thundersnow

Infrequent lightning events, particularly in stratiform precipitation, present a unique decision-support challenge to National Weather Service (NWS) forecasters and core partners. Anticipating thundersnow events, which are rare compared to warm season lightning, are especially difficult to anticipate due to slanted updrafts within the comma-head region of a mid-latitude cyclone. Researchers and operational forecasters have observed depolarization streaks in differential reflectivity (ZDR) as a result of ice crystal layers prior to thundersnow initiation. These depolarization streaks form as a result of ice crystals aligning themselves with enhancements in the electric field in stratiform precipitation and are associated with ZDR values near zero. During the 7 March 2018 winter storm, a teacher in New Jersey was struck by lightning while dismissing students and depolarization streaks were observed in weather radar observations. Therefore, it is advantageous to examine depolarization streaks in ZDR to determine whether it can be used to anticipate lightning potential in winter-time events. Multiple events will be analyzed using the National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) and the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) to determine if thundersnow flashes coincide with ZDR depolarization streaks in weather radars. This study also expands on collaboration between the NWS Huntsville Forecast Office and NASA Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) program to determine how depolarization streaks can be used operationally to anticipate lightning within stratiform regions. Preliminary work has indicated noticeable potential in correlating depolarization streak as a precursor to thundersnow flashes in a variety of geographical regions.

Autumn Millard↗

SERVIR - Connecting Space to Village in Africa, Asia and the Americas

SERVIR is a joint NASA and USAID program that partners with countries and organizations to support locally led efforts to strengthen climate resilience, food and water security, forest and carbon management, and air quality. This unique program integrates NASA’s world class scientists and data with USAID’s development expertise and network of partners and relationships around the world. SERVIR harnesses the power of satellite data and science collaboration to support healthy, sustainable communities, livelihoods and environments. SERVIR’s name is derived from Latin, meaning "to serve.” We serve and partner with leading local, national, and regional institutions in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and in partnership with scientists and subject matter experts to co-develop and implement activities called “services.” Each of SERVIR’s services provide a comprehensive suite of geospatial data, software, and training materials, all of which are tailored to the unique needs of SERVIR’s end users. Each service is collaboratively designed and implemented with the help of partners and users, such as local governments and NGOs, to better support decision-making. When SERVIR plans new services, it prioritizes long-term dialogue and engagement with communities to ensure that services are sustainable, socially inclusive, and suited to local needs. SERVIR strives to make the power of Earth science more accessible and inclusive. All web tools are made publicly available to help promote greater uptake and long-term use of SERVIR’s services.

SERVIR↗

Solutions Network Formulation Report. Improving NOAA's Tides and Currents Through Enhanced Data Inputs from NASA's Ocean Surface Topography Mission

The Nation uses water-level data for a variety of practical purposes, including hydrography, nautical charting, maritime navigation, coastal engineering, and tsunami and storm surge warnings (NOAA, 2002; Digby et al., 1999). Long-term applications include marine boundary determinations, tidal predictions, sea-level trend monitoring, oceanographic research, and climate research. Accurate and timely information concerning sea-level height, tide, and ocean current is needed to understand their impact on coastal management, disaster management, and public health. Satellite altimeter data products are currently used by hundreds of researchers and operational users to monitor ocean circulation and to improve scientists understanding of the role of the oceans in climate and weather. The NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) National Ocean Service has been monitoring sea-level variations for many years (NOAA, 2006). NOAA s Tides & Currents DST (decision support tool, managed by the Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services, is the portal to a vast collection of oceanographic and meteorological data (historical and real-time), predictions, and nowcasts and forecasts. This report assesses the capacity of NASA s satellite altimeter data to meet societal decision support needs through incorporation into NOAA s Tides & Currents.

Guest, DeNeice C.↗

LIS-Hydro: Authoritative Source for OCONUS Hydro-Intelligence

U.S. military forces are often tasked to participate in a variety of transboundary water-related decision-making activities, including humanitarian assistance operations through Department of State tasking, support of in-country infrastructure development activities that help develop or improve diplomatic relationships, and support of transboundary water treaty negotiations or disputes to reduce risk of conflict caused by water security issues. The U.S. intelligence communities have identified the coordination over shared water resources as an area of significant concern to U.S. national security (U.S. National Defense Strategy, 2018). Such transboundary water issues are projected to intensify in the future under increasingly complex population dynamics, political tensions due to parallel issues, and a changing climate. A 2017 joint NASA, USACE/RDC, and U.S. Air Force co-sponsored workshop revealed a lack of sufficient decision support tools and access to timely technical and contextual information needed to assess and respond to potential water-related threats around the world. The need for an integrated operational service, with the capacity to combine and synthesize hydrological modeling, assimilation, forecasting, and visualization capabilities across the U.S. Government, was highlighted as a key recommendation. In direct response, a subset of the U.S. Department of Defense, National Intelligence Community, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory are collaborating on the development of a fully integrated hydro-modeling and streamflow prediction system (i.e., LIS-Hydro). Completion of the project and sustainment of the operational capability by Air Force Weather will establish a national asset to assist federal agencies implement government-wide strategies around water resources (U.S. Global Water Strategy, 2017). The hydrological products and services will, for the very first time, establish a routinely available authoritative source of global water intelligence information supporting war-fighters, planners, and decision makers at all echelons and services of the U.S. military, Federal government, and intelligence community. A summary of the interagency scientific collaboration in addressing some of the key gaps and needs identified during the 2017 workshop will be presented.

Land Information System↗

Key Metrics and Goals for NASA's Advanced Air Transportation Technologies Program

NASA's Advanced Air Transportation Technologies (AATT) program is developing a set of decision support tools to aid air traffic service providers, pilots, and airline operations centers in improving operations of the National Airspace System (NAS). NASA needs a set of unifying metrics to tie these efforts together, which it can use to track the progress of the AATT program and communicate program objectives and status within NASA and to stakeholders in the NAS. This report documents the results of our efforts and the four unifying metrics we recommend for the AATT program. They are: airport peak capacity, on-route sector capacity, block time and fuel, and free flight-enabling.

Kaplan, Bruce↗

Using NASA Techniques to Atmospherically Correct AWiFS Data for Carbon Sequestration Studies

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas emitted in a number of ways, including the burning of fossil fuels and the conversion of forest to agriculture. Research has begun to quantify the ability of vegetative land cover and oceans to absorb and store carbon dioxide. The USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) Forest Service is currently evaluating a DSS (decision support system) developed by researchers at the NASA Ames Research Center called CASA-CQUEST (Carnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach-Carbon Query and Evaluation Support Tools). CASA-CQUEST is capable of estimating levels of carbon sequestration based on different land cover types and of predicting the effects of land use change on atmospheric carbon amounts to assist land use management decisions. The CASA-CQUEST DSS currently uses land cover data acquired from MODIS (the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer), and the CASA-CQUEST project team is involved in several projects that use moderate-resolution land cover data derived from Landsat surface reflectance. Landsat offers higher spatial resolution than MODIS, allowing for increased ability to detect land use changes and forest disturbance. However, because of the rate at which changes occur and the fact that disturbances can be hidden by regrowth, updated land cover classifications may be required before the launch of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission, and consistent classifications will be needed after that time. This candidate solution investigates the potential of using NASA atmospheric correction techniques to produce science-quality surface reflectance data from the Indian Remote Sensing Advanced Wide-Field Sensor on the RESOURCESAT-1 mission to produce land cover classification maps for the CASA-CQUEST DSS.

Holekamp, Kara L.↗

SERVIR: Leveraging the Expertise of a Space Agency and a Development Agency to Increase Impact of Earth Observation in the Developing World

SERVIR is a joint initiative of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), in collaboration with leading technical organizations around the world-- called SERVIR hubs--that serve and empower developing countries to use satellite data addressing critical challenges in food security and agriculture; water and water-related disasters; land cover, land use and ecosystems; and weather and climate. Over the past fourteen years, the program has worked with stakeholders in 50 countries across the world, partnered with 390 institutions, and generated and shared over 70 products from 27 satellites and sensors. In that process, around 7,400 specialists have been trained in the application of Earth observation data and technology. In its lifetime, SERVIR has been agile and innovative in shifting from what was essentially an incubator for testing and deploying Earth observation science and technology to making co-development the hallmark of its work, exemplified by both South-South and North-South scientific collaborations. SERVIR’s approach has embodied the concept that to solve really big problems, big, creative solutions are needed. SERVIR represents the world working together to address environmental challenges using spaced-based and geospatial technologies. Aligning with the very meaning of SERVIR, i.e. “to serve,” the program continues to be demand-driven in developing and deploying services (versus one-off products) which address development challenges using geospatial tools and Earth observation science. In 2016, as part of SERVIR’s evolution, USAID and NASA released the ‘SERVIR Service Planning Toolkit,’ a guidance document which provides a framework for how geospatial services can be used to tackle development challenges in a sustained manner. Since then, the Service Planning Toolkit’s systematic approach has begun to catch on in other Earth observation efforts. To improve access and use, SERVIR launched a Service Catalogue in February 2019, a searchable collection of demand-driven geospatial services that use Earth observations to support decision making. SERVIR implementing hub partners –include SERVIR-West Africa at the Agrometeorology, Hydrology and Meteorology (AGRHYMET) Regional Center, in Niamey, Niger; SERVIR-Eastern & Southern Africa at the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development in Nairobi, Kenya; SERVIR-Hindu Kush Himalaya at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development in Kathmandu, Nepal; SERVIR-Mekong at the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center in Bangkok, Thailand; and SERVIR’ -Amazonia, at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Cali, Colombia.

Searby, Nancy D.↗

NASA’s Role in Putting Earth Science Information to Use in Decision-Making

The demand for decision-relevant climate information is continually growing, both because of the severity and intensity of climate change impacts and because of the growing recognition that people can take actions today that will mitigate the risk from future climate impacts. Agencies across the federal government are responding to this need by working together to support the Nation in becoming more resilient to climate change. NASA Earth Science has been a key engine of understanding global climate change and how it impacts people around the world. Additionally, for over two decades, the Agency has worked, via partnerships, to connect NASA Earth Science knowledge with decision support needs, often taking a service-oriented approach by working with boundary organizations and climate service providers. In this presentation, we describe NASA’s unique role in enabling new and practical uses of Earth science information, and how the Agency supports public and private sector partners. We highlight several key examples of NASA projects and activities that support local to regional climate resilience efforts. In addition, we discuss how NASA’s new Earth Information Center, a partnership among several federal agencies, enables in-person and virtual visitors to see how our planet is changing in ways that affect their lives and livelihoods. Lastly, we discuss plans for how NASA Earth Science will continue to help build a more climate resilient future.

earth science↗