HOLD FOR RELEASE

UNTIL PRESENTED

BY WITNESS

July 25, 2006

**Statement of**

**Lisa J. Porter**

**Associate Administrator for Aeronautics**

**National Aeronautics and Space Administration**

**Before the**

**Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,
Subcommittee on Aviation**

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for this
opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the status of the Next
Generation Air Transportation System (NGATS). NASA is committed to
working with our partners at the Joint Planning and Development Office
(JPDO) to provide the high-quality research and technical excellence
that is required to develop the NGATS.

NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) is currently
undergoing a comprehensive restructuring to ensure that we have a
strategic plan in place that enables us to pursue long-term,
cutting-edge research for the benefit of the broad aeronautics
community. The three principles guiding this restructuring are as
follows: 1) We will dedicate ourselves to the mastery and intellectual
stewardship of the core competencies of aeronautics in all flight
regimes; 2) We will focus our research in areas appropriate to NASA's
unique capabilities; and 3) We will directly address the fundamental
research needs of the NGATS while working closely with our agency
partners in the JPDO.

Regarding the third principle, one of the research challenges that NASA
will directly address will be that of Air Traffic Management (ATM).
While our current ATM system has served the country well, there are
critical shortcomings that prevent it from meeting anticipated future
demands. The future ATM system must be scalable to support increased
capacity as well as flexible to accommodate the wide variety of air
vehicles that will fly within the system. New concepts and technologies
must be conceived and developed that will completely transform the
overarching structure that will coordinate thousands of vehicles
operating in the national airspace at any given time.

However, it is important to recognize that the challenges we face in
developing the NGATS are not limited to ATM alone. For our air
transportation system to continue to function, future air vehicles will
need to address substantial noise, emissions, efficiency, and
performance challenges. These are issues that cannot be worked in
isolation -- a holistic approach to vehicle design will be required in
order to address multiple and often conflicting design requirements.
Furthermore, as both the vehicles and the airspace system become
increasingly complex, we must make a commitment to conduct the research
necessary to ensure that our high safety standards are not compromised.

Therefore, NASA's ARMD will conduct the long-term, cutting edge research
that will be necessary to ensure revolutionary capabilities for both the
air vehicles of the future as well as the air transportation system in
which they will fly. Gone are the days when one can design innovative
vehicles without consideration of the airspace, and the converse is, of
course, equally true. We have four major programs -- the Airspace
Systems Program, the Aviation Safety Program, the Fundamental
Aeronautics Program, and the Aeronautics Test Program -- each of which
contributes to the research needs of the future air transportation
system, as described in more detail below. NASA has constructed a
balanced research portfolio that draws upon our NASA-unique capabilities
to address ATM, vehicle, and safety-related research challenges-all of
which must be worked in order for NGATS vision to be realized. Funding
levels among the programs have been balanced to ensure that our
intellectual stewardship of the core competencies of aeronautics is not
compromised.

ARMD has interacted closely with the JPDO during the past several months
to ensure proper alignment of our research plans with the needs of the
NGATS. Specifically, we have solicited input from the JPDO during both
our preliminary technical planning last fall and our rigorous review
process this past spring. ARMD has employed a research program
formulation process that put NASA researchers in charge of writing
technical proposals with input from other government agencies and the
private sector through a Request for Information (RFI). These proposals
were reviewed by panels of Government subject matter experts, including
JPDO members, who evaluated the proposals based on their technical,
management, resource, and partnership plans. The researchers were
provided detailed feedback from these reviews and used this feedback to
further refine their proposals. The proposals then underwent a second
review. Our thorough proposal review process ensured that the plans were
technically credible and well-aligned with the NGATS vision. This level
of coordination and cooperation will remain an ongoing element of the
ARMD strategic partnership with the JPDO. In the final step, we used a
NASA Research Announcement (NRA) as the means to solicit research
proposals for foundational research in areas where NASA needs to enhance
its core capability. The competition for the NRA awards is open to both
academia and industry. The NRA was released on May 24^th^, and the
initial proposals were due July 7^th^. The NRA will remain open to
enable us to conduct an additional round of proposal evaluations later
in the year.

Finally, in addition to conducting research that directly addresses
NGATS challenges, we have placed a strong emphasis on active
participation in the JPDO, providing personnel, analysis tools, and
funding to directly support its functions and activities. NASA is
actively involved in all the organizational elements of the JPDO, from
the Integrated Product Teams (IPTs) and the Evaluation and Analysis
Division (EAD) up through the Senior Policy Committee (SPC), which
oversees the work of the JPDO and is chaired by the Secretary of
Transportation.

**Airspace Systems**

The objective of the Airspace Systems Program (ASP) is to develop
revolutionary concepts, capabilities, and technologies that will enable
significant increases in the capacity, efficiency and flexibility of our
National Airspace System (NAS) -- an objective that is clearly aligned
with the JPDO's vision of the NGATS. The ASP consists of two projects:
the NGATS ATM: Airspace Project and NGATS ATM: Airportal Project.

The Airspace Project will develop and explore fundamental concepts and
integrated solutions that address the optimal allocation of ground and
air automation technologies necessary for the NGATS. The project will
focus NASA's technical expertise and world-class facilities on
addressing the question of where, when, how, and the extent to which
automation can be applied to moving aircraft safely and efficiently
through the NAS. Research in this project will address Four-Dimensional
(4-D) Trajectory Operations including advances in the science and
applications of multi-aircraft trajectory optimization that solves the
demand/capacity imbalance problem and manages the separation assurance
requirement. We also will conduct research to explore Dynamic Airspace
Configurations that address the technical challenges of migrating from
the current structured, static homogenous airspace to a dynamic,
heterogeneous airspace that adapts to user demand and changing
constraints of weather, traffic congestion, and a highly diverse
aircraft fleet. Ultimately, the roles and responsibilities of humans and
automation touch every technical area and will be addressed thoroughly.

Working in close collaboration with the Airspace Project, the Airportal
Project will develop and validate algorithms, concepts, and technologies
to enable high-capacity, efficient and safe airportal systems for the
ground and terminal area domains of the National Airspace System (NAS).
Currently, the growth of air traffic demand and fleet diversity is
causing the operational volume at hub airports to rapidly approach their
maximum capacity. The research in this project will develop solutions
that safely integrate surface and terminal area air traffic optimization
tools and systems with 4-D trajectory operations. These tools and
systems will be aimed at mitigating the growing constraints at the
nation's hubs (adverse weather, noise, emissions, wake vortex hazards,
etc.) and will contribute toward significant increases in airport
throughput.

Substantial leveraging of research across the two projects will occur in
areas such as computational science and engineering, applied mathematics
for system optimization, trajectory design and conformance, automation
design, and adaptive air/ground automation. Ultimately, the results of
the two projects will be integrated to ensure gate-to-gate solutions
that are aligned with the NGATS needs.

**Aviation Safety**

Through the vigilance of industry and government, the U.S. Air
Transportation System is widely recognized as one of the safest
transportation systems worldwide. Looking toward the future at the
projected increases in air traffic and future system capabilities, this
vigilance must continue to meet both public expectations for safety and
the full realization of the NGATS. The Aviation Safety Program (AvSP)
will help meet these future challenges by developing cutting-edge
technologies intended to improve the intrinsic safety attributes of
aircraft that will operate in the evolving NGATS. There are four
projects in the AvSP: Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM),
Aircraft Aging and Durability (AAD), Integrated Intelligent Flight Deck
(IIFD), and Integrated Resilient Aircraft Control (IRAC).

The IVHM and the AAD projects will focus on improving the inherent
resiliency, life-cycle durability, and maintenance of modern aircraft
and associated onboard systems. The IVHM project will conduct research
to advance the state of highly integrated and complex flight critical
health management technologies and systems. Potential benefits include
reduced occurrence of in-flight system and component failures, and
onboard systems capable of self-detecting and self-correcting anomalies
during a flight that could otherwise go unattended until a critical
failure occurs. The AAD project will develop advanced diagnostic and
prognostic capabilities for detection and mitigation of aging-related
hazards. The research and technologies to be pursued will decrease the
susceptibility of current and next generation aircraft and onboard
systems to pre-mature deterioration and failures, thus greatly improving
vehicle safety and mission success.

New capabilities envisioned for the NGATS such as Super Density
Operations, Aircraft Trajectory-Based Operations, and Equivalent Visual
Operations pose potential safety challenges for ensuring optimum crew
workload distribution and application of advanced flight critical
automatic and autonomous systems. The AvSP will conduct research on
advanced vehicle-based capabilities to address potential unintended
consequences that could compromise vehicle or system safety. The IIFD
project will pursue flight deck related technologies that will ensure
that crew workload and situation awareness are both safely optimized and
adapted to the NGATS future operational environment. A key component of
this research will be investigating methods to automatically monitor,
measure, and assess the state of the crew awareness to their assigned
task. The IRAC project will conduct research to advance the state of
aircraft flight control automation and autonomy in order to prevent
loss-of-control in flight, which is the accident category that currently
has the highest number of aircraft accidents. Taking into account the
advanced automation and autonomy capabilities as envisioned by NGATS,
the research will pursue methodologies to enable an aircraft to
automatically detect, avoid, and/or safely recover from an off-nominal
condition that could lead to a loss of control. A key component of the
research will be to develop technologies that would enable an aircraft
control system to automatically adapt or reconfigure itself in the event
of a failed or damaged component.

**Fundamental Aeronautics**

The Fundamental Aeronautics Program (FA) is dedicated to the mastery and
intellectual stewardship of the core competencies of aeronautics across
all flight regimes. These regimes span rotorcraft and subsonic fixed
wing vehicles, supersonics, and hypersonic flight.

Future aircraft in the NGATS will need to be quiet and clean to meet
stringent noise and emissions regulations. Additionally, these air
vehicles will need to meet challenging performance requirements to make
them economically viable alternatives to the existing fleet. A holistic
approach to vehicle design will therefore be required in order to
address multiple and often conflicting design requirements. This in turn
requires substantial improvements in our current ability to predictively
design aircraft.

Today's design tools can be used for incremental improvements to
existing engines and airframes. However, because they are based on
empirical knowledge obtained over a long history of small design
improvements, they cannot be used to design truly innovative engines and
air vehicles. A key focus of FA will be the development of physics-based
Multidisciplinary Design Analysis and Optimization (MDAO) tools that
will provide the ability to evaluate radically new vehicle designs. They
will also enable the ability to assess, with known uncertainties, the
potential systems impact of innovative technologies and concepts.
Advancements at the system level will continue to be incremental without
them. The development of such tools requires a firm commitment to both
the pursuit of long-term, cutting-edge research across the core
aeronautics disciplines and the integration of that research to enable
multidisciplinary tools and technologies. The noise, emissions,
efficiency and performance of air vehicles are all interrelated through
core disciplines such as materials, structures, aerodynamics, acoustics,
combustion, and controls.

We must acknowledge that these future challenges are so substantial that
we cannot falter in our commitment to conduct high-quality, cutting-edge
research to address fundamental scientific and engineering issues in
such areas as noise source characterization, combustion chemistry,
alternative fuel chemistry, turbulence modeling, materials design, and
active flow control. Only by taking a strategic and comprehensive
approach to air-vehicle research will we be able to ensure the future of
air transportation in this country.

**Aeronautics Test Program**

NASA has established the Shared Capability Asset Program (SCAP), which
includes the Aeronautics Test Program (ATP). The ATP ensures the
long-term availability and viability of the set of aeronautics test
facilities, working with the Department of Defense (DOD) and the U.S.
aircraft industry, considers being of national strategic importance.
Several of these facilities will be critical in supporting research that
directly addresses the research needs of the NGATS. These include ground
test facilities that are used to simulate adverse weather conditions, to
measure engine and airframe noise, and to measure engine emissions.

**Evaluation and Analysis**

In addition to conducting research that directly addresses the
challenges of the NGATS, NASA provides a direct role in evaluating and
analyzing proposed systems-level NGATS concepts and architectures. NASA
personnel are key members of the JPDO Evaluation and Analysis Division
(EAD), which is now an inherent entity within the JPDO. Many of the
sophisticated simulations and models being used by the EAD to evaluate
concepts to ensure that we will be developing a system that will most
efficiently and effectively meet the needs of tomorrow\'s air
transportation system have been developed by NASA. Likewise, NASA
employs these tools to evaluate the impacts of its own research program
upon the national objectives for transformation.

**Challenges for the JPDO and the Way Ahead**

The JPDO's vision for the NGATS is revolutionary and ambitious, and
therefore faces some significant challenges. Programmatically, the most
obvious challenge is that of preserving the strong cooperation that
currently exists among the member agencies for the next twenty years.
Such cooperation is often personality-driven, but it must be sustained
as individuals in each organization come and go. It is therefore
imperative that the JPDO remains focused on close cooperation at all
levels. Currently, this is accomplished at the technical level through
the multi-agency IPTs and the joint architecture council. From an
oversight perspective, a senior interagency board is in place to support
the SPC and ensure that high-level leadership is engaged in all critical
aspects of the NGATS development. All member agencies of the JPDO must
remain committed to supporting these processes, and the processes
themselves must continue to evolve as the NGATS development matures.

A perhaps less obvious but equally important challenge is the necessity
to not compromise technical integrity as the JPDO faces the reality of
maintaining "advocacy" among stakeholders. In other words, the JPDO must
be willing to adjust technical goals and milestones if research results
determine that it is necessary to do so. The JPDO cannot succumb to
political pressures of overselling or overstating system-level goals
that are found to be technically or economically infeasible. A
commitment to technical integrity will be critical to the long-term
success of the JPDO.

Technically, the most important near-term challenge is the development
of the Concept of Operations and the Enterprise Architecture. This step
is necessary to establish system-level requirements that are clear,
verifiable, and attainable. While the capabilities articulated in the
JPDO's NGATS vision have enabled each agency to vector its research
portfolio in the right direction, the establishment of detailed system
requirements will allow each member agency to better refine its R&D
plans. Given that every agency has budget constraints, and always will,
the establishment of an Enterprise Architecture will be critical to
ensure that each agency prioritizes its R&D investments in the manner
that provides the maximum return on investment for the JPDO. The JPDO
intends to provide a preliminary Enterprise Architecture by the fall of
2006.

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**Conclusion**

In conclusion, NASA's ARMD is investing in long-term, cutting-edge
research in areas that are appropriate to NASA\'s unique capabilities in
order to enable the NGATS vision. We have aligned our research portfolio
to meet this challenge with an efficient allocation of resources and an
unwavering commitment to technical excellence.

I would be happy to respond to any questions.