Results for “tactical departure scheduling” — Page 3

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Strategic and Tactical Functions in an Autonomous Air Traffic Management System

This paper evaluates, by means of fast-time simulation, performance of a candidate system for autonomous air traffic management. Advancing towards autonomy in air traffic management may be necessary in order for new air vehicle types such as electric Vertical Take Off and Landing (eVTOL) to operate safely and efficiently in airspace shared with conventional traffic. To account for uncertain prediction, autonomous air traffic management was divided into two integrated and coordinated subsystems: strategic scheduling, performed at predeparture, and tactical conflict detection and resolution, performed throughout the flight. The conflict detection and resolution subsystem contained a second tactical scheduling function that applied to flights operating in the airspace near the destination airport. This paper compares and contrasts the two subsystems and uses fast-time simulation to demonstrate the comparisons. A scenario of 54 flights inbound to Newark Liberty International Airport was simulated multiple times with different parameters. The scenario was created using flight plans recorded from the National Airspace System on a low weather, average traffic day in April 2018. Whereas the routes were not changed, the departure times of the flights were modified to increase arrival rates at the Newark runway and arrival meter fixes. Results of the simulations showed that the autonomous air traffic management system was able to safely manage the traffic, even with prediction uncertainty. In addition, they showed the importance of including flight holding maneuvers, in addition to path stretching, in conflict detection and resolution and of coordinating strategic and tactical scheduling. Finally, a tradeoff between absorbing the delay calculated by strategic scheduling on the ground versus in the air showed that taking most of the delay on the ground is cost effective for a simple idealized cost function. However, taking a little of the delay in the air prevented throughput on the runway from dropping for short periods due to trajectory prediction uncertainty.

air traffic control↗

NASA NTRS2021

Strategic and Tactical Functions in an Autonomous Air Traffic Management System

This paper evaluates, by means of fast-time simulation, performance of a candidate system for autonomous air traffic management. Advancing towards autonomy in air traffic management may be necessary in order for new air vehicle types such as electric Vertical Take Off and Landing (eVTOL) to operate safely and efficiently in airspace shared with conventional traffic. To account for uncertain prediction, autonomous air traffic management was divided into two integrated and coordinated subsystems: strategic scheduling, performed at predeparture, and tactical conflict detection and resolution, performed throughout the flight. The conflict detection and resolution subsystem contained a second tactical scheduling function that applied to flights operating in the airspace near the destination airport. This paper compares and contrasts the two subsystems and uses fast-time simulation to demonstrate the comparisons. A scenario of 54 flights inbound to Newark Liberty International Airport was simulated multiple times with different parameters. The scenario was created using flight plans recorded from the National Airspace System on a low weather, average traffic day in April 2018. Whereas the routes were not changed, the departure times of the flights were modified to increase arrival rates at the Newark runway and arrival meter fixes. Results of the simulations showed that the autonomous air traffic management system was able to safely manage the traffic, even with prediction uncertainty. In addition, they showed the importance of including flight holding maneuvers, in addition to path stretching, in conflict detection and resolution and of coordinating strategic and tactical scheduling. Finally, a tradeoff between absorbing the delay calculated by strategic scheduling on the ground versus in the air showed that taking most of the delay on the ground is cost effective for a simple idealized cost function. However, taking a little of the delay in the air prevented throughput on the runway from dropping for short periods due to trajectory prediction uncertainty.

air traffic control↗

NASA NTRS2015

Benefits Assessment for Single-Airport Tactical Runway Configuration Management Tool (TRCM)

The System-Oriented Runway Management (SORM) concept was developed as part of the Airspace Systems Program (ASP) Concepts and Technology Development (CTD) Project, and is composed of two basic capabilities: Runway Configuration Management (RCM), and Combined Arrival/Departure Runway Scheduling (CADRS). RCM is the process of designating active runways, monitoring the active runway configuration for suitability given existing factors, and predicting future configuration changes; CADRS is the process of distributing arrivals and departures across active runways based on local airport and National Airspace System (NAS) goals. The central component in the SORM concept is a tool for taking into account all the various factors and producing a recommendation for what would be the optimal runway configuration, runway use strategy, and aircraft sequence, considering as many of the relevant factors required in making this type of decision, and user preferences, if feasible. Three separate tools were initially envisioned for this research area, corresponding to the time scale in which they would operate: Strategic RCM (SRCM), with a planning horizon on the order of several hours, Tactical RCM (TRCM), with a planning horizon on the order of 90 minutes, and CADRS, with a planning horizon on the order of 15-30 minutes[1]. Algorithm development was initiated in all three of these areas, but the most fully developed to date is the TRCM algorithm. Earlier studies took a high-level approach to benefits, estimating aggregate benefits across most of the major airports in the National Airspace Systems (NAS), for both RCM and CADRS [2]. Other studies estimated the benefit of RCM and CADRS using various methods of re-sequencing arrivals to reduce delays3,4, or better balancing of arrival fixes5,6. Additional studies looked at different methods for performing the optimization involved in selecting the best Runway Configuration Plan (RCP) to use7-10. Most of these previous studies were high-level or generic in nature (not focusing on specific airports), and benefits were aggregated for the entire NAS, with relatively low fidelity simulation of SORM functions and aircraft trajectories. For SORM research, a more detailed benefits assessment of RCM and CADRS for specific airports or metroplexes is needed.

Oseguera-Lohr, Rosa↗

NASA NTRS2013

Performance Evaluation of Individual Aircraft Based Advisory Concept for Surface Management

Surface operations at airports in the US are based on tactical operations, where departure aircraft primarily queue up and wait at the departure runways. NASA's Spot And Runway Departure Advisor (SARDA) tool was developed to address these inefficiencies through Air Traffic Control Tower advisories. The SARDA system is being updated to include collaborative gate hold, either tactically or strategically. This paper presents the results of the human-in-the-loop evaluation of the tactical gate hold version of SARDA in a 360 degree simulated tower setting. The simulations were conducted for the east side of the Dallas/Fort Worth airport. The new system provides gate hold, ground controller and local controller advisories based on a single scheduler. Simulations were conducted with SARDA on and off, the off case reflecting current day operations with no gate hold. Scenarios based on medium (1.2x current levels) and heavy (1.5x current levels) traffic were explored. Data collected from the simulation was analyzed for runway usage, delay for departures and arrivals, and fuel consumption. Further, Traffic Management Initiatives were introduced for a subset of the aircraft. Results indicated that runway usage did not change with the use of SARDA, i.e., there was no loss in runway throughput as compared to baseline. Taxiing delay was significantly reduced with the use of advisory by 45% in medium scenarios and 60% in heavy. Arrival delay was unaffected by the use of advisory. Total fuel consumption was also reduced by 23% in medium traffic and 33% in heavy. TMI compliance appeared unaffected by the advisory

departure metering↗

NASA NTRS2016

Performance Evaluation of SARDA: An Individual Aircraft-Based Advisory Concept for Surface Management

Surface operations at airports in the US are based on tactical operations, where departure aircraft primarily queue up and wait at the departure runways. NASAs Spot And Runway Departure Advisor (SARDA) tool was developed to address these inefficiencies through Air Traffic Control Tower advisories. The SARDA system is being updated to include collaborative gate hold, either tactically or strategically. This paper presents the results of the human-in-the-loop evaluation of the tactical gate hold version of SARDA in a 360 degree simulated tower setting. The simulations were conducted for the east side of the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. The new system provides gate hold, ground controller and local controller advisories based on a single scheduler. Simulations were conducted with SARDA on and off, the off case reflecting current day operations with no gate hold. Scenarios based on medium (1.2x current levels) and heavy (1.5x current levels) traffic were explored. Data collected from the simulation was analyzed for runway usage, delay for departures and arrivals, and fuel consumption. Further, Traffic Management Initiatives were introduced for a subset of the aircraft. Results indicated that runway usage did not change with the use of SARDA, i.e., there was no loss in runway throughput as compared to baseline. Taxiing delay was significantly reduced with the use of advisory by 45 in medium scenarios and 60 in heavy. Arrival delay was unaffected by the use of advisory. Total fuel consumption was also reduced by 23 in medium traffic and 33 in heavy. TMI compliance appeared unaffected by the advisory.

Yoon Jung↗

NASA NTRS2020

Integrated Demand Management: Concepts and Procedures

This report provides a comprehensive description of the Integrated Demand Management concept. Motivation: NASA’s Integrated Demand Management (IDM) research explores the idea that, under certain conditions, time-based flow management (TBFM) arrival operations can benefit from the coordinated use of a strategic traffic management initiative (TMI) to “precondition” the inbound demand. The research was motivated by the observation that TBFM was usually turned off during convective weather, even in facilities where it was routinely used. Our hypothesis was that strategic adjustments to the inbound traffic so that it provided a better match to the off-nominal changes in capacity observed during these conditions could enable TBFM scheduling to continue to provide effective support for arrival traffic management. Concept: IDM proposes that a TMI (e.g., a Collaborative Trajectory Options Program, or CTOP) be used to adjust the rate and/or geographic distribution across flows of the traffic inbound to a high-demand, TBFM-managed airport before that traffic reaches the TBFM planning horizon. After this strategic preconditioning, TBFM can then tactically fine-tune the demand to deliver a well-managed, orderly feed to the destination airport. Coordinated use of these two flow management capabilities is intended to improve system performance in terms of: • Equity of ground delay assignment, avoiding excessive ground delay for TBFM-scheduled departures, without penalizing longer flights; • Throughput, by distributing traffic to maximize use of available capacity; • Predictability for operators, providing advance notice about the impact on individual flights; • Increased flexibility, supporting operator mitigation strategies such as slot swapping or trajectory options; • Efficiency of flight operations, using ground delay more effectively and reducing airborne delay. The operational description in this document highlights how the IDM concept builds upon already existing tools and procedures, and also indicates where tool enhancements could facilitate conduct of IDM operations. However, enhanced tools are not a requirement for concept introduction. In fact, initial deployment that focused on training procedures and rationale for coordinated use of TFMS and TBFM, without changes to existing tools, might be a simpler way to introduce and to familiarize traffic managers with the idea of preconditioning. The concept and procedures described in this document can hopefully provide useful guidance for introduction of IDM into field operations..

IDM↗

NASA NTRS2020

ATD-2 Benefits Mechanism

NASA has been developing and demonstrating a suite of decision support capabilities for integrated arrival, departure, and surface (IADS) operations in a metroplex environment. The effort is being made in three phases, under NASA’s Airspace Technology Demonstration 2 (ATD-2) sub-project, through a close partnership with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), air carriers, airport, and general aviation community. The Phase 1 Baseline IADS capabilities provide enhanced operational efficiency and predictability of flight operations through data exchange and integration, tactical surface metering, and automated coordination of release time of controlled flights for overhead stream insertion. The Phase 2 Fused IADS capabilities include the fusion of strategic and tactical surface metering, Atlanta Center airspace tactical scheduling, Electronic Flight Data (EFD) integration, Terminal Flight Data Manager (TFDM) Terminal Publication (TTP) prototype, and Mobile App for General Aviation (GA) community. In the Phase 2 field evaluation, strategic surface metering provides advance notice of metering and additional stability to the assigned gate holds. The users of the IADS system in Phases 1 and 2 include the personnel at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) air traffic control tower, American Airlines ramp tower, CLT terminal radar approach control (TRACON), and Washington and Atlanta Center. This document describes the ATD-2 benefits mechanism used to assess the Phases 1 and 2 IADS capabilities and field evaluation conducted at CLT since September 2017. The ATD-2 benefits mechanism mainly consists of surface metering and overhead stream insertion. This document provides detailed calculation methods of major benefit metrics, such as fuel savings, gas emissions savings, and engine runtime reduction, which can be obtained through surface metering, gate hold of Approval Request (APREQ) flights prior to pushback, and the renegotiation of release time while taxiing. As of March 31, 2020, it is estimated that 5,075,981 pounds of fuel savings and 15,634,022 pounds of CO2 emission reduction have been achieved so far, with a reduction of 3,832 hours in total engine runtime. The amount of CO2 savings is estimated to be equivalent to planting 116,254 urban trees. The pre- and post-metering comparison results using FAA’s Aviation System Performance Metrics (ASPM) data have also shown that the surface metering had no negative impact on the on-time arrival performance of both outbound and inbound flights at CLT.

ATD-2↗

NASA NTRS2020

ATD-2 Benefits Mechanism

NASA has been developing and demonstrating a suite of decision support capabilities for integrated arrival, departure, and surface (IADS) operations in a metroplex environment. The effort is being made in three phases, under NASA’s Airspace Technology Demonstration 2 (ATD-2) sub-project, through a close partnership with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), air carriers, airport, and general aviation community. The Phase 1 Baseline IADS capabilities provide enhanced operational efficiency and predictability of flight operations through data exchange and integration, tactical surface metering, and automated coordination of release time of controlled flights for overhead stream insertion. The Phase 2 Fused IADS capabilities include the fusion of strategic and tactical surface metering, Atlanta Center airspace tactical scheduling, Electronic Flight Data (EFD) integration, Terminal Flight Data Manager (TFDM) Terminal Publication (TTP) prototype, and Mobile App for General Aviation (GA) community. In the Phase 2 field evaluation, strategic surface metering provides advance notice of metering and additional stability to the assigned gate holds. The users of the IADS system in Phases 1 and 2 include the personnel at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) air traffic control tower, American Airlines ramp tower, CLT terminal radar approach control (TRACON), and Washington and Atlanta Center. This document describes the ATD-2 benefits mechanism used to assess the Phases 1 and 2 IADS capabilities and field evaluation conducted at CLT since September 2017. The ATD-2 benefits mechanism mainly consists of surface metering and overhead stream insertion. This document provides detailed calculation methods of major benefit metrics, such as fuel savings, gas emissions savings, and engine runtime reduction, which can be obtained through surface metering, gate hold of Approval Request (APREQ) flights prior to pushback, and the renegotiation of release time while taxiing. As of April 30, 2020, it is estimated that 5,097,173 pounds of fuel savings and 15,699,292 pounds of CO2 emission reduction have been achieved so far, with a reduction of 3,831 hours in total engine runtime. The amount of CO2 savings is estimated to be equivalent to planting 116,739 urban trees. The pre- and post-metering comparison results using FAA’s Aviation System Performance Metrics (ASPM) data have also shown that the surface metering had no negative impact on the on-time arrival performance of both outbound and inbound flights at CLT.

ATD-2↗

NASA NTRS2015

Benefit Assessment for Metroplex Tactical Runway Configuration Management (mTRCM) in a Simulated Environment

The System-Oriented Runway Management (SORM) concept is a collection of capabilities focused on a more efficient use of runways while considering all of the factors that affect runway use. Tactical Runway Configuration Management (TRCM), one of the SORM capabilities, provides runway configuration and runway usage recommendations, and monitoring the active runway configuration for suitability given existing factors. This report focuses on the metroplex environment, with two or more proximate airports having arrival and departure operations that are highly interdependent. The myriad of factors that affect metroplex opeations require consideration in arriving at runway configurations that collectively best serve the system as a whole. To assess the metroplex TRCM (mTRCM) benefit, the performance metrics must be compared with the actual historical operations. The historical configuration schedules can be viewed as the schedules produced by subject matter experts (SMEs), and therefore are referred to as the SMEs' schedules. These schedules were obtained from the FAA's Aviation System Performance Metrics (ASPM) database; this is the most representative information regarding runway configuration selection by SMEs. This report focused on a benefit assessment of total delay, transit time, and throughput efficiency (TE) benefits using the mTRCM algorithm at representative volumes for today's traffic at the New York metroplex (N90).

Phojanamongkolkij, Nipa↗

NASA NTRS2013

Benefits Assessment for Tactical Runway Configuration Management Tool

The Tactical Runway Configuration Management (TRCM) software tool was developed to provide air traffic flow managers and supervisors with recommendations for airport configuration changes and runway usage. The objective for this study is to conduct a benefits assessment at Memphis (MEM), Dallas Fort-Worth (DFW) and New York's John F. Kennedy (JFK) airports using the TRCM tool. Results from simulations using the TRCM-generated runway configuration schedule are compared with results using historical schedules. For the 12 days of data used in this analysis, the transit time (arrival fix to spot on airport movement area for arrivals, or spot to departure fix for departures) for MEM departures is greater (7%) than for arrivals (3%); for JFK, there is a benefit for arrivals (9%) but not for departures (-2%); for DFW, arrivals show a slight benefit (1%), but this is offset by departures (-2%). Departure queue length benefits show fewer aircraft in queue for JFK (29%) and MEM (11%), but not for DFW (-13%). Fuel savings for surface operations at MEM are seen for both arrivals and departures. At JFK there are fuel savings for arrivals, but these are offset by increased fuel use for departures. In this study, no surface fuel benefits resulted for DFW. Results suggest that the TRCM algorithm requires modifications for complex surface traffic operations that can cause taxi delays. For all three airports, the average number of changes in flow direction (runway configuration) recommended by TRCM was many times greater than the historical data; TRCM would need to be adapted to a particular airport's needs, to limit the number of changes to acceptable levels. The results from this analysis indicate the TRCM tool can provide benefits at some high-capacity airports. The magnitude of these benefits depends on many airport-specific factors and would require adaptation of the TRCM tool; a detailed assessment is needed prior to determining suitability for a particular airport.

Oseguera-Lohr, Rosa↗

NASA NTRS2002

Air Traffic Control Response to Delays: A System Study of Newark International Airport

Airport delays are a significant problem in the United States air transportation system. Between 1999 and 2000 the number of flights delayed increased by 20 percent despite only a 0.4% increase in total operations. Newark International Airport (EWR), one of New York City's primary airports, is one of the airports in the United States most impacted by delays. Newark had the highest percentage of operations delayed in 1999, and was second only to LaGuardia Airport in 2000. Nearly 85% of delays at Newark are caused by adverse weather impacting an airport that may be characterized as having limited capacity and a very full schedule. Although Newark is heavily impacted by weather, delays have not increased significantly since 1998. This indicates that the airlines, air traffic control (ATC), and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have successfully adapted. On June 29, 2000, a research team from MIT visited Newark airport to assess the effectiveness of any adaptations made, and to collect data on airline and ATC departure operations, and of the national and local weather affecting the airport. Airline and ATC personnel were also interviewed. Results of this study indicate that airspace capacity limitations downstream of the airport are a primary flow constraint at the airport, and that these constraints are the source of most surface delays. A number of tactical ATC responses to delays were examined, including the application of restrictions, re-routing with the help of the National Playbook, and the use of decision-aiding tools such as the Dynamic Spacing Program (DSP) and the Integrated Terminal Weather System (ITWS). Improved interfacility communications and further utilization of runway 11-29 were identified as other tactical responses to delays, whilst the formation of the Air Traffic Control System Command Center and the New York Airspace redesign were identified as thekey strategic ATC responses to delays. Particularly the New York airspace redesign has great potential to reduce delays at the airport. Because delays at Newark are caused by downstream flow constraints, the responses at the airport can be applied to other airports as delays from downstream constraints increase. Such an increase in delays system wide from downstream constraints is inevitable as the system becomes more congested.

Evans, Antony D.↗

NASA NTRS2020

Strategic Surface Metering at Charlotte Douglas International Airport

NASA is conducting a field test of the Airspace Technology Demonstration2 (ATD-2) to evaluate an Integrated Arrival, Departure, and Surface (IADS) traffic management system. The IADS system was deployed to Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) in 2017 for a three-year field evaluation. The Phase 1 field evaluation included tactical surface metering, which manages departure excess taxi time by tactically assigning gate holds. Phase 2 built upon the lessons learned from Phase 1 to extend surface metering into the strategic metering timeframes. In this paper, we describe the strategic metering capabilities of the ATD-2 IADS system and the operational results from CLT.

Airspace Technology Demonstration 2↗

NASA NTRS2013

Scheduling and Separating Departures Crossing Arrival Flows in Shared Airspace

Flight efficiency and reduction of flight delays are among the primary goals of NextGen. In this paper, we propose a concept of shared airspace where departures fly across arrival flows, provided gaps are available in these flows. We have explored solutions to separate departures temporally from arrival traffic and pre-arranged procedures to support controllers' decisions. We conducted a Human-in-the-Loop simulation and assessed the efficiency and safety of 96 departures from the San Jose airport (SJC) climbing across the arrival airspace of the Oakland and San Francisco arrival flows. In our simulation, the SJC tower had a tool to schedule departures to fly across predicted gaps in the arrival flow. When departures were mistimed and separation could not be ensured, a safe but less efficient route was provided to the departures to fly under the arrival flows. A coordination using a point-out procedure allowed the arrival controller to control the SJC departures right after takeoff. We manipulated the accuracy of departure time (accurate vs. inaccurate) as well as which sector took control of the departures after takeoff (departure vs. arrival sector) in a 2x2 full factorial plan. Results show that coordination time decreased and climb efficiency increased when the arrival sector controlled the aircraft right after takeoff. Also, climb efficiency increased when the departure times were more accurate. Coordination was shown to be a critical component of tactical operations in shared airspace. Although workload, coordination, and safety were judged by controllers as acceptable in the simulation, it appears that in the field, controllers would need improved tools and coordination procedures to support this procedure.

shared airspace↗

NASA NTRS2016

Performance Evaluation of the Approaches and Algorithms using Hamburg Airport Operations

The German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have been independently developing and testing their own concepts and tools for airport surface traffic management. Although these concepts and tools have been tested individually for European and US airports, they have never been compared or analyzed side-by-side. This paper presents the collaborative research devoted to the evaluation and analysis of two different surface management concepts. Hamburg Airport was used as a common test bed airport for the study. First, two independent simulations using the same traffic scenario were conducted: one by the DLR team using the Controller Assistance for Departure Optimization (CADEO) and the Taxi Routing for Aircraft58; Creation and Controlling (TRACC) in a real-time simulation environment, and one by the NASA team based on the Spot and Runway Departure Advisor (SARDA) in a fast-time simulation environment. A set of common performance metrics was defined. The simulation results showed that both approaches produced operational benefits in efficiency, such as reducing taxi times, while maintaining runway throughput. Both approaches generated the gate pushback schedule to meet the runway schedule, such that the runway utilization was maximized. The conflict-free taxi guidance by TRACC helped avoid taxi conflicts and reduced taxiing stops, but the taxi benefit needed be assessed together with runway throughput to analyze the overall performance objective.

Airport surface operations↗

NASA NTRS2018

Using an Automated Air Traffic Simulation Capability for a Parametric Study in Traffic Flow Management

Flight delays occur when demand for capacity-constrained airspace or airports exceeds predicted capacity. Demand for capacity-constrained airspace or airports can be controlled by a series of Traffic Management Initiatives (TMIs), which use departure and airborne delays, as well as pre-departure and airborne reroutes, to manage access to the constrained resources. Two systems exist in current and planned future operations to address imbalances between demand and capacity. The Collaborative Trajectory Options Program (CTOP) reduces demand to constrained resources by assigning strategic departure delay and pre-departure reroutes. Reroutes are selected from Trajectory Options Sets (TOSs) submitted by airlines. As flights approach the constrained resource, the Time-Based Flow Management System (TBFM) is used to assign tactical delay to satisfy constraints. This paper describes experiments performed to study the impact of varying levels of airline participation in CTOP via submission of TOSs on ground delay and flight time, and the impact of departure uncertainty on TBFM delays. Results suggest that as CTOP participation increases, average ground delays decrease for all airlines, but to the greatest extent for airlines participating in CTOP. A threshold in CTOP participation, which varies with the constraint capacity, is identified beyond which there is relatively little further reduction in average ground delays. Similarly, given the likely level of CTOP participation, the capacity reduction for which CTOP would be an appropriate TMI is also identified. Results also suggest that high average departure errors and high variability in departure error can make the prioritization of TBFM internal departures in TBFM metering and scheduling infeasible. Departure errors at current levels are, however, acceptable.

CTOP↗

NASA NTRS2018

Using an Automated Air Traffic Simulation Capability for a Parametric Study in Traffic Flow Management

Flight delays occur when demand for capacity-constrained airspace or airports exceeds predicted capacity. Demand for capacity-constrained airspace or airports can be controlled by a series of Traffic Management Initiatives (TMIs), which use departure and airborne delays, as well as pre-departure and airborne reroutes, to manage access to the constrained resources. Two systems exist in current and planned future operations to address imbalances between demand and capacity. The Collaborative Trajectory Options Program (CTOP) reduces demand to constrained resources by assigning strategic departure delay and pre-departure reroutes. Reroutes are selected from Trajectory Options Sets (TOSs) submitted by airlines. As flights approach the constrained resource, the Time-Based Flow Management System (TBFM) is used to assign tactical delay to satisfy constraints. This paper describes experiments performed to study the impact of varying levels of airline participation in CTOP via submission of TOSs on ground delay and flight time, and the impact of departure uncertainty on TBFM delays. Results suggest that as CTOP participation increases, average ground delays decrease for all airlines, but to the greatest extent for airlines participating in CTOP. A threshold in CTOP participation, which varies with the constraint capacity, is identified beyond which there is relatively little further reduction in average ground delays. Similarly, given the likely level of CTOP participation, the capacity reduction for which CTOP would be an appropriate TMI is also identified. Results also suggest that high average departure errors and high variability in departure error can make the prioritization of TBFM internal departures in TBFM metering and scheduling infeasible. Departure errors at current levels are, however, acceptable.

integrated demand management↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA’s Simulation Activities for Evaluating UAM Concept of Operations

NASA’s vision for Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) is to help emerging aviation markets to safely develop an air transportation system that moves people and cargo between places previously not served or underserved by aviation using revolutionary new aircraft types. Urban Air Mobility (UAM), the concept of expanding transportation networks by serving short flights to transport people and goods around metropolitan areas, is part of a larger paradigm shift toward AAM, in which new technologies and business models are enabling transformational applications of aviation. In NASA’s Concept of Operations for UAM, Providers of Services for UAM (PSU) play a key role to enable safe and efficient UAM operations by sharing operational data among UAM operators. PSUs provide a pre-departure strategic conflict management service that establishes operational plans for new flights and coordinates them with all relevant operations in shared airspace. The strategic conflict management aims to minimize the need for tactical separation provision, while considering anticipated traffic demand, vertiport capacity and availability, forecasted weather, and airspace restrictions. NASA is currently preparing a new lab evaluation activity with aviation industry partners, called the X4 simulation, to demonstrate their airspace services and capabilities and test new information exchange requirements for UAM operations. This simulation activity will support NASA’s National Campaign (NC) flight tests which are planned over the next several years to guide the collective community and stakeholders through a series of scenario-based test activities that involve vehicles and airspace management services operating in a live test environment. This presentation will provide an overview of the X4 simulation, including objectives, scenarios, assumptions, system architecture, and test schedule. The X4 simulation will evaluate the interconnectivity and operational intent sharing between PSUs for multiple operators, as well as the performance of strategic conflict management.

Urban Air Mobility, Simulation, Advanced Air Mobil↗

NASA NTRS2015

Tool-Enabled Changes in Terminal Air Traffic Controller Task and Workload Distribution

A human-in-the-loop simulation was conducted that examined an approach to adjusting airport arrivals in such a way as to enable higher departure throughput while maintaining arrival throughput. This approach, referred to as Departure-Sensitive Arrival Spacing (DSAS), leverages the capabilities of the Terminal Sequencing and Spacing (TSS) system with an additional Decision Support Tool (DST) to assign more precise arrival spacing interval. This presentation will focus on the changes observed in the task distribution and control strategies among three Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) controller participants and the workload associated with those changes across three conditions: Baseline, TSS, and DSAS. Results showed that the application of the DSTs in the TSS condition and those in the DSAS condition enabled a progressive reduction in the number of clearances issued and for the clearances to be issued earlier, further away from the airport. In doing so, there was also a greater use of speed control versus vectoring and altitude for schedule conformance in the TSS and DSAS conditions respectively and relative to Baseline. Workload also shifted in conjunction with the clearance distribution with an overall reduction across conditions. The changes in task and workload distribution enabled a shift from tactical to strategic control, which allowed for a more predictable and efficient delivery of arrivals.

task↗