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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUNE 2011

QUARTER 3: APR–JUNE 2011

Airspace Systems 

Program Newsletter

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

www.nasa.gov

p2 Flow-Based Trajectory 

Management Research 

Transition

p12 Aeronautics Research 

Mission Directorate 

Associate Administrator 

Awards for 2010
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUNE 2011

Flow-Based Trajectory Management 

Research Transition

Washington, DC 

The Flow Based Trajectory Management Research Transition 

Team, a successful 3-year project jointly sponsored by NASA and 

the FAA, and coordinated by the JPDO, recently completed its 

work. Technical transfer and a close-out meeting were held July 14, 

2011, at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC.

Research Summary: Prototype tools and methods for in-flight 

“flow-based trajectory management” (FBTM) in the NextGen 

Mid-Term were developed and evaluated by NASA researchers in 

a series of human-in-the-loop (HITL) simulations. These FBTM 

capabilities support more “tactical” traffic flow adjustments than 

are feasible today by modifying the trajectories of in-flight aircraft. 

These operations provide a practical way to maintain efficient operations in the face of changing local and downstream constraints 

// Technical/Programmatic Highlights 

Figure 1. Flow-based trajectory management operations adjust traffic 

flows in response to local area constraints or disturbances (e.g., traffic 

congestion, convective weather), by modifying the trajectories of aircraft that are already in flight. A NextGen “best-equipped, best-served” 

policy for rewarding early adopters of key new technology can be used 

to determine who should receive priority access to constrained airspace 

(blue aircraft). 

Detail view of several of the FBTM automation tools: Interactive Load Tables and Graphs, and control window.
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUNE 2011

[Figure 1]. Research results and tool requirements were delivered 

to the FAA, who will use them to help refine many of their NextGen Operational Improvements, and to guide the development of 

NextGen traffic management and controller tools.

Research Description: NASA’s involvement in FBTM research began in 2006, with an FAA-funded HITL evaluation 

conducted in NASA Ames Airspace Operations Lab (AOL), a 

high-fidelity simulation environment for prototyping and testing 

advanced air traffic management (ATM) concepts. This simulation indicated that a new “multi-sector planner” (MSP) position 

could effectively help manage the task load of several sectors by 

coordinating changes to local area traffic flows. This reimbursable 

effort continued in 2007, with NASA researchers developing the 

MSP concept in terms of roles and responsibilities, operational 

procedures, information and communication requirements, and 

decision support tool requirements. A series of cognitive walkthroughs were conducted by AOL researchers, with a team of FAA 

en route and system operations personnel from across the country. 

These exercises supported the development of a greatly expanded 

prototype of MSP operations, with powerful new automation tools 

designed by Dr. Thomas Prevot for the AOL’s simulation test bed. 

Figure 3. Detail view of several of the FBTM automation tools: 

Traffic filter highlighting Cincinnati arrivals in pink (top); Multitrajectory Trial Planning to reduce predicted complexity of 

gold-highlighted sector (bottom).

Figure 2. FBTM tools support situation assessment (load tables, load 

graphs, traffic display with weather and filters), multi-trajectory trial 

planning, and ground-to-ground coordination of plans and clearance requests. These tools can be configured for TMU, MSP or area 

supervisor positions.
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUNE 2011

This enhanced simulation platform was used in 2009 to conduct 

a HITL evaluation to assess the feasibility and potential benefit of 

introducing this new position into the National Airspace System 

(NAS) [Figures 2, 3]. 

Ten participants (active FAA controllers, traffic management 

personnel and area supervisors) and eight “confederates” (retired 

FAA personnel) staffed traffic management coordinator, air traffic 

controller, supervisor, and MSP positions in a large-scale simulation that spanned several air traffic facilities [Figure 4]. Results 

indicated that the MSP functions could enhance local area traffic 

flow management, but that these functions could be effectively 

performed by existing facility personnel. Based on these results, the 

Figure 4. This figure shows each type of position that was included in the 2009 HITL. Clockwise from lower left: FBTM planning stations for 

TMU; MSP; area supervisor positions; and controller stations that support evaluation and delivery of requested clearances. 
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUNE 2011

FAA decided not to invest further in developing the new position, 

and instead to determine how best (and when) to incorporate the 

MSP’s FBTM functions into the NAS. 

A key question regarding introduction timing was the avionics 

equipage requirements for FBTM. A final 2010 simulation tested 

the feasibility and possible benefit of performing FBTM operations in an environment where not all aircraft were equipped for 

air-ground data link communications (DataCom), an important 

enabler for trajectory-based operations. FBTM operations were not 

only effective in this context, but provided a promising method for 

introducing a new NextGen “best-equipped, best-served” policy 

of tactical air traffic management that could reward operators who 

invested in DataCom, with little or no penalty incurred by the 

unequipped aircraft. 

FAA Involvement and RTT Role: In 2008, the MSP research 

effort was selected to be the focus of a new NASA/FAA Research 

Transition Team co-led by Michele Merkle (FAA) and Nancy 

Smith (NASA). The objective of this particular RTT was to develop the multi-sector traffic management concept for the NextGen 

Mid-Term as a capability for “tactical” multi-sector or local area 

flow management, and as something to bridge the gap between 

(tactical) separation management at the sector level, and (strategic) flow contingency management from the Traffic Management 

Unit (TMU). Continued participation from the FAA at a number 

of levels was crucial to the success of this activity. The expertise 

of FAA participants during the walkthroughs and simulations 

was essential to the operational validity of the products. Equally 

important was the continued input from the FAA sponsors, which 

insured that the results would remain relevant to their needs, and 

consistent with their developing vision for NextGen. RTT status 

provided a framework to support this collaboration, and made the 

activity an important component of both agencies’ portfolios. This 

assured an ongoing commitment – from both management and 

researchers—to devote important resources from both agencies to 

see the work to its successful completion.

Benefits: While the primary purpose of this effort was to use 

some of NASA’s unique capabilities to address the FAA’s needs, the 

work also provided substantial benefit to NASA. The AOL simulation testbed was expanded to include realistic TFM operations 

and new FBTM functions. These capabilities played a significant 

role in several recent AOL simulations conducted for three of the 

Concepts and Technology Development Project’s research focus 

areas (separation assurance, super-density operations, and dynamic 

airspace configuration). Equally important, the cross-agency 

relationships, as well as the insights and expertise gained by NASA 

researchers—about the FAA’s plans for NextGen; their changing 

expectations for available infrastructure and avionics technologies 

in future operational environments; and perhaps most significantly, of the complex team interactions that support both current and 

future operations within FAA facilities—greatly enhance NASA’s 

ability to develop satisfactory and effective solutions for NextGen.

(POC: Nancy Smith)
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUNE 2011

Final Reviews for Metroplex NASA 

Research Agreement, June 2011

NASA Langley Research Center

On Thursday, June 2nd and Monday, June 20th, 2011, the final 

reviews were held for the four one-year Metroplex-related NASA 

Research Agreements (NRAs) that were awarded last year, with 

Recovery Act funding. The technical monitors for the NRAs are 

Rosa Oseguera-Lohr, Michael Sorokach and Lakisha Crosby. 

Although the mid-term meetings were conducted jointly over two 

consecutive days in February, it was more difficult to coordinate all 

four final reviews to take place at the same time, due to differences 

in the dates of contract signing and kick-off (and subsequently, 

contract end). Many of the attendees from the mid-term review 

also attended the final reviews, either in person or remotely. 

All four NRA teams showed good results from their analyses 

which generated good discussions, and technical feedback from 

other interested researchers was mostly very positive. Two of the 

teams presented concepts that are considered good candidates for 

transfer from SAIE (Systems Analysis, Integration, and Evaluation) 

to CTD (Concepts and Technology Development), since they are 

at a more mature technical stage, and could readily be integrated 

with other existing terminal area scheduling concepts that are 

currently being investigated as part of the CTD portfolio. The potential application of these concepts will be discussed as part of the 

milestone completion report that is due in September 2011, and 

discussions with project managers on this topic have been initiated.

9th USA/Europe Air Traffic Management Research & Development Seminar 

(ATM2011), June 14-17, 2011

Berlin, Germany

Aviation Systems Division researchers presented several papers at 

the prestigious USA/Europe Air Traffic Management Research and 

Development Seminar, the ninth in a series of seminars that was 

jointly organized by the FAA and EUROCONTROL to focus on 

air traffic management research and development. The conference 

was well-attended by both European and US researchers. A list of 

all presented papers follows. Two featured papers are highlighted 

after the list. 

Bloem, M., and Huang, H., “Evaluating Delay Cost Functions with 

Airline Actions in Airspace Flow Programs,” 9th USA/Europe ATM 

R&D Seminar (ATM2011), Berlin, Germany, 14-17 June 2011.

Hoang, T., Jung, Y., Holbrook, J., and Malik, W., “Tower 

Controllers’ Assessment of the Spot and Runway Departure 

Advisor (SARDA) Concept,” 9th USA/Europe ATM R&D 

Seminar (ATM2011), Berlin, Germany, 14-17 June 2011.

Jung, Y., Hoang, T., Montoya, J., Gupta, G., Malik, W., Tobias, 

L., and Wang, H., “Performance Evaluation of a Surface Traffic 

Management Tool for Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport,” 

9th USA/Europe ATM R&D Seminar (ATM2011), Berlin, 

Germany, 14-17 June 2011.

Lauderdale, T.A., Cone, A.C., and Bowe, A.R., “Relative Significance of Trajectory Prediction Errors on an Automated Separation 
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUNE 2011

Assurance Algorithm,” 9th USA/Europe ATM R&D Seminar 

(ATM2011), Berlin, Germany, 14-17 June 2011.

Mueller, E., McNally, D., Rentas, T., Aweiss, A., Thipphavong, 

D., Gong, C., Cheng, J., Walton, J., Walker, J., Lee, C., Sahlman, S., and Carpenter, D., “Controller and Pilot Evaluation of 

a Datalink-Enabled Trajectory-Based Operations Concept,” 9th 

USA/Europe ATM R&D Seminar (ATM2011), Berlin, Germany, 

14-17 June 2011.

Sridhar, B., Chen, N.Y., Ng, H.K., and Linke, F., “Design 

of Aircraft Trajectories Based on Trade-offs between Emission 

Sources,” 9th USA/Europe ATM R&D Seminar (ATM2011), 

Berlin, Germany, 14-17 June 2011.

Stell, L., “Prediction of Top of Descent Location for Idle-thrust 

Descents,” 9th USA/Europe ATM R&D Seminar (ATM2011), 

Berlin, Germany, 14-17 June 2011.

Swenson, H.N., Thipphavong, J., Sadovsky, A., Chen, L., Sullivan, 

C., and Martin, L., “Design and Evaluation of the Terminal Area 

Precision Scheduling and Spacing System,” 9th USA/Europe ATM 

R&D Seminar (ATM2011), Berlin, Germany, 14-17 June 2011.

Verma, S., Lozito, S., Kaneshige, J., Ballinger, D., Sharma, S., 

Martin, L., Kozon, T., Cheng, L., and Subramanian, S., “Integrated Pilot and Controller Procedures: Aircraft Pairing for Simultaneous Approaches to Closely Spaced Parallel Runways,” 9th USA/

Europe ATM R&D Seminar (ATM2011), Berlin, Germany, 

14-17 June 2011.

Berlin Paper Highlight: “Performance Evaluation of a Surface Traffic Management Tool for Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport”

NASA Ames researchers earned the best paper in the “Airport” 

track for their paper describing the development and testing of 

airport surface scheduling algorithms. The paper described results 

from a human-in-the-loop evaluation of the Spot And Runway 

Departure Advisor (SARDA) decision support tool. SARDA is 

designed to aid ground and local controllers in managing aircraft 

surface operations, based on two optimization algorithms, the 

Spot Release Planner and the Runway Scheduler. The Spot Release 

Planner provides sequence and timing advisories to the ground 

controller for releasing departure aircraft into the aircraft movement area to reduce taxi delay while achieving maximum throughput. The Runway Scheduler provides take-off and arrival runway 

crossing sequences to the Local controller to maximize runway 

usage. Performance metrics from the simulation study included 

The Spot and Runway Departure Advisor (SARDA) helps to improve 

the efficiency of airport surface operations involving the ramps, spots, 

taxiways, and runways.
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUNE 2011

delay, number of aircraft stops, fuel consumption, and aircraft 

engine emissions. High traffic scenarios demonstrated the average 

departure delay and number of aircraft stops in the movement 

area were reduced by 64 and 68 percent, respectively. Such results 

would lead to potential fuel consumption and engine emissions 

reductions of as much as 38 percent. However, for normal traffic 

scenarios there was little change in any of performance metrics 

mainly due to low traffic volume. (POC: Yoon Jung)

Berlin Paper Highlight: “Evaluating Delay Cost Functions with 

Airline Actions in Airspace Flow Programs”

Traffic management research and simulation use delay cost functions that attempt to quantify the cost of delay to airlines. To better 

understand these costs, a study was undertaken in which seventeen 

delay cost functions from previous research were evaluated with 

airline actions in operational Airspace Flow Programs. The results, 

presented at the ATM2011 in Berlin, identify delay cost functions 

in which costs increase in discrete steps as delay increases as most 

consistent with airline actions. Additionally, delay costs that are 

proportional to the length of delay, but with larger proportionality 

constants for flights bound for hub airports, were also found to be 

consistent with airline actions. (POC: Michael Bloem)

Berlin Paper Highlight: “System Oriented Runway Management” 

The System Oriented Runway Management (SORM) presentation was well received, and the need for effective runway management was underscored by the positive comments and discussion 

generated. Several organizations expressed interest in sharing 

information with the objective of advancing the state of runway 

management, including the German Aerospace Center and the 

National Aerospace Laboratories of the Netherlands. The SORM

concept was developed to address all aspects of runway

management for airports of varying sizes and to accommodate

a myriad of traffic mixes. SORM, to date, addresses the single

airport environment; however, the longer term vision is to

incorporate capabilities for multiple airport (Metroplex)

operations as well as to accommodate advances in capabilities

resulting from ongoing research. The paper presented provides an

update of research supporting the SORM concept including

the results of a TRCM simulation and a benefits assessment. 

(POC: Gary Lohr)

Interval Management with Spacing to 

Dependent Parallel Runways Human-inthe-Loop Simulation, June 2011

NASA Langley Research Center

The Crew Systems and Aviation Operations Branch conducted a 

human-in-the-loop (HITL) simulation on Interval Management 

(IM) with Spacing to Dependent Parallel Runways (IMSPiDR1) 

from June 6 through June 23 for the NextGen Airspace Program. 

This experiment had 24 current commercial airline pilots assess the 

performance of the IM spacing algorithm; assess flight crew’s ability to conduct IM with spacing (IM-S) procedures to dependent 

parallel runways and maintain high runway throughput; obtain 

pilot feedback regarding the IM-S procedures, controls, displays, 

and responsibilities; and explored some off-nominal operations. 

The HITL used the Air Traffic Operations Lab (ATOL), the 

Development and Test Simulator (DTS), and the Integration 

Flight Deck (IFD) to create high-density arrival operations into 

the Dallas Fort-Worth airport. This was the first use of the DTS 

(originally built as the aft-flight deck for the B-757 aircraft) for 

research activities. The IM procedure and IMSPiDR1 experiment 
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUNE 2011

are conducted with and supported by the FAA Surveillance and 

Broadcast Services office and FAA Air Traffic Organization office. 

(POC: Brian Baxley)

Intelligent Automation, Inc., Visits Langley 

Research Center, June 2011

NASA Langley Research Center

On Tuesday, June 21, 2011, Intelligent Automation, Inc. (IAI), 

of Rockville, Maryland, updated Langley researchers on their 

SBIR Phase II work, ‘Integrated Testbed of Environmental 

Analysis of NextGen Concepts Using ACES.’ This technology 

is directly applicable to the development of next-generation air 

traffic management for the FAA and commercial airlines. As the 

skies become more crowded, increases in delays, pollution and 

costs are also expected. 

The work being done during Phase II will allow NASA and IAI 

to jointly conduct combined performance and environmental 

benefits analyses of NASA NextGen concepts building on the 

analysis tool developed under Phase I of the SBIR award. In the 

cases where there are multiples ways of implementing a concept, 

the analysis will help researchers know which one performs best. 

San Franciso International Airport Ground 

Delay Program Operational Trial Begins, 

June 2011

NASA Ames Research Center

The operational shadow assessment of the San Francisco International Airport Ground Delay Program Selection model at the 

FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center began on 

June 8, 2011. The shadow mode of operation will continue for 

roughly 30 stratus events during which time the modeled and 

actual Ground Delay Program parameters will be analyzed by 

the Quality Assurance Department at the FAA’s ATCSCC. 

(POC: Shon Grabbe)

NASA Presents Research to American 

Airlines Executives, June 2011

Dallas/Fort-Worth, TX

NASA researchers met with American Airlines executives to 

discuss areas of possible collaboration. The June 29th meeting was 

held at the American Airlines Headquarters near the Dallas/FortWorth (DFW) Airport in Texas. The participants included leaders 

of various areas within American Airlines and a senior leader of 

the DFW airport. Personnel from NASA Headquarters, Ames 

and Langley represented NASA’s Airspace Systems Program. The 

presentations included a wide range of topics such as the ATD-1 

project, surface management research, tactical runway configuration management, aircraft-based conflict detection and resolution, 

dynamic weather routes/ground-based trajectory based operations, and weather integration and translation. The NASA’s North 

Texas Field Site and its role in potential collaborations were also 

reviewed. Both NASA and American Airlines expressed interest in 

pursuing some of these projects and discussions are underway on 

how to best proceed to develop new collaborations. 

(POC: Tom Davis)
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUNE 2011

Another Successful Efficient Descent 

Advisor Simulation with FAA Controllers 

in the Loop, June 2011

NASA Ames Research Center

A human-in-the-loop simulation of the Efficient Descent Advisor (EDA) was successfully conducted the week of June 20, 2011, 

in the NASA Ames Crew-Vehicle Systems Research Facility. This 

was the sixth simulation carried out under the 3D-Path Arrival 

Management (3D-PAM) technology-transition effort. Participants 

included active-duty controllers from Denver Center representing 

the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. The simulation 

objectives were twofold: 1) evaluate the impact of an active, radarside conflict probe on EDA operations and controller acceptance, 

and 2) demonstrate the ability of EDA to support mixed avionics 

equipage, meaning a large proportion of the arrival traffic featured 

less-advanced flight management systems, typical of regional jet 

aircraft, for example. Anecdotal feedback from the controller subjects indicated that the conflict probe was beneficial to EDA operations. A mixed-equipage arrival stream presented no observable 

issues or concerns. Detailed results are forthcoming. The simulation was well-attended by government and industry stakeholders, 

including representatives from the FAA, Boeing and MITRE. FAA 

attendees included the 3D-PAM project lead along with representatives from the En Route Automation Modernization and TimeBased Flow Management project offices interested in discussing 

field integration and deployment strategies. Of particular interest 

was how 3D-PAM/EDA might be leveraged to address the FAA’s 

requirement for Ground-based Interval Management, slated for 

deployment in the 2014 timeframe. (POC: Rich Coppenbarger)

NASA Software Used in Georgia Tech 

Dissertation, June 2011

NASA Langley Research Center

The NASA Langley-developed Stratway algorithm, a strategic 

conflict detection and resolution (CD&R) program, was used in 

a recently completed Georgia Tech dissertation by Matt Bigelow, 

a student of Dr. Amy Pritchett. In his dissertation entitled “Examining the Relative Costs and Benefits of Shifting the Locus of 

Control in a Novel Air Traffic Management Environment Via 

Multi-agent Dynamic Analysis and Simulation,” Matt Bigelow 

configured the Stratway program to be used in both a centralized 

and decentralized manner in order to study the relatives advantages 

and disadvantages of these approaches. This was possible because 

the Stratway program was developed as a highly configurable program with several dozen user-definable parameters. Although there 

are many competing approaches to strategic conflict detection and 

resolution, the vast majority are developed within a large simulation and hence are not available for outside use. The Stratway 

program is the first (that we know of) strategic CD&R program 

that has been designed in a modular manner to enable reuse in 

other environments. Although this has required much additional 

work in designing, testing, and documenting these interfaces, the 

value of this is seen in the fact that seven external organizations 

have already requested Stratway. The advantages and disadvantages of this modular approach will be presented in an upcoming 

Conference: the 11th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and 

Operations Conference, in a paper entitled “Stratway: A Modular 

Approach to Strategic Conflict Resolution.” (POC: Jeff Maddalon)
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUNE 2011

Digital Traffic Management Initiative 

Meeting with the FAA, May 2011

NASA Ames Research Center

In support of the TFM component of the Efficient Flow into 

Congested Airspace RTT, a meeting was held with Richard Jehlen 

(FAA/Director, Planning & Performance) at NASA Ames Research 

Center on May 20, 2011. During the meeting, updates were 

provided on NASA’s Traffic Management Initiative (TMI) Cube, 

Digital TMI and Learning Automation activities. An early software 

prototype of the TMI Cube software was also demonstrated to 

Mr. Jehlen. (POC: Joseph Rios)

FAA Collaborative Decision-Making 

Meeting, May 2011

Atlanta, GA

The FAA Collaborative Decision-Making meeting was held during 

the May 2-4 at Delta Air Lines Headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. 

The meeting was attended by about 180 members of the airline, 

cargo and general aviation community, the FAA, NASA and other 

support industry personnel. The general presentations on May 4 

provided information on NY-Area Airspace redesign, New Wind 

Routes, National Special Activity Airspace Project, Unmanned 

Aircraft Systems, etc. (POC: Kapil Sheth)

Statistical Design and Analysis of 

Experiments for NextGen Presented, 

May 2011

NASA Langley Research Center

Dr. Sara Wilson, of the LaRC Aeronautics System Engineering 

Branch, presented a brief on statistical design and analysis of experiments for Next Generation Air Transportation research at the 2011 

NASA Statistical Engineering Symposium, which was held May 

3-5, 2011, in Williamsburg, Virginia. The symposium was co-sponsored by the NESC and LaRC Engineering Directorate. Engineers, 

statisticians, scientists, managers and project leaders shared lessons 

learned, techniques and strategies for improving awareness of the 

value of statistical engineering across NASA. Statistical engineering 

is a discipline that utilizes statistical thinking and tools to improve 

decisions early in design development, analysis, experimental testing, verification, validation, and certification projects.

JPDO Environmental Working Group 

Operations Standing Committee 2011 

Workshop and Meeting, May 2011

NASA Langley Research Center

Dave Williams, Crew Systems and Aviation Operations Branch, 

attended the JPDO workshop and panel meeting held at MITRE Corporation headquarters in McLean, Virginia, on May 

3-4, 2011. The workshop consisted of a series of presentations 

on recent activities related to environmental impacts of aircraft 

operations. Presentations were made by representatives from FAA, 

Boeing, MITRE, GE Aviation, US Airways, and Georgia Tech, 

on the status of ongoing environmental activities. At the end of 

the second day, the Operations Standing Committee (OSC) panel 

members met to discuss the work plan of the committee and share 

ideas on potential FY11/12 activities. Dave Williams from Langley 

and Everett Palmer from Ames are the NASA representatives on 

the committee.

Highlights from the workshop included an update from the FAA 

RNAV/RNP program office on the widespread deployment and 
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUNE 2011

testing of RNAV procedures with Optimized Profile Descents. 

Members of the OSC panel, including NASA, have been instrumental over the past several years in sponsoring and conducting 

research on new terminal arrival procedures that enable full RNAV 

arrivals from cruise to landing without the need for controller radar 

vectoring. These procedures are now being implemented at airports 

throughout the National Airspace System. Boeing presented an 

overview of the new technology incorporated in the latest Boeing 

commercial air-planes designed to save fuel and reduce the environmental impact of their airplanes. Several presentations focused 

on new capabilities for analyzing radar flight data to extract fuel, 

noise, and engine metrics for environmental impact. The FAA also 

presented the current status and planned updates to the Aviation 

Environment Design Tool, which will be used for environmental 

impact analyses of flight operations at all U.S. airports.

Beyond the planned workshop agenda, separate discussions were 

held with representatives of Boeing and GE Aviation regarding 

potential collaboration with NASA on future flight demonstration 

projects being planned by Boeing. In particular, Boeing is interested in testing the Low Noise Guidance concept developed by Dave 

Williams at NASA on a flight demonstration planned for 2014 

using a new production 737 airplane. Boeing had been provided 

an early prototype of LNG in 2005 for testing, and has expressed 

renewed interest in the concept. Mr. Williams agreed to assist Boeing with documentation on the latest version of LNG and results 

of recent NASA simulation testing of Energy Navigation, which is 

an extension to the original LNG concept. Further discussions are 

planned to explore additional NASA collaboration with Boeing on 

their planned flight demonstrations. 

Participation in the JPDO EWG OSC is of significant benefit 

to the Airspace Systems research efforts at NASA. It provides a 

unique forum to discuss and present NASA research to other key 

government and industry representatives, and also keeps NASA 

informed about the latest developments in environment-related 

flight operations. (POC: Don Williams)

Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate 

Associate Administrator Awards for 2010

Washington, DC

Congratulations to all winners of the 2010 Awards! Winners from 

the Aviation Systems Division include:

•	 John Robinson (AFH)

Technology and Innovation (Individual)

•	 SimLabs (AFS)

Program and Mission Support (Group)

The winner of the Individual award for Technology and Innovation, 

John Robinson, Ames Research Center (center) is pictured with 

Tom Irvine, Deputy Associate Administrator for ARMD (left) 

and Dr. Jaiwon Shin, Associate Administrator for ARMD.
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUNE 2011

•	 Maryam Kamgarpour (AFH intern)

High Potential (Individual)

More information and photos from the April 27th awards ceremony are available at http://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov/aa_awards.htm. 

Study Finds Dynamic Weather Reroutes 

Save an Average of 4 Minutes per Eligible 

Flight, April 2011

NASA Ames Research Center

An initial study was conducted to explore the benefits of timesaving route amendments that avoid weather, called dynamic 

weather reroutes, using a dataset of flights that operated during 

twelve hours of severe weather that occurred over four days in 

the Fort Worth (Texas) Air Route Traffic Control Center. NASA’s 

Direct-To decision support tool was used to select flights with 

direct routes that saved at least 5 minutes. Dynamic weather 

reroutes were generated from those direct routes that crossed 

convective weather and which were extended to traverse around 

the weather. The dynamic weather reroutes were found to save an 

average of four minutes per flight when compared to the original 

flight plan. The preliminary results were presented at the Airspace 

Systems Program Technical Interchange Meeting (San Diego, CA) 

in March 2011. Although the time-savings found in this study are 

noteworthy, the study only investigated a small number of flights. 

A new study investigating a larger sample is needed to substantiate 

the benefit and efforts are underway to expand the dataset. 

(POC: Walter Johnson)

This figure represents an example of a dynamic weather reroute. The 

white solid line represents the aircraft’s current flight plan. The image 

shows that the aircraft must be rerouted due to convective weather. 

The yellow dotted line shows an initial direct route to its downstream 

fix that reduces flight time, but this route also encounters convective 

weather. The green dashed line shows a new dynamic weather reroute 

that avoids weather and decreases flight time.

The winner of the Individual award for High Potential, Maryam 

Kamgarpour (center), Ames Research Center, is pictured with 

Tom Irvine, Deputy Associate Administrator for ARMD (left) 

and Dr. Jaiwon Shin, Associate Administrator for ARMD.
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUNE 2011

Researchers Get Tips on Modeling Airspace Concepts using Airspace Concept 

Evaluation System at Ames Workshop, 

May 2011

NASA Ames Research Center

The Systems Modeling and Optimization Branch hosted a 2-day 

workshop May 18-19, 2011, at Ames Research Center to share 

NASA’s research experience using the Airspace Concept Evaluation 

System (ACES). Forty-nine researchers and software developers 

attended the workshop, representing the William J. Hughes (FAA) 

Technical Center, NASA Ames Research Center, NASA Langley 

Research Center, Aerospace Computing Inc., Intelligent Automation Inc., Mosaic ATM Inc., Raytheon, and the University Affiliated Research Center. Researchers from the FAA Technical Center 

used ACES in their benefit assessment studies and were interested 

in using ACES to study the effects of trajectory uncertainty. 

Researchers at Ames gave presentations on how to set up and use 

ACES to assess benefits and interactions of several ATM concepts, 

including separation assurance, interaction between traffic flow 

management and dynamic airspace configuration, and precision 

departure release capability. Researchers from NASA Langley 

Research Center explored using ACES as a system cost and benefit 

analysis tool in particular to study terminal area merging and spacing. Representatives from the Joint Planning and Development 

Office presented their work on system-wide portfolio assessment 

and Unmanned Aerial System integration in the National Airspace 

System. The latter focuses on communication bandwidth using the 

Communication Navigation and Surveillance component of ACES. 

(POC: Kee Palopo)

Airspace Concept Evaluation System Users 

Group Grows by Three, May 2011

NASA Ames Research Center

Three external organizations have recently requested Airspace 

Concept Evaluation System (ACES) to support their research. The 

first organization, the U.S. Department of Transportation/Volpe 

National Transportation Systems Center/Traffic Flow Management 

Division (RVT-73), is evaluating a Dynamic Meter Point concept 

for consideration as a future functional enhancement to the FAA’s 

Time Based Flow Management so that meter points can be placed 

at any location in the airspace, not necessarily tied to existing fixes. 

The second organization, the Human Performance Modeling 

group of the National Information and Communication Technology Australia’s Queensland Research Lab, is developing an air traffic management model in partnership with Air Services Australia. 

Their main goal is to analyze Australian air traffic management 

The Airspace Concept Evaluation System (ACES) is used to model the 

flow of traffic across the U.S. This snapshot shows all of the flights over 

the U.S. at a given time.
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUNE 2011

and find solutions that would reduce the workload of air traffic 

controllers. The third organization, Czech Technical University, is 

considering using ACES in their unmanned aerial vehicle research. 

(POC: Kee Palopo)

New Ground-Based Capability that 

Dynamically Finds Time-Saving Weather 

Avoidance Routes is Prototyped, May 2011

NASA Ames Research Center

A new function that automatically finds alternative convective 

weather routes that save time and fuel for en-route aircraft has 

been implemented in the Center/TRACON Automation System. 

Convective weather is the biggest cause of delay in the National 

Airspace System, and automation does not exist to help airline 

dispatchers and FAA traffic managers to continuously reevaluate today’s static weather avoidance routes, which are typically 

put in place before an aircraft departs. Dynamic Weather Routes 

integrates trajectory-based automation designed for Center radar 

controllers, convective weather modeling that predicts the growth 

and movement of storms, and algorithms to automatically compute minimum-delay routes around weather cells. Simple route 

changes that save flying time—10 min. per flight is typical—and 

avoid downstream weather are automatically computed. The user 

interface enables quick visualization and modification of the route, 

if necessary. The route changes are automatically formatted for 

voice or data link clearance delivery using currently available air/

ground data communication capabilities. The next step is to run 

the automation in the lab to determine benefit potential using 

actual traffic over several weather days and to quantify the difference in benefit for aircraft with and without data link equipage. 

Preliminary results suggest a potential savings of 350 minutes flying 

time over 5 hours of weather-impacted operations in one en route 

Center. (POC: Dave McNally)

New Capability for the Terminal Area 

Precision Scheduling and Spacing System 

Developed for Off-Nominal Conditions, 

May 2011

NASA Ames Research Center

The Terminal Area Precision Scheduling and Spacing (TAPSS) 

system, which has shown in high fidelity simulations the ability to 

simultaneously achieve both capacity increasing and environmental 

benefits for high density airports, has added a new capability. To 

ensure the robustness of the TAPSS technology for the demonstration and eventual technology transfer to the FAA, automation 

to address off-nominal conditions is required. These conditions 

include problems as simple as schedule non-conformance and as 

complex as re-scheduling for aircraft that are conducting go-around 

NASA researchers evaluate the performance of NextGen ATM technologies using TAPSS. 
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUNE 2011

procedures after aborted landings. Initial human-in-the-loop simulations in April and May have tested the new go-around simulation 

capability and the automation algorithms for both the re-conformance and re-scheduling functionality. Formal experiments are 

being planned for June and September of 2011 for a thorough 

evaluation of these new capabilities. TAPSS is a key component 

in the first Air traffic management Technology Demonstration. 

(POC: Harry Swenson, Jane Thipphavong)

NASA Summer Intern Wins Second Place at 

AIAA Student Conference, April 2011

Dayton, OH

Charles Schultz placed second in the Undergraduate Technical 

Paper category at the Region III AIAA Student Conference held 

at the University of Dayton on April 2nd, 2011. Mr. Schultz conducted his research on an adaptive trajectory prediction feedback 

algorithm for climbing flights while interning with the Aviation 

Systems Division at NASA Ames Research Center in the summer 

of 2010. As a proof of concept, he demonstrated how his algorithm could enhance trajectory prediction accuracy by a factor of 

at least two for a sample of 18 climbing flights. Both the paper and 

presentation were well received by the judges and other conference participants. After completing his undergraduate degree this 

month in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan, 

Mr. Schultz will be returning to NASA Ames for the summer to 

apply the feedback he received at the student conference to further 

improve the performance of his adaptive climb algorithm. 

Planning Meeting Completed for Air Traffic 

Management Technology Demonstration, 

May 2011

NASA Langley Research Center

On May 3-5, the ATD-1 team, together with researchers and project managers from NASA Ames and Langley Research Centers, 

held a 3-day planning meeting at NASA Langley to finalize the 

first version of a project plan. ATD-1 was selected as the first technology demonstration in a series of ARMD air traffic management 

Technology Demonstration activities. These activities are aimed at 

accelerating airspace technology transition in general and adoption 

of ADS-B technology in particular. ATD-1 combines advanced 

time-based scheduling in terminal airspace, controller managed 

spacing tools, and flight deck interval management to achieve 

sustained fuel efficient operations during periods of high traffic 

demand. In coordination with the FAA and industry partners, 

ATD-1 will conduct a series of high-fidelity human-in-the-loop 

simulations and operational demonstrations of advanced terminal 

operations. (POC: John Robinson)

Arrival Conformance Monitoring Tool to 

Lower Simultaneous Offset Instrument 

Approaches Minima Demonstrated to the 

FAA, April 2011 

NASA Ames Research Center

FAA personnel from the Northern California TRACON and San 

Francisco International Airport (SFO) were shown a conformance-
Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUNE 2011

monitoring tool that was developed as part of NASA’s research to 

improve procedures for parallel approaches to closely-spaced parallel runways. This tool could help controllers assess if a following 

aircraft was traveling at a correct speed to couple or pair with a lead 

aircraft for simultaneous landings to runways 750 feet apart. This 

tool has potential for lowering the cloud ceiling for simultaneous 

offset instrument approaches operations at SFO from 2100 feet to 

1600 feet.

Human-in-the-Loop Simulation of the 

Efficient Descent Advisor, April 2011

NASA Ames Research Center

A human-in-the-loop simulation of the Efficient Descent Advisor 

(EDA) was successfully conducted the week of April 4, 2011, in 

the NASA Ames Crew-Vehicle Systems Research Facility. This was 

the fifth such simulation carried out under the 3D-Path Arrival 

Management (3D-PAM) technology-transition effort. Participants 

included active-duty controllers from Denver Center representing the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. The primary 

objective was to evaluate a new EDA design that provides advisories for all arrival aircraft at all times of day, regardless of demandcapacity constraints, thereby creating consistent arrival procedures. 

New procedures were also evaluated for minimizing the impact 

of top-of-descent uncertainty by delaying descent authorization 

until aircraft were within the sector in which the descent clearance 

was issued. Preliminary results suggest that the new designs and 

procedures evaluated in this simulation were viewed favorably by 

controllers. Representatives from various FAA offices and Boeing visited NASA Ames to observe the simulation and to discuss 

strategy and requirements for technology transfer. 

(POC: Rich Coppenbarger)

Simulation of a Tactical Aircraft Separation 

Tool for Terminal Airspace Completed, 

April 2011

NASA Ames Research Center

Two weeks of human-in-the-loop simulations to evaluate a terminal tactical aircraft separation tool were successfully completed at 

NASA Ames in March and April 2011. The tool, called the Terminal Tactical Separation Assured Flight Environment (T-TSAFE), 

is a derivative of a previously-tested conflict detection and resoluEfficient Descent Advisor Simulation.
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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUNE 2011

tion tool for the en-route phase of flight. Evaluations of en route 

T-TSAFE show it has fewer false alerts (as low as 2 per hour) and 

better prediction to conflict time than NASA’s implementation 

of the FAA’s Conflict Alert prediction tool. The simulation was 

conducted using the airspace around the Los Angeles International 

Airport and had two general objectives: first, to verify fast-time 

simulation results that show benefits of T-TSAFE over Conflict 

Alert, including reduced false/missed alerts and increased time to 

predicted loss of separation; and second, to define the controller 

procedures and information requirements for the tool’s use. Eight 

retired Southern California TRACON controllers, 11 pseudo 

pilots and 2 subject matter experts participated in the study where 

T-TSAFE provided conflict detection alerts and the controllers 

were required to resolve conflicts in a manner similar to currentday procedures. Data were collected to evaluate the tool’s impact 

on controller workload, intervention, and situation awareness and 

data analysis is underway. (POC: Verma Savvy)

NASA Researchers Assist FAA with Initial 

NextGen Deployment, April 2011

NASA Ames Research Center

The FAA Traffic Management Advisor (TMA) Program Office 

recently requested NASA’s assistance in improving features within 

the operationally deployed TMA, which is an important component in the achievement of NextGen goals. NASA originally 

developed TMA as part of the Center-TRACON Automation 

System (CTAS) and transferred the technology to the FAA in the 

late 1990s. NASA continued to develop significant enhancements 

over the last decade to address evolving NextGen objectives. NASA 

researchers visited the FAA’s Oakland Air Route Traffic Control 

Center (Oakland Center) to better understand improvement opportunities for TMA. Oakland Center has a comparatively high 

rate of TMA metering delay events and employs two adjacent-center metering operations. The Oakland Center FAA managers were 

appreciative of the visit and will work with NASA to accomplish 

future observation and validation of analysis results.

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Washington, DC 20024

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