Federal Aviation

Administration

Presented to: E&E REDAC Subcommittee 

By: Joseph DiPardo and Mohammed Majeed

Office of Environment and Energy

Federal Aviation Administration

Date: August 30, 2016

AEDT Development
Federal Aviation

Administration

Outline

• Environmental Tools Suite

• AEDT Development Drivers

• AEDT Usage Trends

• AEDT Development

– AEDT 2b Development Schedule

– AEDT 2c Development Plan

• AEDT 3+ (FY17+) Development

• Research Supporting AEDT

• Summary

2
Federal Aviation

Administration

Environmental Tools Suite

Modeling range of solutions and their consequences on fuel use, noise and 

emissions (basket of measures for CO2 and balanced approach for noise)

3 3 3

Alternative Fuels

Source and Composition

Rapid Fleet-Wide 

Environmental 

Assessment

Monetized

Impacts

Emissions, 

Collected Costs Noise, & Fuel Burn 

Emissions

& Noise

Cost Benefit Analysis

Noise 

Impacts

Air Quality 

Impacts

Climate 

Impacts Emissions

Noise

Emissions

Integrated

Noise, 

Emissions,

and 

Fuel Burn

Analyses

Single 

Flight/Airport

Regional

Global

Studies

Aviation Environmental 

Impacts Analysis 

(APMT-I)

Aviation 

Environmental 

Design Tool (AEDT)

Fleet Evolution, Economics 

Estimation & Evaluation

(FOM, APMT-E, FLEET-Builder)

Aircraft Design

Existing Aircraft, New 

Aircraft, and/or Generic Fleet

Policy and Scenarios

Including outputs from other tools and analyses as appropriate

Operations
Federal Aviation

Administration

AEDT Development Drivers

We develop tools for specific purposes:

• CAEP analyses

– Noise

– Emissions (NOX, CO2, and Black Carbon)

– Global Market Based Measure

• Air space and airport design and planning (e.g., NEPA 

reviews)

• NextGen analyses

– Performance reporting (annual basis)

– Future goals analysis (out to 2050)

– Assessing benefits of NextGen 

• Technology evaluation (e.g., CLEEN Program)

4 Note this is not an all-inclusive list
Federal Aviation

Administration

AEDT Licenses as of June 2016

5
Federal Aviation

Administration

AEDT Versioning and Policy

• FAA order 1050.1F requires most current version of 

AEDT for regulatory environmental impact analyses

• FAA currently updates AEDT more frequently (every 

three months) than the legacy tools.

– Allows for the inclusion of concepts derived from active 

research

– Some of the updates are major changes affecting the fuel 

burn, noise and emissions while other updates are bug 

fixes and usability improvements

• Version changes will only occur with major updates

– Minor improvements will be included in service pack 

updates.

6
Federal Aviation

Administration

AEDT 2 Series Development Schedule

AEDT 2b released May 2015

• Feature Pack 1 (FP1) (July 2015)

– AERMOD/AERMET (2 embedded EPA tools) 

– Fixed dispersion related issues

• Service Pack 2 (SP2) (December 2015)

– Improved interface per customer recommendations

– Updated reference emissions data

• Service Pack 3 (June 2016)

– Time Audible metric

– VALE Report workflow improvements

AEDT 2c Scheduled Release September 2016

• Service Pack 1 (December 2016)

• Service Pack 2 (March 2017)

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Federal Aviation

Administration

AEDT 2b Current Status – SP3 (1 of 3)

8

• Released June 13, 2016

• Major functionality updates:

• Time Audible:

‒ Available by request 

from FAA

‒ Multiple metrics

‒ Support for National 

Park Service (NPS)

‒ Includes utilization of 

boundary files
Federal Aviation

Administration

AEDT 2b Current Status – SP3 (2 of 3)

VALE Report

• Multiple 

analysis year 

VALE reporting

• Support for 

equipment 

lifetime 

processing

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Federal Aviation

Administration

AEDT 2b Current Status – SP3 (3 of 3)

• Database updates:

‒ Addition of fuel consumption and emissions for 

military aircraft (and aircraft with thrust type = “other”)

• Other Updates:

‒ Improvements to the import of EDMS studies 

‒ Import with inconsistent or missing airport data 

‒ Improvements to the study upgrade process 

‒ Supports upgrading studies from version 1.43.1 

up to the current version

‒ Consolidation of ASIF, EDMS, and INM import into 

the Import Study wizard

‒ 17 Bug fixes

10
Federal Aviation

Administration

User Support - AEDT Coloring Book

• Environmental Protection Specialists have struggled 

understanding and communicating the differences 

between AEDT and the legacy tools

• The Coloring Book provides 

information in an easy to 

understand format

• The feedback has been exceptionally 

positive

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Federal Aviation

Administration

User Support - Website

• AEDT Support Website - https://aedt.faa.gov

– Provides product information

– Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) including known 

issues

– Optional tools

– Support feedback

– Training material – example exercises, instructional 

videos, etc.

12
Federal Aviation

Administration

AEDT 2c Development Plan

• AEDT 2c Scheduled for Release September 2016

• Planned work includes

– Full flight non-volatile Particulate Matter (nvPM) mass and number

– Numbers Above Noise Level (NANL) noise metric

– Environmental Justice (EJ) functionality

– Altitude controls

– Sensor path data altitude and speed pathologies

– Support background emissions concentrations

– Add ability to edit operations

– Certification and accreditation of AEDT website

– Global Mapper License Update for Sept 2016

– Upgrade to .NET 4.6.1

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Federal Aviation

Administration

AEDT 2c Development - nvPM Modeling

AEDT support in the upcoming nvPM standard setting 

process

• CAEP/11 assess stringency options

– Emissions Index (EI) measurements for 23 representative engines 

– Full flight performance based analyses

• In standard setting process

• Cost benefit analysis

• Climate and air quality analyses

• Aerodyne developed a method for estimating nvPM mass and number for 

full flight

– Being used primarily for cruise phase of flight

• FOA3.0 and Aerodyne methods

– Provide a basis for assessing nvPM for all phases of flight

AEDT 2c is implementing a number of methods for estimating nvPM

mass and number for all phases of flight

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Federal Aviation

Administration

AEDT 2c Development – Number Above 

Noise Level Metric

• Number of events above noise level

‒ LAMAX1, LCMAX2, SEL3

‒ Grid points and contours

‒ Gaining popularity

‒ Potential supplemental metric for PBN

15

1LAMAX = Maximum A-weighted Sound Level (dB)

2LCMAX = Maximum C-weighted Sound Level (dB)

3SEL = Sound Exposure Level (dB)
Federal Aviation

Administration

AEDT 2c Development Plan

Environmental Justice (EJ) functionality

– The Secretary of Transportation 

is focused on the relationship 

between transportation 

infrastructure and minority 

and low-income communities. 

– To support the Secretary’s efforts, 

FAA has committed to:

– Develop new capability for our 

environmental assessment tools to 

address EJ communities

“Transportation secretary aims to 

right wrongs in poor, minority areas”, 

Washington Post, March 29, 2016

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Federal Aviation

Administration

AEDT 2c Development Plan

Environmental Justice functionality

– Assists in the 

identification of 

potential EJ 

populations for 

meaningful outreach

– EJ defined by minority 

and low income 

populations based on 

US Census data

– AEE will issue 

guidance on use of EJ 

functionality

– Plans are in place to 

extend the TARGETS 

integration efforts to 

include the EJ 

functionality

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Federal Aviation

Administration

AEDT 2c Development Plan – SP1 and SP2

• AEDT 2c SP1 and SP2 Scheduled for Release in 

December 2016 and March 2017

• Planned work includes

– High-Fidelity Weather

– Sensor path smoothing

– Dynamic grid for dB and non-dB metrics

– AERMOD model upgrade

– Detailed grid (legacy noise functionality)

– Generate a contour for point-type receptors

– Clipping contours based on boundaries

– AERMOD complex terrain modeling

– MOVES Improvements

– Continue bug fixes, usability improvements

18
Federal Aviation

Administration

Incorporating BADA4 within AEDT

ANP 

Performance

BADA 

Performance

ANP 

Performance

Departure Ground Level

Cruise Altitude

BADA 3 Series BADA 4.2

19

• Update performance module to BADA 4.2 (limited use)

– Represents most accurate dataset

– Replaces ANP data up to ground roll

• Development will include addition of sensor path modeling 

capability

BADA 

Fuel Burn

BADA 

10,000 feet Performance

BADA 

Fuel Burn

BADA or SFI* 

Fuel Burn

* Senzig, Fleming, Iovinelli Method
Federal Aviation

Administration

AEDT 3+ Development (FY17+)

• Functionality

– Focus will be on Aircraft Performance Module (APM)

– APM workshop feedback

– May include some noise and emission functionality

• Usability

– Data Input

– Distributed Computing

– GIS Platform

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Federal Aviation

Administration

AEDT 3+ Development – Functionality (1 of 3)

• APM Taxiway Modeling

– Develop a taxiway “drive cycle” that better accounts for idle, 

acceleration, and ground roll

– Include taxiway noise modeling (based on ACRP 02-27) and 

improved taxiway emissions modeling (based on ACRP 02-45)

• APM Takeoff Weight Estimation

– Improve takeoff weight estimation using load factor (ASCENT P35, 

ACRP 02-55)

• APM Approach Modeling

– Improve approach modeling to include aircraft configuration 

variations and augment noise-power-distance curves to account for 

airframe configuration changes (ASCENT P23, ACRP 02-55) speed 

brakes

21
Federal Aviation

Administration

AEDT 3+ Development – Functionality (2 of 3)

• APM Reduced Thrust Takeoff

– Develop more realistic takeoff thrust model based on 

actual practice of using reduced thrust. (ACRP 02-

27).

• APM Performance Algorithm Improvements

– Explore new algorithms to improve helicopter 

modeling and introduce new aircraft types (drones, 

supersonics, advanced aircraft (e.g. NASA N+3)

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Federal Aviation

Administration

AEDT 3+ Development – Functionality (3 of 3)

Noise and Emissions

• Improve aircraft substitution method to optimize noise 

and emissions/fuel modeling.

• Updates to allow the use of latest Department of 

Defense (DoD) noise model input/output, similar to 

previous INM/NoiseMap integration, for better modeling 

of military aircraft and more harmonization with DoD 

analyses

• Drive both noise and emissions modules with identical 

high-fidelity weather inputs (e.g., MERRA2)

• Adapt AEDT to enable use of WRF-based inputs 

(provides consistency with CMAQ)

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Federal Aviation

Administration

AEDT 3+ Development – Usability

• GIS software alternatives to ESRI

– Explore the possibility of using open source GIS software

• Cloud Computing, Web Services, Computational 

Efficiencies

– Distributed or grid computing for improving computational 

efficiencies

– Utilize cloud computing to address computational 

resources

– Cloud for large data storage and sharing

– Web services - Users would use as a web service to 

access/run scenarios

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Federal Aviation

Administration

Research to Support AEDT 3+ APM Development

• A35: Airline flight data examination to improve flight 

performance modeling

– Evaluate and identify improvement in aircraft performance modeling 

capabilities of AEDT

– Develop sets of reduced data from airline aircraft flight data for 

validation of AEDT.

• A45: Takeoff/Climb Analysis to Support AEDT APM 

Development

– Conduct a comprehensive statistical analysis of airline aircraft flight 

data to develop alternative weight estimators and thrust levels

• A46: Surface Analysis to Support AEDT APM 

Development

– Identify and evaluate methods for improving taxi performance modeling 

in AEDT that better accounts for aircraft thrust profiles during taxi.

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Federal Aviation

Administration

• A5: Noise emission and propagation modeling

– investigate the effect of met conditions on noise propagation

– consider effect of source motion, long distance propagation and 

weather effects

• A23: Analytical Approach for Quantifying Noise from 

Advanced Ops Procedures

– Conduct an assessment of gaps in current noise modeling tools

– Explore approaches for modeling noise due to configuration changes

• A43: Noise Power Distance Re-evaluation

– Identify and evaluate possible improvements to the existing NPD 

method that can capture aircraft configuration, speed, and thrust

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Research to Support AEDT 3+ Noise Development
Federal Aviation

Administration

• AEDT’s agile development allows for more rapid 

response to user needs

– EJ implementation in AEDT 2c

– Number Above Noise Level (NANL) functionality

• Ongoing development 

– User interface improvements

– Expansion of functionality and external tools integration

– Support for ongoing and upcoming FAA research and international 

policy analyses

• AEDT future development will focus on aircraft 

performance and expanded functionality

– Improved accuracy of aircraft position and performance

– Implementation of current research results and recommendations

– Support of cloud computing solutions

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Summary