National Aeronautics and Space Administration

www.nasa.gov

AOSP Newsletter

Airspace Operations and Safety Program (AOSP)

JUL–SEP 2015 | Quarter 4

NASA Participates in 

UTM Convention

NRA First Year Review

4

14
2 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4

AOSP IN THE NEWS

NASA Tech Transfer 

Helps the FAA Improve 

Air Traffic Efficiency

In the June 30 issue of NextGov

Hallie Golden reports that when 

NASA handed over Terminal 

Sequencing and Spacing (TSAS) 

software to the Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), it was the 

fourth time NASA helped the 

agency improve its air traffic 

efficiency. By better controlling 

spaces between planes, the software 

should allow aircraft to follow 

fuel-efficient, continuous-descent 

arrival procedures while passing 

through airspace surrounding an 

airport. Ms. Golden notes that the 

FAA “plans to deploy TSAS between 

2018 and 2022 in nine key airports, 

including those in Atlanta, Seattle, 

San Francisco and Las Vegas.”

NASA to Test UAV Air 

Traffic Control System

On August 10, the Associated Press

reported that a project managed by 

NASA Ames Research Center will 

have 12 groups test unmanned aerial 

vehicle (UAV) software at the agency’s 

Crows Landing Airport as part of 

testing “an air traffic control system 

for drones.” Richard Kelley, chief 

engineer at the University of NevadaReno’s (UNR) Nevada Advanced 

Autonomous Systems Innovation 

Center, said the goals would be “to 

create a system the Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA) can use to 

monitor fast-flying manned and 

unmanned aircraft that operate at 

altitudes of 500 feet and below.”

The Las Vegas Sun reported that 

UNR researchers, who wrote 

software that allows its test drone to 

communicate with NASA’s system, 

will run their test with Flirtey, a 

company that conducted the first 

FAA-approved delivery via drone 

in July, and Drone America, a 

Reno-based firm that operates and 

manufactures unmanned aircraft 

hardware.

NASA Sleep Research 

Shows Benefits of Naps 

Eric Barker wrote at TIME on 

July 1 about sleep, citing NASA 

research finding that “pilots who 

take a 25 minute nap in the cockpit 

– hopefully with a co-pilot taking 

over the controls – are subsequently 

35% more alert, and twice as 

focused, than their non-napping 

colleagues.” He sums up the 

findings: “NASA found that naps 

made you smarter — even in the 

absence of a good night’s sleep.”
AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4 3

AOSP IN THE NEWS

Alaska Airlines, Virgin America 

Benefit From NASA Software

In an article published by 

Aviation Week, writer John Croft 

reported that Alaska Airlines and 

Virgin America will be the first two 

commercial carriers that will use 

“a new generation of empowered 

airline employees flying increasingly 

connected aircraft.” These airlines will 

utilize “a NASA-built software engine 

that constantly searches for a more 

fuel-efficient or quicker route anytime 

the aircraft is above 10,000 feet.”

NASA, UK Discuss UAV Traffic 

Management System

An article written on September 

16 by Madhumita Murgia in the 

Telegraph newspaper noted that 

that the United Kingdom (UK) 

and NASA are now in talks for 

developing an unmanned aerial 

vehicle (UAV) traffic management 

system. Lord Ahmad Tariq, the 

UK’s Under Secretary of State 

for Transport, said that he hopes 

the discussion “will lead to a UK 

involvement in the development of 

that system and the participation of 

UK industry in future trials to test 

the robustness of the technology.” 

Murgia wrote that the move is being 

spurred on by “widespread anxiety 

about the possibility of a mid-air 

collision between small drones and 

commercial aircraft.

North Dakota Helps 

NASA Develop UTM

The Bismarck (N.D.) Tribune

reported on September 18 in an 

article written by Jessica Holdman 

that NASA has given the North 

Dakota Department of Commerce 

a contract to help develop its 

unmanned aerial systems (UAS) 

traffic management system (UTM). 

Gov. Jack Dalrymple said in a 

statement that the NASA contract “is 

more confirmation that our ongoing 

work to establish North Dakota as 

a national hub for UAS research, 

development and commercialization 

is gaining more traction every day.” 

Other local partners for the project 

test include Sensurion Aerospace, 

Altavian and Botlink, all of which 

will provide corporate feedback.

The Associated Press also covered 

the story.
4 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

NASA Participates in 

UTM Convention

POCs: JOEY RIOS AND MARCUS JOHNSON

On July 28-30, NASA and the 

Silicon Valley Chapter of the 

Association of Unmanned Vehicle 

Systems International (AUVSI) 

partnered in cosponsoring the 

2015 UTM Convention: A New 

Era in Aviation, at NASA Ames 

Research Center. About 1,000 

people registered and participated in 

the event, including representatives 

from the unmanned aerial system 

(UAS) community, agriculture, film 

and other industries, conventional 

aviation, government and academia. 

Topics at the convention included 

discussions of the latest developments in UAS technology, solutions for privacy concerns and issues, 

safety and security, and the future 

impact of low-altitude flight on the 

emerging business sector, as well as 

indoor and outdoor flight demos of 

UAS applications. 

Keynote speakers included NASA 

Associate Administrator for Aeronautics Dr. Jaiwon Shin; the Federal 

Aviation Administration’s Assistant 

Administrator for the Next Generation Air Transportation System 

Ed Bolton; Gur Kimchi of Amazon 

Prime; and Dave Vos from Google’s 

Project Wing initiative. 

The three-day gathering brought 

together a broad international and 

U.S. audience of government and 

civilian representatives, including 

leaders from industry and academia, 

In this image, an unmanned aircraft system is operated in Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard, California 

during Coastal Trident 2015 field experimentation and exercise activities. The exercises included a 

demonstration of UTM concepts. Image credit: NASA

to discuss, understand and define 

UAS impacts and the challenges 

ahead. Highlights from the UTM 

Convention are listed in the following 

NASA social media links listed below. 

#UTM2015

Twitter: @NASAAmes and 

@NASAAero

Facebook: NASA Ames 

Research Center

Instagram: @nasaames

NASA LANGLEY HOSTS ATD-1 

AVIONICS PHASE 2 KICKOFF 

ACTIVITIES

POC: SHERI BROWN

In a meeting held July 16-17, 

NASA Langley Research Center 

kicked off activities related 

to the $10.9 million, two-year 

Boeing Company contract award 

entitled “Air Traffic Management 

Technology Demonstration-1 

(ATD-1) Avionics Phase 2.” 

ATD-1 is a major applied research 

and development activity of NASA’s 

Airspace Operations and Safety 

Program (AOSP), and the first of a 

series of subprojects advancing the 

technology readiness level of innovative NASA technologies through 

system-level demonstrations in 

relevant environments. A primary 

goal of ATD-1 is to operationally 

demonstrate an integrated set of 

NASA arrival management technologies for planning and executing efficient arrival operations in the 

terminal environment of a high-
AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4 5

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

density airport. These technologies 

are intended to assist flight crews, 

controllers, and air traffic managers 

with meeting the Next Generation 

Air Transportation System objective 

of increased fuel efficiency during 

periods of high runway throughput. 

NASA Langley researchers developed 

the Airborne Spacing for Terminal 

Arrival Routes (ASTAR) algorithms 

for trajectory-based control law for 

time-based spacing of Flight Deck 

Interval Management (FIM) operations. The Avionics Phase 2 task 

leverages Phase 1-identified 

solutions for equipping existing 

in-service aircraft with FIM equipment, an airborne spacing tool 

leveraging technology under 

development at NASA, for a fiscal year 2017 second quarter flight 

test demonstration. The Avionics Phase 2 team is comprised of 

organizations and individuals from 

each organization that are recognized leaders in the community. 

The Boeing Company, in partnership with Honeywell and United 

Airlines will build, test, and fly the 

ATD-1 avionics prototype FIM 

system, which NASA plans for 

technology transfer to the Federal 

Aviation Administration (FAA). 

Day 1 of the meeting was attended 

by 37 individuals (including seven 

remote participants) including project leadership, engineers, researchers, and key stakeholders from the 

ATD project, the ATD-1 subproject, NASA Langley’s Aeronautics 

Research Directorate, the FAA, 

Boeing, Honeywell and United 

Airlines. The Boeing team provided 

a presentation facilitating the review 

and discussion of the project objectives, approach (i.e., project schedule, milestones, deliverables), and 

the desired outcomes and tangible 

products. All agreed the discussion was fruitful and informative. 

Day 2 of the meeting included a 

half day of briefings provided by the 

ATD-1 project team presenting a 

historical overview of the project, 

the current state of ASTAR technology, and an introduction to an 

ongoing experiment followed by 

a demonstration in the Air Traffic 

Operations Laboratory (ATOL). The 

demonstration included an experiment scenario used for training 

pilots on FIM operations. Permitting Boeing team members to fly 

simulated aircraft and to manipulate 

displays. Questions were addressed 

in real-time by onsite research pilots. 

As seating was limited, one of the 

aircraft displays was enlarged in the 

ATOL briefing room for another 

onsite research pilot to talk through 

and answer questions. A playback 

of a previously recorded experiment 

scenario was displayed in the briefing 

room for the team to observe a fully 

staffed scenario with trained controllers and pilots for a better sense of 

the density and complexity of FIM 

operations, as well as an opportunity 

to observe the controller stations. 

On Sept. 24, NASA Langley hosted 

a preliminary design review. At the 

meeting, the Boeing team provided 

a presentation that reviewed and 

discussed aircraft selection, proposed modifications, system architecture, including hardware and 

software approaches, and installation requirements. Presentation 

topics include assumptions, requirements, trades, interfaces, a detailed 

design plan, hardware locations, 

preliminary verification and validation plans, schedule and margins, 

and risks and mitigation plans. 

The meeting was attended by a 

total of 37 individuals (11 remotely 

representing leadership, engineers, 

researchers, and key stakeholders 

from the ATD project, the ATD-1 

subproject, Langley’s Aeronautics 

Research Directorate, and the 

FAA. All review board members 

agreed the technical discussion 

was fruitful and informative. The 

ATD-1 Sub-project manager noted 

that the presentation exceeded the 

statement of work requirements. 

Denise Scearce is the ATD-1 

Avionics Lead and Technical Point 

of Contact for the Phase 2 task.

NASA-FAA ATD-2 

COLLABORATION COMMENCES

POCs: SHAWN ENGELLAND, PAUL BORCHERS AND 

RICHARD COPPENBARGER

On July 16, researchers from NASA 

Ames Research Center and several 

stakeholder organizations joined the 

Federal Aviation Administration’s 
6 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

(FAA) Assistant Administrator 

for the Next Generation Air 

Transportation System (NextGen) 

Ed Bolton to kick off collaboration 

on the Airspace Technology 

Demonstration-2 (ATD-2) departure metering initiative in North 

Carolina at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT). Improving 

airport surface operations is a high 

priority for the FAA, and NASA’s 

ATD-2 project is seen as a critical 

activity for addressing the NextGen Integration Working Group 

(NIWG) stakeholder recommendations for surface improvements. 

The ATD-2 efforts will increase 

aircraft arrival, departure and 

surface movement predictability 

and efficiency in metroplex traffic 

environments by integrating evolving collaborative decision making 

(CDM) capabilities with stateof-the-art air traffic management 

scheduling technologies. These 

include NASA’s Spot and Runway 

Departure Advisor (SARDA) and 

Precision Departure Release Capability (PDRC), as well as leveraging 

FAA and industry technologies. 

ATD-2 will also enable more effective CDM through enhanced 

two-way sharing of prediction 

and scheduling information. 

CLT will serve as the test site for 

the initial ATD-2 demonstration 

of a NextGen departure metering 

capability consistent with the FAA’s 

surface CDM concept of operations. 

NASA participants at the kickoff 

meeting included Ms. Huy Tran, 

the NASA Ames acting director of 

aeronautics, and Leighton Quon 

and Shawn Engelland, key project 

leads from NASA’s Airspace Operations and Safety Program (AOSP) 

and ATD-2 subproject. Stakeholder 

representatives included leadership 

from American Airlines, Charlotte 

Airport, the FAA’s NextGen Office, 

the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), and 

local, regional, and national FAA 

offices, who expressed enthusiasm 

and support of the proposed activities iterated at the kickoff meeting. 

A follow-on meeting occurred 

at CLT on Aug. 18 –19. Its 

objectives were threefold: 

• To familiarize FAA and airline 

stakeholders with the ATD-2 

concept and technology;

• To connect the NASA research 

team with subject-matter experts 

in preparation for smaller but 

more frequent technical interchanges; and 

• To allow the NASA team to 

directly observe ramp, tower, and 

Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) operations to 

prepare for the planned ATD-2 

demonstration in 2017. 

Attendees again included representatives included American Airlines, 

local and regional FAA personnel, 

NATCA, CLT, FAA and NASA. 

Subject-matter experts presented 

briefings on airport and airspace 

operations and the FAA led tours 

of the CLT Tower and TRACON. 

The NASA team observed simulations of FAA procedures training 

for managing converging runway NASA researchers discuss the Ramp Traffic Console (RTC) component of the ATD-2 integrated system with 

field demonstration partners in the NTX laboratory. Image credit: NASA
AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4 7

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

operations and upcoming changes 

to departure routes and also visited the American Airlines ramp 

tower. The visit provided the team 

with a deeper understanding of the 

techniques used to manage traffic 

volume and stage aircraft movement, and specifically the interaction of arrivals and departures due 

to gate and ramp constraints, the 

management of runway crossing 

operations, and the dependency 

of departures on arrivals during 

converging runway operations. 

During and after the summit, 

FAA and airline representatives 

expressed their appreciation for 

the overall technical interchange, 

the strong team that NASA has 

assembled to support ATD-2, 

and the efforts by the NASA 

team in preparing briefings and 

conducting working sessions. 

A subsequent meeting was held Sept. 

16-17, 2015, at the NASA North 

Texas Research Station (NTX) in 

Fort Worth, Texas. At this meeting NASA Ames personnel again 

met with key stakeholders from 

American Airlines, NATCA and 

CLT. The purpose of this meeting was to review ATD-2 objectives 

and discuss software harmonization 

efforts and operational considerations for the upcoming tests. 

The group also observed PDRC 

displays in operational use in 

Fort Worth En Route Center 

to gain a greater appreciation of 

NASA’s existing NTX efforts.

VVAP II VMS EXPERIMENT 

COMPLETED

POC: SCOTT REARDON

Because pilot loss of control is 

the leading cause of jet casualties 

worldwide, the U.S. Congress has 

mandated that aircrews be trained 

in stall and upset recovery, which 

airlines use motion-based simulators 

to accomplish. However, simulator motion-cueing systems must be 

configured to provide the best stall 

and recovery training. 

Conducted at NASA Ames Research 

Center’s Vertical Motion Simulator 

(VMS) July 20 through September 

11, and sponsored by the Technologies for Airplane State Awareness 

element of NASA’s Technologies for 

Airspace Technology Demonstration 

Project, the Visual-Vestibular Active 

Psychophysics II (VVAP II) experiment was the second in a series of 

studies aimed at developing cueing 

requirements for full stall-recognition and recovery training. 

The experiment’s goal was to 

develop a model of the pilot’s combined motion and visual perception 

dynamics in the pitch/longitudinal 

and heave axes. The model could 

then be used to configure simulator 

motion cueing systems for stall and 

recovery training. VVAP II consisted 

of a simple pitch-tracking task using 

an aircraft math model near stall. 

The pilot was asked to try to keep 

the aircraft level while a sum-of-sines 

disturbance was introduced in the 

pitch axis. The pilot would then 

Simplified primary flight display.
8 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

track the disturbance in a simple 

primary flight display. 

Approximately 15 general aviation 

pilots participated in the experiment and were asked to first train 

for the task with limited or no 

motion, and then perform the 

task with full motion in the pitch, 

longitudinal and heave axes. Measurements of simulator visual and 

motion stimuli and pilot control 

inputs will be used to estimate the 

parameters of the pilot model. Data 

analysis is currently underway.

DLR COLLABORATION 

WORKSHOP

POC: YOON JUNG

Researchers from NASA Ames 

Research Center and the German 

Aerospace Center (DLR) in 

Braunschweig, Germany participated in a two-day workshop held 

at NASA Langley Research Center 

in Hampton, Va. on July 21-22 to 

discuss research progress related to 

surface management and future 

collaborations as defined in the 

collaborative research agreement 

between the two organizations. 

Research progress made through 

the collaboration for the past year 

included development of a harmonized concept of 4D surface taxi, and 

modeling and simulation of airport 

surface traffic management using surface optimization techniques developed by each organization. 

Discussions on future collaboration 

in the surface management subtopic 

centered on:

• Development of common 

performance metrics; 

• Joint development of a gate 

turn-around model to be integrated into existing simulations; 

• Integration of DLR’s taxi 

optimization modules into 

NASA’s fast-time simulation 

environment; and 

• Integration of DLR’s surface 

management tool with 

NASA’s Next Generation Air 

Transportation System flightdeck taxi simulation. 

IMAC PILOT DATA 

COLLECTION COMPLETED

POC: SHERI BROWN

From July 27-Aug. 14, NASA Langley Research Center personnel supported piloted data collection for the 

Interval Management Alternative 

Clearances (IMAC) project. Three 

two-member crews flew a Boeing 

757-200 model in the NASA Langley Development and Test Simulator 

(DTS), and three two-member crews 

flew the new Boeing 737-800 model 

in the Integration Flight Deck (IFD). 

The IFD includes all new flight deck 

hardware, and was used with full 

motion operations in the Langley 

Cockpit Motion Facility. 

A new digital oculometer system 

known as SmartEye, as well as a 

new tool for Multimodal Analysis of 

Psychophysiological and Performance 

Signals software were integrated and 

used during data collection. Both the 

IFD and DTS included a custom 

interface for electronic flight bags 

to provide operational functionality 

with the Airborne Spacing for Terminal Arrival Routes 13 algorithm for 

interval management. The cockpits 

were used in conjunction with the Air 

Traffic Operations Laboratory in a 

distributed simulation that included 

both pilots and air traffic controllers 

as research subjects. 

FAA SMART-NAS TECHNICAL 

INTERCHANGE MEETING

POC: KEE PALOPO

The NASA Shadow Mode Assessment Using Realistic Technologies 

for the National Airspace System 

(SMART-NAS) Test Bed (SNTB) 

team met in July with the Next Generation Air Transportation System 

(NextGen) Integration and Evaluation Capability (NIEC)/Verification 

And Validation (V&V) Facility Team 

led by Mr. John Frederick of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) 

William J. Hughes Technical Center 

to discuss a potential collaboration. 

NASA presented the SNTB five-year 

plan to build a test bed infrastructure and to operate as a distributed 

environment in a virtual location, and 

the FAA presented their test capability needs and vision. The meetings 

also included tours and demonstrations of the FAA’s NIEC facility and 
AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4 9

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

capabilities, as well as an opportunity to discuss lessons learned in the 

FAA’s experience with their System of 

Systems Assessment Platform Project, 

and to discuss SMART-NAS integration connectivity needs. A number of 

action items resulted, including plans 

to jointly collaborate on a V&V event 

using the SNTB to validate an FAA 

NextGen objective. 

UTM BUILD 1 DEMONSTRATION 

COMPLETED

POCs: JOEY RIOS AND MARCUS JOHNSON

The NASA Unmanned Aerial 

System (UAS) Traffic Management 

(UTM) project successfully kicked 

off its Build 1 Demonstration this 

past quarter. In preparation for 

the build, a flight test shakeout 

was completed at Crows Landing, 

Calif. Aug. 10-12. Crews from the 

NASA Ames Research Facility UTM 

flight demonstration team and a 

team from NASA Langley Research 

Center each flew several UAS flights 

while interacting with the prototype 

UTM System. The shakeout enabled 

the NASA team to finalize the test 

procedures, data collection, and software development in preparation for 

a larger-scale demonstration. 

Following the successful shakedown, 

the team completed its Build 1 

Demonstration Aug. 24- Sept. 2. 

Among the industry, academic and 

government partners involved in the 

effort were Exelis, Gryphon Sensors, San Jose State University, the 

100-foot-tall meteorological tower with real-time 

weather sensors

University of Nevada-Reno, Airware, 

SkySpecs, Unmanned Experts, Precision Hawk, Ne3rd, Harris, Verizon, 

and the Lone Star UAS Center. 

There were several objectives to the 

flight test, including the demonstration of UTM capabilities and procedures, navigation performance, and 

aircraft tracking. Data were collected 

on noise signatures and observations 

for weather models. Analysis of the 

results is underway to help design 

future UTM flight tests. 

JAXA Official Visits NASA 

Ames

POC: DR. BANAVAR SRIDHAR

Helicopter Section Leader 

Dr. Hirokazu Ishii of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) 

Aeronautical Technology Directorate 

visited NASA Ames Research Center 

on Aug. 13. NASA and JAXA have a 

five-year agreement extending to 2019 

to explore areas of mutual interest in 

air traffic management. As part of the 

pact, NASA will assess JAXA’s noisemodeling capability and its possible 

use in development of efficient terminal area arrival and departure trajectories with minimal noise impact. 

Dr. Ishii met with NASA personnel 

Dr. Banavar Sridhar, Dr. Shon Grabbe 

and Ms. Sandy Lozito to discuss the 

differences between Federal Aviation Administration and JAXA noise 

models. NASA presented simplified 

noise models for use in the development of efficient aircraft arrival trajectories with minimal noise impact. 

Preliminary discussions were also 

held on the collection and distribution of common scenarios at the 

Baltimore-Washington International 

Airport in Maryland for comparative 

evaluation of different noise models. 

UTM field test site viewer.

The UTM field site at Crows Landing.
10 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

TASAR Briefing to CNS Task 

Force

POC: DAVID WING

On Aug. 18, David Wing, project lead for NASA’s Traffic Aware 

Strategic Aircrew Requests (TASAR) 

research and development activity 

briefed the Communication Navigation Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) Task Force on 

the TASAR project. The CNS/ATM 

Task Force is an aviation industry 

forum of airlines, aerospace system 

manufacturers, and government representatives that meets quarterly to 

review and promote advancements 

in the state of aviation technologies, 

procedures, and operations in the 

national airspace system.

Sponsored by the Airspace Technology Demonstration (ATD) Project 

within NASA’s Airspace Operations 

and Safety Program, TASAR brings 

advanced flight optimization capability to the cockpit via a NASAdeveloped software application 

installed on an electronic flight bag, 

with connectivity to onboard avionics and external data sources such as 

winds, weather, airspace restrictions 

and nearby aircraft traffic. 

More than 150 attendees participated in the August 2015 meeting 

held at a Boeing facility in Seattle, 

Wash. Mr. Wing’s briefing detailed 

TASAR’s status, highlighting recent 

accomplishments, including the 

completion of a second flight trial 

in June; emerging partnerships with 

Virgin America and Alaska Airlines 

for upcoming operational testing; 

and the interest in commercialization by connectivity providers Rockwell Collins and Gogo Inc. 

Virgin America Flight Technical 

Manager Capt. Paul Harrison joined 

Mr. Wing in the briefing, providing 

the airline’s perspective of TASAR 

as the next step in enhancing 

Boeing’s existing Direct Routes 

service. The briefing sparked interest 

by two organizations – Boeing and 

GE Aviation – and concluded with 

additional discussions and a technology demonstration of TASAR on a 

mobile platform. 

Boeing requested a follow-up meeting at NASA Langley Research 

Center in Hampton, Va. to further 

discuss TASAR and Boeing’s Direct 

Routes service.

ATD-1 Presentations to A4A/

FAA CNS TF

POC: WILL JOHNSON

On Aug. 19, William Johnson, deputy lead for the Air Traffic Management Technology Demonstration-1 

(ATD-1) delivered a presentation 

to the Airlines for America (A4A) 

Communications, Navigation and 

Surveillance Task Force (CNSTF) 

held at a Boeing Company facility 

in Renton, Wash. The CNS TF is 

comprised of members from airlines, 

manufacturers, systems integrators, 

the Federal Aviation Administration 

(FAA) and NASA. 

Mr. Johnson, a CNSTF member, 

presented the history and status of 

prototyping new automation systems for the ATD-1 subproject. 

The systems included in the presentation were the flight deck interval 

management (FIM) airborne spacing system developed at NASA 

Langley Research Center, and the 

Traffic Management Advisor – 

Terminal Metering (TMA-TM) 

ground automation scheduler system and the Controller Managed 

Spacing (CMS) ground automation tools, both developed at NASA 

Ames Research Center. Together, 

these prototypes are being developed by ATD-1 and industry partners to accelerate the adoption of 

new arrival management capabilities 

for NextGen, the Next Generation 

Air Transportation System. 

The ATD-1 Avionics Prototype and 

Flight Test team, comprised of the 

Boeing Company, Honeywell, and 

United Airlines, was unveiled during the presentation. The United 

Airlines project manager was also in 

attendance at the event. Comments 

received were very positive, and 

plans are being made for follow-on 

reports to future gatherings of the 

commercial aviation stakeholder 

community. 
AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4 11

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

NASA Attends BADA Meeting

POC: ALAN LEE

The 41-member European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation’s (Eurocontrol) Base of Aircraft 

Data (BADA) is a collection of 

aircraft performance models (APMs) 

used to generate aircraft trajectories. 

BADA is the standard for APMs 

used in air traffic management 

research. The BADA User Group 

Meeting has traditionally been 

hosted by Eurocontrol, in France, 

but was held for the first time in 

the United States on Sept. 9-10 in 

Washington, D.C., hosted by the 

Federal Aviation Administration 

and the Boeing Company. 

The meeting was attended by 60-plus 

government and corporate participants, with more than 50% from nonU.S. organizations. NASA Airspace 

Operations and Safety Program personnel were also present at the meeting, which included presentations on 

research and applications of BADA, 

as well as future additions to BADA 

with unmanned aerial vehicle models 

for the Global Hawk and Predator, a 

standalone trajectory calculator, and a 

dedicated helicopter model. 

FAA P3 Meeting on Departure 

Metering

POC: RICH COPPENBARGER

Researchers from NASA’s Air Traffic Management (ATM) Technology Demonstration-2 (ATD-2) 

subproject met with representatives 

from the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Surface Efficiency 

Office (SEO) on Sept. 16-17 at 

NASA Ames Research Center to 

gain insight into processes, procedures and policy (P3) relevant to the 

project. The FAA launched the P3 

initiative to collaborate with airlines 

and airport authorities on issues 

pertaining to departure metering 

automation. Such issues include the 

provision of pushback intent data 

by airlines and potential conflicts of 

interest between metering holds at 

the gate and existing on-time performance metrics reported to the 

Department of Transportation. 

FAA representatives expressed their 

view that neither NASA nor the FAA 

should attempt to directly influence reportable on-time metrics to 

accommodate new concepts such 

as ATD-2. The FAA also stressed 

the importance of monitoring the 

accuracy of airline pushback intent 

data to prevent gaming of the system 

for competitive advantage. There was 

general agreement by all participants 

on the importance of data collection 

and benefits analysis from simulations and field activities to allow a 

data-driven approach to decisions 

affecting technology deployment, 

stakeholder participation, and the 

future regulatory environment. 

Ms. Pat Bynum, SEO senior advisor, 

led the FAA’s participation at the 

meeting. 

FedEx Team Visits NASA Ames

POCs: JOHN ROBINSON, DAVE McNALLY, 

KAPIL SHEITH

Members of the Federal Express 

(FedEx) Air Traffic Operations, 

Flight Technical, and Global Operations Control organizations visited 

NASA Ames Research Center on 

Sept. 17. FedEx personnel Mr. Dan 

Allen, Mr. Josh Kendrick and Mr. 

Paul Tronsor were briefed on NASA’s 

Airspace Technology Demonstration 

(ATD) projects. The three attended 

presentations on the Terminal 

Sequencing and Spacing (TSAS), 

Dynamic Weather Routes (DWR) 

and the National Airspace System 

(NAS) Constraint Evaluation and 

Notification (NASCENT) tools, the 

last of which is a NAS-based implementation of the DWR concept. 

The FedEx team expressed their 

enthusiasm and appreciation for the 

briefings, noting potential benefits for 

TSAS operations at the FedEx Memphis Center, and also expressed interest in operational testing of DWR 

enhancements at the FedEx Global 

Operations Control Center. The trio 

saw value in exploring NASCENT’s 

capabilities to evaluate reroute opportunities across the NAS. 

NASA Ames researchers gained 

insight into potential for collaboration with FedEx, especially given 

FedEx’s leadership in adopting and 

implementing airborne data communications across their airfleet. 
12 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

University Collaborations 

Support UTM

POC: BASSAM MUSAFFAR

On Sept. 22, Dr. Claire Tomlin 

from UC Berkeley and Professor 

Dr. Mykel Kochenderfer from 

Stanford University updated Airspace 

Operations and Safety Program 

researchers and members of the 

University Affiliated Research Center 

staff on their separation-assurance 

work supporting the Unmanned 

Aerial Systems (UAS) Traffic 

Management (UTM) subproject. 

For real-time application in a distributed system for conflict avoidance, 

the Stanford team implemented 

three variants of a coordinationbased conflict resolution algorithm 

with solution times in the milliseconds. The UC Berkeley team devised 

an algorithm for the safe platooning of unmanned aerial vehicles via 

reachability sets. 

Both professors were slated to visit 

NASA Ames Research Center ARC 

on Oct. 1 to conduct discussions 

with researchers from the Human 

Systems Integration Division Airspace Operations Laboratory about 

integrating these algorithms into 

UTM tools being developed and 

used at NASA Ames. 

AOSP Researchers Host FAA 

Visitors

POC: SANDY LOZITO

On Sept. 22, Airspace Operations 

and Safety Program (AOSP) researchers hosted Mr. Stephen Merlin and 

Mr. Chris Dorbian from the Federal 

Aviation Administration’s (FAA) 

Environmental Policy and Operations 

Division and the Office of Environment and Energy, respectively. The 

FAA visitors were given overviews 

and tours of several of AOSP’s technologies and facilities, including a 

demonstration of its airport surface 

research at FutureFlight Central. Also 

presented were briefings concerning 

Terminal Sequencing and Spacing 

research, Dynamic Weather Routing 

research, Unmanned Aerial Systems 

in the National Airspace System 

activities, and air traffic management 

environmental research led by the 

NASA Ames Senior Scientist for 

Air Transportation Research 

Dr. Banavar Sridhar. 

The FAA visitors, who also presented 

their work in the FAA Environment 

Office, were appreciative of the 

discussions and demonstrations, 

and hopeful for future collaboration 

opportunities.

NRA First-Year Review of 

Cloud-Based ATM

POC: WILLIAM N. CHAN

On Sept. 22 a Mosaic ATM/Harris 

Corporation team presented a review 

of their NASA Research Announcement (NRA) first year’s work, as well 

as second-year plans to accelerate 

development of cloud computingbased air traffic management. 

Research staff from both NASA 

Ames and NASA Langley Research 

Centers attended the review. 

During the first year, the teams 

focused on three main activities:

• Identification of the general 

challenges that confront national 

airspace system modernization;

• A survey of case studies of how 

cloud computing has been 

successfully adopted in other 

industries; and 

• Identification and evaluation 

of five candidate ATM cloudenhanced business model 

concepts, including their 

potential costs and benefits. 

For the second-year effort, the team 

will select, in consultation with 

NASA, one or more of the following concepts for eventual prototype 

development: data warehouses, electronic flight bags, simulation tools, 

and traffic flow management services. 
AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4 13

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

Airline Will Use NASA Cockpit 

Software

POC: DAVID WING

NASA Langley Research Center has 

signed Space Act Agreements with 

Virgin America and Alaska Airlines 

to test NASA’s cockpit technology for 

the Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew 

Requests (TASAR) software on commercial flights. TASAR constituents 

include the Traffic Aware Planner 

(TAP) software application that runs 

on an electronic flight bag and connects to aircraft avionics for aircraft 

state and flight plan information; the 

Automatic Dependent Surveillance 

Broadcast (ADS-B) application for 

traffic data; and broadband Internet for external sources of winds, 

weather and airspace data. Using 

this information, TAP monitors for 

flight-optimization opportunities in 

the form of lateral route changes and/

or altitude changes that the aircrew 

can request of air traffic control, 

modifications that would save flight 

time and/or fuel burn while avoiding 

known conflicts. 

In addition to developing the TAP 

software, the TASAR team has 

conducted two simulation experiments and two flight trials with 

airline pilots to prepare for upcoming operational deployments. The 

TASAR team has also estimated 

potential benefits and evaluated the 

safety, certification, and operational 

approval requirements. Planning for 

the operational trials with Alaska 

Airlines is getting underway with a 

technical kickoff meeting at their 

Flight Operations Training Center 

in Seattle, Wash. on Sept. 22-23, 

with the first TASAR flights on 

Boeing 737-900ER aircraft expected 

in spring 2016. Virgin America trials 

on their Airbus A320 aircraft will 

follow, likely starting in the summer 

2016. David Wing is the technical 

lead for the TASAR activity.

TASAR Partnership with 

Alaska Airlines Launches 

Kickoff Meeting

POC: DAVID WING

The Space Act Agreement between 

NASA and Alaska Airlines on the 

Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew 

Requests (TASAR) project was formally initiated with a technical kickoff meeting held at the Alaska Airlines 

Flight Operations Training Center 

in Seattle, Wash. on Sept. 22-23. 

TASAR features Traffic Aware Planner 

(TAP) cockpit software that monitors 

flight-optimization opportunities in 

the form of lateral route changes and/

or altitude changes – de-conflicted 

from known traffic, weather, and 

restricted airspace – that the aircrew 

can request of air traffic control to 

save flight time and/or fuel burn. 

David Wing, TASAR technology 

lead, was accompanied at the meeting by NASA personnel Dr. Kelly 

Burke and Jim Fay, and Engility 

Corporation representatives 

Bob Vivona, Sharon Woods, and 

Dr. Jeff Henderson. Approximately 

15 Alaska Airlines attendees represented departments of flight operations, performance, engineering, 

training, dispatch and compliance. 

Several Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) compliance inspectors 

attended, as did representatives from 

vendors United Technologies Aeronautical Systems (UTAS) and Gogo 

Inflight. UTAS and Gogo supply the 

hardware and connectivity envisioned for the TAP software’s installation on Alaska Airlines aircraft. 

Over the course of the two-day 

meeting, attendees converged on a 

breadth of detailed technical topics 

critical for charting the implementation of TAP on an initial fleet of 

three Alaska Airlines B737-900ER 

aircraft in early/mid 2016:

• Hardware/software architecture 

alternatives were identified and 

prioritized; 

• A sample computer-based trainer 

module was successfully testdeployed on Alaska’s Learning 

Management System; 

• TAP software installation and 

data retrieval procedures were 

defined; 

• Weather data source alternatives 

were reviewed; 

• Dispatch coordination needs and 

approaches were discussed; and

• Hardware/software testing objectives were identified and initial 

plans established for a phased 

deployment. 
14 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

A high-level target schedule was proposed and will be adjusted as information is gathered on pacing items 

such as wiring-installation certification, FAA compliance requirements, 

aircraft installation availability, and 

software readiness. The successful meeting generated interest and 

momentum that will be leveraged 

to move forward on simultaneous 

fronts toward achieving operational 

testing of TASAR on Alaska Airlines 

flights over the next two years. 

ORC Workshop Held 

at NASA Ames

POC: SHANNON ZELINSKI

On Sept. 23-24, at NASA Ames 

Research Center, Airspace Operations 

and Safety Program (AOSP) 

researchers hosted visitors from the 

Federal Aviation Administration’s 

(FAA) William J. Hughes Technical 

Center (WJHTC) to coordinate 

efforts leading up to the completion 

of the first phase of optimized route 

capability (ORC) development. 

ORC is an FAA/NASA collaboration 

developing traffic management 

unit decision support for intelligent 

arrival meter fix offloading. 

At many airports, including 

Houston Intercontinental, the arrival 

gates or meter fixes serve as the 

major bottlenecks for arrival traffic, 

rather than the runways. 

NASA is developing an algorithm to 

identify projected periods of meter 

fix overload and suggest individual 

flight reroutes to alternate meter 

fixes. The algorithm monitors estimated time-based flow management 

arrival scheduling delay at meter 

fixes on a large planning horizon: 

up to two hours from the meter fix. 

Excessive estimated delay triggers 

the algorithm to search for suitable 

flights (both airborne and pre-departure) to reroute to an alternate meter 

fix at minimal cost. In most cases 

the reroute is expected to reduce 

the meter fix delay with minimal 

increase to flight distance. 

NASA is evaluating ORC’s potential inclusion in AOSP’s Air Traffic 

Management Technology Demonstration-3 subproject. During 

the workshop, the FAA and NASA 

discussed how they might jointly 

collaborate moving forward, and 

specifically the baseline evaluation 

scheduled for completion in 

March 2016. 

NASA Ames Hosts Second 

S-CDM TIM

POC: MICHELLE ESHOW

On Sept. 22-23, as part of the 

Airspace Operations and Safety 

Program’s Air Traffic Management 

Technology Demonstration-2 

(ATD-2) subproject, NASA Ames 

Research Center hosted the second 

Technical Interchange Meeting on 

the Federal Aviation Administration’s 

(FAA) Surface Collaborative Decision 

Making (S-CDM) prototype software 

system. A team of six engineers from 

Metron Aviation provided in-depth 

briefings on the prototype departure 

metering system they developed to 

support the FAA’s S-CDM concept 

engineering effort. 

The FAA and NASA are collaborating 

to demonstrate departure metering 

consistent with the S-CDM concept 

of operations as part of the larger 

ATD-2 demonstration at CharlotteDouglas International Airport in 

North Carolina. Managers from 

Volpe and the FAA joined more than 

25 NASA and contractor personnel 

working on ATD-2, and were briefed 

on the S-CDM concept, software 

design, and current software status. 

By the end of the second day, the 

ARC team successfully built and ran 

the S-CDM software in the NASA 

Ames Air Traffic Management Verification and Validation Laboratory, 

natively in the NASA Ames environment. This capability will now 

enable the ATD-2 team to execute 

simulation scenarios, interact with 

the software, and modify the source 

code for ATD-2 needs. Further collaboration with Metron is expected.

NRA First-Year Review

POC: TODD LAUDERDALE

On September 25, researchers from 

Optimal Synthesis Inc. and Purdue 

University presented their progress 

in the first year of a three-year NASA 

Research Announcement (NRA) 
AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4 15

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

designed to identify and classify 

controller intervention in historical aircraft track data. Starting with 

simulated track data, the team was 

able to identify when aircraft were 

maneuvered by a conflict resolution 

system and to identify the type of 

resolution executed. The research 

will now turn to identifying maneuver in real aircraft track data, and 

these identified maneuvers will 

provide a dataset to iterate situationbased behaviors of controllers. 

The goal of the research is to inform 

development of advanced controller tools for conflict resolution such 

that, wherever possible, the tools 

suggest resolutions that conform to a 

controller’s general preferences. 

NASA/CAST AHPLS Training

POC: SHERI BROWN

NASA is leading research chartered 

by the Commercial Aviation Safety 

Team (CAST) to develop and assess 

commercial flight training methods 

focused on mitigating the effects 

of attentional human performance 

limiting states (AHPLS). AHPLS 

are cognitive states that contribute to 

the loss of flight crew airplane state 

awareness, and remain a casual factor 

in commercial aviation accidents and 

incidents. A significant challenge is to 

detect AHPLS using a convergence 

of behavioral performance, psychophysiometric and self-reported data. 

These techniques, along with 

flight scenarios designed to induce 

AHPLS, will be incorporated in 

training to reduce the occurrence 

of, and enabling recovery from, 

AHPLS in situ. These detection 

techniques will also be used to 

validate AHPLS induction. Current 

detection approaches use only one or 

two psychophysiological measures, 

or do not perform such measures 

in high fidelity flight simulation 

studies. Therefore, the crew state 

monitoring team has demonstrated 

the integration of multi-modal 

psychophysiological measurement 

instrumentation in a visual simulator 

in preparation for future motionbased simulation studies. 

Time-series data were collected 

for 24 airline pilots and multiclass, ensemble machine learning 

classification methods have been 

implemented for state detection. 

Findings indicate preliminary state 

classification models are reliable for 

across-task prediction of cognitive 

state for channelized attention and 

low workload (precision = 0.891, 

0.906 respectively), meeting the 

Airspace Operations and Safety 

Program’s (AOSP) Technologies for 

Airplane State Awareness (TASA) 

Subproject milestone SE211-1. 

Ongoing are model improvements 

for diverted attention, the analysis 

of startle/surprise, and plans for 

detecting confirmation bias. 

Lessons learned support the Scenarios for Human Attention Restoration 

using Psychophysiology Study to be 

conducted during fiscal year 2016 

in NASA Langley Research Center’s 

Cockpit Motion Facility. This work 

is being conducted in response to 

CAST Safety Enhancement 211 

entitled “Training for Attention 

Management” that supports AOSP’s 

Airspace Technology Demonstration 

Project within the TASA subproject. 

Team members include SE211 Technical Lead Angela Harrivel, Lance 

Prinzel, Chad Stephens, Alan Pope, 

Kyle Ellis and Charles Liles. 
16 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JUL-SEP 2015 // Q4

AWARDS, PAPERS AND APPOINTMENTS

Dr. Karl Bilimoria Chosen 

as ISU Visiting Lecturer 

In July 2015 Airspace Operations 

and Safety Program researcher 

Dr. Karl Bilimoria served as a visiting lecturer at the International 

Space University (ISU) Space Studies 

Program (SSP) in Athens, Ohio. The 

SSP is a graduate-level professional 

development program conducted 

by ISU at various locations around 

the world since 1988. The intensive 

nine-week curriculum covers the full 

range of space-related fields including policy and law, business and 

management, humanities, physical 

and life sciences, engineering, and 

space applications. 

Summer 2015’s SSP was hosted by 

Ohio University, NASA was the 

prime sponsor, and 98 students 

from 30 countries participated. 

Dr. Bilimoria, an ISU alumnus of 

SSP 2007, supported the Space 

Engineering Department during 

the week of July 13 by leading a 

half-day workshop on spacecraft 

cockpit design, attended by about 

20 students who have selected the 

engineering department for specialized studies. 

The workshop began with a presentation on the cockpits of various 

piloted spacecraft over the past five 

decades, and was followed by a participatory activity where small teams 

of students designed cockpit displays 

and hand controllers for the rendezvous and proximity operations phase 

of an asteroid exploration mission. 

The workshop was well-received, 

and informal feedback indicated 

that the students found it to be both 

interesting and useful. 

Manuscript Published, 

Selected for Invited 

Conference Session

NASA Langley Research Center 

personnel Dr. Sara Wilson, 

Kurt Swieringa and Dr. Jennifer 

Murdoch-Kibler, along with 

Robert Leonard and Dr. David 

Edwards of Virginia Commonwealth 

University, have published in 

the journal Quality Engineering 

their manuscript entitled “Model 

Specification and Confidence 

Intervals for Voice Communication.” 

The article, citing research 

performed in support of the Air 

Traffic Management Technology 

Demonstration-1 project, presents 

a case study using data from a 

human-in-the-loop experiment 

with a simulated flight environment 

conducted to investigate airborne 

spacing procedures. 

The interval management procedures during approach to an airport 

required a complex voice clearance 

issued by air traffic control to a flight 

crew using radio communications. 

The time required for voice communication transfers is modeled, as 

is the time required for flight crews 

to complete data entry tasks. Initial 

results will lead to design guidance 

for the phraseology used in air/

ground communications. 

The article was presented by 

Dr. Wilson at the Institute 

for Operations Research and 

Management Sciences annual 

conference, during an invited 

session designed to feature papers 

that address practical quality and 

reliability problems. 

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