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NASA NTRS1980

Cockpit displayed traffic information and distributed management in air traffic control

A graphical display of information (such as surrounding aircraft and navigation routes) in the cockpit on a cathode ray tube has been proposed for improving the safety, orderliness, and expeditiousness of the air traffic control system. An investigation of this method at NASA-Ames indicated a large reduction in controller verbal work load without increasing pilot verbal load; the visual work may be increased. The cockpit displayed traffic and navigation information system reduced response delays permitting pilots to maintain their spacing more closely and precisely than when depending entirely on controller-issued radar vectors and speed command.

Kreifeldt, J. G.↗

NASA NTRS2016

Application of Aviation Turbulence Information to Air-Traffic Management (ATM): Chapter - 24

Unexpected turbulence especially in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere where cabin crews and passengers in cruising aircraft are likely to unbuckle causes in-flight injuries, structural damage, and flight delay. Therefore, turbulence information can be used to improve safety while pursuing efficiency in Air-Traffic Management (ATM). In this chapter, simple modeling of aircraft trajectories combined with wind and turbulence predictions can suggest the optimal solution of flight plans that minimizes both total flight time (e.g., fuel consumption) and potential encounters of turbulence from departure to arrival airports. Also, probabilistic ensemble turbulence forecasts are applied to suggest an optimal strategic and tactical ATM route planning in a given weather and turbulence condition in the United States which are evaluated against in situ Eddy Dissipation Rate observations from commercial aircraft. Finally, variations of long-haul trans-Oceanic flight routes and their turbulence potentials are investigated using a global reanalysis data to understand how the upper-level large-scale flow patterns can affect the long-term ATM planning through the changes of winds and turbulence conditions.

Wind Optimal↗

NASA NTRS2009

A Mathematical Analysis of Conflict Prevention Information

In air traffic management, conflict prevention information refers to the guidance maneuvers, which if taken, ensure that an aircraft's path is conflict-free. These guidance maneuvers take the form of changes to track angle or ground speed. Conflict prevention information may be assembled into prevention bands that advise the crew on maneuvers that should not be taken. Unlike conflict resolution systems, which presume that the aircraft already has a conflict, conflict prevention systems show conflicts for any maneuver, giving the pilot confidence that if a maneuver is made, then no near-term conflicts will result. Because near-term conflicts can lead to safety concerns, strong verification of information correctness is required. This paper presents a mathematical framework to analyze the correctness of algorithms that produce conflict prevention information incorporating an arbitrary number of traffic aircraft and with both a near-term and intermediate-term lookahead times. The framework is illustrated with a formally verified algorithm for 2-dimensional track angle prevention bands.

Maddalon, Jeffrey M.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Communications System Architecture Development for Air Traffic Management and Aviation Weather Information Dissemination

This document is the NASA AATT Task Order 24 Final Report. NASA Research Task Order 24 calls for the development of eleven distinct task reports. Each task was a necessary exercise in the development of comprehensive communications systems architecture (CSA) for air traffic management and aviation weather information dissemination for 2015, the definition of the interim architecture for 2007, and the transition plan to achieve the desired End State. The eleven tasks are summarized along with the associated Task Order reference. The output of each task was an individual task report. The task reports that make up the main body of this document include Task 5, Task 6, Task 7, Task 8, Task 10, and Task 11. The other tasks provide the supporting detail used in the development of the architecture. These reports are included in the appendices. The detailed user needs, functional communications requirements and engineering requirements associated with Tasks 1, 2, and 3 have been put into a relational database and are provided electronically.

Gallagher, Seana↗

NASA NTRS2019

Building a Knowledge Graph for the Air Traffic Management Community

Historically, most of the focus in the knowledge graph community has been on the support for web, social network, or product search applications. This paper describes some of our experience in developing a large-scale applied knowledge graph for a more technical audience with more specialized information access and analysis needs - the air traffic management community. We describe ATMGRAPH (NASA's Air Traffic Management (ATM) Knowledge Graph), a knowledge graph created by integrating various sources of structured aviation data, provided in large part by US federal agencies. We review some of the practical challenges we faced in creating this knowledge graph.

Air Traffic Information Management↗

NASA NTRS1999

The Effect of Shared Information on Pilot/Controller And Controller/Controller Interactions

In order to respond to the increasing demand on limited airspace system resources, a number of applications of information technology have been proposed, or are under investigation, to improve the efficiency, capacity and reliability of ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) operations. Much of the attention in advanced ATM technology has focused on advanced automation systems or decision aiding systems to improve the performance of individual Pilots or Controllers. However, the most significant overall potential for information technology appears to he in increasing the shared information between human agents such as Pilots, Controllers or between interacting Controllers or traffic flow managers. Examples of proposed shared information systems in the US include; Controller Pilot Databank Communication (CPDLC), Traffic Management Advisor (TMA); Automatic Dependent Surveillance (ADS); Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) and NAS Level Common Information Exchange. Air Traffic Management is fundamentally a human centered process consisting of the negotiation, execution and monitoring of contracts between human agents for the allocation of limited airspace, runway and airport surface resources. The decision processes within ATM tend to be Semistructured. Many of the routine elements in ATM decision making on the part of the Controllers or Pilots are well Structured and can be represented by well defined rules or procedures. However in disrupted conditions, the ATM decision processes are often Unstructured and cannot be reduced to a set of discrete rules. As a consequence, the ability to automate ATM processes will be limited and ATM will continue to be a human centric process where the responsibility and the authority for the negotiation will continue to rest with human Controllers and Pilots. The use of information technology to support the human decision process will therefore be an important aspect of ATM modernization. The premise of many of the proposed shared information systems is that the performance of ATM operations will improve with an increase in Shared Situation Awareness between agents (Pilots, Controller, Dispatchers). This will allow better informed control decisions and an improved ability to negotiate between agents. A common information basis may reduce communication load and may increase the level of collaboration in the decision process. In general, information sharing is expected to have advantages for all agents within the system. However there are important questions which remain to be,addressed. For example: What shared information is most important for developing effective Shared Situation Awareness? Are there issues of information saturation? Does information parity create ambiguity in control authority? Will information sharing induce undesirable or unstable gaming behavior between agents? This paper will explore the effect of current and proposed information sharing between different ATM agents. The paper will primarily concentrate on bilateral tactical interactions between specific agents (Pilot/Controller; Controller/Controller; Pilot/Dispatcher; Controller/Dispatcher) however it will also briefly discuss multilateral interaction and more strategic interactions.

Hansman, R. John↗

NASA NTRS2017

The NASA Air Traffic Management Ontology: Technical Documentation

This document is intended to serve as comprehensive documentation for the NASA Air Traffic Management (ATM) Ontology. The ATM Ontology is a conceptual model that defines key classes of entities and relationships pertaining to the US National Airspace System (NAS) and the management of air traffic through that system. A wide variety of classes are represented in the ATM Ontology, including classes corresponding to flights, aircraft, manufacturers, airports, airlines, air routes, NAS facilities, air traffic control advisories, weather phenomena, and many others. The Ontology can be useful in the context of a variety of information management tasks relevant to NAS, including information exchange, data query and search, information organization, information integration, and terminology standardization.

information management↗

NASA NTRS2002

Airborne Use of Traffic Intent Information in a Distributed Air-Ground Traffic Management Concept: Experiment Design and Preliminary Results

This paper presents initial findings of a research study designed to provide insight into the issue of intent information exchange in constrained en-route air-traffic operations and its effect on pilot decision making and flight performance. The piloted simulation was conducted in the Air Traffic Operations Laboratory at the NASA Langley Research Center. Two operational modes for autonomous operations were compared under conditions of low and high operational complexity. The tactical mode was characterized primarily by the use of state information for conflict detection and resolution and an open-loop means for the pilot to meet operational constraints. The strategic mode involved the combined use of state and intent information, provided the pilot an additional level of alerting, and allowed a closed-loop approach to meeting operational constraints. Operational constraints included separation assurance, schedule adherence, airspace hazard avoidance, flight efficiency, and passenger comfort. Potential operational benefits of both modes are illustrated through several scenario case studies. Subjective pilot ratings and comments comparing the tactical and strategic modes are presented.

Wing, David J.↗

NASA NTRS2001

Airborne Use of Traffic Intent Information in a Distributed Air-Ground Traffic Management Concept: Experiment Design and Preliminary Results

Wing, David J.↗

NASA NTRS2001

Airborne Use of Traffic Intent Information in a Distributed Air-Ground Traffic Management Concept: Experiment Design and Preliminary Results

A predominant research focus in the free flight community has been on the type of information required on the flight deck to enable pilots to "autonomously" maintain separation from other aircraft. At issue are the relative utility and requirement for information exchange between aircraft regarding the current "state" and/or the "intent" of each aircraft. This paper presents the experimental design and some initial findings of an experimental research study designed to provide insight into the issue of intent information exchange in constrained en-route operations and its effect on pilot decision making and flight performance. Two operational modes for autonomous operations were compared in a piloted simulation. The tactical mode was characterized primarily by the use of state information for conflict detection and resolution and an open-loop means for the pilot to meet operational constraints. The strategic mode involved the combined use of state and intent information, provided the pilot an additional level of alerting, and allowed a closed-loop approach to meeting operational constraints. Potential operational benefits of both modes are illustrated through several scenario case studies. Subjective data results are presented that generally indicate pilot consensus in favor of the strategic mode.

Wing, David J.↗

NASA NTRS1996

Information Presentation and Control in a Modern Air Traffic Control Tower Simulator

The proper presentation and management of information in America's largest and busiest (Level V) air traffic control towers calls for an in-depth understanding of many different human-computer considerations: user interface design for graphical, radar, and text; manual and automated data input hardware; information/display output technology; reconfigurable workstations; workload assessment; and many other related subjects. This paper discusses these subjects in the context of the Surface Development and Test Facility (SDTF) currently under construction at NASA's Ames Research Center, a full scale, multi-manned, air traffic control simulator which will provide the "look and feel" of an actual airport tower cab. Special emphasis will be given to the human-computer interfaces required for the different kinds of information displayed at the various controller and supervisory positions and to the computer-aided design (CAD) and other analytic, computer-based tools used to develop the facility.

Haines, Richard F.↗

NASA NTRS1999

A Simple Two Aircraft Conflict Resolution Algorithm

Conflict detection and resolution methods are crucial for distributed air-ground traffic management in which the crew in the cockpit, dispatchers in operation control centers and air traffic controllers in the ground-based air traffic management facilities share information and participate in the traffic flow and traffic control imctions.This paper describes a conflict detection and a conflict resolution method. The conflict detection method predicts the minimum separation and the time-to-go to the closest point of approach by assuming that both the aircraft will continue to fly at their current speeds along their current headings. The conflict resolution method described here is motivated by the proportional navigation algorithm. It generates speed and heading commands to rotate the line-of-sight either clockwise or counter-clockwise for conflict resolution. Once the aircraft achieve a positive range-rate and no further conflict is predicted, the algorithm generates heading commands to turn back the aircraft to their nominal trajectories. The speed commands are set to the optimal pre-resolution speeds. Six numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the conflict detection and resolution method.

Chatterji, Gano B.↗

NASA NTRS2006

A Simple Two Aircraft Conflict Resolution Algorithm

Conflict detection and resolution methods are crucial for distributed air-ground traffic management in which the crew in, the cockpit, dispatchers in operation control centers sad and traffic controllers in the ground-based air traffic management facilities share information and participate in the traffic flow and traffic control functions. This paper describes a conflict detection, and a conflict resolution method. The conflict detection method predicts the minimum separation and the time-to-go to the closest point of approach by assuming that both the aircraft will continue to fly at their current speeds along their current headings. The conflict resolution method described here is motivated by the proportional navigation algorithm, which is often used for missile guidance during the terminal phase. It generates speed and heading commands to rotate the line-of-sight either clockwise or counter-clockwise for conflict resolution. Once the aircraft achieve a positive range-rate and no further conflict is predicted, the algorithm generates heading commands to turn back the aircraft to their nominal trajectories. The speed commands are set to the optimal pre-resolution speeds. Six numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the conflict detection, and the conflict resolution methods.

Chatterji, Gano B.↗

NASA NTRS2019

Departure Approval Request Compliance Effects on Overhead Stream Insertion

Integrated Arrival-Departure-Surface (IADS) air traffic management relies on information sharing and integration between automation systems for efficiency, predictability, and throughput improvements throughout the National Airspace System (NAS). The NASA Airspace Technology Demonstration 2 (ATD-2) project supports this effort by integrating SWIM (System Wide Information Management) information and evaluating and refining potential TFDM (Terminal Flight Data Manager) functionality in a surface traffic management system fielded at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport (CLT). Among the IADS areas under study during ATD-2 is the use of electronically negotiated departure times for efficiently inserting flights into overhead traffic streams. Stream-insertion accuracy is important for reducing excessive vectoring that negatively impacts the NAS by increasing controller workload along with aircraft fuel burn and emissions. Departure-time approval requests (APREQs) provide center-approved departure times to allow for smooth stream insertion. In this presentation, TBFM (Time-Based Flow Management) and ATD-2 flight summary data are used to empirically show that APREQ compliance leads to improved stream insertion.

Overhead-Stream Insertion↗

NASA NTRS1998

Controller Strategies for Managing Air Traffic in High Altitude Arrival Sectors

Substantial increases in the volume of air traffic in the National Airspace System (NAS) are forecast for the next decade, with the number of passengers travelling on U.S. airlines expected to increase by as much as 60%. This increased demand on system capacity will be accompanied by increases in traffic complexity as air traffic service providers routinely accommodate user preferred routing requests. Changes to the NAS to meet these new demands are currently underway, including development of new decision support tools to aid controllers in monitoring and managing air traffic, and increased air-to-air and air-to-ground information exchange. Changes in roles and responsibilities of pilots and controllers in flight path management will accompany these changes in traffic patterns and information technology, however the ultimate responsibility for maintaining aircraft separation will remain with the air traffic controller. A thorough understanding of the methods controllers use to manage air traffic will help ensure that changes to the NAS are implemented in a way that maintains the controller's ability to separate aircraft as the system evolves. This presentation describes the strategies controllers use today to manage arrival traffic in its descent from cruise altitude to the Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) boundary. Factors that increase the complexity of this task include the presence of overflight traffic, varying aircraft performance characteristics, winds aloft, ground speed variations with altitude, the need to merge arrival traffic into a single stream, and, when arrival traffic exceeds airport runway capacity, the added task of metering flow into the TRACON. Because of the limited information available to controllers to manage arrival traffic, their strategies are often driven by the need to reduce the task's complexity, which can result in de-optimized flight paths for individual aircraft (e.g., sub-optimal descent or speed profiles). Understanding these strategies and the cognitive demands that drive them will support a safe transition to a NAS that relies on enhanced technologies. In addition, it could enable system developers to identify opportunities for new automation-based procedures or information displays that could reduce the controller's workload and increase operational efficiency.

Smith, Nancy↗

NASA NTRS1999

Pilot Performance on New ATM Operations: Maintaining In-Trail Separation and Arrival Sequencing

Cockpit Display of Traffic Information (CDTI) may enable new Air Traffic Management (ATM) operations. However, CDTI is not the only source of traffic information in the cockpit; ATM procedures may provide information, implicitly and explicitly, about other aircraft. An experiment investigated pilot ability to perform two new ATM operations - maintaining in-trail separation from another aircraft and sequencing into an arrival stream. In the experiment, pilots were provided different amounts of information from displays and procedures. The results are described.

Pritchett, Amy R.↗

NASA NTRS2000

The Effect of Shared Information on Pilot/Controller and Controller/Controller Interactions

The increased ability to exchange information between Pilots, Controllers, Dispatchers, and other agents is a key component of advanced Air Traffic Management. The importance of shared information as well as current and evolving practices in information sharing are presented for a variety of interactions including: Controller/Pilot interactions, Pilot/Airline interactions, Controller/Controller interactions, and Airline/ATM interactions.

Hansman, R. John↗

NASA NTRS2018

Laboratory Evaluation of Dynamic Routing of Air Traffic in an En Route Arrival Metering Environment

Arrival air traffic operations in the presence of convective weather are subject to uncertainty in aircraft routing and subsequently in flight trajectory predictability. Current management of arrival operations in weather-impacted airspace results in significant flight delay and suspension of arrival metering operations. The Dynamic Routing for Arrivals in Weather (DRAW) concept provides flight route amendment advisories to Traffic Management Coordinators to mitigate the impacts of convective weather on arrival operations. DRAW provides both weather conflict and schedule information for proposed route amendments, allowing air traffic managers to simultaneously evaluate weather avoidance routing and potential schedule and delay impacts. Subject matter experts consisting of retired Traffic Management Coordinators and retired Sector Controllers with arrival metering experience participated in a simulation study of Fort Worth Air Route Traffic Control Center arrival operations. Data were collected for Traffic Management Coordinator and Sector Controller participants over three weeks of simulation activities in October, 2017. Traffic Management Coordinators reported acceptable workload levels, a positive impact on their ability to manage arrival traffic while using DRAW, and initiated weather mitigation reroutes earlier while using DRAW. Sector Controllers also reported acceptable workload levels while using DRAW.

Air Traffic Management↗