Results for “Departure Approval Request”

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 NTRS2019

Electronic Departure Approval Requests in ATD-2 Daily Operations

The NASA Airspace Technology Demonstration 2 project is investigating Integrated Arrival-Departure-Surface air traffic management through progressive refinement of a surface air traffic management system fielded at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport. Among the areas under study are departure release-time approval request (APREQ) traffic management initiatives. Scheduling departures at downstream points and complying with approved departure release times helps flights fit smoothly into busy traffic streams. This paper presents a review of APREQ operations and compliance data from daily electronic APREQ negotiations over fourteen months beginning in January 2018. It describes APREQ-compliance improvements observed as the electronic negotiation process has matured and discusses contributing factors, including renegotiation of departure release times.

Call for release↗

NASA NTRS2019

Electronic Departure Approval Requests in ATD-2 Daily Operations

The NASA Air Traffic Management Demonstration 2 project is investigating Integrated Arrival-Departure-Surface (IADS) air traffic management through progressive refinement of a surface air traffic management system fielded at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport. Among the IADS areas under study are departure release-time approval request (APREQ) traffic management initiatives. This paper presents a review of APREQ operations and compliance data from daily electronic APREQ negotiations. It describes APREQ-compliance improvements observed as the ATD-2 electronic negotiation process has matured and discusses contributing factors.

call for release↗

NASA NTRS2018

Evolution of Electronic Approval Request Procedures at Charlotte Douglas International Airport

A departure approval request, or APREQ, establishes a later runway departure time for a flight, allowing it to absorb tactical delay on the ground. APREQ times are traditionally coordinated by a process known as "call-for-release" whereby an airport surface traffic manager calls an airspace traffic manager on the telephone. This research examines new electronic APREQ coordination enabled by the NASA Airspace Technology Demonstration-2 system and compares it to the traditional call-for-release method of coordination. During the initial deployment period, electronic APREQ coordination was used for more than half of eligible flights. A majority of electronic requests were approved in less than one minute on average. Both the average tactical delay and compliance with the electronically coordinated departure times did not differ significantly from departure times coordinated using call-for-release.

APREQ↗

NASA NTRS2018

Evolution of Electronic Approval Request Procedures at Charlotte Douglas International Airport

At many major U.S. airports, a departure approval request, or 'APREQ,' establishes a later runway departure time for a flight, allowing it to absorb tactical delay on the ground. APREQ times are traditionally coordinated by a process known as 'call-for-release' whereby an airport surface traffic manager calls an airspace traffic manager on the telephone. This research examines new electronic APREQ coordination enabled by the NASA Airspace Technology Demonstration-2 system and compares it to the call-for-release method of coordination. During the initial deployment period, electronic APREQ coordination was used for more than half of eligible flights. A majority of electronic requests were approved in less than one minute on average. Data suggest that both the average tactical delay and compliance with the electronically coordinated departure times did not differ significantly from departure times coordinated using call-for-release.

APREQ↗

NASA NTRS2017

Evaluation of Approval Request 47; Call for Release Procedures for Charlotte Douglas International Airport

NASA is collaborating with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and aviation industry partners to develop and demonstrate new concepts and technologies for Integrated Arrival, Departure, and Surface (IADS) traffic management capabilities under the Airspace Technology Demonstration 2 (ATD-2) project. One of the goals of the IADS capabilities in the ATD-2 project is to increase predictability and throughput of airspace operations by improving Traffic Management Initiative (TMI) compliance. This paper focuses on the Approval Request (APREQ) procedures developed for the ATD-2 project between the Air Traffic Control (ATC) Tower at Charlotte Douglas International Airport and Washington Center. In March 2017, NASA conducted a Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) simulation to evaluate the operational procedures and information requirements for the APREQ procedures in the ATD-2 IADS system between ATC Tower and Center. The findings from the HITL are used to compare ATD-2 APREQ procedures with information about current day APREQ procedures.

Stevens, Lindsay↗

NASA NTRS2017

Evaluation of Approval Request/Call for Release Coordination Procedures for Charlotte Douglas International Airport

NASA is collaborating with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and aviation industry partners to develop and demonstrate new concepts and technologies for Integrated Arrival, Departure, and Surface (IADS) traffic management capabilities under the Airspace Technology Demonstration 2 (ATD-2) project. One of the goals of the IADS capabilities in the ATD-2 project is to increase predictability and throughput of airspace operations by improving Traffic Management Initiative (TMI) compliance. This paper focuses on the Approval Request (APREQ) procedures developed for the ATD-2 project between the Air Traffic Control (ATC) Tower at Charlotte Douglas International Airport and Washington Center. In March 2017, NASA conducted a Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) simulation to evaluate the operational procedures and information requirements for the APREQ procedures in the ATD-2 IADS system between ATC Tower and Center. The findings from the HITL are used to compare ATD-2 APREQ procedures with information about current day APREQ procedures.

APREQ↗

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 NTRS2017

Assessment of Air Traffic Controller Acceptability of Aircrew Route Change Requests

NASA developed the traffic aware strategic aircrew requests concept for a cockpit automation that identifies route improvements and advises the aircrew to request the change from the air traffic controller. In order to increase the chance of air traffic control approval, the automation ensures that the route is clear of known traffic, weather, and airspace restrictions. Hence the technology is anticipated to provide benefits in areas such as flight efficiency, flight schedule compliance, passenger comfort, and pilot and controller workload. In support of a field trial of a prototype of the technology, observations were conducted at the Atlanta and Jacksonville air traffic control centers to identify the main factors that affect the acceptability of aircrew requests by air traffic controllers. Observers shadowed air traffic controllers as the test flight pilot made pre-scripted requests to invoke acceptability issues and then they interviewed voluntarily fifty controllers with experience ranging from one to thirty-five years. The most common reason for rejecting requests is conflicting with traffic followed by violating air traffic procedures, increasing sector workload, and conflicting with major arrival and departure flows and flow restrictions. Quantitative parameters such as the distance that a route should maintain from sector boundaries and special use airspace were identified and recommended for inclusion in the automation.

Flight Optimization; Field Trial↗

NASA NTRS2017

Assessment of Air Traffic Controller Acceptability of Aircrew Route Change Requests

NASA developed the traffic aware strategic aircrew requests concept for a cockpit automation that identifies route improvements and advises the aircrew to request the change from the air traffic controller. In order to increase the chance of air traffic control approval, the automation ensures that the route is clear of known traffic, weather, and airspace restrictions. Hence the technology is anticipated to provide benefits in areas such as flight efficiency, flight schedule compliance, passenger comfort, and pilot and controller workload. In support of a field trial of a prototype of the technology, observations were conducted at the Atlanta and Jacksonville air traffic control centers to identify the main factors that affect the acceptability of aircrew requests by air traffic controllers. Observers shadowed air traffic controllers as the test flight pilot made pre-scripted requests to invoke acceptability issues and then they interviewed voluntarily fifty controllers with experience ranging from one to thirty-five years. The most common reason for rejecting requests is conflicting with traffic followed by violating air traffic procedures, increasing sector workload, and conflicting with major arrival and departure flows and flow restrictions. Quantitative parameters such as the distance that a route should maintain from sector boundaries and special use airspace were identified and recommended for inclusion in the automation.

Flight Optimization; Field Trial↗