NASA Participates in UTM Convention NRA First Year Review 4 14
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration
AOSP Newsletter
Airspace Operations and Safety Program (AOSP)
JUL–SEP 2015 | Quarter 4
NASA Participates in 4
UTM Convention
NRA First Year Review 14
www.nasa.gov
2 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4
AOSP IN THE NEWS
NASA Tech Transfer NASA to Test UAV Air NASA Sleep Research
Helps the FAA Improve Traffic Control System Shows Benefits of Naps
Air Traffic Efficiency
On August 10, the Associated Press Eric Barker wrote at TIME on
In the June 30 issue of NextGov reported that a project managed by July 1 about sleep, citing NASA
Hallie Golden reports that when NASA Ames Research Center will research finding that “pilots who
NASA handed over Terminal have 12 groups test unmanned aerial take a 25 minute nap in the cockpit
Sequencing and Spacing (TSAS) vehicle (UAV) software at the agency’s – hopefully with a co-pilot taking
software to the Federal Aviation Crows Landing Airport as part of over the controls – are subsequently
Administration (FAA), it was the testing “an air traffic control system 35% more alert, and twice as
fourth time NASA helped the for drones.” Richard Kelley, chief focused, than their non-napping
agency improve its air traffic engineer at the University of Nevada- colleagues.” He sums up the
efficiency. By better controlling Reno’s (UNR) Nevada Advanced findings: “NASA found that naps
spaces between planes, the software Autonomous Systems Innovation made you smarter — even in the
should allow aircraft to follow Center, said the goals would be “to absence of a good night’s sleep.”
fuel-efficient, continuous-descent create a system the Federal Aviation
arrival procedures while passing Administration (FAA) can use to
through airspace surrounding an monitor fast-flying manned and
airport. Ms. Golden notes that the unmanned aircraft that operate at
FAA “plans to deploy TSAS between altitudes of 500 feet and below.”
2018 and 2022 in nine key airports,
including those in Atlanta, Seattle, The Las Vegas Sun reported that
San Francisco and Las Vegas.” UNR researchers, who wrote
software that allows its test drone to
communicate with NASA’s system,
will run their test with Flirtey, a
company that conducted the first
FAA-approved delivery via drone
in July, and Drone America, a
Reno-based firm that operates and
manufactures unmanned aircraft
hardware.
AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4 3
AOSP IN THE NEWS
Alaska Airlines, Virgin America NASA, UK Discuss UAV Traffic North Dakota Helps
Benefit From NASA Software Management System NASA Develop UTM
In an article published by An article written on September The Bismarck (N.D.) Tribune
Aviation Week, writer John Croft 16 by Madhumita Murgia in the reported on September 18 in an
reported that Alaska Airlines and Telegraph newspaper noted that article written by Jessica Holdman
Virgin America will be the first two that the United Kingdom (UK) that NASA has given the North
commercial carriers that will use and NASA are now in talks for Dakota Department of Commerce
“a new generation of empowered developing an unmanned aerial a contract to help develop its
airline employees flying increasingly vehicle (UAV) traffic management unmanned aerial systems (UAS)
connected aircraft.” These airlines will system. Lord Ahmad Tariq, the traffic management system (UTM).
utilize “a NASA-built software engine UK’s Under Secretary of State Gov. Jack Dalrymple said in a
that constantly searches for a more for Transport, said that he hopes statement that the NASA contract “is
fuel-efficient or quicker route anytime the discussion “will lead to a UK more confirmation that our ongoing
the aircraft is above 10,000 feet.” involvement in the development of work to establish North Dakota as
that system and the participation of a national hub for UAS research,
UK industry in future trials to test development and commercialization
the robustness of the technology.” is gaining more traction every day.”
Murgia wrote that the move is being Other local partners for the project
spurred on by “widespread anxiety test include Sensurion Aerospace,
about the possibility of a mid-air Altavian and Botlink, all of which
collision between small drones and will provide corporate feedback.
commercial aircraft.
The Associated Press also covered
the story.
4 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4
TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS
NASA Participates in tions for privacy concerns and issues, to discuss, understand and define
UTM Convention safety and security, and the future UAS impacts and the challenges
POCs: JOEY RIOS AND MARCUS JOHNSON impact of low-altitude flight on the ahead. Highlights from the UTM
emerging business sector, as well as Convention are listed in the following
On July 28-30, NASA and the indoor and outdoor flight demos of NASA social media links listed below.
Silicon Valley Chapter of the UAS applications.
Association of Unmanned Vehicle #UTM2015
Systems International (AUVSI) Keynote speakers included NASA Twitter: @NASAAmes and
partnered in cosponsoring the Associate Administrator for Aero- @NASAAero
2015 UTM Convention: A New nautics Dr. Jaiwon Shin; the Federal Facebook: NASA Ames
Era in Aviation, at NASA Ames Aviation Administration’s Assistant Research Center
Research Center. About 1,000 Administrator for the Next Gen- Instagram: @nasaames
people registered and participated in eration Air Transportation System
the event, including representatives Ed Bolton; Gur Kimchi of Amazon NASA LANGLEY HOSTS ATD-1
from the unmanned aerial system Prime; and Dave Vos from Google’s AVIONICS PHASE 2 KICKOFF
(UAS) community, agriculture, film Project Wing initiative. ACTIVITIES
and other industries, conventional POC: SHERI BROWN
aviation, government and academia. The three-day gathering brought
together a broad international and In a meeting held July 16-17,
Topics at the convention included U.S. audience of government and NASA Langley Research Center
discussions of the latest develop- civilian representatives, including kicked off activities related
ments in UAS technology, solu- leaders from industry and academia, to the $10.9 million, two-year
Boeing Company contract award
entitled “Air Traffic Management
Technology Demonstration-1
(ATD-1) Avionics Phase 2.”
ATD-1 is a major applied research
and development activity of NASA’s
Airspace Operations and Safety
Program (AOSP), and the first of a
series of subprojects advancing the
technology readiness level of inno-
vative NASA technologies through
system-level demonstrations in
relevant environments. A primary
goal of ATD-1 is to operationally
demonstrate an integrated set of
NASA arrival management tech-
nologies for planning and execut-
In this image, an unmanned aircraft system is operated in Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard, California
during Coastal Trident 2015 field experimentation and exercise activities. The exercises included a ing efficient arrival operations in the
demonstration of UTM concepts. Image credit: NASA terminal environment of a high-
AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4 5
TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS
density airport. These technologies ect, NASA Langley’s Aeronautics On Sept. 24, NASA Langley hosted
are intended to assist flight crews, Research Directorate, the FAA, a preliminary design review. At the
controllers, and air traffic managers Boeing, Honeywell and United meeting, the Boeing team provided
with meeting the Next Generation Airlines. The Boeing team provided a presentation that reviewed and
Air Transportation System objective a presentation facilitating the review discussed aircraft selection, pro-
of increased fuel efficiency during and discussion of the project objec- posed modifications, system archi-
periods of high runway throughput. tives, approach (i.e., project sched- tecture, including hardware and
ule, milestones, deliverables), and software approaches, and instal-
NASA Langley researchers developed the desired outcomes and tangible lation requirements. Presentation
the Airborne Spacing for Terminal products. All agreed the discus- topics include assumptions, require-
Arrival Routes (ASTAR) algorithms sion was fruitful and informative. ments, trades, interfaces, a detailed
for trajectory-based control law for design plan, hardware locations,
time-based spacing of Flight Deck Day 2 of the meeting included a preliminary verification and valida-
Interval Management (FIM) opera- half day of briefings provided by the tion plans, schedule and margins,
tions. The Avionics Phase 2 task ATD-1 project team presenting a and risks and mitigation plans.
leverages Phase 1-identified historical overview of the project,
solutions for equipping existing the current state of ASTAR tech- The meeting was attended by a
in-service aircraft with FIM equip- nology, and an introduction to an total of 37 individuals (11 remotely
ment, an airborne spacing tool ongoing experiment followed by representing leadership, engineers,
leveraging technology under a demonstration in the Air Traffic researchers, and key stakeholders
development at NASA, for a fis- Operations Laboratory (ATOL). The from the ATD project, the ATD-1
cal year 2017 second quarter flight demonstration included an experi- subproject, Langley’s Aeronautics
test demonstration. The Avion- ment scenario used for training Research Directorate, and the
ics Phase 2 team is comprised of pilots on FIM operations. Permit- FAA. All review board members
organizations and individuals from ting Boeing team members to fly agreed the technical discussion
each organization that are recog- simulated aircraft and to manipulate was fruitful and informative. The
nized leaders in the community. displays. Questions were addressed ATD-1 Sub-project manager noted
in real-time by onsite research pilots. that the presentation exceeded the
The Boeing Company, in partner- statement of work requirements.
ship with Honeywell and United As seating was limited, one of the Denise Scearce is the ATD-1
Airlines will build, test, and fly the aircraft displays was enlarged in the Avionics Lead and Technical Point
ATD-1 avionics prototype FIM ATOL briefing room for another of Contact for the Phase 2 task.
system, which NASA plans for onsite research pilot to talk through
technology transfer to the Federal and answer questions. A playback NASA-FAA ATD-2
Aviation Administration (FAA). of a previously recorded experiment COLLABORATION COMMENCES
scenario was displayed in the briefing POCs: SHAWN ENGELLAND, PAUL BORCHERS AND
Day 1 of the meeting was attended room for the team to observe a fully RICHARD COPPENBARGER
by 37 individuals (including seven staffed scenario with trained control-
remote participants) including proj- lers and pilots for a better sense of On July 16, researchers from NASA
ect leadership, engineers, research- the density and complexity of FIM Ames Research Center and several
ers, and key stakeholders from the operations, as well as an opportunity stakeholder organizations joined the
ATD project, the ATD-1 subproj- to observe the controller stations. Federal Aviation Administration’s
6 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4
TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS
(FAA) Assistant Administrator of-the-art air traffic management and ATD-2 subproject. Stakeholder
for the Next Generation Air scheduling technologies. These representatives included leadership
Transportation System (NextGen) include NASA’s Spot and Runway from American Airlines, Charlotte
Ed Bolton to kick off collaboration Departure Advisor (SARDA) and Airport, the FAA’s NextGen Office,
on the Airspace Technology Precision Departure Release Capa- the National Air Traffic Control-
Demonstration-2 (ATD-2) depar- bility (PDRC), as well as leveraging lers Association (NATCA), and
ture metering initiative in North FAA and industry technologies. local, regional, and national FAA
Carolina at Charlotte Douglas Inter- ATD-2 will also enable more effec- offices, who expressed enthusiasm
national Airport (CLT). Improving tive CDM through enhanced and support of the proposed activi-
airport surface operations is a high two-way sharing of prediction ties iterated at the kickoff meeting.
priority for the FAA, and NASA’s and scheduling information.
ATD-2 project is seen as a critical A follow-on meeting occurred
activity for addressing the Next- CLT will serve as the test site for at CLT on Aug. 18 –19. Its
Gen Integration Working Group the initial ATD-2 demonstration objectives were threefold:
(NIWG) stakeholder recommenda- of a NextGen departure metering • To familiarize FAA and airline
tions for surface improvements. capability consistent with the FAA’s stakeholders with the ATD-2
surface CDM concept of operations. concept and technology;
The ATD-2 efforts will increase NASA participants at the kickoff • To connect the NASA research
aircraft arrival, departure and meeting included Ms. Huy Tran, team with subject-matter experts
surface movement predictability the NASA Ames acting director of in preparation for smaller but
and efficiency in metroplex traffic aeronautics, and Leighton Quon more frequent technical inter-
environments by integrating evolv- and Shawn Engelland, key project changes; and
ing collaborative decision making leads from NASA’s Airspace Opera- • To allow the NASA team to
(CDM) capabilities with state- tions and Safety Program (AOSP) directly observe ramp, tower, and
Terminal Radar Approach Con-
trol (TRACON) operations to
prepare for the planned ATD-2
demonstration in 2017.
Attendees again included representa-
tives included American Airlines,
local and regional FAA personnel,
NATCA, CLT, FAA and NASA.
Subject-matter experts presented
briefings on airport and airspace
operations and the FAA led tours
of the CLT Tower and TRACON.
The NASA team observed simula-
NASA researchers discuss the Ramp Traffic Console (RTC) component of the ATD-2 integrated system with tions of FAA procedures training
field demonstration partners in the NTX laboratory. Image credit: NASA for managing converging runway
AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4 7
TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS
operations and upcoming changes to gain a greater appreciation of element of NASA’s Technologies for
to departure routes and also vis- NASA’s existing NTX efforts. Airspace Technology Demonstration
ited the American Airlines ramp Project, the Visual-Vestibular Active
tower. The visit provided the team VVAP II VMS EXPERIMENT Psychophysics II (VVAP II) experi-
with a deeper understanding of the COMPLETED ment was the second in a series of
techniques used to manage traffic POC: SCOTT REARDON studies aimed at developing cueing
volume and stage aircraft move- requirements for full stall-recogni-
ment, and specifically the interac- Because pilot loss of control is tion and recovery training.
tion of arrivals and departures due the leading cause of jet casualties
to gate and ramp constraints, the worldwide, the U.S. Congress has The experiment’s goal was to
management of runway crossing mandated that aircrews be trained develop a model of the pilot’s com-
operations, and the dependency in stall and upset recovery, which bined motion and visual perception
of departures on arrivals during airlines use motion-based simulators dynamics in the pitch/longitudinal
converging runway operations. to accomplish. However, simula- and heave axes. The model could
tor motion-cueing systems must be then be used to configure simulator
During and after the summit, configured to provide the best stall motion cueing systems for stall and
FAA and airline representatives and recovery training. recovery training. VVAP II consisted
expressed their appreciation for of a simple pitch-tracking task using
the overall technical interchange, Conducted at NASA Ames Research an aircraft math model near stall.
the strong team that NASA has Center’s Vertical Motion Simulator The pilot was asked to try to keep
assembled to support ATD-2, (VMS) July 20 through September the aircraft level while a sum-of-sines
and the efforts by the NASA 11, and sponsored by the Technolo- disturbance was introduced in the
team in preparing briefings and gies for Airplane State Awareness pitch axis. The pilot would then
conducting working sessions.
A subsequent meeting was held Sept.
16-17, 2015, at the NASA North
Texas Research Station (NTX) in
Fort Worth, Texas. At this meet-
ing NASA Ames personnel again
met with key stakeholders from
American Airlines, NATCA and
CLT. The purpose of this meet-
ing was to review ATD-2 objectives
and discuss software harmonization
efforts and operational consider-
ations for the upcoming tests.
The group also observed PDRC
displays in operational use in
Fort Worth En Route Center Simplified primary flight display.8 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4
TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS
track the disturbance in a simple Discussions on future collaboration Psychophysiological and Performance
primary flight display. in the surface management subtopic Signals software were integrated and
centered on: used during data collection. Both the
Approximately 15 general aviation • Development of common IFD and DTS included a custom
pilots participated in the experi- performance metrics; interface for electronic flight bags
ment and were asked to first train • Joint development of a gate to provide operational functionality
for the task with limited or no turn-around model to be inte- with the Airborne Spacing for Termi-
motion, and then perform the grated into existing simulations; nal Arrival Routes 13 algorithm for
task with full motion in the pitch, • Integration of DLR’s taxi interval management. The cockpits
longitudinal and heave axes. Mea- optimization modules into were used in conjunction with the Air
surements of simulator visual and NASA’s fast-time simulation Traffic Operations Laboratory in a
motion stimuli and pilot control environment; and distributed simulation that included
inputs will be used to estimate the • Integration of DLR’s surface both pilots and air traffic controllers
parameters of the pilot model. Data management tool with as research subjects.
analysis is currently underway. NASA’s Next Generation Air
Transportation System flight- FAA SMART-NAS TECHNICAL
DLR COLLABORATION deck taxi simulation. INTERCHANGE MEETING
WORKSHOP POC: KEE PALOPO
POC: YOON JUNG IMAC PILOT DATA
COLLECTION COMPLETED The NASA Shadow Mode Assess-
Researchers from NASA Ames POC: SHERI BROWN ment Using Realistic Technologies
Research Center and the German for the National Airspace System
Aerospace Center (DLR) in From July 27-Aug. 14, NASA Lang- (SMART-NAS) Test Bed (SNTB)
Braunschweig, Germany partici- ley Research Center personnel sup- team met in July with the Next Gen-
pated in a two-day workshop held ported piloted data collection for the eration Air Transportation System
at NASA Langley Research Center Interval Management Alternative (NextGen) Integration and Evalua-
in Hampton, Va. on July 21-22 to Clearances (IMAC) project. Three tion Capability (NIEC)/Verification
discuss research progress related to two-member crews flew a Boeing And Validation (V&V) Facility Team
surface management and future 757-200 model in the NASA Lang- led by Mr. John Frederick of the Fed-
collaborations as defined in the ley Development and Test Simulator eral Aviation Administration’s (FAA)
collaborative research agreement (DTS), and three two-member crews William J. Hughes Technical Center
between the two organizations. flew the new Boeing 737-800 model to discuss a potential collaboration.
in the Integration Flight Deck (IFD).
Research progress made through The IFD includes all new flight deck NASA presented the SNTB five-year
the collaboration for the past year hardware, and was used with full plan to build a test bed infrastruc-
included development of a harmo- motion operations in the Langley ture and to operate as a distributed
nized concept of 4D surface taxi, and Cockpit Motion Facility. environment in a virtual location, and
modeling and simulation of airport the FAA presented their test capabil-
surface traffic management using sur- A new digital oculometer system ity needs and vision. The meetings
face optimization techniques devel- known as SmartEye, as well as a also included tours and demonstra-
oped by each organization. new tool for Multimodal Analysis of tions of the FAA’s NIEC facility andAOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4 9
TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS
capabilities, as well as an opportu- on noise signatures and observations
nity to discuss lessons learned in the for weather models. Analysis of the
FAA’s experience with their System of results is underway to help design
Systems Assessment Platform Project, future UTM flight tests.
and to discuss SMART-NAS integra-
tion connectivity needs. A number of JAXA Official Visits NASA
action items resulted, including plans Ames
to jointly collaborate on a V&V event POC: DR. BANAVAR SRIDHAR
using the SNTB to validate an FAA
UTM field test site viewer.
NextGen objective. Helicopter Section Leader
Dr. Hirokazu Ishii of the Japan Aero-
UTM BUILD 1 DEMONSTRATION space Exploration Agency’s (JAXA)
COMPLETED Aeronautical Technology Directorate
POCs: JOEY RIOS AND MARCUS JOHNSON visited NASA Ames Research Center
on Aug. 13. NASA and JAXA have a
The NASA Unmanned Aerial five-year agreement extending to 2019
System (UAS) Traffic Management to explore areas of mutual interest in
(UTM) project successfully kicked air traffic management. As part of the
off its Build 1 Demonstration this The UTM field site at Crows Landing.
pact, NASA will assess JAXA’s noise-
past quarter. In preparation for modeling capability and its possible
the build, a flight test shakeout use in development of efficient termi-
was completed at Crows Landing, nal area arrival and departure trajecto-
Calif. Aug. 10-12. Crews from the ries with minimal noise impact.
NASA Ames Research Facility UTM Dr. Ishii met with NASA personnel
flight demonstration team and a Dr. Banavar Sridhar, Dr. Shon Grabbe
team from NASA Langley Research and Ms. Sandy Lozito to discuss the
Center each flew several UAS flights differences between Federal Avia-
while interacting with the prototype tion Administration and JAXA noise
UTM System. The shakeout enabled models. NASA presented simplified
100-foot-tall meteorological tower with real-time
the NASA team to finalize the test weather sensors noise models for use in the develop-
procedures, data collection, and soft- ment of efficient aircraft arrival tra-
ware development in preparation for University of Nevada-Reno, Airware, jectories with minimal noise impact.
a larger-scale demonstration. SkySpecs, Unmanned Experts, Preci- Preliminary discussions were also
sion Hawk, Ne3rd, Harris, Verizon, held on the collection and distribu-
Following the successful shakedown, and the Lone Star UAS Center. tion of common scenarios at the
the team completed its Build 1 Baltimore-Washington International
Demonstration Aug. 24- Sept. 2. There were several objectives to the Airport in Maryland for comparative
Among the industry, academic and flight test, including the demonstra- evaluation of different noise models.
government partners involved in the tion of UTM capabilities and proce-
effort were Exelis, Gryphon Sen- dures, navigation performance, and
sors, San Jose State University, the aircraft tracking. Data were collected10 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4
TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS
TASAR Briefing to CNS Task in June; emerging partnerships with the Federal Aviation Administration
Force Virgin America and Alaska Airlines (FAA) and NASA.
POC: DAVID WING for upcoming operational testing;
and the interest in commercializa- Mr. Johnson, a CNSTF member,
On Aug. 18, David Wing, proj- tion by connectivity providers Rock- presented the history and status of
ect lead for NASA’s Traffic Aware well Collins and Gogo Inc. prototyping new automation sys-
Strategic Aircrew Requests (TASAR) tems for the ATD-1 subproject.
research and development activity Virgin America Flight Technical The systems included in the presen-
briefed the Communication Naviga- Manager Capt. Paul Harrison joined tation were the flight deck interval
tion Surveillance/Air Traffic Manage- Mr. Wing in the briefing, providing management (FIM) airborne spac-
ment (CNS/ATM) Task Force on the airline’s perspective of TASAR ing system developed at NASA
the TASAR project. The CNS/ATM as the next step in enhancing Langley Research Center, and the
Task Force is an aviation industry Boeing’s existing Direct Routes Traffic Management Advisor –
forum of airlines, aerospace system service. The briefing sparked interest Terminal Metering (TMA-TM)
manufacturers, and government rep- by two organizations – Boeing and ground automation scheduler sys-
resentatives that meets quarterly to GE Aviation – and concluded with tem and the Controller Managed
review and promote advancements additional discussions and a technol- Spacing (CMS) ground automa-
in the state of aviation technologies, ogy demonstration of TASAR on a tion tools, both developed at NASA
procedures, and operations in the mobile platform. Ames Research Center. Together,
national airspace system. these prototypes are being devel-
Boeing requested a follow-up meet- oped by ATD-1 and industry part-
Sponsored by the Airspace Technol- ing at NASA Langley Research ners to accelerate the adoption of
ogy Demonstration (ATD) Project Center in Hampton, Va. to further new arrival management capabilities
within NASA’s Airspace Operations discuss TASAR and Boeing’s Direct for NextGen, the Next Generation
and Safety Program, TASAR brings Routes service. Air Transportation System.
advanced flight optimization capa-
bility to the cockpit via a NASA- ATD-1 Presentations to A4A/ The ATD-1 Avionics Prototype and
developed software application FAA CNS TF Flight Test team, comprised of the
installed on an electronic flight bag, POC: WILL JOHNSON Boeing Company, Honeywell, and
with connectivity to onboard avion- United Airlines, was unveiled dur-
ics and external data sources such as On Aug. 19, William Johnson, dep- ing the presentation. The United
winds, weather, airspace restrictions uty lead for the Air Traffic Manage- Airlines project manager was also in
and nearby aircraft traffic. ment Technology Demonstration-1 attendance at the event. Comments
(ATD-1) delivered a presentation received were very positive, and
More than 150 attendees partici- to the Airlines for America (A4A) plans are being made for follow-on
pated in the August 2015 meeting Communications, Navigation and reports to future gatherings of the
held at a Boeing facility in Seattle, Surveillance Task Force (CNSTF) commercial aviation stakeholder
Wash. Mr. Wing’s briefing detailed held at a Boeing Company facility community.
TASAR’s status, highlighting recent in Renton, Wash. The CNS TF is
accomplishments, including the comprised of members from airlines,
completion of a second flight trial manufacturers, systems integrators,AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4 11
TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS
NASA Attends BADA Meeting subproject met with representatives FedEx Team Visits NASA Ames
POC: ALAN LEE from the Federal Aviation Admin- POCs: JOHN ROBINSON, DAVE McNALLY,
istration’s (FAA) Surface Efficiency KAPIL SHEITH
The 41-member European Organi- Office (SEO) on Sept. 16-17 at
zation for the Safety of Air Naviga- NASA Ames Research Center to Members of the Federal Express
tion’s (Eurocontrol) Base of Aircraft gain insight into processes, proce- (FedEx) Air Traffic Operations,
Data (BADA) is a collection of dures and policy (P3) relevant to the Flight Technical, and Global Opera-
aircraft performance models (APMs) project. The FAA launched the P3 tions Control organizations visited
used to generate aircraft trajectories. initiative to collaborate with airlines NASA Ames Research Center on
BADA is the standard for APMs and airport authorities on issues Sept. 17. FedEx personnel Mr. Dan
used in air traffic management pertaining to departure metering Allen, Mr. Josh Kendrick and Mr.
research. The BADA User Group automation. Such issues include the Paul Tronsor were briefed on NASA’s
Meeting has traditionally been provision of pushback intent data Airspace Technology Demonstration
hosted by Eurocontrol, in France, by airlines and potential conflicts of (ATD) projects. The three attended
but was held for the first time in interest between metering holds at presentations on the Terminal
the United States on Sept. 9-10 in the gate and existing on-time per- Sequencing and Spacing (TSAS),
Washington, D.C., hosted by the formance metrics reported to the Dynamic Weather Routes (DWR)
Federal Aviation Administration Department of Transportation. and the National Airspace System
and the Boeing Company. (NAS) Constraint Evaluation and
FAA representatives expressed their Notification (NASCENT) tools, the
The meeting was attended by 60-plus view that neither NASA nor the FAA last of which is a NAS-based imple-
government and corporate partici- should attempt to directly influ- mentation of the DWR concept.
pants, with more than 50% from non- ence reportable on-time metrics to
U.S. organizations. NASA Airspace accommodate new concepts such The FedEx team expressed their
Operations and Safety Program per- as ATD-2. The FAA also stressed enthusiasm and appreciation for the
sonnel were also present at the meet- the importance of monitoring the briefings, noting potential benefits for
ing, which included presentations on accuracy of airline pushback intent TSAS operations at the FedEx Mem-
research and applications of BADA, data to prevent gaming of the system phis Center, and also expressed inter-
as well as future additions to BADA for competitive advantage. There was est in operational testing of DWR
with unmanned aerial vehicle models general agreement by all participants enhancements at the FedEx Global
for the Global Hawk and Predator, a on the importance of data collection Operations Control Center. The trio
standalone trajectory calculator, and a and benefits analysis from simula- saw value in exploring NASCENT’s
dedicated helicopter model. tions and field activities to allow a capabilities to evaluate reroute oppor-
data-driven approach to decisions tunities across the NAS.
FAA P3 Meeting on Departure affecting technology deployment,
Metering stakeholder participation, and the NASA Ames researchers gained
POC: RICH COPPENBARGER future regulatory environment. insight into potential for collabora-
tion with FedEx, especially given
Researchers from NASA’s Air Traf- Ms. Pat Bynum, SEO senior advisor, FedEx’s leadership in adopting and
fic Management (ATM) Technol- led the FAA’s participation at the implementing airborne data commu-
ogy Demonstration-2 (ATD-2) meeting. nications across their airfleet.12 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4
TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS
University Collaborations AOSP Researchers Host FAA NRA First-Year Review of
Support UTM Visitors Cloud-Based ATM
POC: BASSAM MUSAFFAR POC: SANDY LOZITO POC: WILLIAM N. CHAN
On Sept. 22, Dr. Claire Tomlin On Sept. 22, Airspace Operations On Sept. 22 a Mosaic ATM/Harris
from UC Berkeley and Professor and Safety Program (AOSP) research- Corporation team presented a review
Dr. Mykel Kochenderfer from ers hosted Mr. Stephen Merlin and of their NASA Research Announce-
Stanford University updated Airspace Mr. Chris Dorbian from the Federal ment (NRA) first year’s work, as well
Operations and Safety Program Aviation Administration’s (FAA) as second-year plans to accelerate
researchers and members of the Environmental Policy and Operations development of cloud computing-
University Affiliated Research Center Division and the Office of Environ- based air traffic management.
staff on their separation-assurance ment and Energy, respectively. The Research staff from both NASA
work supporting the Unmanned FAA visitors were given overviews Ames and NASA Langley Research
Aerial Systems (UAS) Traffic and tours of several of AOSP’s tech- Centers attended the review.
Management (UTM) subproject. nologies and facilities, including a
demonstration of its airport surface During the first year, the teams
For real-time application in a distrib- research at FutureFlight Central. Also focused on three main activities:
uted system for conflict avoidance, presented were briefings concerning • Identification of the general
the Stanford team implemented Terminal Sequencing and Spacing challenges that confront national
three variants of a coordination- research, Dynamic Weather Routing airspace system modernization;
based conflict resolution algorithm research, Unmanned Aerial Systems • A survey of case studies of how
with solution times in the millisec- in the National Airspace System cloud computing has been
onds. The UC Berkeley team devised activities, and air traffic management successfully adopted in other
an algorithm for the safe platoon- environmental research led by the industries; and
ing of unmanned aerial vehicles via NASA Ames Senior Scientist for • Identification and evaluation
reachability sets. Air Transportation Research of five candidate ATM cloud-
Dr. Banavar Sridhar. enhanced business model
Both professors were slated to visit concepts, including their
NASA Ames Research Center ARC The FAA visitors, who also presented potential costs and benefits.
on Oct. 1 to conduct discussions their work in the FAA Environment
with researchers from the Human Office, were appreciative of the For the second-year effort, the team
Systems Integration Division Air- discussions and demonstrations, will select, in consultation with
space Operations Laboratory about and hopeful for future collaboration NASA, one or more of the follow-
integrating these algorithms into opportunities. ing concepts for eventual prototype
UTM tools being developed and development: data warehouses, elec-
used at NASA Ames. tronic flight bags, simulation tools,
and traffic flow management services.AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4 13
TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS
Airline Will Use NASA Cockpit Airlines is getting underway with a Dr. Jeff Henderson. Approximately
Software technical kickoff meeting at their 15 Alaska Airlines attendees repre-
POC: DAVID WING Flight Operations Training Center sented departments of flight opera-
in Seattle, Wash. on Sept. 22-23, tions, performance, engineering,
NASA Langley Research Center has with the first TASAR flights on training, dispatch and compliance.
signed Space Act Agreements with Boeing 737-900ER aircraft expected Several Federal Aviation Administra-
Virgin America and Alaska Airlines in spring 2016. Virgin America trials tion (FAA) compliance inspectors
to test NASA’s cockpit technology for on their Airbus A320 aircraft will attended, as did representatives from
the Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew follow, likely starting in the summer vendors United Technologies Aero-
Requests (TASAR) software on com- 2016. David Wing is the technical nautical Systems (UTAS) and Gogo
mercial flights. TASAR constituents lead for the TASAR activity. Inflight. UTAS and Gogo supply the
include the Traffic Aware Planner hardware and connectivity envi-
(TAP) software application that runs TASAR Partnership with sioned for the TAP software’s instal-
on an electronic flight bag and con- Alaska Airlines Launches lation on Alaska Airlines aircraft.
nects to aircraft avionics for aircraft Kickoff Meeting
state and flight plan information; the POC: DAVID WING Over the course of the two-day
Automatic Dependent Surveillance meeting, attendees converged on a
Broadcast (ADS-B) application for The Space Act Agreement between breadth of detailed technical topics
traffic data; and broadband Inter- NASA and Alaska Airlines on the critical for charting the implemen-
net for external sources of winds, Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew tation of TAP on an initial fleet of
weather and airspace data. Using Requests (TASAR) project was for- three Alaska Airlines B737-900ER
this information, TAP monitors for mally initiated with a technical kick- aircraft in early/mid 2016:
flight-optimization opportunities in off meeting held at the Alaska Airlines • Hardware/software architecture
the form of lateral route changes and/ Flight Operations Training Center alternatives were identified and
or altitude changes that the aircrew in Seattle, Wash. on Sept. 22-23. prioritized;
can request of air traffic control, TASAR features Traffic Aware Planner • A sample computer-based trainer
modifications that would save flight (TAP) cockpit software that monitors module was successfully test-
time and/or fuel burn while avoiding flight-optimization opportunities in deployed on Alaska’s Learning
known conflicts. the form of lateral route changes and/ Management System;
or altitude changes – de-conflicted • TAP software installation and
In addition to developing the TAP from known traffic, weather, and data retrieval procedures were
software, the TASAR team has restricted airspace – that the aircrew defined;
conducted two simulation experi- can request of air traffic control to • Weather data source alternatives
ments and two flight trials with save flight time and/or fuel burn. were reviewed;
airline pilots to prepare for upcom- • Dispatch coordination needs and
ing operational deployments. The David Wing, TASAR technology approaches were discussed; and
TASAR team has also estimated lead, was accompanied at the meet- • Hardware/software testing objec-
potential benefits and evaluated the ing by NASA personnel Dr. Kelly tives were identified and initial
safety, certification, and operational Burke and Jim Fay, and Engility plans established for a phased
approval requirements. Planning for Corporation representatives deployment.
the operational trials with Alaska Bob Vivona, Sharon Woods, and14 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4
TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS
A high-level target schedule was pro- fix overload and suggest individual system. A team of six engineers from
posed and will be adjusted as infor- flight reroutes to alternate meter Metron Aviation provided in-depth
mation is gathered on pacing items fixes. The algorithm monitors esti- briefings on the prototype departure
such as wiring-installation certifica- mated time-based flow management metering system they developed to
tion, FAA compliance requirements, arrival scheduling delay at meter support the FAA’s S-CDM concept
aircraft installation availability, and fixes on a large planning horizon: engineering effort.
software readiness. The success- up to two hours from the meter fix.
ful meeting generated interest and Excessive estimated delay triggers The FAA and NASA are collaborating
momentum that will be leveraged the algorithm to search for suitable to demonstrate departure metering
to move forward on simultaneous flights (both airborne and pre-depar- consistent with the S-CDM concept
fronts toward achieving operational ture) to reroute to an alternate meter of operations as part of the larger
testing of TASAR on Alaska Airlines fix at minimal cost. In most cases ATD-2 demonstration at Charlotte-
flights over the next two years. the reroute is expected to reduce Douglas International Airport in
the meter fix delay with minimal North Carolina. Managers from
ORC Workshop Held increase to flight distance. Volpe and the FAA joined more than
at NASA Ames 25 NASA and contractor personnel
POC: SHANNON ZELINSKI NASA is evaluating ORC’s poten- working on ATD-2, and were briefed
tial inclusion in AOSP’s Air Traffic on the S-CDM concept, software
On Sept. 23-24, at NASA Ames Management Technology Dem- design, and current software status.
Research Center, Airspace Operations onstration-3 subproject. During
and Safety Program (AOSP) the workshop, the FAA and NASA By the end of the second day, the
researchers hosted visitors from the discussed how they might jointly ARC team successfully built and ran
Federal Aviation Administration’s collaborate moving forward, and the S-CDM software in the NASA
(FAA) William J. Hughes Technical specifically the baseline evaluation Ames Air Traffic Management Veri-
Center (WJHTC) to coordinate scheduled for completion in fication and Validation Laboratory,
efforts leading up to the completion March 2016. natively in the NASA Ames envi-
of the first phase of optimized route ronment. This capability will now
capability (ORC) development. NASA Ames Hosts Second enable the ATD-2 team to execute
ORC is an FAA/NASA collaboration S-CDM TIM simulation scenarios, interact with
developing traffic management POC: MICHELLE ESHOW the software, and modify the source
unit decision support for intelligent code for ATD-2 needs. Further col-
arrival meter fix offloading. On Sept. 22-23, as part of the laboration with Metron is expected.
Airspace Operations and Safety
At many airports, including Program’s Air Traffic Management NRA First-Year Review
Houston Intercontinental, the arrival Technology Demonstration-2 POC: TODD LAUDERDALE
gates or meter fixes serve as the (ATD-2) subproject, NASA Ames
major bottlenecks for arrival traffic, Research Center hosted the second On September 25, researchers from
rather than the runways. Technical Interchange Meeting on Optimal Synthesis Inc. and Purdue
the Federal Aviation Administration’s University presented their progress
NASA is developing an algorithm to (FAA) Surface Collaborative Decision in the first year of a three-year NASA
identify projected periods of meter Making (S-CDM) prototype software Research Announcement (NRA)AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4 15
TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS
designed to identify and classify These techniques, along with Lessons learned support the Scenar-
controller intervention in histori- flight scenarios designed to induce ios for Human Attention Restoration
cal aircraft track data. Starting with AHPLS, will be incorporated in using Psychophysiology Study to be
simulated track data, the team was training to reduce the occurrence conducted during fiscal year 2016
able to identify when aircraft were of, and enabling recovery from, in NASA Langley Research Center’s
maneuvered by a conflict resolution AHPLS in situ. These detection Cockpit Motion Facility. This work
system and to identify the type of techniques will also be used to is being conducted in response to
resolution executed. The research validate AHPLS induction. Current CAST Safety Enhancement 211
will now turn to identifying maneu- detection approaches use only one or entitled “Training for Attention
ver in real aircraft track data, and two psychophysiological measures, Management” that supports AOSP’s
these identified maneuvers will or do not perform such measures Airspace Technology Demonstration
provide a dataset to iterate situation- in high fidelity flight simulation Project within the TASA subproject.
based behaviors of controllers. studies. Therefore, the crew state
monitoring team has demonstrated Team members include SE211 Tech-
The goal of the research is to inform the integration of multi-modal nical Lead Angela Harrivel, Lance
development of advanced control- psychophysiological measurement Prinzel, Chad Stephens, Alan Pope,
ler tools for conflict resolution such instrumentation in a visual simulator Kyle Ellis and Charles Liles.
that, wherever possible, the tools in preparation for future motion-
suggest resolutions that conform to a based simulation studies.
controller’s general preferences.
Time-series data were collected
NASA/CAST AHPLS Training for 24 airline pilots and multi-
POC: SHERI BROWN class, ensemble machine learning
classification methods have been
NASA is leading research chartered implemented for state detection.
by the Commercial Aviation Safety Findings indicate preliminary state
Team (CAST) to develop and assess classification models are reliable for
commercial flight training methods across-task prediction of cognitive
focused on mitigating the effects state for channelized attention and
of attentional human performance low workload (precision = 0.891,
limiting states (AHPLS). AHPLS 0.906 respectively), meeting the
are cognitive states that contribute to Airspace Operations and Safety
the loss of flight crew airplane state Program’s (AOSP) Technologies for
awareness, and remain a casual factor Airplane State Awareness (TASA)
in commercial aviation accidents and Subproject milestone SE211-1.
incidents. A significant challenge is to Ongoing are model improvements
detect AHPLS using a convergence for diverted attention, the analysis
of behavioral performance, psycho- of startle/surprise, and plans for
physiometric and self-reported data. detecting confirmation bias.16 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4
AWARDS, PAPERS AND APPOINTMENTS
Dr. Karl Bilimoria Chosen vous and proximity operations phase results will lead to design guidance
as ISU Visiting Lecturer of an asteroid exploration mission. for the phraseology used in air/
The workshop was well-received, ground communications.
In July 2015 Airspace Operations and informal feedback indicated
and Safety Program researcher that the students found it to be both The article was presented by
Dr. Karl Bilimoria served as a visit- interesting and useful. Dr. Wilson at the Institute
ing lecturer at the International for Operations Research and
Space University (ISU) Space Studies Manuscript Published, Management Sciences annual
Program (SSP) in Athens, Ohio. The Selected for Invited conference, during an invited
SSP is a graduate-level professional Conference Session session designed to feature papers
development program conducted that address practical quality and
by ISU at various locations around NASA Langley Research Center reliability problems.
the world since 1988. The intensive personnel Dr. Sara Wilson,
nine-week curriculum covers the full Kurt Swieringa and Dr. Jennifer
range of space-related fields includ- Murdoch-Kibler, along with
ing policy and law, business and Robert Leonard and Dr. David
management, humanities, physical Edwards of Virginia Commonwealth
and life sciences, engineering, and University, have published in
space applications. the journal Quality Engineering
their manuscript entitled “Model
Summer 2015’s SSP was hosted by Specification and Confidence
Ohio University, NASA was the Intervals for Voice Communication.”
prime sponsor, and 98 students The article, citing research
from 30 countries participated. performed in support of the Air
Dr. Bilimoria, an ISU alumnus of Traffic Management Technology
SSP 2007, supported the Space Demonstration-1 project, presents
Engineering Department during a case study using data from a
the week of July 13 by leading a human-in-the-loop experiment
half-day workshop on spacecraft with a simulated flight environment
cockpit design, attended by about conducted to investigate airborne
20 students who have selected the spacing procedures.
engineering department for special-
ized studies. The interval management proce-
dures during approach to an airport
The workshop began with a pre- required a complex voice clearance
sentation on the cockpits of various issued by air traffic control to a flight
piloted spacecraft over the past five crew using radio communications.
decades, and was followed by a par- The time required for voice com-
ticipatory activity where small teams munication transfers is modeled, as
of students designed cockpit displays is the time required for flight crews
and hand controllers for the rendez- to complete data entry tasks. InitialNational Aeronautics and Space Administration Headquarters 300 E. Street, SW Washington, DC 20024 www.aeronautics.nasa.gov www.nasa.gov
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