STI BULLETIN ONLINE 

____________________________________________________________________________ 

A quarterly publication of the NASA Scientific and Technical Information (STI) Program produced by the 

NASA Center for AeroSpace Information (CASI) for the users of our information products and services. 

January 2006 

Featured Articles Departments 

• Spinoff 2005 is Here!

• Spinoff Spotlight: NASA's Contributions to Air Safety

• From the STI Program Office

Publication News 

• Current Topics

• NASA History

Focus On... Airport Improvement — Commercial Air Travel (Aeronautics)

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Featured Articles 

Spinoff 2005 Is Here! 

Spinoff 2005, the latest annual edition of NASA’s flagship 

publication featuring successfully commer-cialized NASA 

technology, is now available. In this new issue, you will 

discover how a space-age air filter is protecting racecar 

drivers from noxious fumes; how satellite imagery 

snapped from space is helping fishermen reel in the 

catch of the day; how usable electric energy is being 

recovered from wasted heat; and much, much more. To 

receive a complimentary copy of Spinoff 2005, please 

contact the National Technology Transfer Center at 1-

800-678-6882, or go to the online order form at 

http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/spin_order_form.html. Spinoff

2005 is also available on an interactive CD-ROM, 

complete with Web links and multimedia features. This 

CD-ROM version can also be obtained free of charge by 

contacting the National Technology Transfer Center or by accessing the online order form. 
Spinoff Spotlight: NASA’s Contributions to Air Safety 

When Congress created NASA in 1958, it required that the newly-formed Space Agency show practical benefits 

of its research and share these benefits with the public. It required that the research did not just go up into 

space, but that it came back down to Earth in the form of valuable and practical science. NASA has developed 

thousands of new technologies that have greatly improved all aspects of our lives. You can read all about them 

in NASA’s Spinoff publication. Here are three that tie into commercial air travel and air safety: They represent 

the past, the present, and the future of NASA’s contributions to improving commercial air travel, and they 

include the grooved pavement that was originally designed for air strips and is now on highways across the 

country, a device for measuring wake vortices to make airports run more smoothly, and a new facility for 

designing the airport of the future. 

From the runway to the roadway, grooved surfaces in concrete significantly improve wet weather traction for stopping and 

steering. 

One of NASA’s most notable contributions to air safety has 

also spread to the transportation safety industry. Most drivers 

are familiar with grooved highway surfaces, but few realize 

that these grooves were the result of Langley Research 

Center aeronautical research. This safety enhancement 

concept was developed through the hydroplaning program 

that began at Langley in 1962, with the goal of improving the 

control of aircraft touching down during wet weather. Surface 

grooves in concrete significantly improve wet weather 

traction for stopping and steering. It was easy for Langley 

engineers to see the need for the benefits of their research in 

public roadway systems. As a testament to the work, every 

state in the Nation today has miles of grooved pavement to 

enhance the safety of its roadways during wet weather. Also, research shows that the grooves increase the life 

of the pavement by 5 to 10 percent, decreasing the frequency of expensive repaving projects. Grooves on 

potentially slippery surfaces also benefit pedestrian areas, industrial factories, pools, and playgrounds. Grooved 

surfaces may affect people more than any other NASA spinoff application to date. 

NASA’s FutureFlight Central, the world’s first full-scale 

virtual airport-control tower. 

Langley, working with the Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA) on a joint project known as the 

Wake Turbulence Research Program, conducted 

research on the wake vortices at the Denver 

International Airport. The research teams used a 

device known as WindTracer as a ground truth 

sensor for these wake vortex acoustic tests. 

WindTracer is manufactured by Coherent 

Technologies, Inc., the recipient of a Langley Small 

Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant to 

develop this integral piece of equipment. WindTracer 

detects wind hazards such as windshear, 

microbursts, gust fronts, turbulence, crosswinds, and 

wake vortices that can compromise the safety of an aircraft. It detects these hazards and transmits real-time 

data to air traffic control display monitors, providing immediate audio and visual alerts to the staff when 

dangerous conditions arise. It is now in use in airports around the world. 

With new types of aircraft in development, heightened security concerns, and the growing demand for non-stop 

flights, airports may look radically different in the future. In September 2005, experts from NASA, the FAA, and 

the Nation’s airports gathered at Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, for the NASA/Industry Airport 

Planning Workshop to discuss ways to improve future airports. During the 2-day conference, keynote speakers 

and expert panelists discussed how advances in technology, new government guidelines, and user testing and 

feedback can affect airport planning and expansion. To evaluate plans for airports of the future, NASA uses 
FutureFlight Central, a 2-story facility located at Ames that can offer a 360-degree, full-scale view and real-time 

simulation of any airport in the world. Once an airport is entered into the facility’s supercomputer, virtual 

experimentation can begin. At this virtual airport, actual controllers, pilots, and airport personnel can test new 

procedures, technologies, and airport expansion designs, before any construction begins. FutureFlight Central 

has already successfully completed evaluations of software upgrades and expansion plans, in partnership with 

the FAA, for Dallas/Fort Worth and Los Angeles International Airports. Plans are underway for Chicago O’Hare 

International Airport, as well. 

NASA continues to push the boundaries of space exploration, and it continues to share the benefits of this 

research with the public and improve our lives in myriad ways. 

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Focus On ...... Airport Improvement – Commercial Air Travel (Aeronautics) 

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Contrary to popular belief, NASA is not just involved in space exploration. In fact, people tend to forget that the 

first “A” in NASA is for Aeronautics. NASA has teamed up with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to 

develop new technologies for several aspects of general aviation, including airport improvement and commercial 

air travel. With air travel currently growing at approximately 3 to 5 percent and air cargo transportation growing 

at about 7 percent per year, NASA and the FAA have a lot of work ahead of them. 

In the area of airport improvement, various NASA centers have teamed up with the FAA to conduct noise impact 

studies as well as airport rescue and fire research. The driving force behind these programs is the need to make 

our airports as safe as possible for the millions who fly each year. 

Artist’s concept of SATS (Small Aircraft Transportation System) 

aircraft cockpit with two large, flat-panel displays. 

NASA assists with commercial air travel in several ways. 

Current areas of involvement include: improving aircraft 

carriers and the current air traffic control system, and 

understanding how weather affects commercial air travel. 

The High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) is a next-generation 

supersonic (faster than the speed of sound) passenger jet that would 

fly 300 passengers at more than 1,500 miles per hour. 

The citations 

w prov

a sample of recently published information found in the NTRS: 

NASA Technical Reports Server. Some documents are 

available in full-text Portable Document Format (PDF) files that 

you can download free of charge, while others can be 

purchased through the STI Help Desk at (301) 621-0390 or 

belo ide 

help@sti.nasa.gov. Please use the document identification 

numbers listed below when contacting the Help Desk. You can 

also keep up to date on this topic by checking Scientific and 

Technical Aerospace Reports (STAR), a biweekly abstract 

journal. You can find STAR on the STI Web site at 

http://www.sti.nasa.gov/STI-public-homepage.html. 

Barhydt, Richard; Kopardekar, Parimal; Battiste, 
Vernol; Doble, Nathan; Johnson, Walter; Lee, Paul; Prevot, Thomas; Smith, Nancy; Joint NASA 

Ames/Langley Experimental Evaluation of Integrated Air/Ground Operations for En Route Free 

Maneuvering; 20050215572 

Battersby, Bryn D.; Consumer Expectations of Capacity Constrains and Their Effect on the 

Demand for Multi-Class Air Travel; 20050147584 

Baxley, B.; Williams, D.; Consiglio, M.; Adams, C.; Abbott, T.; The Small Aircraft Transportation 

System (SATS), Higher Volume Operations (HVO) Concept and Research; 20050223613 

Baxley, B.; Williams, D.; Consiglio, M.; Conway, S.; Adams, C.; Abbott, T.; The Small Aircraft 

Transportation System (SATS), Higher Volume Operations (HVO) Off-Nominal Operations; 

20050223580 

Bowen, Brent; Kabashkin, Igor; Nickerson, Jocelyn; Journal of Air Transportation; 20030112355 

Bowen, Brent; Gudmundsson, Sveinn; Oum, Tae; The Conference Proceedings of the 2003 Air 

Transport Research Society (ATRS) World Conference; 20040081382 

Bowen, Brent D.; Headley, Dean E.; The Airline Quality Rating 2003; 20030068297 

Bowen, Brent D.; Headley, Dean E.; The Airline Quality Rating 2002; 20030053136 

Bowen, Brent D.; Headley, Dean E.; The Airline Quality Rating 2004; 20050092334 

Bowen, Brent D.; Headley, Dean E.; The Airline Quality Rating 2001; 20010108844 

Dennis, Nigel; Industry Consolidation and Future Airline Network Structures in Europe; 

20050156078 

Dollyhigh, Samuel M.; Yackovetsky, Robert E; Analysis of Small Aircraft as a Transportation 

System; 20020078064 

Elgin, Peter D.; Thomas, Rickey P.; An Integrated Decision-Making Model for Categorizing 

Weather Products and Decision Aids; 20040040165 

Feron, Eric; Bilimoria, Karl; Distributed and Centralized Conflict Management Under Traffic Flow 

Management Constraints; 20030015749 

Fink, Mary M.; Bowen, Brent D.; Headley, Dean E.; The Airline Quality Rating 2004; 

20040075027 

Hemm, Robert; Shapiro, Gerald; Terminal Area Productivity Airport Wind Analysis and Chicago 

O'Hare Model Description; 19980185794 

Hinton, David A.; Charnock, James K.; Bagwell, Donald R.; Design of an Aircraft Vortex 

Spacing System for Airport Capacity Improvement; 20000025486 

Ivancic, William D.; Paulsen, Phillip E.; Secure, Mobile, Wireless Network Technology 

Designed, Developed, and Demonstrated; 20050215294 

Kerczewski, Robert J.; Chomos, Gerald J.; Griner, James H.; Mainger, Steven W.; Martzaklis, 

Konstantinos S.; Kachmar, Brian A.; A Hybrid Satellite-Terrestrial Approach to Aeronautical 

Communication Networks; 20000054868 

Kerczewski, Robert J.; Aeronautical Communications Research and Development Needs for 

Future Air Traffic Management Applications; 20020061702 
Kumar, Ajay; Hefner, Jerry N.; Future Challenges and Opportunities in Aerodynamics; 

20000076806 

Lee, Yeong-Heok; Bowen, Brent D.; Tarry, Scott E.; The Conference Proceedings of the 2001 

Air Transport Research Society (ATRS) of the WCTR Society; 20030111971 

Moore, Mark D.; Wake Vortex Wingtip-Turbine Powered Circulation Control High-Lift System; 

20050196637 

Neece, Robert T.; Britt, Charles L.; White, Joseph H.; Mudukutore, Ashok; Nguyen, Chi; 

Hooper, Bill; Wake Vortex Tracking Using a 35 GHz Pulsed Doppler Radar; 20050209962 

Nelson, J. M.; Kawai, R. T.; Gregg, R. D.; McKinley, Robert E., Jr.; A Study of the Economic 

Benefit Potential of Intermodal Transports; 20010039146 

Rich, Paul; McKinley, Bob; Jones, Greg; Circulation Control in NASA's Vehicle Systems; 

20050192637 

Rutishauser, David K.; OConnor, Cornelius J.; The NASA Aircraft Vortex Spacing System 

(AVOSS): Concept Demonstration Results and Future Direction; 20040086075 

Viken, Sally A.; Brooks, Frederick M.; Demonstration of Four Operating Capabilities to Enable a 

Small Aircraft Transportation System; 20050237879 

Whitlow, Jr., Woodrow; Blech, Richard A.; Blankson, Isaiah M.; Innovative Airbreathing 

Propulsion Concepts for Access to Space; 20020006950 

Wingrove, Earl R., III; Hees, Jing; Villani, James A.; Yackovetsky, Robert E.; The Integrated Air 

Transportation System Evaluation Tool; 20020094349 

Woodell, Glenn; Rahman, Zia-ur; Jobson, Daniel J.; Hines, Glenn; Enhanced Images for 

Checked and Carry-on Baggage and Cargo Screening; 20040055395 

Yackovetsky, Robert E.; Dollyhigh, Samuel M.; Integrated Mode Choice, Small Aircraft Demand, 

and Airport Operations Model User's Guide; 20040040335 

Yoon C.; Jara, Dave; Development of the Surface Management System Integrated with CTAS 

Arrival Tools; 20050182052 

 

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Departments 

From the STI Program Office

• Last Issue of STI Bulletin Online 

• Richer Search Experience Coming for NASA STI Public Collection

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From the STI Program Office 

Last Issue of STI Bulletin Online 

The NASA STI Program Office thanks the dedicated staff members of the NASA Center for AeroSpace 

Information (CASI) and those of you at the NASA Field Centers and organizations external to NASA who have 

contributed information to or received and read the STI Bulletin Online over the years. We have received many 

interesting ideas and articles to share with the STI community. It has also been helpful to receive your 

comments and questions. 

However, due to declining resources and the advent of new methods with which to communicate information, 

this will be the last issue of the STI Bulletin Online. Please continue to visit our STI Web site at 

http://www.sti.nasa.gov/STI-public-homepage.html for new information and to sign up for one of our RSS (XML) 

Web feeds regarding STI available through our program at http://www.sti.nasa.gov/scan/rssintro.html. 

 _________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Richer Search Experience Coming for NASA STI Public Collection 

In February 2006, the NASA STI Program will roll out a new public interface for the NTRS: NASA Technical 

Reports Server. This new interface will allow direct searching of text files and searching within a browse function 

(or browsing within a search function). In addition, search menus will be automatically driven from the existing 

metadata without the use of taxonomies. (Currently, other search engines rely heavily on taxonomy usage.) 

Instead of typing your search into an empty search box, which offers very little guidance, you will be guided by 

navigation menus to ask your specific question. Each time you initiate a new search, the interface will 

recalculate the navigation menus for you. For queries that receive an overwhelming number of search results, 

the interface will custom-build refinement options for the result set, thus assisting you toward a more 

manageable set of results. By presenting browse options customized for each search result, you will be able to 

look for information for which you did not know to look. In short, this interface will help eliminate the burden to 
formulate the perfect question. It will also provide automatic, algorithmic spelling corrections and suggestions 

(For example, it may ask: “Did you mean...?”). 

All navigation and search options are captured in the browser URL. This enables you to save and share any 

view of the data by bookmarking the link or cutting and pasting it into an e-mail message. Because search 

results are often utilized by teams and organizations, the dissemination of such results may decrease the search 

time for you. All search results are relevance-ranked, based on the field of search term (matches found in titles 

are ranked above matches found in the description) and frequency of search term occurrence. In other words, 

results are not simply sorted by date. 

The NASA interface is powered by the Endeca Guided Navigation search engine. 

NASA plans a Phase 2 of this project which will incorporate multimedia. 

For further details, please contact JoAnne Calhoun Joanne.r.Calhoun@nasa.gov or Calvin Mackey 

calvin.e.Mackey@nasa.gov. 

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STI BULLETIN ONLINE 

Publication News 

• Current Topics

• Conferences 

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Current Topics 

Ames Research Center’s Virtual Skies: 

http://virtualskies.arc.nasa.gov/vsmenu/vsmenu.html

Ames Research Center’s Aviation Safety Reporting System: 

http://asrs.arc.nasa.gov 

NASA’s Improving Flight Features: 

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/improvingflight/index.html

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Conferences 

“Earth & Space 2006” Conference, Houston, TX; March 5-8, 2006 

For more information, please visit 

http://www.asce.org/conferences/space06/

“Inside Aerospace,” Washington, DC; April 24-25, 2006 

For more information, please visit 

http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=230&lumeetingid=1388

“38th Aerospace Mechanisms Symposium,” Williamsburg, VA; May 17-19, 2006 

For more information, please visit 

http://www.aeromechanisms.com/

“25th AIAA Aerodynamic Measurement Technology and Ground Testing Conference,” San Francisco, CA; June 

5-8, 2006 

For more information, please visit 

http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=230&lumeetingid=1185

“25th Applied Aerodynamics Conference,” San Francisco, CA; June 5-8, 2006 

For more information, please visit 

http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=230&lumeetingid=1186
“AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference & Exhibit” 

“AIAA Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Conference & Exhibit” 

“AIAA Modeling and Simulation Technologies Conference & Exhibit” 

“AIAA/AAS Astrodynamics Specialist Conference & Exhibit” 

Keystone, CO; August 21-24, 2006 

For more information, please visit 

http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=230&lumeetingid=1305&viewcon=overview

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Publication News 

• NASA History

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NASA History 

NASA Image eXchange (NIX) is a Web-based search engine for searching one or more of NASA’s online media 

collections. Using keyword searches NIX returns thumbnail-sized images, textual descriptions, image numbers, 

links to higher-resolution images, and links to the organization that stores each image. 

GReat Images in NASA (GRIN) is a collection of over a thousand images of significant historical interest 

scanned at high resolution in several sizes. The following are samples of images from both NIX and GRIN. 

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The honeycombed, screened center of this open-circuit air intake for Langley’s first wind tunnel insured a steady, 

nonturbulent flow of air. Two mechanics pose near the entrance of the actual tunnel, where air was pulled into the test 

section through the honeycomb arrangement to smooth the flow. 
NACA’s Airplane Engine Research Laboratory (AERL) Icing Research Tunnel, 1944. The Altitude Tunnel is in the center 

background, the propeller motor drive housing in the right background, and the Air Dryer and Cooling Tower in the left 

background. 

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Famed astronaut Neil A. Armstrong served for 7 years as a research pilot at the 

NACA-NASA High-Speed Flight Station, now the Dryden Flight Research 

Center, at Edwards, California, before he entered the Space Program. This is a 

closeup of Armstrong operating the Iron Cross Attitude Simulator reaction 

control. 

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Hyper-X mounted on a Pegasus booster rocket in a 20-inch 

Mach 6 Wind Tunnel. The Hyper-X is an unmanned 

hypersonic research aircraft launched atop an air launched 

Pegasus rocket and capable of reaching speeds of Mach 10. 
During the 1970s, the focus at Dryden shifted from high-speed and high-altitude flight 

to incremental improvements in technology and aircraft efficiency. One manifestation 

of this trend occurred in the winglet flight research carried out on a KC-135 during 

1979 and 1980. 

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New concepts for aircraft controls and displays are tested in the 

NASA Transport Systems Research Vehicle (TSRV) simulator at 

NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. 

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