National Aeronautics and Space Administration

www.nasa.gov

AOSP Newsletter

Airspace Operations and Safety Program (AOSP)

APR-JUN 2018 | Quarter 3

ATD-2 Evaluation Requirements 

Freeze 2 Meeting

5

ATD-2 Completes FAA Safety Risk 

Management Review for Phase 2 

Field Demo

17
2 AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2018

AOSP IN THE NEWS

Parimal Kopardekar: 

FAA, NASA teaming up 

on drone research

Federal News Radio (4/03) reports 

the FAA and NASA are deep into 

research on how drones will operate 

safely in U.S. airspace. Parimal 

Kopardekar, senior technologist for 

air transportation systems at NASA, 

spoke about it on Federal Drive 

with Tom Temin.

Research Group Field-Test 

the Future of Transportation, 

on the Ground and in the Air

WVNS-TV (4/25) reports the tests 

were part of the latest iteration of 

NASA’s Unmanned Aircraft System 

(UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) 

research program, which is developing and testing technology designed 

to allow unmanned aircraft to share 

airspace safety and efficiently, with 

each other as well as with manned air 

traffic - and ground transportation.

10 Drone Programs Get 

Federal OK To Break The Rules

Nextgov (5/10) reports the partnership between Virginia’s Innovation 

and Entrepreneurship Investment 

Authority, Virginia Tech and NASA 

will also focus on package delivery in 

both rural and urban areas. The tests 

will gauge progress on new technologies for detecting and avoiding 

obstacles—such as other drones—

identification and tracking and mapping systems, as well as cybersecurity.

NASA and Uber Sign Second 

Agreement to Develop Urban 

Air Transportation

Interesting Engineering (5/10) 

reports that US space agency NASA 

released a statement on Tuesday 

announcing a second space act 

partnership with peer-to-peer 

ridesharing, food delivery, and 

transportation network company 

Uber to explore the safe and efficient 

implementation of an air transportation system for crowded urban areas. 

The system is part of NASA’s urban 

air mobility (UAM) program.

Here’s What’s Needed for 

Self-Flying Taxis and Delivery 

Drones to Really Take Off

Scientific American (5/15) reports 

NASA is developing a UAS Traffic 

Management (UTM) network with 

several other organizations that the 

group plans to finish testing next 

year. Uber, in particular, has a lot 

riding on the UTM’s success—the 

ride-sharing company made several 

announcements last week to promote 

its proposed uberAIR taxi service.

Flying taxis BREAKTHROUGH: 

NASA and Uber sign deal 

for future of city travel

Express (5/23) reports Uber is now 

planning on working with NASA 

to “explore concepts and technologies related to urban air mobility 

(UAM) to ensure a safe and efficient 

system for future air transportation 

in populated areas”. Jaiwon Shin, 

associate administrator for NASA’s 

Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, said: “NASA is excited to be 

partnering with Uber and others in 

the community to identify the key 

challenges facing the UAM market, 

and explore necessary research, 

development and testing requirements to address those challenges.
AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN-2018 3

AOSP IN THE NEWS

Building Flying Cars Is Less 

Complicated Than Figuring 

Out Traffic Control For Them

Motherboard Vice (6/09) reports 

NASA is developing an air-traffic 

control framework that could 

track unmanned flying cars that 

fly under 500 feet. As reported in 

Skift, the NASA system is meant 

to be automated. It plans to finish 

its research by 2019, and hand over 

ideas for the FAA to implement no 

later than 2025.

How NASA is creating air 

traffic control for drones

CNET (US) (6/19) reports that, by 

2022, the FAA predicts there could 

be 3 million drones. NASA is in the 

final testing stages of developing a 

system to integrate drones into the 

national airspace.
4 AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2018

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

Media Day and Facebook Live 

Events Highlight UTM Project’s 

TCL 3 Test Completion

POC: RON JOHNSON

Special media events took place 

following the completion of the 

Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) 

Traffic Management (UTM) Project’s 

Technical Capability Level 3 (TCL 

3) test this quarter. On June 6, a 

media day was held in the airspace 

operations laboratory at NASA’s 

Ames Research Center in California 

to showcase the recently completed 

TCL 3 testing that took place at 

six FAA UAS Test Sites (Nevada, 

Alaska, North Dakota, New York, 

Virginia, and Texas) around the 

country. The testing, directed by 

the UTM project during the March 

through May period, investigated 

several aspects of the UTM system 

operation and UAS technologies, 

including communication and 

navigation in degraded environments, 

sensing and avoiding manned and 

unmanned aircraft, data exchange for 

nominal and off-nominal conditions, 

and a Concept of Operations for 

contingencies and priority operations 

such as public safety. The UTM 

project members, representatives 

from the six UAS Test Sites, and 

two industry partners, Amazon 

Prime Air and SkySkopes, gave 

presentations. Television stations and 

internet news organizations attended 

the event. Links to videos of the 

media coverage are included below. 

NTD Television SF Bay Area: 

http://www.ntdtv.com/xtr/

b5/2018/06/07/a1378808.html

KNTV (NBC): Amazon Delivery 

Drones Might be Coming Soon

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/

news/local/Amazon-DeliveryDrones-Might-be-ComingSoon-484789181.html

Following the Media Day event, a 

Facebook Live event was held in 

the airspace operations laboratory 

on June 26 to again showcase the 

recently completed TCL 3 testing 

that took place around the country. 

The event was directed by the 

Ames Public Affairs Office. UTM 

Chief Engineer Joseph Rios and 

Flight Director Arwa Aweiss gave 

presentations that described the 

UTM concept and provided details 

of the TCL 3 testing. The link to 

the video is below. The video has 

been viewed over 100K times. 

https://www.facebook.com/nasaames/

videos/10155246534951394/

Ron Johnson, NASA (left), and Robert Champagne, Amazon Prime Air (right), brief the media on recently 

concluded testing of TCL 3.

Joey Rios (left) and Arwa Aweiss (right) present the UTM concept and specifics of how it was tested for a 

Facebook Live audience.
AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2018 

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

5

NASA ATD-2 Team 

Briefs at Transportation 

Research Board Webinar

POC: AL CAPPS

On April 2, the NASA Airspace 

Technology Demonstration 2 

(ATD-2) Team gave a remote 

briefing as part of the Transportation 

Research Board Webinar titled 

The Future of Airport Surface 

Management Tools and Benefits 

to Operational Efficiency. One 

hundred and seventy participants 

from a variety of domestic and 

international airports, air carriers, 

universities, aviation companies, and 

government organizations attended 

the event. The webinar objectives 

were to understand the capabilities 

and industry usage of existing 

tools, identify evolving capabilities 

and future integration plans to 

enable surface metering, and define 

airport and airline roles in surface 

management. Presentations included 

briefings on the ATD-2 Integrated 

Arrival/Departure/Surface (IADS) 

system, existing surface management 

tools employed at the Port Authority 

of New York and New Jersey 

airports, use of existing tools to 

support Collaborative Decision 

Making (CDM) partnerships, 

and implementation of the FAA’s 

Terminal Flight Data Manager 

and System Wide Information 

Management. The ATD-2 briefing 

included an overview of the ATD-2 

project, Surface-Collaborative 

Decision Making principles 

used in the IADS system, data 

exchange, and integration features 

that facilitate collaboration among 

participating operational facilities, 

and early benefits assessment. The 

NASA ATD-2 team expressed 

appreciation for the opportunity 

to provide outreach to a broader 

group of stakeholders, and 

participants actively engaged in 

the question-and-answer session 

that followed the briefings. 

ATD-2 Evaluation 

Requirements Freeze 

2 Meeting 

POC: SHIVANJLI SHARMA

On April 5, NASA’s Airspace 

Technology Demonstration 2 

(ATD-2) Team conducted an 

Evaluation Requirements Freeze 2 

(FRZ2) meeting with Field Demo 

Partners and other stakeholders to 

gain concurrence on capabilities 

to be included in the Phase 2 Field 

Demo, which is targeted for the 

end of September 2018. The FRZ2 

meeting took place at the Old 

Terminal Building at Charlotte 

Douglas International Airport 

(CLT), where NASA’s ATD-2 

laboratory is located. The FRZ2 

meeting involved FAA participants 

from Washington Air Route 

Traffic Control Center (ARTCC), 

Charlotte Air Traffic Control 

Tower/Terminal Radar Approach 

Control Center, and Headquarters 

organizations National Airspace 

Systems Engineering and 

Integrations Office (ANG) and 

the Mission Support (AJV). 

Other participants included the 

Director of Portfolio Management 

& Technology Development 

(ANG-C), American Airlines (AAL) 

operations management personnel, 

AAL CLT ramp managers, and 

members of the National Air Traffic 

Controllers Association. The Field 

Demo Partners presented a status 

update on the ATD-2 Phase 1 

Field Demo plans, followed by a 

discussion of the capabilities to 

be included in the Phase 2 Field 

Demo. The Phase 2 Field Demo 

will include Electronic Flight 

Data exchange by integrating the 

ATD-2 system with the FAA’s 

Advanced Electronic Flight Strip 

prototype system, expanded 

data-sharing capabilities with air 

carriers and flight operators using 

Field Demo Partners received updates on ATD-2 Phase 1 and Phase 2 Field Demo plans.
6 AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2018

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

a prototype of the FAA’s Terminal 

Flight Data Management (TFDM) 

Terminal Publication System Wide 

Information Management feed and 

mobile application, strategic and 

tactical surface scheduling fusion, 

and the extended use of electronic 

overhead stream insertion to 

Atlanta ARTCC. The presentation 

also addressed plans to test these 

capabilities in a Human-in-theLoop simulation and discussed 

leveraging operational data to 

develop benefit metrics to improve 

the ATD-2 system. The Field Demo 

Partners expressed concurrence 

with the ATD-2 Phase 2 Field 

Demo plans. The FRZ2 meeting 

concluded with information about 

NASA’s technology transfer strategy. 

AOSP R&D Partnership 

Workshop 

POC: PARIMAL KOPARDEKAR

NASA’s Airspace Operations and 

Safety Program (AOSP) hosted 

a Research & Development 

Partnership Workshop at NASA’s 

Ames Research Center in California 

from April 10 through 12. The 

purpose of the workshop was 

to develop new relationships 

for NASA research activities. In 

addition to NASA participants, 

more than 200 people attended 

the workshop, with 154 attendees 

from industry. Each project 

co-moderated breakout sessions 

with industry representatives. 

Industry was invited to meet 

with NASA to discuss the future 

of the National Airspace System, 

specifically how to accommodate a 

diverse mix of airspace users while 

maintaining highly efficient, safe, 

predictable, agile, and affordable 

airspace operation systems. The 

workshop started with an overview 

of AOSP, the Airspace Technology 

Demonstration project, the 

Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic 

Management project, the Air 

Traffic Management – eXploration 

project, and the System-Wide Safety 

project. Breakout sessions focused 

on a variety of topics specific 

to each project were held with 

moderators that included project 

leads and current industry partners. 

The last day of the workshop 

included tours of various air traffic 

management research facilities 

and technology demonstrations. 

ATD-2 Begins Shadow 

Sessions with Phase 3 Field 

Demo Partners in North Texas

POC: ERIC CHEVALLEY

NASA met with Field Demo 

Partners of the Airspace Technology 

Demonstration 2 (ATD-2) Phase 3 

effort on April 10 and 12. The first 

meeting took place at Southwest 

Airlines (SWA) headquarters in 

Dallas, Texas. SWA is the primary air 

carrier partner at Dallas Love Field 

airport, and co-lead with American 

Airlines (AAL) in the ATD-2 Phase 

3 field demonstration. The NASA 

team introduced the ATD-2 concept 

to SWA, and participants discussed 

near- and mid-term objectives and 

next steps in the joint venture. The 

NASA team toured SWA’s Network 

Operations Control Center. The 

second Field Demo Partner meeting 

took place at the Dallas-Fort Worth 

International Airport (DFW) board 

facilities. DFW performs ramp 

management functions for two of 

the five terminals, Terminal E and 

Workshop attendees were able to see the current system being used in the Phase 1 Field Demonstration at 

CLT (left) as well as ATD-3 concept animations (right).
AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2018 

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

7

a portion of Terminal D, which 

the NASA team visited. The other 

three terminal ramp operations are 

managed by AAL. DFW personnel 

introduced the NASA team to the 

terminal operations at their facility 

and discussed potential areas where 

ATD-2 technology may help them. 

The Field Demo Partners expressed 

strong interest in ATD-2 capability 

and in beginning a collaborative 

development process with NASA. A 

follow-up meeting will take place 

at the NASA North Texas facility 

to introduce the Ramp Traffic 

Console capability and obtain 

initial feedback from participants. 

The NASA team plans to meet 

regularly with all North Texas 

Field Demo Partners to develop 

the Integrated Arrival/Departure/

Surface system terminal departure 

capability and technology using the 

agile requirements identification 

process from ATD-2 Phases 1 and 2. 

ATD-3 Alaska Airlines System 

Operations Control Visit

POC: MIWA HAYASHI

On April 13, Miwa Hayashi, 

Human Factors lead for the groundside system of the Multi-Agent Air/

Ground Integrated Coordination 

(MAAGIC) effort, visited the 

Alaska Airlines (ASA) System 

Operations Control (SOC) center 

at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport 

in Washington. During the visit, 

Hayashi observed the activities 

of ASA dispatchers to understand 

how the National Airspace 

System Constraint Evaluation and 

Notification Tool, the ground-side 

system of MAAGIC, would 

function in the SOC. The ASA 

SOC houses 11 dispatcher desks 

and one air traffic control (ATC) 

Coordinator Chief desk. The ATC 

Coordinator Chief monitors the 

FAA telecons and overall weather 

development to anticipate any 

potential problems and assist the 

dispatchers accordingly. Each ASA 

dispatcher monitors 30 to 45 flights 

during a 10-hour shift, with up to 

20 flights at any given time. About 

one and a half hours before a flight 

departs the gate, the dispatcher 

assesses weather, airport and 

airspace restrictions, and required 

fuel, including considerations for 

possible rerouting. The dispatcher 

sends a release document to the 

flight’s Captain, which must be 

signed by the dispatcher and the 

Captain for a Part 121 flight to 

operate. While the flight is en 

route, the dispatcher monitors 

for updates and informs the pilots 

accordingly via electronic messages 

in the Aircraft Communication and 

Reporting System, and the pilots 

send the dispatcher any updates 

(e.g., ATC reroute). On April 13th, 

the Midwest region experienced 

severe weather, and several 

Ground Delay Programs, as well 

as Playbook routes, were in effect. 

German Aerospace 

Center Personnel Visit 

Ames Research Center 

POC: DAVID THIPPHAVONG

Jürgen Rataj, head of Controller 

Assistance at the German Aerospace 

Center in Braunschweig, Germany, 

visited NASA’s Ames Research 

Center in California from April 

13 through 16 to talk with 

NASA researchers. Discussions 

included an overview of air traffic 

management research within 

NASA’s Airspace Operations and 

Safety Program, and topics such 

as disruption management and 

potential approaches to congestion 

management of Urban Air Mobility 

arrival traffic near vertiports. The 

group also discussed conventional 

unmanned air transport, with 

A live National Airspace System Constraint 

Evaluation and Notification Tool display available at the Air Traffic Control Coordinator’s desk 

at Alaska Airlines.
8 AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2018

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

the focus on developing more 

automated integrated air and ground 

operations. All parties planned 

to conduct follow-on meetings 

to further discussions towards 

defining new areas of collaboration. 

Testbed System Check 

with Boeing B777 

ecoDemonstrator 2018

POC: KEE PALOPO

On April 14 and 15, the NASA Air 

Traffic Management Testbed team 

successfully conducted a system 

check with the Boeing Ground 

Station Console (GSC) during 

live flight tests of the Boeing B777 

ecoDemonstrator. The system check 

consisted of two parts: message 

connectivity and data transfer 

between the two parties, and a 

conflict detection and resolution 

algorithm, called the Autoresolver. 

The Testbed team flew a series of 

virtual aircraft flights using flight 

states data, updated and received 

every 64 seconds, from GSC, 

and System Wide Information 

Management data, updated every 

12 seconds, from the aircraft. The 

Testbed team also used Multi 

Aircraft Control Simulation to 

intercept the Boeing flight to induce 

a virtual loss of separation. Both 

tests were successfully completed. 

This effort represents a major step 

toward executing a 2019 flight test 

as part of an ongoing NASA-Boeing 

ecoDemonstrator collaboration. 

Jump Seat Flight Experience 

on a Revenue Flight for ATD-3

POC: KAPIL SHETH

Multi-Agent Air/Ground Integrated 

Coordination (MAAGIC) is an 

integration of the ground and 

cockpit technologies of Airspace 

Technology Demonstration 3 

(ATD-3) for efficient routing and 

off-nominal (severe weather) events. 

On April 15, Kapil Sheth traveled 

from San Francisco, California 

(SFO) to Fort Lauderdale, Florida 

(FLL) in a cockpit jump seat of a 

major US airline flight. The next day, 

he flew back from FLL to Denver, 

Colorado, and returned to SFO, 

flying economy class. Severe weather 

was encountered only near FLL 

during the last leg of the first flight. 

While en route, Sheth purchased 

Wi-Fi connectivity and, using a 

Virtual Private Network and Virtual 

Network Computing, established a 

connection to the National Airspace 

System Constraint Evaluation and 

Notification Tool (NASCENT), a 

ground-based system of MAAGIC 

running at NASA’s Ames Research 

Center in California. MAAGIC is 

an integration of the ground and 

cockpit technologies of ATD-3 for 

efficient routing and off-nominal 

(severe weather) events, During 

Sheth’s flight, an advisory for 

time- and fuel-savings alerted for 

a direct route to a downstream 

fix. The advisory was presented 

This image shows two instances of the same Boeing flight BOE069 (one from GSC and one from SWIM), 

and three NASA MACS virtual flights (NASA 379, NASA 436, and NASA 861) converging at a fix 

HVR in Montana airspace.
AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2018 9

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

to the captain, who requested 

the clearance after checking with 

the first officer. An air traffic 

controller granted clearance, and 

the flight plan amendment was 

observed on the NASCENT 

system through a System Wide 

Information Management feed 

within minutes. This was a test of 

the ATD-3 ground-based system 

with a simultaneous evaluation 

in the cockpit. Lessons learned 

included a determination that 

inflight Wi-Fi connectivity is not 

very reliable and verification that 

ground-system information can 

be displayed in the cockpit with 

relative ease. Further tests of the 

ground-based and cockpit-based 

systems are planned for the end of 

May on a NASA aircraft at NASA’s 

Langley Research Center in Virginia. 

UAM Strategic Advisory 

Group Workshop 

POC: BRYAN BARMORE

Bryan Barmore, Acting Deputy 

Project Manager for Technology 

for the Air Traffic Management – 

eXploration project, participated 

in Booz Allen Hamilton’s Urban 

Air Mobility (UAM) Strategic 

Advisory Group Workshop in 

Washington, DC, on April 18. The 

workshop consisted of several guided 

exercises to obtain predictions 

about the future UAM market 

and the potential social, economic, 

technological, and legal barriers 

it may face. During the workshop, 

Booz Allen Hamilton representatives 

provided initial findings from the 

first of three use-cases they are 

examining. The final report from 

this effort is expected within four 

months. Booz Allen Hamilton 

is one of two major contractors 

exploring the future UAM market 

with NASA to help develop future 

research portfolios. The contractor‘s 

strategic advisory group consists 

of government, non-profit, and 

industry representatives from 

across the UAM marketplace. 

Third Dynamic Routes 

for Arrivals in Weather 

Simulation Completed

POC: DOUG ISAACSON

From April 23 through May 4, 

the third in a series of planned 

Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) 

studies of the Dynamic Routes for 

Arrivals in Weather (DRAW) tool 

was conducted at the Air Traffic 

Control Simulation Laboratory at 

NASA’s Ames Research Center in 

California. The third DRAW HITL 

simulation investigated the use 

of DRAW in an arrival-metering 

context within the Atlanta (ZTL) 

Air Route Traffic Control Center 

(ARTCC) airspace. The goal was 

to solicit feedback to refine the 

DRAW concept of operations by 

expanding assessment in a new 

airspace that presents a significantly 

The advisory (top) and the granted clearance (below) for the case mentioned.
10 AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2018

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

different arrival-metering operation 

than the one presented in previous 

studies using Fort Worth ARTCC 

(ZFW). A secondary objective of 

the HITL simulation was to expand 

knowledge of the use of DRAW 

in an environment approximating 

“extended metering” operations that 

requires the rerouting of flights 

with “frozen” scheduled times of 

arrival (STAs). Study participants 

included four recently-retired 

Traffic Management Coordinators 

(TMCs) from ZTL, and seven 

recently-retired Sector Controllers 

(two from ZTL and five from 

Oakland ARTCC). Each of the 

four TMCs was presented with 

four weather-impacted arrival 

traffic scenarios, along with reroute 

advisories and schedule impact and 

delay information from DRAW. 

The TMCs used the DRAW trial 

planning capability to evaluate 

candidate reroutes for weather 

avoidance, assess their schedule delay 

impact, and amend flight routes 

as necessary to maintain effective 

arrival-metering. Questionnaires 

were administered to both TMC 

and Sector Controller participants, 

and data were collected to analyze 

arrival metering and DRAW 

performance. The primary objective 

of DRAW HITL simulation #3 was 

to understand how TMCs who use 

DRAW in ZTL airspace routinely 

assess reroute advisories for flights 

with frozen STAs and manage 

the arrival schedule accordingly, 

providing valuable feedback for 

using DRAW in operations that 

will include extended metering 

and coupled scheduling. 

Electric Vertical Take-Off and 

Landing Design Workshop

POC: CRAIG HANGE

On April 25 and 26, NASA 

researchers in the Airspace 

Operations and Safety Program, in 

collaboration with members of the 

local chapter of the Association 

for Unmanned Vehicle Systems 

International (AUVSI), hosted 

an electric Vertical Take-Off and 

Landing (eVTOL) workshop at 

NASA’s Ames Research Center 

in California. The intent of the 

two-day workshop was to bring 

together a technical audience 

from government and industry to 

leverage past lessons-learned and to 

understand current day technical 

challenges for new eVTOL vehicles 

and operations. New Vertical 

Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) 

aircraft are being designed and 

manufactured as the interest in 

Urban Air Mobility concepts has 

evolved. NASA’s rich history in 

traditional vertical take-off and 

landing research and development 

was also discussed during the 

workshop. The local chapter of 

AUVSI hosted the first day of the 

workshop at the Hiller Aviation 

Museum in San Carlos, California, 

and NASA invited guests to visit 

Ames to tour the facilities and 

TMC participating in a DRAW Simulation.
AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2018 11

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

to discuss NASA’s capabilities in 

more depth. Other NASA centers 

were also invited to participate. 

ATD-2 Team Briefs the 

Main Forum at the 

Collaborative Decision 

Making Spring Meeting

POC: SHIVANJLI SHARMA

From April 30 through May 2, 

NASA researchers and members of 

the National Air Traffic Controllers 

Association provided a briefing 

on the Airspace Technology 

Demonstration 2 (ATD-2) project at 

the Collaborative Decision Making 

General Session Spring 2018 

Meetings in Memphis, Tennessee. 

The meetings were held at the 

FedEx Institute of Technology 

on the campus of the University 

of Memphis. In addition to the 

briefing during the main forum, 

ATD-2 researchers participated 

in Surface Collaborative Team 

and Collaborative Automation 

Team breakout meetings. Meeting 

participants included representatives 

from FAA and the airline industry, 

airport facility managers, and 

the FedEx Managing Director. 

The briefing to the main forum 

featured an update on the progress 

of the Phase 1 demonstration at 

Charlotte Douglas International 

Airport and a discussion of future 

work for ATD-2 and the benefits 

derived so far from the first six 

months of the field demonstration. 

Defense Advanced Research 

Projects Agency Assured 

Autonomy Kick-Off Meeting 

POC: JOHN KOELLING

At the invitation of the Boeing 

Company, John Koelling, System 

Wide Safety Project Manager, and 

Irene Gregory, senior technologist 

for Advanced Control Theory 

and Applications, from NASA’s 

Langley Research Center in Virginia, 

attended a kick-off meeting for 

the Defense Advanced Research 

Projects Agency (DARPA) Assured 

Autonomy Program. The meeting 

took place in Malibu, California, 

from May 1 through 3. DARPA’s 

program goal is to “develop rigorous 

design and analysis technologies 

for continual assurance of learning 

enabled autonomous systems, in 

order to guarantee safety properties 

in adversarial environments.” The 

program is structured into four areas: 

Design for Assurance, Assurance 

Monitoring and Control, Dynamic 

Assurance, and Integration and 

Experimentation Platforms. DARPA 

is seeking an order-of-magnitude 

increase in the scale and complexity 

of the challenge problems across the 

phases and, correspondingly, the 

assurance technologies developed 

in the program must scale-up to 

address these challenges. Selected 

performers involved in the program 

include HRL Labs, Rockwell Collins, 

Boeing, Northrop Grumman, 

Vanderbilt University, University 

of California, Berkeley, University 

of Pennsylvania, Imperial College 

London, and Shree Guru Gobind 

Singh Tricentenary University. 

Visit from San Jose Police 

Department Bureau of 

Field Operations

POC: JEFF HOMOLA

On May 9, three members of 

the San Jose Police Department’s 

Bureau of Field Operations, which 

represents the Air Support Unit and 

Special Weapons and Tactics Bomb 

Unit, attended a demonstration for 

Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic 

Management (UTM) at NASA’s 

Ames Research Center in California. 

UTM researchers are engaging with 

members of the public safety community to understand requirements 

for a “public portal” designed to 

provide situational awareness of the 

UTM airspace. As part of this effort, 

Shivanjli Sharma gave an ATD-2 briefing to the main 

CDM forum.
12 AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2018

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

the San Jose Police Department 

visitors were invited to take part in a 

demonstration of UTM and provided 

their perspectives to NASA representatives on how UTM can support 

their operations, and shared potential 

concerns and needs related to 

operating in the UTM airspace. The 

visitors were impressed by the scale 

and maturity of the UTM project. 

ATD-2 Field Demonstration 

Shadow Session Completed

POC: BOB STAUDENMEIER AND JEREMY COUPE

A shadow session was conducted 

on May 14 in a NASA laboratory 

at Charlotte Douglass International 

Airport (CLT). The objective of the 

session was to demonstrate new 

features of the recent Integrated 

Arrival/Departure/Surface 

Operations (IADS) software release 

and to discuss upcoming surfacemetering enhancements. Participants 

included Field Demo Partners from 

the National Air Traffic Controllers 

Association, American Airlines 

(AAL), and the CLT FAA Air Traffic 

Control Tower (ATCT). The session 

included an interactive walkthrough 

of the many new features included 

in IADS release 3.1.2, a preview 

of surface-metering enhancements 

that will be introduced later this 

year, and a presentation of initial 

metrics showing the departure and 

arrival on-time performance. The 

surface-metering enhancements seek 

to derive additional benefit from 

the surface-metering capability, and 

to extend surface metering into the 

strategic timeframes envisioned in 

the Surface Collaborative Decision 

Making concept. Discussions 

provided valuable feedback on 

the progress of the Phase 1 Field 

Demonstration, along with ideas 

for future enhancements to the 

system. Later in the week, onsite 

training was provided to CLT AAL 

Ramp Tower and ATCT personnel 

on the latest features included 

in the recent software release. 

UTM Lab Hosts Visit 

from NASA Associate 

Administrator Jaiwon Shin 

and Hyundai Executives

POC: ARWA AWEISS

On May 14, NASA’s Unmanned 

Aircraft Systems (UAS) Traffic 

Management (UTM) team at 

NASA’s Ames Research Center 

(ARC) in California met with 

Jaiwon Shin, NASA Associate 

Administrator for the Aeronautics 

Research Mission Directorate 

(ARMD), and Hyundai Motor 

Group Vice-Chairman Eui-Sun 

Chung. Other Hyundai executives 

in attendance included Youngcho 

Chi, Chief Innovation Officer; 

John Suh, Vice President; Jaehyung 

Kim, Senior Research Engineer; 

and Jaeho Choi, Executive Assistant 

at the Airspace Operations 

Laboratory. Also present were ARC 

Director Eugene Tu and Director 

of Aeronautics Huy Tran. During 

the meeting, UTM Chief Engineer 

Joseph Rios provided an overview of 

the UTM team’s role in the research. 

Jeff Homola, UTM Integration and 

Testing lead, described the overall 

testing approach using playback 

flight scenarios from three of the 

national UAS test sites. These flight 

scenario examples were also used 

to demonstrate NASA’s Airspace 

Operations Laboratory’s simulation 

capabilities and UTM displays. 

ARMD’s Jaewoo Jung described 

a Communication, Navigation, 

and Surveillance scenario flown 

at one of the UAS test sites. 

NASA’s Air Traffic 

Management Research 

Featured at Air Traffic Control 

Association Tech Symposium’s 

Tech Center Tuesday 

POC: ANDREW GING, JOEY MERCER,

HEATHER ARNESON AND BARRY SULLIVAN

NASA’s Air Traffic Management 

research and development efforts 

were showcased during the Tech 

Center Tuesday segment of 

the annual Air Traffic Control 

Association (ATCA) Technical 

Symposium, held on May 15 

at the FAA William J. Hughes 

Technical Center in Atlantic City, 

New Jersey. This year’s theme, 

“Celebrating 60 years of Aviation 
AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2018 13

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

Achievements: Past, Present & 

Future,” featured technical tours, 

demonstrations, and exhibits in a 

variety of aviation fields from more 

than 40 different projects, programs, 

and organizations. NASA hosted 

two booths, which showcased the 

Airspace Technology Demonstration 

(ATD) sub-projects and Unmanned 

Aircraft Systems (UAS) Traffic 

Management (UTM) technologies. 

The NASA ATD-2 booth featured 

an ATD-1 concept animation, an 

Avionics Phase 2 flight test video, 

and an ATD-2 concept animation. 

ATD-2 user displays highlighting 

the collaboration with the Tech 

Center Team were shown in an 

adjacent FAA booth. An ATD-3 

concept animation depicting 

the integration of ground-based 

tools and a flight-deck-based tool 

focusing on improving en route 

and arrival phases of flight was 

also shown. The UTM booth 

featured a simulated scenario of 

UAS operations, including recent 

flight test activities from the six 

FAA UAS test sites. The scenario 

also demonstrated simulated 

operations in the Bay Area, with 

ongoing explorations into other 

integration challenges, such as 

those associated with public safety. 

Visualizations and functions of 

the UTM research platform were 

also on display, bringing to life 

the system architecture and data 

models currently in use. Also 

featured were the Insight-UTM 

iPad app, the UTM Situation 

Display, and a gateway that 

offered a flight-following view 

of UAS operations in Google 

Earth’s 3D environment. Exhibit 

visitors included government 

and industry representatives, 

who showed considerable 

interest throughout the event. 

As a follow-on to Tech Center 

Tuesday, the ATCA Technical 

Symposium relocated to the Resorts 

Hotel on May 16 and 17, where 

NASA personnel represented each of 

the five plenary sessions. Following 

opening remarks from Pete Dumont, 

President of ATCA, Shelley Yak, 

Director of the FAA Technical 

Center, and Robert Pearce, ARMD 

Deputy Associate Administrator for 

Visitors at the ATD Booth during the ATCA Technical Symposium.

The UTM Booth at the ATCA Technical Symposium.
14 AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2018

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

Strategy, discussed the importance 

of stakeholders and partnerships. 

Pearce also participated on the Blue 

Skies panel discussing “What Does 

the Future Hold Beyond NextGen, 

Regardless of Privatization?” which 

kicked off the plenary sessions. 

Other NASA panelists included Bill 

Thigpen, who participated on the 

“It’s all about the Information” panel; 

Heather Arneson, who participated 

on the “Cutting edge applications of 

Modeling and Simulation to support 

Future NAS” panel; Ken Goodrich, 

who participated on the “Challenges 

for Embracing Autonomy/ 

Autonomous Operations in and 

Beyond the NAS” panel; and 

Ron Johnson, who moderated 

the “Challenges for UAS/UTM 

Implementation in the NAS” panel. 

Cognitive Walkthrough for 

the Air Traffic Management 

– eXploration Urban Air 

Mobility X1 in Preparation 

of September Test

POC: WILLIAM CHAN

From May 15 through 17, NASA 

representatives conducted a cognitive 

walkthrough in preparation for 

the Air Traffic Management – 

eXploration Urban Air Mobility X1 

(UAM-X1) Human-in-the-Loop 

(HITL) simulation planned for 

September 2018. Three retired 

subject matter experts from 

Dallas-Fort Worth International 

Airport (DFW) and Dallas Love 

Field Airport provided feedback on 

the ability to use current helicopter 

routes and procedures for flying 

passenger UAM flights within the 

vicinity of DFW. The participants 

also provided feedback on estimated 

levels of UAM traffic that could 

be managed given current routes 

and procedures. Many suggested 

procedure modifications such as 

definition of letter of agreements, 

which can reduce communication 

verbiage and allow higher densities 

of UAM flights. Further analyses 

of the feedback received is still 

underway in preparation for the 

UAM-X1 HITL simulation. 

Forensics for Autonomous/

Automated Systems of 

Systems Monthly Meeting 

POC: YURI GAWDIAK

Yuri Gawdiak, Associate Program 

Director for NASA’s Airspace 

Operations and Safety Program 

(AOSP), and Paul Nelson, 

AOSP Integration Manager for 

Cybersecurity and Communications, 

met with FAA representatives on 

May 16 to review the outline for 

conducting a tabletop review of an 

autonomous, system-of-systems 

mishap investigation and forensics 

analysis. The group developed 

initial objectives, deliverables, and 

metrics, and identified potential 

partners and collaborators for a 

walk-through. The tabletop review 

is planned for October 2018. 

Global City Teams 

Challenge Formulation 

of the Aerial on Demand 

Mobility Action Cluster

POC: YURI GAWDIAK

On May 16, Yuri Gawdiak, 

Associate Program Director for 

NASA’s Airspace Operations 

and Safety Program, was asked 

by the Global City Teams 

Challenge (GCTC) Transportation 

Supercluster to lead the planning 

on implementing an Aerial on 

Demand Mobility Action Cluster. 

Meetings will be held in Portland, 

Maine, from June 20 through 22, 

at the GCTC Tech Jam. Attendees 

will discuss plans for a dedicated 

Aerial On-Demand Mobility Action 

Cluster Conference to be held in 

the fall or early winter of 2018. 

NASA and American Airlines 

Host ATD-2 Technical 

Interchange Meetings 

with Stakeholders

POC: SHIVANJLI SHARMA AND SHAWN ENGELLAND

NASA and American Airlines 

(AAL) hosted numerous Technical 

Interchange Meetings (TIMs) with 

stakeholders this past quarter to 

familiarize them with NASA’s 

Airspace Technology Demonstration 

2 (ATD-2) at Charlotte Douglas 

International Airport (CLT). The 

first TIM was held on April 3 and 

4 for the AAL Control Center 

Harmonization (CCH) team. The 
AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2018 15

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

CCH team consists of managers 

and technical personnel from the 

Integrated Operations Center and 

Control Centers (i.e., ramp towers) 

at each AAL major hub. The second 

and third TIMs were held April 

17 and May 17, respectively, for 

flight operators, which included air 

traffic management experts from 

Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, 

and Southwest Airlines. Each 

TIM began with an orientation 

briefing, followed by observations 

on NASA’S ATD-2 Integrated 

Arrival/Departure/Surface (IADS) 

system used for surface departure 

metering in the AAL Control Center 

at CLT. Attendees then relocated 

to the Air Traffic Control Tower 

and Terminal Radar Approach 

Control facility to observe FAA 

traffic management coordinators 

using the ATD-2 IADS system. 

After lunch, the group convened 

in the NASA lab for an in-depth 

technical interchange concerning 

the ATD-2 Field Demonstration. 

Key topics of discussion included 

the ongoing collaboration 

between NASA and the FAA to 

fully leverage ATD-2 research 

results for the benefit of the FAA’s 

Terminal Flight Data Management 

(TFDM) program; investments 

that flight operators will need to 

make in preparation for TFDM 

deployment; and what NASA can 

do to more effectively transfer 

ATD-2 technology and findings to 

flight operators, airport operators, 

and the vendors that support the 

two. AAL is serving as the “lead 

carrier” for the ATD-2 Field 

Demonstration, and this technical 

interchange meeting was one of 

several engagement opportunities 

for other flight operators to 

learn from their experience. 

Flight Testing of MultiAgent Air/Ground Integrated 

Coordination Software 

POC: KARL BILIMORIA

The Airspace Technology 

Demonstration 3 Multi-Agent Air/

Ground Integrated Coordination 

(MAAGIC) project team held 

a workshop at NASA’s Langley 

Research Center in Virginia from 

May 22 through 24. The team 

included researchers from NASA’s 

Ames Research Center in California 

and Langley, as well as technical 

pilots from industry partner Alaska 

Airlines (ASA). The team discussed 

various aspects of the MAAGIC 

effort and conducted flight testing of 

MAAGIC software. Two live endto-end tests were conducted. During 

the tests, NASA’s National Airspace 

System Constraint Evaluation and 

Notification Tool (NASCENT) 

software for Dispatchers, which 

ran on a computer at Ames, 

communicated with the Traffic 

Aware Planner (TAP) software 

for pilots, which ran on NASA’s 

HU-25 aircraft operating out of 

Langley. The tests showcased many 

capabilities of TAP and NASCENT, 

as well as the communication and 

information-sharing capabilities 

that MAAGIC provides for 

air-ground integration. The team 

determined methods needed to 

prepare the integrated software 

system for operational deployment 

ATD-2 technical interchange meeting with airline flight operators at CLT.
16 AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2018

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

on ASA flights. A delivery date 

of the MAAGIC software to ASA 

is targeted for the end of August 

2018, with MAAGIC flight trials 

on ASA revenue flights scheduled 

to begin in mid-November 2018. 

Smart Cities and Community 

Briefing to ARMD 

POC: DESTINY ANDERSON

On May 31, Sokwoo Rhee, Associate 

Director of the Cyber-Physical 

Systems Program at the National 

Institute of Standards and Technology 

(NIST), provided a briefing on the 

NIST Smart Cities and Communities 

effort to staff at NASA Headquarters 

in Washington, DC. Staff attendees 

included personnel from the 

Aeronautics Research Mission 

Directorate Senior Management 

Team, Headquarters Program Offices, 

Aeronautics Research Directorate 

Offices, Urban Air Mobility 

Coordination and Assessment Team, 

and the Airspace Operations and 

Safety Program Office and Project. 

The presentation, which included a 

question-and-answer segment, was 

broadcast via WebEx and vertical 

interval test signals to the other four 

NASA Centers. Rhee is currently 

leading the Global City Teams 

Challenge, which aims to create a 

replicable and scalable model of a 

city for the collaborative incubation 

and deployment of the Internet of 

Things and Cyber-Physical Systems 

solutions to improve the quality of 

life in smart cities around the world.

The Aviation Safety Reporting 

System Annual Review 

POC: BECKY HOOEY

On May 31, the Aviation Safety 

Reporting System (ASRS) Director 

and FAA representatives visited 

NASA’s Ames Research Center in 

California for an annual review 

of recent activity. Acting ASRS 

Director Becky Hooey provided a 

review of technical accomplishments, 

including results of a NASA-funded 

effort to increase the percentage 

of general aviation reports that 

are de-identified for access on the 

public website, and an update on 

topics that the ASRS follows closely, 

such as Unmanned Aircraft System 

encounters. The sponsors were 

pleased with current progress and 

remain committed to identifying 

opportunities to secure additional 

FAA funding for technology 

upgrades and the expansion of 

current activities. In addition, 

representatives from the Ames Legal 

and Partnerships Offices joined the 

group for a review of the proposed 

agreement renewal. The meeting 

ended with concurrence on a new 

agreement that will begin around 

January 1, following a six-month 

extension of the current agreement. 

NASA Provides ATD-2 

Familiarization for FAA 

Systems Analysis and 

Modeling Team 

POC: AL CAPPS

On June 5, NASA hosted an 

Airspace Technology Demonstration 

2 (ATD-2) familiarization session 

at Charlotte Douglass International 

Airport (CLT). Attendees were FAA 

personnel from the NAS Systems 

Engineering and Integration Office 

(ANG-B), the Future Standards 

and Procedures Office (AJV-85), 

and Atlanta Center (ZTL). ANG-B 

personnel included representatives 

from the Systems Analysis and 

Modeling Division (ANG-B7), 

which co-leads the FAA’s Joint 

Analysis Team. The familiarization 

session began with a preview of 

ATD-2 surface-metering procedures, 

The ATD-3 MAAGIC team held a workshop at 

NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia.

NASA provided an ATD-2 familiarization at 

Charlotte International Airport for FAA personnel.
AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2018 17

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

before proceeding to observations of 

surface metering in operational use 

at the AAL Control Center at CLT. 

This discussion was followed by an 

orientation for the ATD-2 system 

from the ATD-2 National Air Traffic 

Controllers Association lead, and 

observations on the CLT Air Traffic 

Control Tower. After lunch, NASA 

and FAA personnel convened in 

the NASA laboratory at CLT for 

an in-depth technical exchange 

regarding the methodologies used 

to generate benefit metrics and 

characterize system performance. 

For this discussion, members of 

the ATD-2 Integrated Arrival/

Departure/Surface Analysis Team 

participated remotely from NASA’s 

Ames Research Center in California. 

Other engaging discussions included 

ideas on performance measures 

and leveraging the ATD-2 lessonslearned for future FAA research. 

ATD-2 Completes FAA Safety 

Risk Management Review 

for Phase 2 Field Demo 

POC: AL CAPPS

The FAA conducted a Safety 

Risk Management (SRM) review 

of the Airspace Technology 

Demonstration 2 (ATD-2) Phase 

2 Field Demonstration candidate 

capabilities at the Carolinas 

Aviation Museum in Charlotte, 

North Carolina, on June 6 and 

7. The SRM panel comprised 

representatives from NASA, FAA, 

National Air Traffic Controllers 

Association (NATCA), Volpe, and 

American Airlines (AAL) who 

are responsible for implementing 

operational changes, accepting 

associated risks, validating identified 

controls, and implementing required 

safety mitigations. Five candidate 

capabilities were evaluated for 

inclusion in the Phase 2 Field 

Demonstration. These capabilities 

include: ATD-2 integration with 

the Advanced Electronic Flight 

Strip System, Atlanta En Route 

Center participation in Integrated 

Departure/Arrival Capability-like 

scheduling into Time Based Flow 

Management, strategic surfacemetering capabilities, publishing 

ATD-2 data to the FAA System 

Wide Information Management 

architecture via the Terminal Flight 

Data Manager Terminal Flight 

Data Management TTP prototype 

and the integration of two-way 

data exchange for the existing pilot 

mobile application. The SRM 

review began with a description 

of the current ATD-2 system 

capability, followed by a discussion 

of each capability and the proposed 

changes envisioned. Next, the panel 

identified potential safety risks for 

each change. For each risk, the 

panel analyzed its severity and 

likelihood, and reviewed existing 

controls and mitigation plans. The 

panel also performed a preliminary 

analysis of the potential safety risks 

of ATD-2 Phase 2 capabilities. 

The results were encouraging and 

suggest the panel will receive the 

necessary approval to proceed as 

planned. Appropriate controls will 

be implemented prior to the Phase 2 

Field Demonstration in accordance 

with SRM findings. The safety 

review outcome will be included 

in an SRM document before the 

Phase 2 Field Demonstration, 

scheduled for the end of September 

2018, takes place. The ATD-2 

project team is thankful for the 

contributions of FAA, NATCA, 

Volpe, and AAL personnel who 

supported this SRM panel to 

allow continued demonstration 

The safety risk management review panel poses in front of US Airways Flight 1959 (“Miracle on the 

Hudson”) at the Carolinas Aviation Museum.
18 AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2018

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

and expansion of NASA research 

at CLT during Phase 2.

ATD-2 Demonstration of the 

Ramp Traffic Console to 

Dallas/Fort Worth International 

Airport and American Airlines 

Control Center Personnel

POC: LINDSAY STEVENS

On June 13, NASA’s Airspace 

Technology Demonstration 2 

(ATD-2) team introduced the 

Ramp Traffic Console (RTC) 

to field demonstration partners 

from American Airline’s Control 

Center and the Dallas/Fort Worth 

International Airport (DFW) 

Board facilities. In recent weeks, 

the ATD-2 team has adapted and 

tested the changes required to run 

the RTC at DFW in addition to its 

existing deployment at Charlotte 

Douglas International Airport. 

During the live data demonstration 

of RTC, the NASA team described 

the foundations of the Integrated 

Arrival Departure Surface system 

that enables the data exchange and 

integration between operators and 

FAA Air Traffic personnel. This 

demonstration also afforded the 

opportunity to discuss the potential 

future use of RTC at DFW and to 

identify potential new data elements 

that might be useful in future data 

exchange. All partners expressed 

strong interest in using the RTC and 

in continuing engagement in the 

agile development process. The next 

steps for the ATD-2 team include 

the initial deployment of RTC at the 

DFW partner’s facilities, training, 

and additional shadow sessions. 

Air Traffic Management 

– eXploration Project 

Testbed Team Meeting 

with General Electric

POC: KEE PALOPO

NASA’s Air Traffic Management 

– eXploration Project Testbed 

team met with representatives 

from General Electric (GE) on 

June 14. The purpose of the 

meeting was to discuss use-cases 

for an initial collaboration in air 

traffic management technology 

development using the Testbed. The 

Testbed team included Jim Murphy, 

Alan Lee, Chok Fung (Jack) Lai, 

and Kee Palopo. Representing the 

GE team were Piet Ephraim (GE 

Aviation/Products) and Abhinav 

Saxena (GE Global Research). The 

group discussed access to data 

(e.g., System Wide Information 

Management) and initial use of 

data to support GE’s Recovery 

software application, which uses 

advanced optimization tools 

and a configurable rules engine 

to identify and plan for airline 

operation disruptions before they 

occur, and to recover quickly 

when unavoidable disruptions do 

occur. The application optimizes 

the recovery of the aircraft, crew, 

and passenger schedules to prevent 

disruptions from propagating 

throughout the schedule. The group 

also discussed a potential future 

use-case in support of the Recovery 

analysis that involves running 

multiple Monte Carlo simulations 

by disrupting flight departure 

schedules. A follow-up meeting is 

expected to take place at NASA to 

train GE personnel on the Testbed, 

explain how to write an adapter for 

connecting to the Testbed, and share 

the knowledge of how to use the 

Testbed for future GE applications. 

Cyber-Physical Systems 

Interagency Working 

Group Monthly Meetings 

POC: YURI GAWDIAK AND PAUL NELSON

Yuri Gawdiak, Associate 

Program Director for NASA’s 

Airspace Operations and Safety 

Program (AOSP), and Paul 

Nelson, AOSP Integration 

Manager for Cybersecurity and 

Communications, continued to 

represent AOSP at the Monthly 

Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) 

Interagency Working Group 

Meetings this quarter. Both men 

Field demo partners from American Airlines and 

Dallas/Fort-Worth (DFW) Airport are given a 

demo of the Ramp Traffic Console recently adapted 

and tested for the DFW Airport.
AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2018 19

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

participated in the review of 

the new Office of Science and 

Technology Policy requirements for 

chartered working groups, versus 

ad-hoc teams, in Washington, 

DC, on May 17. At that meeting, 

Gawdiak discussed the Forensics 

Tabletop activity as one of the 

possible future interagency 

working group activities for CPS, 

as well as a means of developing 

a registry by which agencies can 

document their CPS-related 

research and development activities. 

At a follow-up meeting on June 

21, each of them participated 

in the planning for upcoming 

working group meetings, 

including an “Integration of 

Infrastructures” activity, and also 

discussed the Smart Cities and 

Communities Resource Guide. 

FAA Interagency Planning 

Office Core Cyber Team 

Monthly Meeting

POC: PAUL NELSON

On June 21, Paul Nelson 

participated in the FAA Interagency 

Planning Office Monthly Core 

Cyber Team (ICCT) Meeting. 

Topics included a presentation 

from the National Institute of 

Standards and Technology on the 

“Framework for Improving Critical 

Infrastructure Cybersecurity,” and 

the retirement of Steve Hofmann, 

ICCT Tri-Chair with the 

Department of Defense. Following 

the retirement announcement, Allan 

Storm, United States Air Force 

Deputy Chief of Civil/Military 

Integration, was announced 

as Hofmann’s replacement. 

ATD-2 Assessment of Ramp 

Times Human-in-the-Loop at 

FutureFlight Central Facility 

POC: LINDSAY STEVENS AND SHAWN ENGELLAND

NASA’s Airspace Technology 

Demonstration 2 (ATD-2) team 

successfully completed a Humanin-the-Loop (HITL) simulation 

at FutureFlight Central (FFC) 

this past quarter. The focus of the 

HITL was to assess the feasibility 

of various ramp goals, including 

compliance with target off-block 

times and target movement area 

entry times generated by the 

ATD-2 scheduler, and the impact 

of these goals on operations and 

controller workload. Prior to 

the actual simulation, the team 

performed a shakedown simulation 

of the ATD-2 system from May 

22 through 25. The objectives of 

the shakedown simulation were 

to evaluate different aspects of 

the integration of the tactical and 

strategic scheduling components, 

specifically exploring the ideal 

Target Movement Area Times 

(TMAT) compliance window, and 

to determine whether instructing 

ramp personnel to focus on 

compliance of Target Off Block 

Times with and without TMAT 

will result in more optimal surface 

operations. The Assessment of 

Ramp Times HITL will also be 

used to test new capabilities of 

the ATD-2 system before field 

deployment. The traffic scenario 

is based on analyzing traffic from 

Bank 2 at Charlotte Douglas 

International Airport (CLT) and 

is composed of nearly 200 flights, 

including arrivals and departures, as 

well as additional overhead traffic 

to Washington Center (ZDC). 

The simulation environment at 

the FFC includes a 360-degree 

tower cab that simulates airline 

ramp operations, and a 270-degree 

out-the-window view that simulates 

the Air Traffic Control Tower 

(ATCT). The HITL shakedown 

involved ten former air traffic 

controllers and managers from 

various FAA facilities, including 

CLT ATCT, and American Airline’s 

(AAL) Ramp Tower. The former 

CLT and AAL Tower controllers 

managed surface traffic in the 

HITL simulation using the Ramp 

Traffic Console, the Ramp Manager 

Tower Console, and the Surface 

Trajectory Based Operations user 

Human-in-the-Loop simulations were conducted at 

ARC Future Flight Central to assess certain aspects 

of the ATD-2 system prior to the Phase 2 Field 

Demonstration at CLT.
20 AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2018

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

interface to schedule departures 

into the ZDC overhead stream. 

The HITL shakedown provided 

valuable feedback that will be used 

to refine the ATD-2 system for the 

Phase 2 Field Demonstration. 

The simulation successfully 

completed data collection runs 

from June 26 through 28. The 

HITL simulation involved 

participants from the field 

demonstration site operational 

facilities, including the National 

Air Traffic Controllers Association, 

the CLT Air Traffic Control Tower, 

Terminal Radar Approach Control, 

and American Airline’s Ramp 

Tower. Training for the participants 

was conducted the morning of 

June 26, followed by nine data 

collection runs of quantitative 

and qualitative data. Debriefs 

at the end of each day provided 

for more in-depth discussions to 

refine the ATD-2 system, including 

feedback on ATD-2’s recently 

developed Surface Metering Display. 

The ATD-2 team was joined by 

representatives from the FAA’s 

NextGen, Surface, Operational 

Requirements and Validation offices, 

as well as the Washington Atlanta 

Air Traffic Centers, to evaluate the 

ATD-2 system and contribute to 

discussions. Participant feedback 

and simulation results will be 

used to formalize plans for the 

introduction of strategic planning 

for surface metering at CLT during 

the Phase 2 Field Demonstration.

ATD-3 Invited Briefing 

to Delta Air Lines

POC: KAPIL SHETH

At NASA’s Airspace Operations and 

Safety Program Workshop in April, 

Brook Heiling, a Technical Pilot 

with Delta Air Lines, expressed the 

need for a briefing to Delta Airlines 

personnel on NASA’s Airspace 

Technology Demonstration 3 

(ATD-3) rerouting technologies. In 

response to this request, on June 28, 

ATD-3 team members Kapil Sheth, 

from NASA’s Ames Research Center 

in California, and David Wing, from 

NASA’s Langley Research Center in 

Virginia, met with approximately 

20 Delta Air Lines personnel and 

provided briefings. The ATD-3 

sub-project overview was presented, 

along with demonstrations of 

ground- and cockpit-based reroute 

technologies, the National Airspace 

System Constraint Evaluation and 

Notification Tool (NASCENT) 

and the Traffic Aware Planner 

(TAP) tool. Developed under 

ATD-3, NASCENT and TAP can be 

connected with each other through 

data sharing, a feature of interest 

to Delta. Delta is in the process of 

investing in connectivity solutions 

within aircraft and between air and 

ground. As a result of this briefing, 

Delta has expressed a desire to 

explore partnership and tech transfer 

opportunities with NASA. The 

collaboration would implement and 

expand the capabilities of these tools, 

including integration with other 

Delta systems, such as their Flight 

Weather Viewer tool for pilots. A 

follow-on meeting is planned within 

the next few months to explore all 

ATD technologies and additional 

opportunities for engagement, which 

ATD Acting Program Manager 

Shawn Engelland is coordinating. 

UTM Technology 

Transfer to the FAA

POC: JOSEPH RIOS

The seventh installment of 

Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic 

Management (UTM) technology 

transfers to the FAA was sent on 

June 29. This technology transfer is 

part of the Research Transition Team 

Plan co-approved by NASA and 

the FAA. The technology transfer 

includes a working research platform 

version of the Flight Information 

Management System (FIMS) and its 

various software and documentation 

components. The FIMS platform 

was recently used in the Technical 

Capability Level 3 testing. FIMS 

was delivered to the FAA’s NextGen 

Integration & Evaluation Capability 

laboratory, located at the FAA 

William J. Hughes Technical Center 

The ATD-3 Team poses for a picture with Delta Air 

Lines Representatives.
AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2018 21

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

in Atlantic City International 

Airport, New Jersey. It will be used 

to demonstrate capabilities of the 

Air Navigation Service Provider 

interface for UTM and prototype 

capabilities for UTM stakeholder 

coordination. The FAA is deploying 

FIMS to their collaborative cloud 

environment, and ongoing UTM 

project development to continuously 

improve FIMS will become 

immediately available to the FAA. 

ATD-3 Dynamic Routes Around 

Weather and Traffic Aware 

Strategic Aircrew Requests 

Technology Transfer to the FAA

POC: KAPIL SHETH

NASA is developing the Dynamic 

Routes Around Weather (DRAW) 

technology as part of the Airspace 

Technology Demonstration 3 (ATD3) suite of technologies. DRAW 

proposes advisories that save time 

and fuel for aircraft during their 

arrival phase by routing them to a 

different arrival fix or to a modified 

route to avoid convective weather. 

DRAW simultaneously proposes to 

prolong use of the FAA’s Time Based 

Flow Metering, with its origins 

in NASA’s Traffic Management 

Advisor, during inclement weather 

in the vicinity of destination 

airports. NASA is also developing 

the Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew 

Requests (TASAR) technology as an 

additional part of the ATD-3 suite 

of technologies. TASAR, an integral 

component of the Multi-Agent Air/

Ground Integrated Coordination 

effort, resides in the cockpit of an 

aircraft and proposes advisories that 

optimize the en route phase of flight 

while taking into account airspace 

constraints such as crossing traffic, 

convective weather, and Special 

Use Airspace. As part of the Joint 

Project Management Plan between 

the FAA and NASA, a technology 

transfer occurred on June 29 at 

NASA’s Ames Research Center in 

California. The package included 

public outreach materials, concept of 

operations, measures of performance 

specifications, technical publications, 

technology artifacts, and simulation 

and evaluation results. To keep the 

technology transfer comprehensive, 

the contents of the deliverable also 

included the Dynamic Weather 

Routes and Multi-Flight Common 

Routes technology documents 

previously transferred in August and 

December, respectively, of 2017. A 

follow-on technical interchange 

meeting is planned with the FAA 

for August to discuss the transferred 

documents, receive feedback, 

and outline subsequent work. 

UTM Focus Group Meetings 

Held at Ames Research Center

POC: RON JOHNSON

Throughout the month of June, 

NASA Unmanned Aircraft Systems 

(UAS) Traffic Management 

(UTM) researchers in the airspace 

operations laboratory conducted 

focus group sessions to understand 

the needs and concerns of different 

groups with respect to information 

access and situational awareness 

of UAS operations. The focus 

group effort is a complement to 

Technical Capability Level 3 testing 

with regard to development of a 

prototype public portal intended 

to provide users with visualizations 

of UTM data. Participants were 

invited from the domains of public 

safety, industry, government and 

municipality, and the general public. 

In total, 31 individuals participated, 

either by attending a focus group 

session or by individual interview. 

Of the four focus sessions, two 

group sessions focused on public 

safety, in which participant groups 

were comprised solely of individuals 

from various public safety entities, 

and two sessions focused on the 

views of industry, local government, 

and the general public. Results from 

these sessions are being compiled 

and analyzed to identify important 

themes and guidelines that will 

inform future information and 

interface requirements as they relate 

to each representative group. To gain 

further insight, lab-based usability 

tests of an internal public portal 

prototype with a subset of focus 

group participants are also planned. 
22 AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2018

RECOGNITION

NASA Participates in 

UAV-based Intelligent 

Transportation Workshop 

POC: PARIMAL KOPARDEKAR

Parimal Kopardekar, senior technologist for Air Transportation 

Systems at NASA’s Ames Research 

Center in California, gave a presentation at the Unmanned Aerial 

Vehicle (UAV)-based Intelligent 

Transportation Workshop held at the 

University of Nebraska-Lincoln, on 

April 6. A team of professors from the 

university are working on a project 

funded by Nebraska state concerning 

UAV-based, next-generation traffic 

management. As part of the project, 

the team is organizing this workshop 

for researchers and practitioners 

from federal agencies, academia, and 

industry who work in the field of 

intelligent aerial traffic management. 

Integrated Communications 

Navigation and Surveillance 

Announces Best Paper Award

POC: PARIMAL KOPARDEKAR

On April 11, co-authors Krishna 

Sampigethay, of United Technologies 

Research Center, and Parimal 

Kopardekar and Jerry Davis, of 

NASA’s Ames Research Center 

in California, were recognized at 

the Integrated Communications 

Navigation and Surveillance 

Conference, held at the Westin 

Washington Dulles International 

Airport Hotel. Their paper, Cyber 

Security of Unmanned Aircraft System 

Traffic Management (UTM,) won the 

2nd Best Professional Paper award. 

Embedded Forensics Systems 

Exploration Meeting 

POC: DESTINY ANDERSON

On April 13, representatives from 

NASA, FAA, and the National 

Transportation Safety Board met in 

Washington, DC, to brainstorm and 

explore the concept of developing a 

Full Lifecycle Embedded Forensics 

capability for development and 

testing phases in support of 

autonomous and complex systems 

builds and prototyping. Regarding 

the operational phase, exploration 

will include business-customer 

equality insight and validation, 

distributed systems-of-systems 

and Industrial Internet of 

Things (IIoT), and incident and 

mishap investigation support. 

NASA Participates at 

Association for Unmanned 

Vehicle Systems 

International Exponential 

POC: PARIMAL KOPARDEKAR

NASA representatives hosted 

a booth at the Association for 

Unmanned Vehicle Systems 

International Exponential trade 

show at the Colorado Convention 

Center, in Denver, Colorado, 

from April 30 through May 3. 

Among the material available at 

the NASA Aeronautics booth, 

NASA provided information 

on: Unmanned Aircraft Systems 

(UAS) Integration and Validation 

Laboratory, Small Business 

Innovation Research, Technology 

Transfer, Mars Aeronautics (Mars 

Electric Reusable Flyer/Prandtl-D), 

SAFE2DITCH/Tempest Model, 

UAS Traffic Management system, 

UAS in the National Airspace 

System, and CERTAIN/Fit2Fly. 

In addition, NASA’s Parimal 

Kopardekar, senior technologist 

for Air Transportation Systems, 

moderated a panel on National 

UAS Standardized Performance 

Testing and Rating on April 30. 

2018 Finalist in Promising 

Innovations for Service 

to America, Samuel 

J. Heyman Award

POC: PARIMAL KOPARDEKAR

Parimal Kopardekar, senior 

technologist for Air Transportation 

Systems and principal investigator 

for the Unmanned Aircraft Systems 

Traffic Management project at 

NASA has been named a finalist 

for the Promising Innovations 

category of this year’s Samuel J. 

Heyman Service to America Medals 

awards. By designing a first-of-itskind traffic management system 

for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles 

that paved the way for largescale use of commercial drones, 

Kopardekar placed among three 

other finalists in this category. 

“The Sammies,” also known as 

the “Oscars” of U.S. government 

service, represent a highly 

respected honor that are bestowed 

following a rigorous selection 

process. This year’s winners will 

be announced on October 2. 
AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2018 23

RECOGNITION

EEG Sensor Analysis 

Presentation at Aerospace 

Medical Association 

Conference

POC: ANGELA HARRIVEL

Angela Harrivel of NASA’s 

Langley Research Center in 

Virginia presented a briefing 

entitled “Comparative 

Electroencephalography (EEG) 

Sensor Analysis for Attentional 

State Prediction” at the 2018 

Annual Scientific Meeting of the 

Aerospace Medical Association, 

held in Dallas, Texas, from May 

7 through 10. Approximately 60 

people attended the briefing, which 

allowed for informative discussion 

and thought-provoking questions. 

Results presented at the briefing 

encouraged continued development 

of real-time detection of attentional 

human performance, limiting 

states using less-obtrusive and 

commercially available EEG sensors. 

Such state detection, in combination 

with ground-based training, could 

contribute to the reduction of loss 

of control in-flight accidents and 

could also support the optimization 

of human-machine teaming via 

adaptive automation. John Allen, 

NASA Program Executive of 

Crew Health and Safety, expressed 

appreciation for Harrivel and her 

team’s work, asked whether the group 

has any contact with NASA’s space 

mission efforts, and offered to help 

with connections. Contacts were 

made with NASA flight surgeons 

and the Element Scientist of the 

Human Factors and Behavioral 

Performance Element of NASA’s 

Human Research Program (HRP) for 

further discussion about application 

of these CSM systems to the HRP 

efforts. Additional discussions took 

place with a University of West 

Florida researcher who is working 

on detecting cognitive impairment 

(including hypoxia) using dry 

EEG technologies in operational 

environments, in partnership with 

Capt. G. Merrill Rice of the Naval 

Aerospace Medicine Institute. 

These efforts support Commercial 

Aviation Safety Team Safety 

Enhancement 211 under the research 

performed under Technologies 

for Airplane State Awareness 

sub-project within Airspace 

Operations and Safety Program’s 

System-Wide Safety Project. 

NASA Presents Keynote Talk 

and Tutorial at International 

Conference on Research 

in Air Transportation

POC: PARIMAL KOPARDEKAR AND

BANAVAR SRIDHAR

Parimal Kopardekar, senior 

technologist for Air Transportation 

Systems at NASA’s Ames Research 

Center in California, was invited 

by the FAA to give a keynote talk 

at the International Conference 

on Research in Air Transportation 

(ICRAT) on June 26. Kopardekar’s 

talk, entitled “Innovate Relentlessly: 

Embracing Innovation in Aviation 

While Respecting Its Safety 

Tradition,” addressed the need for 

change and vision in the approach 

towards a future air transportation 

system. In addition, Banavar 

Sridhar, senior scientist for Air 

Transportation Systems at Ames, 

was invited to present a tutorial on 

“Air Traffic Metrics to Quantify 

Disruption from Natural (Weather) 

and Man-made (Cyber) Causes” 

at the conference on June 27. The 

tutorial described research in the 

development of air traffic metrics 

to guide responses to weather and 

explored the development of metrics 

needed to model and mitigate 

man-made events. This research led 

to the development of the Weather 

Impacted Traffic Index as a regular 

metric computed daily by the FAA. 

The 2018 conference was held in 

Barcelona, Spain, and Kopardekar’s 

talk was presented remotely. ICRAT 

is jointly organized by the FAA 

and Eurocontrol, and is a biennial 

event in Air Transport Research, 

alternating with the USA-Europe 

Air Traffic Management Research 

and Development Seminar. This 

year’s conference was hosted 

by Universitat Polytècnica de 

Catalunya (Barcelona Tech) and 

sponsored by Boeing. ICRAT is 

a forum for young researchers 

in the air transportation field to 

share their work, expand their 

professional network, and gain 

new knowledge and inspiration. 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Headquarters

300 E. Street, SW

Washington, DC 20024

www.nasa.gov/aeroresearch

www.nasa.gov