1

QUARTER 4: JUL–SEP 2012

Airspace Systems 

Program Newsletter

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

www.nasa.gov

p3 ASP Completes Annual Agency 

Priority Goals

p18 Dynamic Weather Routes 

Highlights, September 2012

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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 4, JUL–SEP 2012

NASA defines its agency priority goals (APGs) within its strategic plan. NASA’s own priority goals represent 

challenging, near-term targets that the agency pursues to benefit the American people. The Airspace Systems 

Program had two APGs for FY12, “Initial Weather Translation Models” and “Demonstrate Safe Interval 

Management to a Single Airport with Dependent Parallel Runways.”

// ASP Completes Annual Agency Priority Goals 
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 4, JUL–SEP 2012

CTD Project Completes APG “Initial 

Weather Translation Models,” August 2012

This research focused on predicting weather impacting airport arrival rate (AAR), which is a critical parameter used by the (FAA in developing ground delay 

programs, ground stops, and for metering traffic into 

the nation’s busiest airports. Three models provided 

an estimate of the weather’s impact (e.g., high surface 

winds, low visibility, etc.) on an airport’s capacity for 

one to eight hours in the future. These models incorporated forecasts from three state-of-the-art, airportcentric weather forecasts from the National Weather 

Service. Two of the models on average were able to 

predict the weather-impacted AAR at two representative airports over a one-hour look-ahead time horizon 

within 10-15% of the actual weather impacted AAR. 

The third model was able to estimate the weather 

impacted AAR within 5% of the actual weather that 

impacted AAR at three representative airports. 

The direct effect of this research is evident in the 

FAA’s approval to conduct an operational field evaluation of a model that translates the probabilistic forecast 

of stratus clearing time at San Francisco International 

Airport (SFO) into an AAR used by traffic management coordinators. Analysis indicates that unnecessary delay for SFO arrivals can be reduced by 29%, 

which translates into an annual savings of $2.8 million 

in airline operating costs. The following manuscripts 

describe the three models: “The Utilization of Current 

Forecast Products in a Probabilistic Airport Capacity 

model,” 92nd Annual American Meteorological Society 

Meeting, and “Prediction of Weather Impacted Airport 

Capacity using RUC-2 forecasts,” 31st Digital Avionics 

Systems Conference (DASC/accepted). (Airports used: 

Newark, Chicago and Atlanta)

(POC: William Chan)

SAIE Project Completes Interval 

Management APG, July 2012 

The “Demonstrate Safe Interval Management to 

a Single Airport with Dependent Parallel Runways” 

APG is the culmination of a multi-year, joint-project, 

Research Transition Team effort to quantify the benefits of interval management (IM) procedures at a 

single airport with dependent parallel runways, utilizing mid-term Next Generation Air Transportation 

System (NextGen) technologies in a mixed-equipage 

environment. Specifically, the purpose of this APG 

was to evaluate IM flight crew procedures into a single 

airport using mid-term technologies: coordinated data 

analysis (CDAs) to closely spaced parallel approaches 

(CSPAs), area navigation/required navigational performance (RNAV/RNAP) routing, and a flight deflection 

measurement system (FDMS)) in mixed operations to 

multiple runways. 

The APG’s objectives were to quantify benefits, such 

as throughput, delay and efficiency in both batch and 

human-in-the-loop (HITL) simulations, assess pilot 

acceptability and workload using HITL simulations, 

and assess man/machine functional allocation with 

increasing technology. Using the results from several 

batch studies and one HITL simulation, the capability 

// Technical/Programmatic Highlights 
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 4, JUL–SEP 2012

to precisely deliver aircraft to the runway threshold was 

quantified. Results also included an analysis of pilot 

acceptability and workload impact from the HITL 

simulation, along with an evaluation of IM procedures 

to an airport with dependent parallel runways. The 

three objectives of the effort were met. 

Outcomes indicated that pilots delivered their aircraft 

to the runway threshold within +/- 3.5 seconds of their 

assigned arrival time and reported that procedures were 

associated with low workload levels. Pilots also found 

the IM concept, procedures, speeds, and interface 

acceptable, with 92% of pilots rating the procedures 

as complete and logical. Lastly, a mean time of under 

43 seconds for the flight crew was noted in loading the 

clearance into the IM spacing tool, reviewing the calculated speed, and responding to air traffic control. 

The results, analysis and evaluations have been 

captured in several publications, including “Interval 

Management with Spacing to Parallel Dependent 

Runways (IMSPiDR) Experiment and Results” (Baxley, 

et. al., ICAS 2012-9.10.3); “A Concept for Airborne 

Precision Spacing for Dependent Parallel Approaches” 

(Barmore, et. al., NASA TM 2012-217346); “Evaluation of an Airborne Spacing Concept, On-board 

Spacing Tool, and Pilot Interface” (Swieringa, et. al., 

AIAA 2011-6902); “Use of Data Comm by Flight 

Crew to Conduct Interval Management Operations 

to Parallel Dependent Runways” (Baxley, et. al., AIAA 

2011-6972); “An Overview of a Trajectory-Based Solution for En Route and Terminal Area Self-Spacing to 

Include Parallel Runway Operations” (Abbott, NASA 

CR-2011-217194); and “The Effect of Aircraft Configuration and Flight Crew Compliance with Procedures 

While Conducting Flight deck based Interval Management (FIM) Operations” (Shay, et. al., ATIO 2012). 

(POCs: Bryan Barmore, Brian Baxley)
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 4, JUL–SEP 2012

July 2012

Saab-Sensis provided a final briefing on the “Requirements, and Algorithms for Ground-based Airport 

Surface Conflict Detection and Resolution” NRA 

at NASA’s Ames Research Center on July 20. New 

technologies developed included advanced decision 

support systems and automation technologies for 

surface traffic management using robust optimization 

techniques for the scheduling and control of ramp, 

taxiway, and runway operations. The concept of timebased (4-dimensional, or 4D) taxi clearances that 

would be generated by an automation tool and digitally issued to the flight deck, the synthesis of detailed 

4D surface trajectories of individual aircraft from the 

surface schedule using knowledge of aircraft dynamics, 

and other factors were also included. Their final report 

has been completed and is available upon request from: 

NASA-ASP@nasa.gov

(POCs: Justin Montoya, Seth Kurasaki)

August 2012

NASA’s NextGen CTD Project’s Surface Conflict 

Detection and Resolution (SCDR) with Emphasis on 

Trajectory Based Operations NRA to conduct research 

to develop concepts and technologies that would enable 

significant increases in efficiency and throughput of 

airport surface operations while maintaining safety was 

completed as of August 29. As part of this NRA, Optimal Synthesis and Tufts University developed advanced 

decision support systems and automation technologies for surface traffic management for the scheduling 

and control of ramp, taxiway, and runway operations. 

Included were the concept of 4D taxi clearances that 

would be generated by an automation tool and digitally issued to the flight deck, the synthesis of detailed 

4D surface trajectories of individual aircraft from the 

surface schedule using knowledge of aircraft dynamics, 

as well as other factors. 

(POCs: S. Lozito, S. Kurasaki)

Partners Saab-Sensis and Texas A&M validated 

SCDR against diverse scenarios, integration with the 

Surface Management System (SMS), generating spotrelease conflicts in the SMS environment, and development of architecture for flexible integration with the 

SMS. Recommendations for next steps include investigating safety and efficiency, interaction with surface 

optimization tools, and how controller alerts compare 

with cockpit alerts.

(POCs: J. Montoya, S. Kurasaki)

August 2012 NRA Awards 

•	 “NASA Com50,” awarded to Rockwell Collins.

•	 “Comprehensive Analysis of Uncertainties in the

 National Airspace System,” awarded to 

•	 	 Purdue University.

•	 “Comprehensive Analysis of Uncertainties in the

National Airspace System and Their Implications

for Operational Concepts,” awarded to Metron.

September 2012

The final brief for the first year of the Saab/Sensis 

“Adaptation of a Surface Traffic Management Tool to 

// ASP NASA Research Announcement (NRA) News & Awards 
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 4, JUL–SEP 2012

Multiple, Capacity-Constrained Airports” NRA was 

conducted on September 27. This NRA assessed Spot 

and Runway Departure Advisor (SARDA)-like schedulers at three airports (Charlotte Douglas, Boston’s 

Logan, and New York’s John F. Kennedy) using fueltrim simulations. The movement area delay savings 

translated to shorter movement area taxi-out times and 

reduction in fuel burn and emissions. At Charlotte 

Douglas a more-than-50% savings in movement area 

taxi-out time was observed, and a 25% savings in fuel 

burn and emissions. The comparable figures at Kennedy were 15% and 13%, respectively, and for Logan 

32% and 24%. 

Update on the NAS Uncertainties Analysis 

NRA, September 2012 

Work began on research to enlist a top-down, statebased system modeling method to comprehensively 

identify sources of uncertainty related to the predictability of the national airspace system, the characteristics and the implications of that uncertainty, and to 

consider how to reduce or mitigate that uncertainty. 

The highly innovative approach utilizes on a statebased modeling methodology developed under a 

previous NASA research project to comprehensively 

enumerate the uncertainties. Moreover, the method 

identifies the relationship of uncertainties to specific 

agent capabilities and system functions, including how 

uncertainties primarily viewed as affecting one function 

will also affect other functions. Benefit mechanisms and 

estimates will also be computed.

Typically, identification of uncertainties is performed 

using enumeration, where past literature or experts are 

referenced. However, enumeration cannot be trusted to 

be exhaustive, since it is always possible that past data 

and experts may have missed something. Moreover, 

new or highly modified systems, such as NextGen, are 

very likely to encounter uncertainties, or reactions to 

uncertainties, not previously encountered. The statebased modeling method utilized in this proposed 

work is demonstrably complete, and can therefore be 

defended as being exhaustive.

At the end of the project period NASA will have a 

comprehensive repository of the best-known uncertainty estimates and confidence intervals on those 

estimates, analysis and documentation of how those 

sources of uncertainty can be affected or mitigated, and 

estimates of cost-benefit tradeoffs in affecting or mitigating those sources of uncertainty. NASA will be able 

to utilize this repository in future simulations, including determining how robust solutions are to mistakes 

in determining the estimates. This work will directly 

contribute to project milestones by identifying specific 

concepts, procedures, and technologies that, when 

implemented, can reliably produce improvements in 

total delays of 10% or an improvement in user preference accommodation of at least 8%, and by providing 

NASA with information sufficient to test such concepts, procedures, and technologies in simulation. 

(POC: Lawrence Green)
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 4, JUL–SEP 2012

TASAR Concept/ R&D Plans Briefed to 

Operational Community, June 2012 

David Wing briefed members of the aviation community on the Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew Request 

(TASAR) concept and technology, with support from 

CTD Project Scientist Mark Ballin, aviation consultant Bill Cotton, and CTD Deputy Project Manager 

Rudy Aquilina. TASAR is a NASA-developed, nearterm application of Automatic Dependent Surveillance 

Broadcast (ADS-B), intended to accelerate ADS-B 

equipage while providing immediate benefits to operators. It accomplishes this through an onboard automation tool that monitors trajectory-improvement 

opportunities that are compatible with traffic separation requirements. Those opportunities are presented 

to the pilot, who uses standard procedures to make 

trajectory change requests to air traffic control. Precomputed compatibility with the traffic environment, 

using ADS-B data, will allow air traffic controllers to 

more frequently approve aircrew requests for beneficial 

trajectory improvements. 

During onsite visits between June 21 and June 29, 

a diverse set of organizations were briefed on TASAR. 

Included were business jet manufacturer Gulfstream, 

FAA SE-2020 prime contractor General Dynamics 

Information Technology, member representative the 

National Business Aviation Association, fractional ownership aircraft fleet operator Flight Options, and major 

air carrier United Airlines. NASA’s purpose for these 

visits was to elaborate the TASAR concept and NASA’s 

two-year research and technology development plans, 

which culminate with an initial flight evaluation on a 

Piaggio Avanti flight-test aircraft.

These visits lay the groundwork for potential future 

partnerships to transfer the TASAR software for nearterm operational use and provide feedback to NASA 

for further development and partnered advancements. 

Feedback from all organizations was very positive, 

with several senior managers expressing intent to brief 

TASAR to their senior company leadership to explore 

potential engagement with NASA. Exchange of ideas 

of how TASAR could be used was also fruitful and will 

lead to improved capabilities in the technology. TASAR 

concept of operations, its enabling automation technology which is currently under development, and NASA’s 

plans for concept assessment and maturation can be 

found at http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.

gov/20120014582_2012016103.pdf. 

Expected opportunities for use and benefits have been 

quantified and can be found in the paper “Preliminary 

Benefits Assessment of Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew 

Requests (TASAR)” at http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/

casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20120014584_2012016105.pdf 

(POC: David Wing)

Aeronautics Students Brief the Aeronautics 

Research Mission Directorate, July 2012

Aeronautics Academy students and Aeronautics 

Scholarship recipients participated in a student forum 

called Ideas in Flight. Enthusiasm for the first “A” in 

NASA runs high among this group. Students from 

NASA research centers at Ames, Dryden, Glenn and 
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 4, JUL–SEP 2012

Langley met with Associate Administrator for Aeronautics Jaiwon Shin and his staff for two days of presentations in the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA 

Headquarters. Fifty-six students had up to 10 minutes 

as individuals or teams to summarize what they had 

done over the summer, and describe what being at 

NASA meant to them or how the work they observed 

will benefit the nation. Administrator Bolden dropped 

by to listen and to speak briefly with the students on 

both days. The event was recorded, with some students 

being interviewed for a “This Week at NASA” segment, 

and many students were invited to visit their congressional representatives. Students came away with a 

greater sense of their potential role in the future aeronautics workforce. The event program can be viewed at 

http://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov/pdf/ideas_in_flight_program_2012.pdf.

For more information on the Aeronautics Academy, 

visit http://aero.larc.nasa.gov/academy.html

For information on the Aeronautics Scholarship Program, visit http://nasa.asee.org

(POC: Mark Ballin)

NASA Completes T-TSAFE3 HITL 

Simulation, July 2012 

Two weeks of data collection for the Terminal-Tactical 

Separation Assured Flight Environment-3 (T-TSAFE3) 

Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) simulation were completed on July 20. T-TSAFE is a tactical conflict detection and resolution tool for terminal airspace that uses 

a combination of flight plan, nominal routing, terminal 

area procedures, and dead reckoning to infer flight 

intent, thereby improving conflict prediction accuracy 

and reducing false alerts. The T-TSAFE3 experiment 

studied the effect of switching between instrument and 

visual approaches; prior experiments focused only on 

instrument approaches. 

Previous experiments also relied on the FAA’s Automated Terminal Proximity Alert (ATPA) to monitor 

compression on final approach. The ATPA alerts are in 

Ideas in Flight Program Cover the form of “cones” on the final approach controller’s 
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 4, JUL–SEP 2012

radar display, depicting required wake separation of the 

target aircraft relative to leading aircraft within lineof-sight. The length of the cone and number within 

the cone indicate required separation, and color of the 

cone indicates estimated time to loss of separation. 

The T-TSAFE3 experiment studied the effect of using 

T-TSAFE logic to drive ATPA cones rather than lineof-sight, along with other improvements. Preliminary 

results, based on simulation observations, indicate a 

strong controller preference for T-TSAFE-driven 

ATPA cones. 

Most notable improvements with T-TSAFE-driven 

ATPA cones include earlier depiction of the cones prior 

to establishing line-of-sight with the leading aircraft, 

thus aiding merges onto final approach; providing a 

numerical indicator for time to predicted loss of separation rather than color coding ranges; and replacing 

the numerical indicator for required separation with 

actual separation because the length of the cone already 

indicates required separation. Data analysis for the 

T-TSAFE3 experiment is underway. The T-TSAFE tool 

will be further investigated in another simulation incorporating the flight deck, scheduled for February 2013. 

(POC: Savita Verma)

PDRC Initial Field Evaluation Completed and 

Transition Products Delivered, July 2012

NASA completed an initial field trial of the Precision 

Departure Release Capability (PDRC) tool, scheduling 

a 100th flight since data collection began on April 30, 

2012, at the Dallas/Ft. Worth air traffic control tower 

and the Ft. Worth En Route Center. PDRC enables 

an automated exchange of automated surface information to improve scheduling of departures within an en 

route center into a busy overhead stream by linking the 

en route scheduling automation with highly accurate 

surface trajectory predictions of aircraft take-off times. 

Without PDRC, the coordination process between a 

tower and an en route center is completely manual 

and accomplished with phone calls needed to coordinate departure release times. Using PDRC, surface 

trajectory predictions are used to refine the departure 

release time, and these predictions are available to the 

en route traffic management unit to integrate within 

their traffic planning. 

While results are undergoing analysis, initial 

trends suggest significant improvement in off-time 

compliance relative to a baseline condition without 

using PDRC, including takeoff time compliance 

from an average absolute error of 108 seconds to less 

than 59 seconds. More information can be found 

in “Impact of Departure Prediction Uncertainty on 

Tactical Departure Scheduling System Performance” by 

Capps, A., Day, Kevin, Walenciak, E., and Engelland, 

S., AIAA-2012-5674, 12th American Institute of 

Aeronautics and Astronautics Aviation Technology, 

Integration, and Operations Conference, Indianapolis, 

Ind., 17-19 Sept. 2012. Download PDF Version.

On July 2, NASA delivered an interim set in a series 

of PDRC research transition products to the FAA for 

use in developing NextGen automation systems. The 

PDRC research transition products delivered included 

a concept of operations, a technology description, and 

field evaluation results in the form of published papers 
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 4, JUL–SEP 2012

and pre-prints. Technology transfer between the two 

agencies has been coordinated via the Integrated Arrival/

Departure/Surface (IADS) Research Transition Team 

(RTT). PDRC technology is anticipated to be included 

the FAA’s Tower Flight Data Manager (TFDM)’s new 

automation system for tower controllers. NASA’s PDRC 

research team coordinated directly with FAA personnel from the TFDM program to ensure that PDRC 

research transition products are well-aligned with FAA 

development needs. Updated research transition products are scheduled to be delivered in June 2013, which 

will incorporate PDRC’s latest research findings. 

The NASA/FAA IADS RTT, one of several teams 

charged with coordinating the transition of NASA 

research products to the FAA in support of NextGen, 

also held a meeting at NASA Ames. The IADS RTT is 

currently coordinating transition of four NASA research 

products: PDRC; Spot and Runway Departure Advisor; Integrated Surface Management and Flight Deck; 

and Airport Runway Management. FAA participants at 

the meeting represented NextGen organizations responsible for technology development, prototyping, and 

specifying and procuring automation systems such as 

Time Based Flow Management and Tower Flight Data 

Manager. FAA personnel provided updates on NextGen 

technology development and prototyping, as well as 

new FAA processes for transitioning ideas to implementation. NASA researchers and managers supporting 

the Airspace Systems Program participated and provided updates on the four research products along 

with demonstrations at FutureFlight Central and the 

Airport and Terminal Area Simulator at NASA’s Ames 

Research Center. The RTT concluded their meeting 

with observations of a terminal sequencing and spacing 

simulation experiment. 

(POC: Shawn Engelland)

ATD-1 Procurement, July 2012 

The Air Traffic Management Technology Demonstration 1 (ATD-1) Avionics, Phase 1 procurement was 

awarded July 2. The scope of this effort is to research 

the feasibility of developing prototypes and associated detailed concept engineering designs for potential 

implementation of the NASA Airborne Spacing for Terminal Arrival (ASTAR) prototype algorithm guidance 

within avionics systems envisioned for use in NextGen. 

The results of this work will provide data to NASA to 

assist in its understanding of the best approach for possible incorporation within the most appropriate avionics platform of some, or all, of the proposed ASTAR 

capabilities for purposes of the ATD-1 operational 

demonstration. The objectives of this task order are to 

explore and define potential prototype constraints and 

needs for, and to evaluate the feasibility of, implementing Flight-deck Interval Management with the ASTAR 

prototype algorithm guidance on avionics platforms 

envisioned for use in the NextGen midterm timeframe 

of 2016 to 2020 in aircraft. 

(POC: Mike Koch)
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 4, JUL–SEP 2012

ATD-1 Industry Day, August 2012 

On August 29, the ATD-1 Industry Day event was 

held at NASA’s Langley Research Center (LaRC). 

Representatives from airlines, avionics and aircraft 

manufacturers, the FAA, and NASA participated in a 

full day of briefings, discussions, and demonstrations 

of select NASA ATD-1 airborne technologies and 

activities, as well as integrated air traffic management 

capabilities. Jaiwon Shin, associate administrator for 

NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, was 

also in attendance.

Industry Day focused on providing an update on 

ATD-1 to industry stakeholders and soliciting ATD1 industry support. Visitors were presented with the 

breadth of ATD-1 activities and airborne automation 

plans by William C. Johnson. Brian Baxley presented 

the ATD-1 Concept of Operations (ConOps), and 

there was a demonstration of the Interval Management 

Near-term Operations Validation of Acceptability (IMNOVA) simulation in both the LaRC Air Traffic Operations Lab (ATOL) and the Cockpit Motion Facility 

by Jennifer Murdoch and her experiment team. The 

demonstrations included tours of operations in the 

enhanced LaRC ATOL air traffic control room and the 

ASTOR pseudo-pilot stations. Visitors also were able 

to participate in the IM-NOVA demonstration in the 

integrated flight deck simulator where they were given 

an opportunity to fly an interval management scenario. 

ATD-1 Industry Day resulted in valuable collaboration and energized interest from industry stakeholders 

in ATD-1 participation. Early feedback from participants and NASA programs and projects has been tremendously positive. Several airlines and manufacturers 

have already expressed a desire to immediately continue individual discussions regarding ATD-1 participation. As ATD-1 moves forward into FY13, ATD-1 

Industry Day should ultimately lead to demonstrable 

collaboration between NASA ATD-1 and even more 

industry stakeholders. 

(POC: Will Johnson)

IM-NOVA Experiment Executive Summary, 

Summer 2012

As part of initial preparations for the ATD-1 field 

trial, the Interval Management Near-term Operations 

Validation of Acceptability (IM-NOVA) experiment 

was conducted at LaRC during the summer of 2012. 

This human-in-the-loop experiment served as the first 

successful integration of the Langley (LaRC) and Ames 

(ARC) research centers’ flight- and ground-based interval management (IM) technology systems using a full 

mission flight cab simulator. The integrated set of technologies included the LaRC flight deck-based interval management (FIM) system and the ARC Traffic 

Management Advisor with Terminal Metering (TMATM) and controller-managed spacing (CMS) tools. 

The objective of the IM-NOVA experiment was to 

assess if the procedures outlined in the ATD-1 concept 

of operations, when used with a minimum set of FIM 

equipment and a prototype flight crew interface, were 
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 4, JUL–SEP 2012

acceptable to and feasible for use by flight crews in a 

voice communications environment when precision 

to an achieve-by point (i.e., the final approach fix) was 

expected. To meet this objective, data were collected 

from 10 crews of current, qualified Boeing 757/767 

pilots throughout a seven-week time period. 

During a single two-day experiment session, one 

two-person crew of pilot participants flew LaRC’s 

high fidelity, fixed-base Integration Flight Deck (IFD) 

simulator to complete scenarios conducted within 

an airspace environment modeled on the Dallas-Fort 

Worth (DFW) Terminal Radar Approach Control 

(TRACON) area. The IFD was equipped with the 

ASTAR algorithm and an IM crew interface consisting of two side-mounted electronic flight bags and 

two ADS-B guidance displays mounted under the 

glare shield. Two researchers used pseudo-pilot stations 

located in LaRC’s Air Traffic Operations Lab to control 

the 24 ASTAR aircraft that provided multiple air traffic flows into DFW, and four recently retired DFW air 

traffic controllers served as confederate Center, Feeder, 

Final, and Tower controllers. 

To assess the acceptability of the proposed ATD-1 

flight crew procedures, qualitative data were collected 

in the form of acceptability, usability, and workload 

ratings via electronic questionnaires and a post-experiment debrief session. To assess the procedures’ feasibility, quantitative data were collected including spacing 

error at the final approach fix and the number and 

rate of speed changes. All of the planned experiment 

scenarios were successfully executed to fully support 

the pre-experiment designed analyses. As the detailed 

analyses currently underway are completed, results will 

be reported in various documents and will contribute 

to the iterative development of the ATD-1 ConOps. 

Feedback from the pilot participants obtained during 

post-experiment questionnaires and debrief sessions 

indicate that the IM-NOVA experiment’s scenarios as 

well as the voice communications environment simulated using pseudo pilots and confederate controllers 

were well-constructed and realistic. The majority of the 

pilot participants found the IM concept to be acceptable, and indicated that the IM procedures could be 

successfully executed in a near-term voice communications environment. However, additional research 

is being planned to investigate the effects of winds, 

weather, and turbulence on the acceptability and 

feasibility of the ATD-1 crew procedures. Additionally, 

feedback obtained from the IM-NOVA experiment’s 

confederate controllers regarding FIM procedures and 

phraseology as well as ways to support the continued 

development and improvement of LaRC’s new Air 

Traffic Control lab facility is being considered while 

planning future ATD-1 research endeavors. 

(POCs: Jennifer L. Murdoch, Sara R. Wilson)

ATD-1 Activities Planned for 

Fiscal Year 2013

The system check-out for the next integrated ATD-1 

simulation (IM-TAPSS follow-on) was conducted the 
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 4, JUL–SEP 2012

week of August 6 with the simulation scheduled for 

October 2012. The fully integrated ATD-1 technology 

completed its third integrated ATD-1 controller/pilot 

human-in-the-loop checkout on September 24–28. It 

evaluated wind scenarios with wind errors and identified the necessary set to go forward. Data-collection 

simulation for version 1.0 of ATD-1 is set for the week 

of October 15.

SAIE Project Scientist Granted U.S. Patent, 

July 2012 

Natalia Alexandrov, project scientist for NASA’s 

NextGen Systems Analysis, Integration, and Evaluation Project (SAIE) was granted a U.S. Patent (number 

8,229,716; co-inventors - Carolyn Kaplan, Elaine Oran 

and Jay Boris of the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL); 

rights assigned to NASA and NRL) titled “Fast Tracking 

Methods and Systems for Air Traffic Modeling Using a 

Monotonic Lagrangian Grid.” The system is the basis 

for a new research platform, the Air Traffic Monotonic 

Lagrangian Grid that has been developed to serve as a 

simulation tool for easy and fast testing of various air 

traffic control concepts. The platform is intended for 

investigating the fundamental properties of new control algorithms before selecting the most promising 

algorithms for further investigations in higher-fidelity 

systems. The work was conducted under a three-year 

NASA-NRL interagency agreement. 

(POC: Natalia Alexandrov)

NASA Air Traffic Management Research 

Presented at AIAA Conference, August 2012

Research describing results of quantifying environmental/climate impacts due to aviation, computing 

fuel use for various descent procedures, aircraft scheduling modeling, and the fast-time analysis of a NASAdeveloped surface scheduling tool were among the 

papers presented at the 2012 AIAA Guidance, Navigation and Control conference in Minneapolis, Minn., 

August 13–16.

Two papers examining the aviation impact on the 

environment were presented. The first described the 

evaluation of a set of contrail-reduction strategies based 

on the flight range of aircraft. In this work, division researchers found that contrail-reduction strategies using 

various trade-off factors gave different results in contrail 

formation and carbon dioxide emissions from shortrange flights to long-range flights. The results provide 

a starting point for developing operational policies to 

reduce the impact of aviation on climate using aircraft 

flight distances. 

A second climate paper described the integration of 

a national-level air traffic simulation and optimization 

capability with simple climate models and carbon cycle 

models, and climate metrics to assess the impact of 

aviation on climate. The new capability can be used to 

make trade-offs between extra fuel cost and reduction 

in climate impact. 

Another paper described the comparison of fuel 

consumption due to alternative descent trajectories 
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 4, JUL–SEP 2012

from cruise altitude to a meter fix when a delay was 

required at the meter fix. The study showed that the 

most fuel-efficient speed control procedure for absorbing delay is reducing descent speed as much as possible 

and then reducing cruise speed. For some of these 

aircraft, flying at a fixed flight path angle and constant 

Mach number and calibrated-airspeed combination 

resulted in lower fuel consumption compared to standard descents at idle-thrust and constant Mach speed 

and calibrated airspeed. 

A study describing a multi-stage scheduling process 

for controlling arrivals destined for Alaska’s Ted Stevens 

Anchorage International Airport (ANC) when low 

visibility conditions are impacting the airport was also 

presented. Although the majority of the flights in the 

scenarios were able to arrive at ANC without receiving 

any delay, pre-departure scheduling was the dominant 

control for internal departures from within Anchorage 

Center. For long-haul flights, the strategic scheduling 

algorithm performed best when the strategic scheduling 

horizon was greater than 1,000 nautical miles. In these 

cases, strategic scheduling delays were generally less 

than 15 minutes and changes to the calibrated airspeed 

were, on average, less than approximately 40 knots. 

Finally, a fast-time study of a surface scheduling tool, 

the Spot and Runway Departure Advisor (SARDA) 

was performed and validated results from a human-inthe-loop simulation that was conducted in 2010. The 

results of the fast-time analysis bore out the potential 

benefits of SARDA and also determined that the resulting delays were about half that generated by a firstcome-first-served scheduler.

Links to all the ASP papers presented at GNC can be 

found at http://www.aviationsystemsdivision.arc.nasa.gov/

publications/2012/2012_gnc.shtml

(POCs: William Chan, Sandy Lozito, Banavar Sridhar)

Efficient Descent Advisor at Aero Day 

on the Hill, July 2012 

The Efficient Descent Advisor (EDA) was demonstrated during Aeronautics Day on the Hill on July 18 

at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, 

DC. The event – the first of its kind devoted solely 

to NASA Aeronautics – provided an opportunity for 

members of Congress to learn about how the agency 

is making air transportation more efficient, safe and 

environmentally friendly. EDA was showcased as an 

example of NASA technology that was developed in 

Rich Coppenbarger demonstrates EDA to visitors during 

Aeronautics Day on the Hill
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 4, JUL–SEP 2012

partnership with industry and recently transferred to 

the FAA for deployment in the Next Generation Air 

Transportation System. 

The exhibit explained and demonstrated how air-traffic controllers can use EDA to reduce fuel consumption 

and environmental emissions by allowing aircraft to 

perform continuous descents in busy traffic conditions 

where time-based metering is in effect. Visitors to the 

overall event included 11 members of Congress along 

with congressional staff and interns. The 206 staff 

members in attendance included seven professional staff 

for the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and 

Transportation, and all professional staff for the House 

Committee on Science, Space and Technology. NASA 

and FAA personnel were available at the EDA exhibit 

to answer questions from a steady stream of visitors eager to learn more about the underlying technology and 

NASA’s role in the modernizing the air-traffic system. 

(POCs: Rich Coppenbarger)

Researchers Support Volpe Wake Data 

Review, August 2012

 Fred H. Proctor, Brad Perry, and Ed Johnson attended the 31st FAA-Volpe Wake Data Review held at 

Volpe Center, Cambridge, Mass. on August 27–28. The 

review is a forum held quarterly in which Volpe and its 

subcontractors report progress on research funded by 

the FAA Wake Turbulence Research Program (WTRP). 

Proctor and Perry were invited to attend the meeting by 

the FAA, due to previous discussions with the FAA on 

how to improve collaboration and data sharing between 

NASA and the FAA. Dr. Johnson regularly attends the 

Volpe data reviews as part of his support for the WTRP 

under a reimbursable arrangement. 

Briefings at the Volpe data review included: statistical 

analysis for the FAA’s aircraft wake turbulence ReCategorization (RECAT) project, Wake Turbulence Mitigation for Arrivals and Departure (WTMA/WTMD) 

status, diagonal separation procedures, track error 

analyses, measurements of initial wake vortex core separations, an update on FAA wake vortex field measurement campaigns, and the status of NASA’s wake vortex 

NASA Research Announcement. Implementation of 

WTMD at an operational airport is to begin soon, and 

will represent the first time that weather is dynamically 

used in determining aircraft wake separations. The 

WTMD and WTMA concepts were jointly formulated 

with NASA, the FAA, and industry partners. 

Data collection of meteorological data at New York’s 

JFK airport in support of NASA’s wake vortex NRA 

has begun. This effort is to complement simultaneous 

FAA lidar data collection, with the new data to be 

used to enhance the wake vortex modeling development and validation process. Plans are also moving 

forward for additional joint NASA/FAA data collection 

at other locations. 

Development of NASA’s new wake vortex postprocessing algorithm continues, with an initial version 

to be transferred to the FAA/Volpe for evaluation. This 

algorithm offers the potential for significant improvements in the ability to determine the circulation and 

hazard characteristics of wake vortices.

The Cambridge meeting succeeded in strengthening 

future collaboration between the FAA and NASA for 
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 4, JUL–SEP 2012

wake research. Immediately following the Volpe data 

review, Proctor attended a two-day FAA working group 

meeting at Volpe that addressed Airbus-380 in-trail 

wake spacing issues. Proctor was specifically asked to 

participate by the FAA based on his wake expertise and 

past experience. 

(POC: Neil O’Connor)

NASA DAC Team Visits the ZOB, 

August 2012 

Six members of the Dynamic Airspace Configuration 

(DAC) team traveled to Cleveland, Ohio on August 

30-31 to address feedback on the Operational Airspace 

Sectorization Integrated System (OASIS) and to discuss 

the Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZOB) 

airspace redesign project. Detailed briefings on the 

OASIS algorithm and its graphical user interface (GUI) 

were presented, covering key properties of OASISgenerated sector configurations compared with historical sector configurations, as well as the design/usage 

of the GUI. The briefings were very well received, and 

ZOB staff provided valuable feedback that will help the 

OASIS team refine both the algorithm and the GUI. 

The NASA team also spent several hours on the ZOB 

operational floor, observing sector combine/decombine 

operations during high-activity times bracketing the 

three shift changes over a 24-hour period. The information gained from these observations helped the team 

prepare for a human-in-the-loop evaluation of OASIS 

functionality at NASA’s Ames Research Center in the 

fall of 2012. The DAC team met with the ZOB airspace redesign project staff who are in the process of 

significantly modifying sector boundary definitions to 

conform with the new navigational aid-independent 

Q-routes that will replace many of the ZOB’s conventional jet routes. The DAC team will contribute a technical analysis of the resulting sector loading patterns, 

and will help the ZOB airspace redesign team formulate, refine, and validate their new sector designs. These 

activities will contribute to NASA’s development of an 

“airspace refresh” methodology that can be applied to 

other centers in the national airspace system. 

(POC: Karl Bilimoria)

New NextGen Capabilities Focus of Seattle 

Meeting, August 2012 

Bryan Barmore and Michael Koch from NASA’s 

Langley Research Center attended a meeting of the 

Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics Special 

Committee 186 (SC-186) and the European Organization for Civil Aviation Equipment Working Group 

51 (WG-51) subgroup August 27-30 at the Boeing 

Company in Seattle, Wash.. SC-186 and WG-51 are 

developing flight deck interval management (FIM) and 

traffic situation awareness with alerts (TSAA) minimum operational performance standards (MOPS), 

which are new capabilities being introduced as part the 

FAA’s NextGen Airspace Program. The SAIE Project’s 

Air Traffic Management Technology Demonstration-1 

(ATD-1) activity intends to develop FIM equipment 

based on the MOPS for use in flight trials planned for 

2015-2017.

This was the second in a series of quarterly meetings with a primary focus of finalizing the scope of and 
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 4, JUL–SEP 2012

fleshing out plans for operational performance analyses 

(OPA) and operational safety analyses (OSA). A day 

and a half was spent reviewing TSAA status, plans, 

and working papers, and it was determined that OPA 

and OSA drafts will be submitted prior to the next 

meeting. The remainder of the time was dedicated to 

FIM-related topics finalizing scope, reviewing working 

papers, and evaluating high-level plans for OPA and 

OSA development. Detailed OPA and OSA plans will 

be developed and presented at the next group meeting. 

It is likely that several OPA tasks will dovetail nicely 

with those of ATD-1 and may be areas in which the 

two activities can benefit from a synergistic relationship. The FIM core team reported that it plans to use 

the NASA Langley-developed trajectory-based spacing 

algorithm Airborne Spacing for Terminal Arrival Routes 

– ASTAR – as a sample algorithm for the FIM MOPS. 

The MOPS development is scheduled for completion 

in May 2014. 

(POC: Mike Koch)

Dynamic Weather Routes Highlights, 

September 2012

The Dynamic Weather Routes (DWR) research and 

development effort made tremendous progress in 2012. 

In 12 months, the project transitioned from laboratory 

testing at NASA’s Ames Research Center to operational 

testing at the American Airlines (AA) System Operations Center (SOC) in Fort Worth, Texas. 

DWR is a real-time trajectory automation system 

that continuously and automatically analyzes in-flight 

aircraft in en route center airspace to find opportunities for time- and fuel-saving corrections to convective 

weather-avoidance routes. Weather-avoidance routes 

usually are filed an hour before takeoff using best 

estimates of weather en route; but as weather evolves, 

these routes may no longer be the most efficient option, 

and airline dispatchers and FAA traffic managers do not 

always notice opportunities for better solutions. DWR 

continuously analyzes flight trajectories, models weather, and proposes simple reroutes that avoid current and 

forecast bad weather to save at least five minutes of 

wind-corrected flying time. 

Interactive automation enables users to visualize proposed routes, modify them if necessary, and evaluate flying time savings or delay, proximity to predicted weather, 

traffic conflicts, downstream sector congestion, and 

active special-use airspace. Common automation supports both airline dispatchers and FAA traffic managers. 

DWR has been in operation at the AA SOC since 

July 17, 2012, with more than 150 flights evaluated 

by AA users; 45% of those with a total savings of 470 

flying minutes were deemed acceptable to AA. Potential 

savings for all flights in Fort Worth Center’s high-altitude airspace during the months of August, September, 

and October 2012 totaled over 23,000 flying minutes 

for 2,600 flights, which equates to a $3.8 million 

potential savings in airline operating costs.

In September 2011, the DWR concept and laboratory test results were presented to senior AA managers 

and representatives of the airline dispatchers union at 

the AA SOC in Fort Worth. A letter to NASA from the 
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 4, JUL–SEP 2012

AA vice president for operations and the Flight Dispatch Transport Workers Union president followed, 

requesting that a trial of the DWR concept and prototype be conducted at the AA SOC. Plans for a trial 

were reviewed with managers at the FAA Fort Worth 

En route Center. In January 2012, the operational concept for a field trial was established: the DWR automation system would run at the NASA/FAA North Texas 

Research Station with dispatcher displays located at 

the air traffic control desk on the AA SOC operations 

floor, and with traffic management coordinator displays 

at the Fort Worth Center Traffic Management Unit 

(TMU). Phase 1 of the trial would only involve evaluation and displays at AA, with the TMU evaluation 

and displays in a second phase. A non-reimbursable 

Space Act Agreement with American Airlines for testing 

DWR was signed on July 11, 2012.

Shadow testing of DWR at American Airlines began 

on July 17, 2012. A live-traffic DWR display was installed in a weather planning area adjacent to the main 

SOC operations floor. The NASA test team and Massachusetts Institute of Technology-Lincoln Laboratory 

collaborators demonstrated the DWR prototype with 

live and recorded traffic feeds for 20 members of the 

AA SOC including senior managers, training managers, 

flight dispatchers, air traffic control coordinators, union 

representatives, and automation staff. DWR training 

material was refined and provided to the AA training 

staff who ultimately conducted most of the training for 

the primary users of the DWR tool: air traffic control 

coordinators and flight dispatchers. Feedback from AA 

staff was overwhelmingly positive and much of the discussion during the first week centered on the operating 

concept and equipment locations for transition from 

shadow testing to operational testing. 

On July 26, the DWR display was moved to its current location at the air traffic control (ATC) desk on 

the main operations floor (see figure). Under the trial 

operating concept, ATC coordinators evaluate routes 

proposed by DWR, modify them if necessary, and then 

alert the dispatcher in charge of the flight when they 

find a route deemed workable and acceptable to AA. If 

the dispatcher concurs, the DWR route is sent to the 

flight crew; the flight crew evaluates and requests the 

route change, all using normal procedures.

Dynamic Weather Routes tool in operation at the American Airlines System Operations Center, Fort Worth, TX
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 4, JUL–SEP 2012

Outside of American Airlines and the Fort Worth 

Center, DWR was briefed to other FAA and airline parties. In April 2012, principal investigator Dave McNally 

co-presented the DWR concept and analysis results 

with Captain Rick Shay of United Airlines at the FAA/

Industry Data Communications Implementation Team 

(DCIT) meeting. The DCIT is focused on near-term 

applications for today’s air/ground data communications 

(Data Comm); their current emphasis is departure clearance messages, and they have expressed interest in DWRlike technology for en route trials planned for 2014. 

Captain Shay, a long standing, active member of the 

DCIT, co-presented the DWR material, answered questions from the group, and urged the FAA to back DWR 

as the basis for the 2014 en route Data Comm trials. 

Approximately 50 airline representatives 

attended the meeting, including members from United, 

American, FedEx, and Delta, all of whom indicated 

strong support for the concept. In October 2012, 

DWR co-investigator Kapil Sheth presented the DWR 

concept and lab results at the Airline Dispatchers Federation. This meeting resulted in requests from Delta 

Airlines and FedEx to participate in the DWR trials.

A paper describing the DWR concept and initial 

laboratory analysis results, “Dynamic Weather Routes: 

A Weather Avoidance Concept for Near-Term Trajectory Based Operations,” was presented at the 28th 

International Congress of the Aeronautical Sciences in 

Brisbane, Australia, September 2012. Two additional 

papers, one describing the impact of DWR on traffic flow management, and the other describing initial 

simulation results, were presented at the AIAA Aviation 

Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference in 

Indianapolis, Ind., September 2012.

Provisional patents for the DWR concept and prototype were filed with the U.S. Patent Office in 2012, 

and preparation of the actual DWR patent is underway.

(POCs: Dave McNally, Kapil Sheth)
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 4, JUL–SEP 2012

Congratulations to the 2012 NASA Honor 

Awards Recipients, August 2012

Aisha R. Bowe

Equal Employment Opportunity Medal

Michelle M. Eshow

Exceptional Achievement Medal

Shawn A. Engelland

Exceptional Service Medal

David H. Williams

Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal

Yoon C. Jung

Outstanding Leadership Medal

Rudy A. Aquilina

Outstanding Leadership Medal

Ronald D. Lehmer

Outstanding Public Leadership Medal

Michael T. Gaunce

ICESCAPE Team – Group/Team

Boeing 737-800W Aircraft Model Integration 

Team – Group/Team

CAAT Experiment Team

Group/Team

CAPIO Simulation Team

Group/Team

Three-Dimensional Path Arrival Management 

(3D-PAM) Group/Team

Shawn Engelland, Ron Lehmer, and Michelle Eshow, 

recipients of 2012 NASA Honor Awards
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Headquarters

300 E. Street, SW

Washington, DC 20024

www.aeronautics.nasa.gov

www.nasa.gov