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Airspace Systems Program Newsletter

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

FY 2014 Quarter 4 July - September 2014

NASA’s North Texas Research Station 

hosts NASA Administrator Bolden

On September 19, NASA's North Texas Research Station (NTX) in Fort Worth, hosted a visit from NASA's administrator, Charles Bolden, where he was provided with demonstrations and briefings of the Precision Departure Release 

Capability (PDRC) and Dynamic Weather Routes (DWR) technologies that NASA Ames Research Center has been 

developing in collaboration with the FAA's Fort Worth En Route Center and American Airlines. Mr. Bolden was accompanied by NASA Associate Administrator for Aeronautics, Dr. Jaiwon Shin, and Ames Deputy Center Director, 

Mr. Lewis Braxton III, as well as FAA Southwest Regional Administrator, Mr. Kelvin Solco. The administrator was 

given tours of the Fort Worth Center Traffic Management Unit and Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) Airport Tower (where 

PDRC is operating), as well as the American Airlines Integrated Operations Center (IOC) (where DWR is currently 

undergoing operational evaluation). After the briefings and demonstrations, Mr. Bolden participated in a press conference that was hosted at American Airlines, moderated by DFW Airport's Executive Vice President for Operations, 

Mr. James Crites, and which included remarks by Mr. Solco, Mr. Sean Donohue (Chief Executive Officer of DFW Airport), and Mr. Robert Isom (Chief Operating Officer of American Airlines). All parties pledged to continue the 

strong partnerships that had already been exhibited by the successful technologies showcased during the administrator's visit. (POC: Shawn Engelland, Dave McNally)

 This Issue

Technical/Programmatic Highlights P. 2

A Letter from the Director P. 2

TSS Delivered to FAA P. 3

FAA Mini-Global Demo P. 10

ASP in the News P. 11

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American Airlines Dispatcher Airman and ATC Coordinator Mike 

Sterenchuck (seated right) demonstrates DWR to (standing left to 

right) David McNally, DWR Lead Engineer; Kimball Stone, Vice President of the American Airlines Integrated Operations Center; Lewis 

Braxton III, NASA Ames Deputy Center Director; Jaiwon Shin, Associ

ate Administrator for the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate; (seated left to right) Kelvin Solco, FAA Southwest Regional 

Administrator and Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator
A Letter from the Director

As we wrap up fiscal year 2014, I’d like to take the opportunity to highlight some significant events 

from these past three months. I’m very proud of the efforts of our researchers, government and industry partners working together to deliver the Terminal Sequencing and Spacing to the FAA. The 

presence of the FAA Assistant Administrator for Next Gen, Ed Bolton, the FAA COO Terri Bristoll, 

of the Air Traffic Organization, and Tim Campbell, the Senior VP of Air Operations from American 

Airlines, at the TSS technology transfer ceremony in July demonstrated the value and importance of 

their partnership with NASA has been. In another high power gathering, the NASA Administrator 

was hosted in Dallas this September by the FAA’s Southwest Regional Administrator, Kelvin Solco, 

DFW Airport’s Executive Vice President for Operations, James Crites, Sean Donohue, Chief Executive Officer of DFW Airport and Robert Isom, Chief Operating Officer of American Airlines. They, 

and others came together to recognize the significant contributions of ASP’s Precision Departure 

Release Capability and Dynamic Weather Routing technologies.

Both of these events as well as recent efforts with partners US Airways and Charlotte-Douglas International Airport are evidence of our priority to grow our partnerships with airlines and airport operators. Expanding these partnerships is a key goal of NASA leadership to ensure that our research 

also supports the users and service providers in the system. Along this line, ASP is continuing 

efforts working with our partners to field test the Spot and Runway Departure Advisor in 2016.

These efforts and many others are in keeping with new ARMD strategy to focus on the three megadrivers that will shape aeronautics research over the coming decades: Global Growth in Demand for 

High Speed Mobility, Global Climate Change, Sustainability, and Energy Use and Technology Convergence. To meet these challenges, we and our partners are driving towards providing safe and 

efficient global growth incorporating real-time system-wide safety assurance with an eye towards 

the future, beyond Next Gen, and the benefits available through increasing automation and growing elements of system autonomy. As we look and plan for the future, I hope you’ll join ASP and 

our partners in providing the key technologies to get us there. 

Dr. John Cavolowsky 

Airspace Operations and Safety Program 

NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate 
ASP Turns Over Next-Generation 

Air Traffic Management Tool 

to FAA, July 14, 2014

The Terminal Sequencing and Spacing (TSS) 

technology was presented to the FAA during a 

formal ceremony at FAA Headquarters. TSS 

will enable air traffic controllers to better manage spacing between aircraft as they fly more 

efficient approaches into airports, saving time 

and fuel, and reducing emissions, and is another step in NASA’s support of NextGen development. "With TSS, NASA's aeronautics 

innovators have delivered to the FAA another 

valuable tool that will soon benefit our environment, our economy and every individual 

traveler," said Jaiwon Shin, NASA's Associate 

Administrator for Aeronautics Research. TSS 

enables the routine use of Performance Based 

Navigation (PBN) procedures, resulting in fewer course and altitude changes, while reducing 

the frequency of communications between 

controllers and pilots. The FAA is working to 

implement TSS, targeting an initial operating 

capability in 2018. (POC: Leighton Quon) 

Tim Campbell, American Airlines Senior VP of Air Operations, Jaiwon Shin, Associate Administrator for the NASA 

Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate; Terri Bristoll , 

FAA Chief Operating Officer, Air Traffic Organization, and 

Ed Bolton, FAA Assistant Administrator for NextGen, pose 

for a picture at the TSS Technology Transition Ceremony 

A picture of the CD used to represent the technology 

tran-sition from NASA to the FAA

Air Traffic Control Association President/CEO and Airspace Systems Program Director Reviews Air Traffic 

Management Research 

On September 16th, 2014, Peter Dumont, President and CEO of the Air Traffic Control Association (ATCA) was hosted by Dr. John Cavolowsky, Director of NASA’s Airspace Systems 

Program, for a review of the air traffic management research being conducted at NASA Ames. 

Research topics included Unmanned Aircraft 

System Traffic Management (UTM), Air Traffic 

Management Technology Demonstration – 1 

(ATD-1), the Dynamic Weather Routes (DWR) 

tool, and a tour of Ames’ Future Flight Central 

tower simulation facility used 

for airport surface management research. 

(POC: Katharine 

Lee)
Technical Interchange on Machine Learning for 

Automated Separation Assurance, July 18, 2014

A meeting was hosted at Ames Research Center (ARC) to discuss future 

directions for highly automated separation assurance systems. ASP researchers were joined by Professor Mykel Kochendorfer (Stanford University), and Professor Claire Tomlin (University of California at Berkeley). The discussions centered around how to improve the robustness 

and reliability of safety critical systems by using machine learning and 

historical data, and how to extend the current methods to handle 

different types of operations. Multiple different methods to extend and 

enhance the current research portfolio in these areas were presented, 

including using probabilistic inference, using hybrid systems in combination with system identification, and extending the methods used in 

developing the Airborne Collision Avoidance System-X (ACAS-X) to 

longer time horizons. The exchange was useful and informative as we 

prepare to chart the course for robust and efficient autonomous separation-assurance systems. (POC: Todd Lauderdale)

DLR Research Collaboration Continues in Airport Surface Research, July 28, 2014

Dr. Jörn Jakobi from the German Aerospace Agency (Deutsche Zentrum 

für Luft- und Raumfahrt, DLR) visited ARC to continue collaboration 

on a harmonized concept of operations of 4-D airport surface taxi operations. The team members further defined the scope of the concept and 

gained agreement on the high level concept elements. A draft of the 

concept is due by the end of December 2014. (POC: Yoon Jung)

RTCA SC-186 PLENARY 

AND WORKING 

GROUP 4 MEETING, 

July 15-17, 2014

Mike Koch and Bryan Barmore, 

attended an RTCA SC-186 

(Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast [ADS-B]) Plenary 

Meeting and an SC-186 Working 

Group 4 meeting in Washington, 

DC. SC-186 Working Group 4 is

currently developing the Minimum Operational Performance

Standards (MOPS) for Flight

Deck Interval Management

(FIM). The Working Group 4

Meeting was scheduled to give an

interim update between the last

joint meeting with the parallel

EUROCAE committee (early

June) in Reykjavik, Iceland, and

the next meeting in October to be

hosted by NASA at the National

Institute of Aerospace. The final

version of the MOPS is expected

to be released for final review and

comment in January 2015. Several

open issues were closed at this

meeting. Data was presented

from a recent ATM Technology

Demonstration-1 (ATD-1) simulation to support requirements for

limiting speed guidance based on

current aircraft configuration.

The SC-186 Group focused on

status updates to several on-going

activities. There was a comment

from the Working Group 4 lead

that future ADS-B applications

would significantly benefit from

additional information being

made available over ADS-B and

that he plans to recommend reopening the ADS-B link standards

next year. (POCs: Mike Koch and

Bryan Barmore)
Visit to American Airlines Operations, August 29, 2014 

NASA researchers Banavar Sridhar and Kapil Sheth visited the American Airlines 

(AA) Operations Center, Fort Worth, TX on August 29, 2014. The purpose of their 

visit was to present an overview of the potential benefits of wind-optimal routes as 

compared to the current flight routes along the North Atlantic Track System to AA 

Flight Planning, Operations Coordinator/Dispatcher, Operations Planning and Decision Support and Operations Research departments. The audience included Mike 

Sterenchuck and Desmond Keany, key AA collaborators in NASA’s Dynamic Weather Routing (DWR) research. Using examples of specific AA flights, the group discussed the influence of aircraft weight, airspace costs and winds on the generation 

of wind-optimal routes. The meeting provided NASA with an airline’s view of nonfuel related costs associated with the generation of a good a flight plan. AA has 

promised to provide data about the AA transatlantic flights for better comparison of 

the benefits. AA also expressed interest in the analysis of the benefits of windoptimal routes for flights within the United States. 

(POC: Dr. Banavar Sridhar)

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CTD Participation at the International Conference on Human Computer Interaction in Aerospace (HCI Aero 2014), July 30 - August 1, 2014

Concepts and Technology Development Project (CTD) researchers participated in a conference held in Santa Clara, CA, 

which highlighted research and advancements in airspace operations. The HCI-Aero 2014 conference, which was sponsored 

by the Florida Institute of Technology, San Jose State University Research Foundation, and the University of Glasgow, was 

focused on advancements in integration and functional allocation, and also had a number of paper presentations focused on 

the concept and technologies supporting SPO and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) (or Remotely-Piloted Airspace Systems). Participants presented technical work on SPO, Modeling and Simulation of Function Allocation concepts, and moderated a panel on the measurement of user workload in aviation and air traffic management research. The conference was attended by researchers from government, industry and academia from the US and Europe. 

(POC: Katharine Lee)

Meeting to Develop 

Future FAA research for 

Work Package 5, 

July 30, 2014 

Representatives from the FAA’s 

Advanced Methods program visited 

ARC to discuss their plans in the 

development of “Work Package 5.” 

This group is responsible for defining the concept engineering work 

for functional enhancements to be 

fielded in support of the Traffic 

Flow Management System. The 

ASP and FAA teams discussed collaborations involving learning automation and post-operations 

training. The concept engineering 

and function/capability development will be completed between 

now and FY 2017. Deployment of 

this work package will likely be 

from FY2020-2024. This FAA 

group will continue to involve ASP 

in their development of Work 

Package 5. 

(POC: William Chan) 
Simulation Shakedown Runs Completed for Fully-Integrated ATD-1 

Test (FIAT) #5, July 2014

During this past quarter, a series of shakedown simulations were completed in support of the Fully-Integrated 

ATD-1 Test (FIAT) #5 experiment. The first set of shakedown runs were conducted July 8-10, 2014. The objectives 

of FIAT-5 are to conduct Phoenix Airport arrival operations that have not been simulated in prior FIAT humanin-the-loop (HITL) simulations, including off-nominal 

events such as go-arounds and planned airport configuration changes. For these runs the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) software build and 

the NASA-enhanced Time-Based Flow Management 

(TBFM) release 3.12 were both utilized. This simulation of 

arrival operations will support the expected Operational 

Integration Assessment (OIA) requirements that are currently being defined. This simulation also represented the 

first time that the FIAT simulations included required 

navigation performance (RNP) radius-to-fix approach 

routes and independent and dependent (staggered) runway arrival operations to both West- and East-flow configurations. For this iteration of runs, the simulation team 

consolidated a list of reported and observed issues to prioritize corrective actions in preparation for the following 

series of runs. The second series of shakedown runs was 

conducted July 28-31, and focused on the Albuquerque 

Center (ZAB) airspace. The objectives of this series of runs 

were to validate the interoperability of Time-based Flow 

Management (TBFM) version 4.2 (upgraded from earlier 

version release 3.12) in the NASA Ames Research Center's 

air traffic control lab environment and to test the ground 

interval management for spacing (GIM-S) tool. GIM-S is a 

new capability in TBFM 4.2 that provides speed advisories 

to Center controllers with the expectation that it will reduce the amount of radar vector instructions required. 

GIM-S started operational testing and evaluation (OT&E) 

simulations at the William J. Hughes Tech Center 

(WJHTC) in May 2014, and is planned to be operational in 

ZAB in September 2014. GIM-S is expected to provide the 

required meter-fix delivery accuracy needed for the Terminal Sequencing and Spacing (TSS) technologies. For 

FIAT-5, new user interfaces had to be developed for Center controllers' GIM-S displays. During the course of the 

shakedown, variations in operational concepts and phraseology were developed to accommodate GIM-S. By the 

end of the shakedown, a strategy was devised for GIM-S 

adaptation and usage to be tested in future FIAT-5 simulations. The third series of runs was completed during the 

week of September 8, 2014. Approximately 20 subjects 

participated during this session. The objectives of these 

runs were to validate the integration of the 4th STARS 

workstation in the Ames N210 ATC lab, examine procedures for a small set of off-nominal events, and examine 

some additional TSS functionality recently added in TBFM 

version 4.2. All objectives of the shakedown were met, 

with the fourth STARS workstation performing flawlessly. 

Multiple procedures for some off-nominal flights were 

explored to provide options for future TSS-operator participants who will manage off-nominal events as required. 

Data was captured from TBFM 4.2 to help prepare for the 

next shakedown that is scheduled to begin on the 29th of 

September. Prior to this next shakedown, Raytheon will 

deliver and demonstrate a new version of SCOUT (STARS 

CMS OpEval Upleveled Tools), the TSS-enhanced STARS 

prototype that will be used at the OIA in May 2015. (POC: 

Kevin Witzberger) 

Analysis of FIAT simulation data
Workshop on Function Allocation for 

Separation Assurance and SPO, 

July 29, 2014

A half-day workshop was held at ARC to solicit community 

input on ASP’s work in both Function Allocation for Separation Assurance and Single Pilot Operations (SPO) research. 

The Function Allocation for Separation Assurance session 

focused in obtaining feedback from the research community 

on which directions are important for determining the best 

allocation of separation assurance functions between humans 

and automation and between ground-based and airborne 

systems. The workshop had more than 90 participants with 

diverse backgrounds split fairly evenly between academia, 

industry, international organizations and NASA. A high-level 

overview of ASP research into function allocation for separation assurance was presented, the participants then were divided into groups to discuss various research areas and rank 

their importance to determine how functions should be allocated. The input gathered at this workshop will be used to 

guide ASP’s Function Allocation research, which seeks to 

identify the separation assurance architecture that provides 

the best performance for the increased demand and diverse 

vehicle requirements of the future air traffic management 

system. The SPO session also included researchers from 

NASA, industry, and academia. Two important aspects of 

SPO were discussed: normal operation and non-normal 

(including off-nominal, abnormal, and emergency operations). The normal operations discussions centered around 

peak workload areas in current two-crew operations where 

both pilots are very busy – the closer the aircraft is to the terminal gate, the higher the workload, with preflight being the 

busiest period. In addition, social and human aspects were 

discussed such as Crew Resource Management with only one 

crewmember, loneliness and boredom, and biological needs. 

The non-normal session described the reallocation of duties 

and tasks between the single pilot and experts on the 

ground, the difficulties in ground personnel quickly getting up to speed on the situation in order to provide assistance to the single pilot, the need to provide clear and 

expressive interfaces regarding the problem, and lastly, 

the general vulnerability of the current FAA software and 

hardware systems that would greatly affect Uninhabited 

Aerial Vehicles – which the SPO flight would become in 

the case of pilot incapacitation. (POC: Todd Lauderdale 

and Paul Schutte)

Completion of 6-Month Review for 

SMART NAS Contracts, July 8, 2014 

A 6-month review was completed for the Shadow 

Mode Assessments Using Realistic Technologies of the 

National Airspace System (SMART NAS) contracts by a 

multi-center review panel. The SMART NAS contracts 

are 2-year tasks. The awardees are each creating and 

delivering an architectural design for a framework that 

will provide a plug-and-play capability for distributed 

simulations with NASA, FAA, and industry partners. 

This framework will support a variety of use cases including fast-time and real-time operations, and will 

facilitate testing of technology concepts in a realistic 

scenario with live data streams, controller instructions, 

and Flight Operation Centers. The 6-month Progress 

Reports demonstrated significant technical progress by 

the SMART NAS teams during the first quarter of their 

contracts. (POC: Trisha Glaab and Mike Guminsky)

SMART NAS Workshop with Boeing Design Team, August 2014 

On August 20-21st, engineers from Boeing visited Langley Research Center to participate in a 2-day workshop 

with NASA researchers and developers. Boeing is supporting a NASA NRA tasked with designing a potential 

architecture for SMART NAS test bed. During this 

workshop, Boeing presented their ideas and options for 

the SMART NAS design and solicited feedback from 

prospective users of the system to insure the design 

will meet LaRC research needs. The workshop began 

with a group presentation by Boeing and a general 

question and answer session. Boeing then interviewed 

individual teams in break-out sessions and visit Langley simulation and flight labs to gather more specific 

details from each set of potential users. 
SARDA Field Testing, July– September, 2014

American Airlines and FAA Participate in 

SARDA Simulation Data Collection 

The SARDA airport surface research team successfully completed 

a couple of simulations during the months of July and August this 

quarter in NASA Ames’ FutureFlight Central (FFC) facility. The 

first simulation (July 28 – August 1, 2014) was the fourth in a series 

of six planned human-in-the-loop simulations to evaluate a surface scheduling technology, including ramp tower displays, using 

the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport (Charlotte, NC) 

(CLT) as the target airport in the simulation. American Airlines 

(formerly US Airways) personnel participated as ramp tower controllers in the experiment in which the team, for the first time, 

simulated the entire turnaround operation for a bank of flights 

from arrival to departure. FAA tower controllers from CLT also 

observed the simulation operations. The second simulation (also 

the fifth in the series of six planned human-in-the-loop simulations) further evaluated the surface scheduling technology. 

American Airlines personnel again participated as ramp tower 

controllers in the experiment in which the team simulated the 

new operational conditions added to scenarios previous simulated, including traffic flow management initiatives (e.g., Expected 

Departure Clearance Times and Miles-in-Trail restrictions). Also, 

a new feature for the scheduler function was added to advise 

ramp controllers of different taxiways to use in order to avoid 

congestion in the ramp area. Data was collected under “baseline” 

simulation conditions, representing current day operations with 

paper strips. An FAA tower controller and a supervisor from CLT 

also observed the simulation operations and provided valuable 

feedback. The next SARDA data collection human-in-the-loop 

simulation is scheduled for three weeks beginning the week of 

September 29. It is expected that the SARDA capability will eventually be tested in the American Airlines ramp tower at CLT within the next 2 years. (POC: Ty Hoang)

SARDA Researchers Meet with Airlines at 

Charlotte Airport, July 2014

Researchers from ASP’s Spot and Runway Departure Advisor 

(SARDA) attended a couple of meetings with managers of US Airways Operations, Planning, and Performance (OPP) Airport ramp 

operations staff, and an ATC coordinator to discuss steps for field 

deployment and testing of SARDA at the US Airways ramp tower 

at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT), July 1-2, 2014. 

During the meeting, the teams discussed scope/operational concept, installation and data connectivity, training, high level system architecture, and data requirements for integrating the SARDA tool in the ramp tower environment. A follow-on meeting 

was held July 29-30, to continue further technical discussions for 

identifying actions needed for integrating SARDA and American 

Airlines (formerly US Airways) systems. The second meeting also 

included a representative from the FAA’s surface operations 

office, Charlotte-Douglas International Airport (CLT) tower controllers, and American Airlines ramp tower and operations planning leads to further discuss their interest in supporting a field 

test of the SARDA capability at the American Airlines CLT ramp 

tower. Current surface automation technologies and surface operations at CLT were discussed. ASP provided an overview of its 

surface research and simulation efforts, and details on the core 

functions and user interface of SARDA. (POC: Yoon Jung)

NASA and American Airlines meet to discuss 

SARDA Field Testing, September 18, 2014

SARDA creates 

metering advisories for runway usage, spot 

release into 

taxiways, and 

gate pushbacks 

On September 18, 2014, NASA managers and researchers met with 

the senior management team of American Airlines operations at 

American Airlines (AA) Headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, to 

discuss the Spot and Runway Departure Advisor (SARDA) effort, 

and the plans to field test SARDA at the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport (CLT) American Airlines (AA) ramp tower. 

Meeting participants included Dr. John Cavolowsky, Program 

Director of Airspace Systems Program from NASA Headquarters, 

Dr. Thomas Edwards, Director of Aeronautics at NASA Ames Research Center, Mr. Tim Campbell, AA Senior Vice President of Air 

Operations, and Ms. Kerry Philipovich, AA Senior Vice President 

of Customer Experience. Dr. Yoon Jung, NASA’s airport surface 

research lead, briefed the AA management team on the status of 

the SARDA project, including the ongoing human-in-the-loop 

simulations, requirements development, and the proposed schedule for field testing of the SARDA tool at the CLT ramp tower in 

2016. Mr. Ilhan Ince, AA Managing Director of Operations Planning and Performance presented the AA perspectives on their 

participation thus far in the SARDA development and testing. 

The AA senior management team expressed strong endorsement 

for the SARDA project and recommended a more detailed assessment of the potential resource requirements, especially for IT 

resources from American Airlines, in order to install the SARDA 

tool at the CLT ramp tower for field testing. As a next step, NASA 

and American Airlines teams will meet in early November 2014 to 

continue this discussion. (POC: Yoon Jung) 
Method to Enhance Scheduled Arrival 

Robustness (MESAR) Pilot Training and 

Data Collection Completed, 

September, 2014

The Method to Enhance Scheduled Arrival Robustness 

(MESAR) team completed two weeks of pseudo-pilot training with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and data collection 

with two different groups of participants from August 11-29, 

2014. MESAR is an augmentation to the Traffic Management 

Advisor-Terminal Metering (TMA-TM) and ControllerManaged Spacing (CMS) tools, and includes an algorithm 

that is designed to handle perturbed schedule-based terminal area arrival operations. MESAR uses augmented displays 

with slot markers, timelines, and speed advisories to provide a graphical display of aircraft STAs (Scheduled Times 

of Arrival) and ETAs (Estimated Times of Arrival) to provide 

support for controllers to sequence, space, and merge aircraft and help controllers meet the schedule. During the 

data collection, three types of disturbances were tested to 

perturb the arrival schedule: missed approaches, pop-up 

VFR (visual flight rules) aircraft requiring emergency priority landing, and late arrivals that could not be speeded up to 

meet their schedule. Three ways of managing the perturbed 

schedule were tested: 1) automatically adjusted by the MESAR algorithm, 2) manually adjusted by the Traffic Management Coordinator (TMC), or 3) no schedule adjustment. 

The data will be used to evaluate the efficacy of tactical 

schedule adjustment in enhancing the robustness and resilience of schedule-based terminal area arrival operations. as 

well as compare characteristics of schedule adjustments 

performed by the MESAR algorithm and by the TMC. 

(POC: Jaewoo Jung and Savvy Verma)

Tactical Departure SchedulingTerminal Initial Shadow Evaluation 

Completed, July 2014

On July 31, NASA's Tactical Departure Scheduling – Terminal (TDS-T) team hosted FAA subject matter experts for an 

initial shadow evaluation at the North Texas Research Station (NTX) in Fort Worth, Texas. The TDS-T research activity addresses the challenge of simultaneously satisfying national, regional, and local departure constraints while accommodating traffic from both well-equipped and lessequipped airports. During the last year, the TDS-T team 

has: analyzed nationwide terminal departure operations to 

assess potential benefits and understand requirements, designed and evaluated a new terminal departure scheduling 

algorithm, and implemented the scheduling algorithm in a 

TDS-T prototype decision support tool. For this initial shadow evaluation, traffic management supervisors and frontline managers from Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) TRACON 

and the air traffic control towers at DFW and Dallas Love 

airports interacted with the TDS-T prototype decision support tool in the NTX laboratory. The TDS-T prototype tool 

was running in shadow mode with live data feeds. Several 

TDS-T prototype user interfaces were configured to represent different terminal departure control environments: 

TRACON traffic management unit (TMU), large airport 

Tower, and small airport Tower. The FAA subject matter 

experts provided feedback on the TDS-T concept and the 

prototype tool. The TDS-T team will use this feedback to 

further refine the concept and technology in preparation for 

follow-on shadow evaluations in operational environments 

slated to begin later this year. (POC: Shawn Engelland)

NTX is utilized in all phases of NextGen research, beginning from 

early concept development through execution of operational field 

evaluations of advanced prototype systems
Tours of United Airlines Chicago Facilities, FAA Air Traffic 

Control Tower, and FAA TRACON, September 2014

On September 17 and 18, 2014, researchers from NASA Langley travelled to Chicago 

O'Hare International Airport (ORD) and met with Clay Hubbs (United Airlines, UAL) for 

briefings on and tours of United Airlines Chicago Facilities, the FAA Air Traffic Control 

Tower at ORD, and the FAA’s Chicago O'Hare Terminal Radar Approach Control Facility 

(TRACON, C90) in Elgin, IL. The tours included UAL Pilot and Flight Attendant briefing 

and administrative/training areas, UAL System Operations Control (SOC) center, UAL 

Ramp Tower located at ORD, and FAA ORD City Tower. Captain Deron Johnson, UAL 

SOC Manager and Pilot, and Ms. Lee Taylor, Base Manager of Inflight Services, provided 

the briefings. 

FAA Mini Global-1 Demonstration, September 2014

The Aviation Systems Division's Airspace Automation Technology Advisor, Mr. Tom Davis, attended the FAA's “Mini Global-1” Demonstration at the Daytona Beach, Florida 

NextGen testbed, September 16-18. The Mini Global Demonstration is an FAA international initiative to develop a concept of operations for electronically connecting disparate 

computer and messaging systems across the globe, through a defined, common interface 

that will be able to exchange System Wide Information Management (SWIM) data seamlessly. Currently, data is exchanged 'point-to-point' with separate interfaces for each 

country. The FAA has developed an Enterprise Messaging System (EMS) that serves as a 

central hub to share information utilizing standards for flight (FIXM), weather (WXXM) 

and aeronautical (AIXM) information. The Global data would automatically provide relevant information about individual flights, weather, and aviation resources (e.g., special 

use airspace) across international borders. International partners can either subscribe to 

the EMS system or create their own hub to interface with EMS, but in either case protocols are standardized. International partners for this demonstration included Canada, 

Australia, Asia-Pacific nations (Singapore, Japan, Korea, Thailand) and Portugal. The FAA 

will now initiate a Mini-Global-2 Demonstration project, to be completed in 2016, that 

will expand upon the current concept including messaging regarding traffic flow information utilizing the Traffic Flow Management (TMXM) standard. Some of the TMIXM 

messaging protocols and information were developed at NASA Ames Research Center 

and NASA was identified as a potential partner for developing “killer apps” for the overall 

concept. Mr. Davis also participated in an FAA demonstration of the Traffic Management 

Advisor for attendees from the Singapore Civil Aviation Authority. (POC: Tom Davis)

Recognitions

NASA’s Terminal Sequencing 

and Spacing technology was featured in Sept. 8, 2014 Issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology. 

Mr. William Johnson accepted 

invitation to join the Technical 

Program Committee (TPC) for the 

ENRI International Workshop on 

Air Traffic Management and 

Communication, Navigation, and 

Surveillance (EIWAC2015) – the 

4th ENRI International Workshop 

on ATM/CNS – to be held in Ryogoku, Tokyo, Japan, Nov 17-19, 

2015. As a TPC member, Mr. 

Johnson will participate in organizing technical sessions, reviewing 

papers and contributing to planning the technical program for 

the upcoming EIWAC2015. Mr. 

Johnson is the third international 

TPC member and the only member from the United States. He 

will be traveling to Tokyo twice 

next year in this role with all travel expenses graciously provided 

by ENRI.
ASP in the News

Public Will Need To Trust Automation 

Before Used In Aviation

Aviation Week (8/11, Warwick) reports that in order for aviation to 

become more automated, the systems that would fly and manage air 

traffic will need to become more 

“trusted.” Danette Allen, chief technologist for autonomy at the Langley 

Research Center, said, “Aviation has 

been very successful with a humancentric paradigm, the idea that it is 

humans that save the day,” but now 

“there is a paradigm shift from automated to autonomous: 

automation is relegation; autonomy is delegation. ... Autonomicity, or self-awareness, is a step beyond. The system can 

monitor its own state and self-configure, self-optimize, selfprotect and self-heal.” In order for people to trust all this to a 

machine, Allen believes there needs to be “new methods of 

verification and validation.” Mark Moore, an aerospace engineer at the Langley Research Center, said, “Achieving high 

levels of trusted autonomy is a multibillion-dollar challenge 

that will take more than just aviation to achieve. ... Aerospace 

will not lead this. It will take 20-30 years and by then there 

will be millions of driverless cars operating, collecting data 

the FAA will never get [from aviation].”

NASA Working On Traffic Control 

System for UAVs

The New York Times (9/1, Dougherty) reports that while 

there is “enthusiasm” in the industry for using UAVs for commercial ventures, there are still several technical challenges 

to overcome like how “to manage that menagerie of lowflying aircraft.” Parimal H. 

Kopardekar, who manages NASA’s work toward developing 

the traffic control system for UAVs, said, “one at a time you 

can make them work and keep them safe. ... but when you 

have a number of them in operation in the same airspace, 

there is no infrastructure to support it.” The system NASA is 

developing is trying to autonomously determine “where 

[UAVs] can and cannot fly.” Kopardekar said, “in agriculture, 

I’m hoping we will see some action inside of the next year,” 

with the possibility of seeing UAVs deliver packages in rural 

areas maybe five years. However, according to the article, it 

may take longer to have UAVs making deliveries in cities. 

Kopardekar said, “there is the technology piece and then 

there is the public acceptance piece, and both have to evolve. 

... if they are taken over by some rogue elements, how do you 

manage them? How do you have them safely land and take 

off in the presence of a grandma doing landscaping and kids 

playing soccer?” SlashGear (9/1, Davies) cites the NYTimes 

piece in an article titled, “NASA’s Drone Airspace Expert 

Clamps Down On Enthusiasm.”Gizmodo (9/2) and The Verge 

(9/1, McCormick) also covered the story.

NASA Working On UAV Air Traffic 

Management System

Flight Global (9/18, Stevenson) reports on the unmanned air 

systems traffic management (UTM) system that NASA and 

Airware are creating together. The two groups will be able “to 

test and validate a wide range of scenario” that could one day 

allow for “safe low-altitude operations.” The article notes that 

earlier this month, NASA sent out a solicitation inviting submissions from any organization interested in working with it 

on the UTM.

l

f

r

An experimental 

Google delivery 

drone in Queensand, Australia. 

Legal, social and 

financial hurdles 

or drone use 

emain. Credit: 

Google