National Aeronautics and Space Administration

www.nasa.gov

AOSP Newsletter

Airspace Operations and Safety Program (AOSP)

APR-JUN 2016 | Quarter 3

NASA Plans Major Test of Drone 

Management System

2

TASAR Partnership Advances 12
2 AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2016

AOSP IN THE NEWS

NASA Plans Major Test of 

Drone Management System

On April 18, an MIS Asia article 

reported a NASA-developed air 

traffic control system for drones 

could take a major step forward 

when up to 24 drones take to the 

skies from locations across the U.S. 

in the agency’s first coordinated 

test. Called UTM, for unmanned 

aircraft system traffic management, 

the platform is seen as a key safety 

system that would allow greater 

numbers of drones to fly in the sky 

and avoid mid-air collisions with 

piloted aircraft and other drones.

NASA’s Drone Traffic 

Control System

A Popular Science article published 

on April 19 pointed out that because 

small drones, unlike other aircraft, 

don’t broadcast their location, tracking them while aloft is difficult. That’s 

why the FAA is working with NASA 

to come up with an unmanned aerial 

system traffic management system: air 

traffic control for drones.

NASA Tests Drone Monitoring 

System at Moffett Field

On April 19, the San Francisco CBS 

TV affiliate recognized NASA’s Ames 

Research Center at Moffett Field 

as making aviation history with its 

most complex test to date of a drone 

air traffic management system.

NASA Puts Nationwide UTM 

for Drones to the Test

On April 20, a Gizmag story profiled NASA’s air traffic management 

system for drones as the agency 

carried out its first coordinated testing, assessing how well the system 

accommodates flights at different 

locations across the country. NASA 

has been developing its Unmanned 

Aircraft System (UAS) Traffic 

Management (UTM) program for 

some time. UTM could provide a 

finalized solution that would leverage elements of terrestrial traffic 

management, including an aerial 

system of roads, rules, lights and 

lanes. In practice, this could translate to airspace corridors, dynamic 

geofencing to prevent drones 

wandering off course, and methods 

that would take into account such 

variables as severe weather, congestion, and route planning on the fly.

Drone UTM to Enhance Safety

R & D Magazine reported on April 

20 that NASA’s concept for a possible UTM system would safely 

manage diverse UAS operations in 

the airspace above buildings and 

below crewed aircraft operations in 

suburban and urban areas. “UTM is 

designed to enable safe low-altitude 

civilian UAS operations by providing 

pilots information needed to maintain separation from other aircraft 

by reserving areas for specific routes, 

with consideration of restricted 

airspace and adverse weather conditions,” said project lead Parimal 

Kopadekar in a statement following 

an initial test of the system in the fall.

NASA Testing for Close 

Encounters of the UAS Kind

In the wake of the unprecedented 

April 19 simultaneous test of 

unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) at 

NASA sites across the U.S., Aviation 

Week on April 25 noted that the 

agency is preparing to deliberately 

fly its remotely piloted Predator B 

aircraft into close encounters with 

a variety of “intruder” aircraft so as 

to gauge effective sense-and-avoid 

procedures.

NASA Conducts Tough 

Test for Drone Swarms

On April 25, an Engadget article 

pointed out that, if piloting a single 

drone is challenging, managing an 

airborne drone swarm is even trickier, 

especially considering the constant 

threat of collision. During the joint 
AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2016 3

AOSP IN THE NEWS

NASA/FAA UTM test, 24 drones 

were assessed in flight over several 

locations in the space of three hours. 

For good measure, researchers threw 

dozens of virtual aircraft into the air 

traffic management mix.

UTM Test Assesses Potential 

Collision Risks

Tech Times on April 26 reported that 

NASA successfully flew 22 drones 

in simultaneous testing, evaluating 

its unmanned aircraft system traffic management (UTM) research 

platform for rural operations. Running for three hours, the test was 

conducted at FAA test sites across 

the country, involving a total of 

24 drones, of which 22 were flying 

simultaneously at one point. NASA’s 

UTM research platform checked 

for conflicts during the flight, gave 

approval or rejections to flight 

plans, and delivered notifications on 

constraints to the users. Likewise, 

engineers at NASA’s Ames Research 

Center were tasked with operations 

and system load monitoring, as well 

as qualitative feedback gathering so as 

to identify capability gaps to inform 

ongoing UTM research.

Optimizing Human 

Drone Operation

On May 4, The Register highlighted 

an excerpt from NASA’s UTM 

project page that explains that UTM 

should be able to operate without 

human operators monitoring all 

vehicles. NASA is due to deliver 

the results of its research in 2019, 

in the form of airspace integration 

requirements the FAA can evaluate 

and verify.

AeroVironment and SmartC2 

Join NASA’s UTM TCL 2 Demo

The May 5 issue of Aerospace Technology noted that small unmanned 

aircraft systems solutions provider 

AeroVironment and SmartC2 are 

slated to join NASA’s unmanned traffic management (UTM) technology capability levels (TCL) 2 flight 

demonstration scheduled for October. The proposed demonstration 

will build on results from UTM TCL 

1 field testing last August, as well as 

ongoing operational demonstration 

and field testing of AeroVironment’s 

Puma AE (All Environment) small 

unmanned aircraft system, to concentrate on beyond-visual line-of-sight 

operations in thinly populated areas.

BBC Strikes a Note of Caution

Despite NASA’s and the FAA’s April 

unmanned aircraft system traffic 

management flight-demonstration 

success, and the rapid development 

of drone “sense and avoid” technology, the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) on May 5 reported that 

regulators will need much convincing before allowing aerial motorways 

above dense urban areas.

Millions of Drones 

Aloft by 2020

A USA Today article on June 6 

reported that Parimal Kopardekar, 

NASA’s principal investigator for 

drone traffic management, told a 

conference held by of the American 

Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics that an estimated 2.7 million 

commercial drones will be flying by 

2020. This despite the fact that only 

5,300 commercial permits have so 

far been granted nationwide by the 

FAA to fly in the “drone zone.” 

NASA, Transportation Dept. 

Launch Aviation Test Lab 

The Hill reported on June 24 that 

NASA and the Department of Transportation launched a new aviation 

test lab at North Carolina’s Charlotte 

Douglas International Airport in an 

effort to streamline air arrivals and 

departures, reduce congestion in the 

skies and improve aviation safety. 

The initiative is the next major step 

in the rollout of the satellite-based 

Next Generation Air Transportation System, known as NextGen, 

to improve the nation’s air traffic 

control. The pilot project is designed 

to run for five years. 

NextGen Sets the Stage 

for Greener Aviation 

PhysOrg.com noted in a June 24 

story that NASA is working toward 
4 AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2016

AOSP IN THE NEWS

a greener future in aviation, where 

airplanes push back from the gate, 

taxi to the runway and take off more 

quickly. A more efficient, precise 

trip by an airplane from the gate to 

takeoff reduces the amount of time 

its jet engines spend running on the 

ground, reduces noise and emissions 

levels at the airport, and reduces passenger wait times. 

Before this future can be realized, 

however, the tools used today to 

manage arrivals and departures need 

to be upgraded. In the Next Generation Air Transportation System 

(NextGen) world, computers will 

streamline the sharing of information between all involved in arrivals 

and departures – air traffic controllers, managers, flight crews – so that 

an airplane’s movements through 

every point of its flight are more 

precisely coordinated. Especially at 

the world’s busiest airports, sharing 

information between the systems 

used to monitor an airplane’s flight 

will be key for more dependable and 

efficient air travel.
AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2016 5

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

NRA Update: Accelerating 

ATM into the Cloud

POC: WILLIAM CHAN

On April 4, the Mosaic Air Traffic 

Management (ATM) Team presented 

their progress and plans for year two 

of their NASA Research Announcement (NRA) work, “Accelerating 

ATM Into The Cloud.” Mosaic 

demonstrated their prototype software that would accelerate the ability 

of the Shadow Mode Assessment 

using Realistic Technologies for the 

National Airspace System (SMARTNAS) Test-bed to identify and 

connect to specific ATM software 

components using cloud services. 

The demonstration included 

the simulation user interface, or 

dashboard, that enables a query 

of specific ATM components and 

then ensures that all other necessary 

components are also made available. 

A method to query the attributes 

of each component was also demonstrated. A discussion of securely 

working with the cloud was also 

presented by the Harris Corporation. 

TASAR Team Briefs 

Immarsat, AA and GE 

POC: DAVID WING

On April 13, NASA Langley Research 

Center engineer David Wing gave 

a presentation of the Traffic Aware 

Strategic Aircrew Requests (TASAR) 

System to Inmarsat, provider of 

satellite communications and surveillance to 95% of the world’s oceanic 

traffic. TASAR offers cockpit-based 

technology that uses connectivity to internal and external data 

sources in the computation of 

flight-optimizing trajectory changes. 

Having learned of TASAR through 

their industry contacts, Inmarsat 

contacted Mr. Wing and requested 

further information on the TASAR 

technology and project. Inmarsat indicated the industry is on the 

cusp of a paradigm shift in how data 

is delivered to the aircraft. Following the briefing, they commented 

that TASAR is “going to be one of 

the first applications introduced to 

the cockpit which utilizes the benefits of an Internet Protocol pipe 

off the aircraft.” In addition to an 

expression of interest in collaboration with NASA, Inmarsat expressed 

commercial interest in NASA’s 

TASAR technology and requested 

information on software licensing.

At another meeting on May 24, 

David Wing and Dr. Kelly Burke of 

NASA Langley met with American 

Airlines (AA) Director of Airspace 

Optimization and Aircraft Technical Operations Captain Brian Will 

regarding the airline’s interest in 

the TASAR technology. Capt. Will 

evaluated TASAR in the November 2013 TASAR flight trial and 

requested this meeting to get a technology update and discuss options 

for AA to evaluate the technology in revenue service, potentially 

in collaboration with NASA. 

AA’s interest in TASAR, besides providing tangible operational benefits, 

lies in its unique potential to integrate and focus several disparate 

AA technology programs, including electronic flight bags, automatic 

dependent surveillance broadcast, and data communications. 

AA is also currently evaluating the 

Dynamic Weather Routes (DWR) 

dispatcher technology developed at 

NASA’s Ames Research Center in 

their Integrated Operations Center. 

Collaborative opportunities under 

NASA’s third Airspace Technology 

Demonstration (ATD-3) Subproject 

were discussed, where a key focus 

of ATD-3 is air-ground integration. 

Capt. Will proposed a larger 

follow-up meeting to be held at 

AA headquarters to assess the 

feasibility of TASAR technology 

integration in AA aircraft and to 

continue discussions on potential 

partnership under ATD-3 in the 

area of air/ground integration.

At another meeting on June 3, 

David Wing and Dr. Kelly Burke 

gave a presentation to GE Aviation, 

a leading manufacturer of aircraft 

avionics. GE Aviation expressed 

interest in the advanced routeoptimizing functionality of the 

TASAR software application, Traffic 

Aware Planner (TAP). A real-time 

demonstration of TAP was provided, sparking an interest by GE 

Aviation in how they might integrate TAP functionality into their 
6 AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2016

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

Flight Management System (FMS) 

or provide a digital connectivity 

between the tools for direct interchange of FMS and TAP data. 

GE Aviation inquired about TAP 

software licensing options, and they 

expressed an interest in a potential 

partnership with NASA to advance 

the TASAR technology and conduct possible operational demonstrations of the proposed integrated 

functionality. Two areas of potential collaboration discussed were 

integration with data communications and increasing the certification 

level of TAP functionality (which 

is currently an advisory capability 

hosted in an electronic flight bag), 

both of which would be instrumental to incorporating TAP’s capabilities into a certificated FMS. 

Ongoing discussion is expected. 

ATD-2 Surface HITL 

Shakedown Simulation

POC: SAVVY VERMA

The Airspace Technology 

Demonstration (ATD)-2 subproject 

completed a human-in-the-loop 

(HITL) shakedown simulation the 

week of April 25 in the NASA Ames 

Research Center’s FutureFlight 

Central (FFC) air traffic control 

tower simulator. The simulation 

represented the first test of several 

of the ATD-2 tools planned for 

deployment at the American Airlines 

(AA) Ramp Tower at CLT in 

Charlotte, North Carolina. 

Airport ramp operations were simulated with AA and flight research 

associates participants acting as 

ramp controllers and ramp managers. The HITL simulation examined the transition between 

airport configuration changes, 

operations when ramp advisories 

are turned off, new features in 

the ramp traffic console and the 

newly developed ramp manager 

traffic console displays. The simulation was also part of an April 28 

NASA Ames tour for FAA Deputy 

Administrator Mike Whitaker.

 

Airspace Operations 

Discussed at CDM Meeting

POC: KAPIL SHETH AND SHAWN ENGELLAND

NASA Ames Research Center 

engineers Kapil Sheth, Shawn 

Engelland and Connie Brasil 

attended the FAA’s Collaborative 

Decision-Making (CDM) Spring 

Meeting on April 20, held at 

the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) 

International Airport in Texas. 

NASA’s research and development 

in airspace operations was clearly 

represented at this meeting. 

Several speakers referred to NASA’s 

air traffic management work 

covering the Airspace Technology 

Demonstration 2 Subproject, NASA’s 

role in testing at the Charlotte 

Douglas International Airport in 

North Carolina, human-in-theloop simulations for the integrated 

demand management effort within 

the the Shadow Mode Assessment 

using Realistic Technologies for 

the National Airspace System 

(SMART-NAS) Project, and weather 

routing in the Airspace Technology 

Demonstration 3 Subproject. 

Speakers included DFW Executive Vice President Jim Crites, who 

provided opening remarks; CDM 

sub-team leads, including Rob 

Goldman, Surface CDM Team 

industry lead; Ernie Stellings, Flow 

Evaluation Team industry lead; 

and Vern Payne of the Traffic Flow 

Management Deployment Team. 

Manager of American Airline’s 

(AA) Integrated Operations Center 

Mr. Lorne Cass also elaborated on 

the successful partnership between 

NASA and AA. The sub-teams indicated continued interest in NASA 

collaboration and involvement. 

ATD-1 Highlighted During 

Congressional Event

POC: WILL JOHNSON

On April 28, NASA Technology Day 

on the Hill was held at the United 

States Congressional Cannon Building in Washington, D.C. The event 

was organized by NASA Headquarters for members of Congress and 

their staff to showcase key NASA 

technologies under development. 

The Air Traffic Management Technology Demonstration 1 (ATD-1) 

SubProject was selected by NASA’s 

Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate for the event to highlight 

the avionics technology and associ-
AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2016 7

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

ated fiscal year 2017 flight test being 

developed with industry partners. 

SubProject Manager for ATD-1 

William C. Johnson and a senior representative from Boeing Research and 

Technology were on hand to discuss 

the value of all of the ATD-1 technologies and highlight NASA’s private sector collaboration. The event 

was attended by hundreds of visitors, 

including many Congressional members and staff, the NASA Administrator and Deputy Administrator, and 

several NASA senior executives. 

FFC Projector Upgrade 

POC: FAY CHINN

With installation of 12 new Sony 

laser projectors in early May, 

FutureFlight Central (FFC) completed an extensive upgrade of a 

360-degree, out-the-window view. 

The new projectors enable higher 

image resolution, a brighter picture, and digital input connectivity. The upgrades feature:

• Direct projection, replacing the 

mirrored rear projection system 

of the previous projectors, which, 

due to their age, were starting 

to produce warping of the visual 

image, alignment problems 

between windows, and poor 

picture quality;

• A mean time between failure of 20,000 hours (with the 

auto light dimming function 

enabled), as well as enhanced 

brightness and color stability 

over time. The new projectors 

should last for 10 years of normal FFC use without significant 

recurring maintenance cost; and 

• A laser diode light source that 

is more efficient because of less 

light lost, and is more environmentally friendly compared with 

the former mercury lamp-based 

projection systems.

The new projector system will 

enable FFC to more accurately portray out-the-window visual scenes 

at airports such as North Carolina’s 

Charlotte Douglas International 

Airport, the test site for upcoming 

ATD-2 tests and demonstrations. 

ATD-2 User Meeting at 

AA Training Facility

POC: AL CAPPS

On May 3-4, members of NASA’s 

Airspace Technology Demonstration 

2 (ATD-2) Team met ATD-2 system 

users at the American Airlines (AA) 

training facility at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) in 

North Carolina. FAA (FAA) participants included representatives from 

the en-route facilities in Washington, D.C. and Atlanta, Charlotte air 

traffic control towers, the Charlotte 

Terminal Radar Approach Control 

(TRACON), and FAA headquarters 

organizations for NextGen (ANG), 

Mission Support (AJV), System 

Operations (AJR), Program Management Organization (AJM), and 

the FAA’s Southern Region Office. 

AA ramp tower and CLT airport 

participants from the local Charlotte 

operations were also in attendance. 

NASA presented ATD-2 background 

information, including foundational 

FAA technologies, NASA and FAA 

research, and the phased ATD-2 

development and demonstration 

plan. NASA briefed the attendees 

on the status of ongoing work, 

including the Phase 1 Concept of 

Use, the notional time-based flow 

management (TBFM) deployment 

plan, the desired training model 

and the proposed ATD-2 process 

and quality checkpoints. The 

user meeting led to a number 

of productive interchanges 

among the multi-disciplinary, 

multi-organizational team. 

In addition, two other major accomplishments were achieved May 4-5, 

demonstrating connectivity to the 

CLT laboratory space used by NASA 

for ATD-2 testing and evaluation. 

NASA’s integrated communication 

services (NICS) wide area network 

was successfully connected to equipment in the NASA rack at CLT’s 

shared tenant space, which will supply the necessary system-wide information management (SWIM) data 

feeds and other critical system interfaces that will support ATD-2. 

Network connectivity to NASA’s 

CLT lab in the CLT Airport’s Old 

Terminal was also verified, which 
8 AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2016

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

will be used to support shadow 

evaluations, training and demonstrations in the laboratory space. 

On May 6, ATD-2 personnel participated in the FAA Advanced Electronic Flight Strips (AEFS) kickoff 

meeting at CLT Tower/TRACON. 

AEFS deployment is an element of 

the Terminal Flight Data Manager 

early implementation of Electronic 

Flight Data, which is a key component of the overall Integrated/Arrival/

Departure/Surface Solution. The 

FAA is deploying AEFS to CLT earlier than originally planned to support the ATD-2 field demonstration. 

During the meeting, the groups 

established general dates by 

which the installation, adaptation, training and operational 

use of the system would transpire, and enabled productive dialog between the relevant parties.

NASA Langley Hosts ATD-1 

Avionics Phase 2 CDR 

POC: SHERI BROWN

On May 5, NASA Langley Research 

Center hosted the Boeing Company’s 

Critical Design Review (CDR) meeting in support of the $10.9 million, 

two-year flight-critical safety research 

contract task award entitled “Air Traffic Management Technology Demonstration 1 (ATD-1) Avionics Phase 2.”

The Boeing-led team provided a 

presentation facilitating the review 

and discussion of the detailed 

design for the aircraft selection and 

proposed modifications, the avionics system hardware, software and 

system design, and the flight test 

plan. Presentation topics included 

system design, hardware components, software design, internal 

control documentation, a system 

test plan, identified aircraft, a test 

aircraft integration plan, schedule, 

risk assessment, mitigation plans, 

the change control process, configuration management, the quality 

assurance process, bill of materials, 

mounting locations for each aircraft, 

and an assessment of required 

system resources (e.g., memory, 

processing, power, interfaces) to 

accommodate the flight deck interval 

management (FIM) application. 

The meeting was attended by a 

total of 60 individuals, including 10 

remote participants and 32 travelers, 

representing leadership, engineers, 

researchers, and FAA stakeholders. 

NASA Langley leadership included 

the center’s Aeronautics Research 

Directorate director and deputy 

director; the Research Directorate 

chief engineer and airworthiness and 

safety review board chair; and the 

Engineering Directorate associate 

director of aeronautics. All review 

board members passed the CDR 

with actions, giving the Boeing-led 

team authority to proceed with 

integration and test of the ATD-1 

avionics prototype FIM system. 

The Review Board opted to defer 

assigning all of the actions discussed 

during the meeting until after internal consideration and alignment 

with the statement of work deliverables. All actions are expected to 

be closed prior to the system acceptance review tentatively planned 

ATD-2 User Group Meeting participants.
AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2016 9

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

for December 2016. The ATD-1 

SubProject manager expressed his 

personal satisfaction with the presentation, and with how the team 

discussion relieved major concerns. 

Langley’s Denise Scearce is the 

ATD-1 avionics lead and technical 

point of contact for the Phase 2 task. 

DFW Board Chairman and 

Colleagues Visit NTX

POC: PAUL BORCHERS

Dallas-Fort Worth International 

Airport (DFW) Chairman of the 

Board of Directors Mr. Sam Coats 

toured the NASA North Texas 

Research Station (NTX) on May 10. 

Accompanying Mr. Coats was DFW 

Executive Vice President of Operations Jim Crites and DFW Vice 

President of Environmental Affairs 

Robert Horton. After receiving an 

NTX overview and its past and 

present projects, Mr. Coats visited 

the NTX laboratory to observe 

repeater displays of NASA systems 

used by local FAA facilities. He was 

also briefed on the Airspace Technology Demonstration 2 Project, which 

is focused on improved integrated 

arrival/departure/surface operations, 

and was shown displays running 

with live data from Charlotte 

Douglas International Airport in 

North Carolina. The visit concluded 

with a presentation on novel surveillance research conducted at NTX, 

which provides a low-cost way 

of determining aircraft departure 

status at airports that lack surface 

surveillance systems. The presentations highlighted the cooperative 

work of government agencies, 

airlines and airports in enabling 

successful field demonstrations. 

ATD-U at NTX

POC: AL CAPPS

On May 17-18, Airspace Technology Demonstration 2 (ATD-2) 

stakeholders from the FAA (FAA), 

the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, American Airlines (AA), DTIS Corporation and 

NASA personnel met at NASA’s 

North Texas Research Station (NTX) 

for the fourth Airspace Technology Demonstration (ATD-U) 

class offering. During the two-day 

gathering, the group was briefed 

on the foundational technologies 

upon which ATD-2 is built and 

what it will attempt to achieve. 

The subject matter expertise of 

the attendees enabled further discussions regarding FAA software, 

including Terminal Flight Data 

Manager, Advanced Electronic 

Flight Strips, and Surface Collaborative Decision Making. The FAA’s 

D10 Terminal Services Manager 

Greg Juro led the group on a tour 

of the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport Center tower, while 

the AA’s Charlie Mead led ATD-U 

participants in a tour of the new AA 

Integrated Operations Center and 

elaborated upon its operations.

Visit from ENAC 

Professor Delahaye 

POC: BANAVAR SRIDHAR

On May 16-20, Dr. Daniel Delahaye 

from the Ecole Nationale de 

l’Aviation Civile (ENAC) – ENAC 

is a major contributor to aviation 

research in Europe – visited NASA 

Ames Research Center. Dr. Delahaye 

heads the ENAC Optimization and 

Automatic Control Group and the 

Laboratory in Applied Mathematics, 

Computer Science and Automatics 

for Air Transport in Toulouse, 

France. The work of Prof. Delahaye’s 

team has been applied to air traffic 

management (ATM) in the areas 

of air traffic complexity, forecasting 

air traffic controller workload, air 

traffic planning, ground aircraft 

taxiing, trajectory prediction, and 

detection and resolution of conflicts. 

Prof. Delahaye met with NASA 

Ames Senior Scientist for Air Trans-
10 AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2016

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

portation Systems Dr. Banavar 

Sridhar to discuss possible collaboration in developing efficient routes for 

long-haul flights and minimal noise 

approaches to airports, using optimization and data mining methods. 

NASA and ENAC are in the process 

of developing a collaborative agreement in ATM. Prof. Delahaye also 

received briefings on NASA’s current work on the Shadow Mode 

Assessment Using Realistic Technologies for the National Airspace 

System Project Test Bed, and the 

Unmanned Aircraft Systems in the 

National Airspace System Project. 

AOSP Showcased at 

Tech Center Exhibit 

POC: JANE THIPPHAVONG AND TOM PREVOT

Research conducted by NASA’s 

Airspace Operations and Safety 

Program (AOSP) was showcased 

during the annual Air Traffic Control 

Association (ATCA) Technical 

Symposium’s Tech Center Tuesday 

event held on May 17 at the FAA’s 

(FAA) William J. Hughes Technical 

Center in Atlantic City, N.J. The 

AOSP’s Airspace Technology Demonstration 2 (ATD-2) Subproject 

departure metering capabilities were 

exhibited alongside the Unmanned 

Aerial Systems (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) technologies.

The ATD-2 materials featured a 

newly produced animation highlighting the ATD-2 concept and 

field demonstration plan. Exhibit 

visitors included government and 

industry representatives attending 

the ATCA Technical Symposium. 

ATD-2 received considerable 

interest throughout the event. 

The UTM display featured a simulated scenario of traffic at the six 

FAA UAS test sites, plus simulated 

traffic from the San Francisco Bay 

Area. Visitors viewed functions of 

the UTM research platform on three 

iPad apps running Insight-UTM, the 

UTM research visualization app, and 

on a display showing selected UAS 

in a Google Earth environment. 

Visitors to the NASA exhibits 

included Ed Mercer, director of the 

FAA’s Interagency Planning Office 

(formerly the Joint Planning and 

Development Office), which guides 

consensus and investment decisions for the Next Generation Air 

Transporation System (NextGen); 

ATCA Manager for Air Traffic 

Control Programs Paul Plantzer; 

and former FAA Associate Administrator for NextGen Vicky Cox. 

PTM Leads HITL 

Testing Activities

POC: DR. JENNIFER KIBLER

On May 24-26, the Pairwise Trajectory Management (PTM) Team 

conducted three single-day focus 

group assessments and human-inthe-loop (HITL) testing activities 

with commercial airline pilots. The 

primary purpose was to evaluate the 

effectiveness of PTM pilot training materials; however, important 

feedback regarding the PTM 

concept, proposed flight crew procedures, and airborne human-machine 

interface (HMI) prototype was also 

collected. A total of 12 active pilots 

with recent experience flying oceanic 

routes completed PTM computerbased training (CBT) modules prior 

to their arrival at NASA Langley 

Research Center in Hampton, Va. 

During each focus group assessment, four pilot participants received 

instructor-led PTM training, critiqued the PTM CBT and instructor-led training materials, and 

engaged in HITL testing by flying 

a series of PTM scenarios using a 

medium-fidelity desktop simulator. 

After completing simulated PTM 

flight operations, the pilot participants provided additional feedback 

Exhibit at the ATCA Technical Symposium’s Tech 

Center Tuesday Event.
AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2016 11

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

regarding the PTM training materials and shared detailed comments 

pertaining to the PTM concept, 

flight crew procedures, and HMI. 

PTM team members will use the 

pilot participants’ feedback to 

develop a refined set of standardized training materials that will be 

used to prepare oceanic pilots for 

participation in an upcoming PTM 

HITL experiment. Additionally, 

pilot participant feedback will be 

considered during successive refinements of the PTM concept, flight 

crew procedures, and HMI design. 

The PTM team conducted the oceanic pilot focus group assessments 

and HITL testing activities, and are 

planning a PTM HITL experiment 

that will be conducted at NASA 

Langley during fiscal year 2017. 

PTM Team Seeks 

Stakeholder Buy-in

POC: DR. JENNIFER KIBLER

A series of meetings were conducted with the various stakeholder 

groups in regards to NASA Langley 

Research Center’s pairwise trajectory 

management (PTM) research activities. On May 18, Dr. Jennifer Kibler 

and Ryan Chartrand from NASA 

Langley, along with Ken Jones of 

the National Institute of Aerospace 

(NIA) met with members of the Air 

Line Pilots Association (ALPA) at 

ALPA Headquarters in Herndon, Va. 

The advanced-interval management 

(A-IM) PTM concept, and proposed PTM flight crew procedures 

and PTM benefits, were discussed. 

Additionally, a demonstration of 

NASA Langley’s airborne PTM 

human-machine interface (HMI) 

design was also presented. ALPA was 

invited to provide feedback regarding the PTM concept, flight crew 

procedures, and HMI design, and a 

follow-on meeting was discussed. 

Future meetings between the PTM 

team and ALPA will likely involve 

members of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association and 

the FAA’s (FAA) Surveillance and 

Broadcast Services Program Office 

to ensure that the multi-faceted 

aspects of the air/ground system 

associated with PTM operations 

are appropriately considered.

On May 23, the NIA’s Dr. Victor 

Carreño presented a paper on 

the A-IM PTM concept to the 

International Civil Aviation Organization Separation and Airspace 

Safety Panel, the international 

body that develops and approves 

new international aviation separation standards. That meeting was 

held in Reykjavik, Iceland.

On May 31, Dr. Kibler and 

Mr. Chartrand, along with Ken 

Jones and Tom Graff from the NIA, 

conducted a kickoff Skype meeting 

and telecon with members of the 

FAA’s Oceanic/Offshore Standards 

and Procedures Group, AJV-84. 

The AIM-PTM concept as well as 

proposed PTM oceanic controller 

and flight crew procedures were 

discussed, as well as a brief demonstration of NASA Langley’s airborne 

PTM human-machine interface 

design. AJV-84 oceanic controller 

subject matter experts (SMEs) were 

invited to participate in the development and evaluation of the PTM 

concept, oceanic controller procedures, and ground-based automation 

computer-human interface design. 

Follow-on ground-oriented PTM 

concept discussions have begun 

taking place, and AJV-84 SMEs have 

agreed to provide feedback regarding 

the PTM Operational Services and 

Environment Definition (OSED) 

document that the NASA PTM 

team is currently drafting for RTCA 

Special Committee 186 Working 

Group 4. The OSED writeup contains a description of the PTM concept and operational requirements, 

and is necessary for the development 

of internationally harmonized PTM 

standards. Members of the PTM 

team were scheduled to hold a 

technical interchange meeting with 

the manager and members of AJV84 in Washington, D.C. on July 11.

As a follow-on, the PTM team was 

expected to hold a technical interchange meeting with the FAA’s 

A-IM leadership at NASA Langley 
12 AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2016

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

on June 27. The alignment of 

the A-IM and PTM development and evaluation schedules 

were slated to be discussed, as 

was the coordination of a NASA/

FAA Interagency Agreement. 

AOSP’s TCs Economic 

Value Assessed

POC: YURI GAWDIAK

On June 6, Booz Allen Hamilton 

presented a report at NASA Headquarters to Airspace Operations and 

Safety Program (AOSP) management 

regarding the economic value of each 

of the 10 AOSP technical challenges 

(TCs) selected during initial reviews. 

The benefit-cost assessment compared benefit estimates for each of 

the 10 TCs under AOSP’s three 

major projects projects with their 

corresponding development costs, 

adjusted by the impact of risks 

previously identified by the project 

team. The results of the assessment 

were presented as benefit-cost ratios 

of the discounted benefits and costs 

of each TC, which can be interpreted in terms of the maximum 

number of times of additional 

expenditure to implement the TC 

while still enabling the stakeholders to reap benefits from it. 

The benefits of the TCs exceeded 

their development costs by a magnitude of two at the least. Significant 

variability across TC ratios was 

exhibited with Unmanned Aerial 

Systems Traffic Management showing 

the largest benefit-cost ratio: in excess 

of 2,000 times the development costs.

TASAR Partnership Advances 

POC: DAVID WING

A kickoff meeting held at Virgin 

America Headquarters in Burlingame, Calif. on June 9 to mark 

a Space Act Agreement between 

NASA and Virgin America regarding 

the Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew 

Requests (TASAR) Project advanced 

toward technical implementation. 

The NASA/Virgin America partnership will test the TASAR Traffic Aware Planner (TAP) software 

in operation on revenue flights. 

NASA team attendees included 

NASA Langley Research Center 

engineers David Wing and Dr. Kelly 

Burke, Anna Noe, and contractors 

Bob Vivona, Jeff Henderson and 

Brendan Lefebvre from the Engility 

Corporation. Virgin America 

attendees included representatives 

from Virgin’s flight operations, 

flight technical engineering, 

dispatch, flight operations quality 

assurance, and pilot training areas. 

Vendors for Virgin America also 

attended and included Astronautics, 

provider of electronic flight bags 

that will host the TAP software; 

Schneider Electric, provider of 

weather data; Honeywell, provider 

of a traffic surveillance system and 

onboard weather radar; and ViaSat, 

provider of Internet connectivity. 

The group discussed a breadth of 

detailed technical topics related to 

system and operational integration, 

all critical for charting the implementation of TAP on an initial 

A320 aircraft in early-to-mid 2017. 

The System Integration Session 

addressed the target system architecture, data inputs, wiring and 
AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2016 13

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

certification requirements, software installation and data retrieval 

requirements, bench testing, and 

the planned four-stage deployment 

plan. The Operational Integration 

Session addressed dispatch integration, data sources for convective 

weather and turbulence, data collection and analysis, and pilot training. 

A high-level target schedule was 

proposed, and will be adjusted as 

information is gathered on pacing items such as wiring-installation 

certification, aircraft installation 

availability, and software readiness. 

The successful meeting generated 

interest and momentum that will 

be leveraged to move forward on 

many simultaneous fronts to enable 

operational testing of TASAR on 

Virgin America revenue flights. 

Sherlock ATM Data Warehouse 

Covers Entire U.S. Airspace 

POC: MICHELLE ESHOW

As of June 13, in a first for NASA, 

NASA Ames Research Center’s Sherlock Air Traffic Management (ATM) 

Data Warehouse now produces 

analysis-ready, end-to-end track and 

flight plan data for the entire United 

States national airspace system 

(NAS). This significant accomplishment will enable ATM researchers 

to query flight information at the 

highest possible resolution, from a 

clean dataset that spans all known 

U.S. track locations for any individual flight. The processed data 

merges actual flight plan and track 

records from 77 different FAA (FAA) 

facilities, including 20 centers, 

27 terminal radar approach controls, and 30 airport surface areas. 

The Sherlock team overcame many 

challenges in correlating and rationalizing data from 77 different 

FAA feeds that may have overlapping and conflicting positions, flight 

plans, time, and airspace references. Currently, Sherlock has three 

months of this merged data available. Over the next several months 

of processing, data going back to 

2011 will be processed and added. 

Current data is processed overnight for rapid availability. All 

the data is being added to the Big 

Data System for ease of analysis. 

This work was enabled by a subcontract to ATAC Corporation, funded 

by the Shadow Mode Assessment 

Using Realistic Technologies for the 

National Airspace System Project. 

NASA/FAA TBFM Integration 

Strategy Meeting 

POC: JANE THIPPHAVONG

On June 16, in Washington D.C., to 

discuss terminal flight data management (TFDM) integration strategy 

for field demonstrations, the NASA 

Airspace Technology Demonstration 2 (ATD-2) team met again with 

representatives from the National 

Air Traffic Controllers Association; 

personnel from the FAA (FAA) 

Office of NextGen; those from the 

FAA involved in TFDM, timebased flow management (TBFM), 

mission support and system operations; and Lockheed Martin staff. 

NASA proposed integrating the 

ATD-2 surface system (TFDM standin) with the operational TBFM Integrated Departure Arrival Capability 

web services routing tool capability to 

enable demonstration of 3T (TBFM, 

TFMS, and TFDM) integration in 

the field. The proposal gained support 

to proceed with more detailed planning of the software changes required 

for TBFM release 4.7, scheduled for 

spring 2017. Follow-on meetings to 

discuss testing procedures, security 

requirements and the FAA/NASA 

network architecture to support the 

proposed strategy are in progress. 

CLT ATD-2 Lab Ribbon 

Cutting Ceremony

POC: SHAWN ENGELLAND

On June 24, U.S. Department of 

Transportation (DOT) Secretary 

Anthony Foxx and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden were joined 

by representatives from the FAA 

(FAA), the National Air Traffic 

Controllers Association (NATCA), 

American Airlines (AAL), and the 

Charlotte Douglas International 

Airport (CLT) for a ribbon cutting event, celebrating the official 

opening of the new Airspace Technology Demonstration 2 (ATD-2) 

Subproject Laboratory at CLT. 
14 AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2016

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

“Today is a great moment for the 

city of Charlotte, for air travelers, and our environment,” said 

Secretary Foxx. “As a son of this 

city and this state with its special history with modern flight, 

I’m thrilled that Charlotte Douglas International Airport is at the 

forefront of this innovative partnership between DOT and NASA 

that will have a transformative 

and lasting impact on aviation.” 

ATD-2 is designing new scheduling tools and integrating them in 

current FAA systems to provide a 

coordinated plan that controllers, 

planners and managers can all use 

for all phases of flight. The CLT lab 

is the first external installation of 

NASA’s ATD-2 technologies outside the existing NASA laboratories. 

Beginning in mid-July, the CLT lab 

will provide a collaboration space 

for working with air traffic controllers and airline operations to 

develop technologies and conduct 

evaluations. The NASA technologies 

will move into operational facilities beginning September 2017 and 

be evaluated over next three years. 

The event is depicted in the 

following NASA press release: 

http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/

transportation-department-nasapartners-visit-charlotte-toopen-test-lab-to-streamline

ATD-1 Participates in 

European IM Kickoff 

POC: WILL JOHNSON

On June 29-30, the European 

Knowledge Development Center 

(KDC) Interval Management (IM) 

Project flight test planning kickoff 

meeting was held in Amsterdam, the 

Netherlands. The KDC IM Project 

is planning a series of flight tests in 

Europe to evaluate the performance 

of IM to inform future Automatic 

Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast investment decisions there. 

The KDC IM Project members 

include the Netherlands Aerospace 

Centre (NLR), EUROCONTROL, 

the Netherlands Air Navigation 

Service Provider, Schiphol Airport, 

KLM Airlines, Technical University Delft, Rockwell Collins, The 

Boeing Company, and NASA. 

William C. Johnson, Air Traffic 

Management (ATM) Technology 

Demonstration 1 (ATD-1) SubProject manager and NASA representative to the KDC IM project, 

presented ATD-1 flight testing 

status, avionics interface design, and 

flight test data-collection plans. 

NASA is participating in the KDC 

IM project by providing the IM 

algorithm for this flight test activity and subject matter expertise 

through a Space Act Agreement 

between NASA and NLR. The 

next meeting is expected to occur 

in November when both NASA 

and the other KDC members have 

devised initial plans for 2017. 

AOSP TC Risk Analysis Update 

POC: ANN T. SHIH

The Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) 

approach has been applied to assess 

the probability of the Airspace 

Operations and Safety Program 

(AOSP) to meet/not meet expected 

outcomes for the AOSP technical challenges (TCs). The TCs-risk 

BBN is a probabilistic graphical 

model, taking into account the different risk factors of technology 

development and implementation. 

The model not only provides 

understanding on how the TCs 

outcome risk is dependent on 

uncertainty of risk factors in the 

model, but also gives insight of the 

risk drivers via sensitivity analysis. 

The BBN risk modeling provides 

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony at CLT lab with NASA 

Administrator Charles Bolden.
AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2016 15

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

a consistent and transparent 

process in evaluating the current 

10 TCs in the AOSP portfolio. 

A third round of TCs-risk BBN 

analysis was recently completed with 

risk probability inputs from project staff. The recent analysis results 

were compared to previous results 

generated with inputs from the TC 

leads and AOSP Portfolio Systems 

Analysis Team (APST) members.

The comparison reveals that there 

are different risk projections from 

three input groups with their respective understanding and perspective. In addition, risk items in the 

prime risk registry for each TC were 

examined for risk categorization, 

and statistics of risk status, duration and impacts. Some inconsistent trends between registered risk 

data on the prime and TCs-risk 

BBN results were found. All these 

results and findings were presented 

to AOSP program/project offices, 

and its risk management board 

for discussion and resolution.
16 AOSP NEWSLETTER // APR-JUN 2016

PAPERS AND AWARDS

ATD-1 Case Study Presented 

at OSD/NASA Workshop

POC: WILL JOHNSON

Dr. Sara Wilson was invited to 

give a presentation at the Rigorous 

Test and Evaluation for Defense, 

Aerospace, and National Security 

Workshop in Arlington, Va. on 

April 11-13. This workshop was 

co-organized by NASA as an element of the Interagency Statistical 

Engineering Agreement between the 

NASA Office of Chief Engineer and 

the Director, Operational Test and 

Evaluation in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD). Her presentation entitled “Human-in-the-Loop 

Experimentation for the Next Generation Air Transportation System” 

described a case study from NASA’s 

Air Traffic Management Technology Demonstration 1 (ATD-1) and 

highlighted statistical challenges.

NASA Multicopter Research 

Recognized by AHS 

POC: JAEWOO JUNG

Published aircraft performance data 

for multicopter unmanned aerial 

system (UAS) vehicles, such as 

quadcopters and octocopters (often 

referred to collectively as drones), 

are currently lacking. With the 

rapidly increasing popularity of such 

vehicles, researchers, system designers and operators need to develop 

better models to accurately predict 

performance and model trajectories. 

To collect such performance data, a 

joint wind tunnel test was conducted 

in winter 2015 in the U.S. Army’s 

7-Foot by 10-Foot Wind Tunnel 

at NASA Ames Research Center. 

Three NASA aeronautics programs 

participated in this test: The Airspace 

Operations and Safety Program’s 

(AOSP) UAS Traffic Management 

(UTM) Subproject, the Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program’s 

Design Environment for Novel 

Vertical Lift Vehicles Subproject, 

and the Advanced Air Vehicles 

Program’s Revolutionary Vertical 

Lift Technology (RVLT) Project. 

Five multi-copter UAS vehicles 

were tested: 3D Robotics’ SOLO 

and Iris+, DJI’s Phantom 3 

Advanced, Drone America’s DAx8, 

and Straight Up Imaging’s Endurance. Data were collected on forces 

and moments, as well as electrical 

power as a function of wind speed, 

rotor speed and vehicle attitude. 

The initial results were presented 

during the American Helicopter 

Society (AHS) International’s 

72nd Annual Forum at West Palm 

Beach, Fla. On May 16-19. The 

Multicopter UAS Wind Tunnel Test 

Team’s work, with contributions 

from researchers within AOSP and 

the Aeromechanics Office at NASA 

Ames, was also recognized with the 

Franklin Award for Outstanding 

Contribution to the Powered-Lift 

Field by the San Francisco Bay Area 

Chapter of AHS International. The 

award citation read: “For successful planning and execution of the 

first wind tunnel test performed 

to acquire experimental data for 

performance and acoustics of five 

multicopter unmanned aircraft 

systems in the the U.S. Army’s 

7-Foot by 10-Foot Wind Tunnel.” 

UTM Wind Tunnel Test Team.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Headquarters

300 E. Street, SW

Washington, DC 20024

www.nasa.gov/aeroresearch

www.nasa.gov