National Aeronautics and Space Administration

www.nasa.gov

AOSP Newsletter

Airspace Operations and Safety Program (AOSP)

JAN-MAR 2016 | Quarter 2

NASA UTM Collaborator Meeting 9

NASA Technology Could Reduce 

Air Travel Delays

2
2 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JAN-MAR 2016

AOSP IN THE NEWS

NASA Technology Could 

Reduce Air Travel Delays

In the February 18 issue of 

Government Computer News, 

reporter Derek Major writes about 

NASA’s Dynamic Weather Routes 

(DWR) system that “compares 

weather and air traffic data to find 

alternate routes” for flights when 

severe weather is expected to affect 

planes already airborne. DWR 

“collects and updates weather 

and air traffic information every 

12 seconds,” a modern update 

to the traditional method that 

“depends on a teleconference held 

every two hours.” A team has been 

developing DWR since 2010, “and 

research shows the software could 

save 10 minutes per flight.”

The Self-Flying Plane Has 

Arrived

A Nextgov.com article written on 

March 3 reports NASA is currently 

studying the concept of single-pilot 

air flights, where a first officer on the 

ground monitors several aircraft at 

once. In the case of emergencies or 

unusual circumstances, the groundbased pilot could transfer responsibilities to colleagues for other flights 

and focus solely on the flight that 

needs immediate attention. Should 

the sole airborne pilot become 

incapacitated, the plane could be 

remotely controlled for safe landing. 

How Do Airline Pilots 

Beat Jetlag?

Writing in the March 16 issue of 

ScienceAlert, David Nield quotes 

Erin Flynn-Evans, a member of 

NASA Ames Research Center’s 

Fatigue Countermeasures Group that 

studies the effects of sleep loss and jet 

lag, and conducts training to counter these effects. Flynn-Evans advises 

travelers to determine the geographical direction of travel, which can 

then determine nap times to prepare the body for time-zone change. 

Westerly travel makes for easier 

physical adjustment than does flying east. Travel direction can be used 

to determine nap times in order to 

prepare for cross-timezones travel. 

According to Nield, quoting 

Flynn-Evans, “supplements such as 

synthetic melatonin can help too. 

The hormone helps to set the body’s 

sleep cycle, and the synthetic version of it is a popular alternative 

to sleeping pills,” although there 

remains disagreement about which 

melatonin formulation is the safest and most effective option.

NASA Studies Help Under- standing of Pilot Fatigue

Writing in the March 23 issue of 

WIRED Magazine, Ashley Nunes 

reports that, thanks to NASA 

research on understanding pilot 

fatigue, it’s now known that the 

conditions in which pilots fly matter as much as the time they spend at 

the controls. These findings facilitated a major change in how fatigue 

was managed on the flight deck. 

Achieving the type of deep restorative sleep necessary to avoid fatigue 

requires that muscles relax, body 

temperature fall, and brain activity drop. Longer periods of rest 

between shifts gives the body the 

chance to do so. Limiting the 

total amount of flying required 

of pilots each month also reduces 

the chances of fatigue accumulating over consecutive work cycles.

In 2011, the Federal Aviation 

Administration placed its strictest limits to date on night flying by commercial airline pilots, 

since working after sunset is more 

fatiguing than doing so in daylight. U.S. carriers must now give 

their pilots longer rest opportunities prior to flying – 10 hours 

compared to eight previously – and 

provide them 25% percent more 

continuous time off each month.
AOSP NEWSLETTER // JAN-MAR 2016 3

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

Meeting with ONERA

POC: BANAVAR SRIDHAR

On January 11, Dr. Banavar Sridhar 

met with the Toulouse, Francebased Office National d’Etudes 

et de Recherches Aérospatiales 

(ONERA) Scientific Director of 

the Information Processing and 

Systems Branch Dr. Philippe 

Bidaud. Dr. Sridhar is the NASA 

point of contact for the NASAONERA environmental modeling 

agreement. Dr. Sridhar gave an 

overview of NASA air traffic 

management research on the 

generation of efficient aircraft 

trajectories in the presence of 

safety, capacity and environmental 

constraints. The tasks in this 

research area are aligned with efforts 

to meet NASA’s responsibilities 

in the collaboration agreement. 

ATD Industry Day PTM/

TASAR Demonstration

POC: SHERI BROWN

On January 13, the Airspace 

Technology Demonstration (ATD) 

Project hosted an Industry Day 

event at NASA’s Ames Research 

Center to showcase several 

NASA technology concepts 

under development to improve 

flight efficiency and traffic flow 

management. Two of those, Traffic 

Aware Strategic Aircrew Requests 

(TASAR) and Pairwise Trajectory 

Management (PTM), are cockpitbased tools under development at 

NASA’s Langley Research Center. 

NASA Langley’s David Wing and 

Dr. Kelly Burke attended the event 

to represent TASAR. Mike Koch, 

also from NASA Langley, was in 

attendance to represent PTM, a 

concept meant to improve oceanic 

operations efficiency by enabling 

the pairwise reduction of traffic 

separation requirements, thus 

allowing aircraft to maximize time 

flown on optimal flight paths. 

The event was well attended by 

more than 60 representatives 

covering a wide range of the 

aviation community, including 

airlines, avionics manufacturers, 

airframe manufactures, product 

developers, academia, and the 

Federal Aviation Administration. 

The format included concept 

briefings and demonstrations, as 

well as an open forum with project 

management to discuss project 

scope, technology transfer goals, 

and partnership opportunities. 

The TASAR and PTM 

demonstrations used actual and 

simulated interactive crew interfaces 

respectively to provide visual aids, 

while presenters explained the 

concepts and crew procedures. Both 

TASAR and PTM drew considerable 

interest from attendees. The event 

exposed all concepts to the broad 

community, and should serve as 

a springboard for future NASA/

stakeholder collaborations. 

FAA Approval for TASAR 

Operations Progressing

POC: DAVID WING

Virgin America, one of NASA’s two 

partner airlines on the Traffic Aware 

Strategic Aircrew Requests (TASAR) 

activity, has received authorization 

for TASAR operations from their 

Federal Aviation Administration 

(FAA) principal operations inspector 

(POI). TASAR is a NASA-developed 

concept that offers onboard 

automation for the purpose of 

advising pilots of air traffic controlapprovable trajectory changes that 

are beneficial to their flights. 

NASA’s TASAR technology is 

comprised of the Traffic Aware 

Planner (TAP), a software 

application developed by Engility 

Corporation for NASA, and 

designed to be hosted on an 

electronic flight bag (EFB) in 

the cockpit. TAP reads aircraft 

and traffic data directly from 

onboard avionics and, via internet 

connectivity, leverages an array of 

external data sources relevant to 

flight optimization, such as wind 

predictions, convective weather, and 

restricted airspace status. Processing 

all this information, TAP computes 

flight-optimizing route changes 

in real time, and provides the 

solutions to the aircrew as advisory 

information. In 2015, NASA 

entered into multi-year Space Act 

Agreements with Virgin American 

and Alaska Airlines to install and test 
4 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JAN-MAR 2016

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

TAP operationally on their Airbus 

and Boeing aircraft, respectively, in 

revenue service beginning in 2016. 

On January 14, at Virgin’s request, 

NASA briefed Virgin’s FAA POI on 

TASAR. The briefing was held at 

Virgin’s headquarters in Burlingame, 

Calif., and was conducted by 

TASAR Principal Investigator David 

Wing and TASAR Human Factors 

Lead Dr. Kelly Burke, both from 

NASA’s Langley Research Center, 

supported by Engility Corporation 

TAP Chief Engineer Bob Vivona 

and Advanced Aerospace Solutions 

TASAR Flight Test Lead and 

Certification Subject Matter Expert 

John Maris. The briefing included 

TAP desktop demonstrations, as well 

as the software known as Computer 

Based Trainer. All questions by 

the POI were fully addressed, 

in many cases using the direct 

results of TASAR project activities 

from the last three-plus years. 

These activities are all intended 

to accelerate FAA approval and 

airline adoption of TASAR, 

including in-depth analyses of 

safety and hazards, certification and 

operational approval regulations, 

human factors design and 

assessments via two human-inthe-loop simulation experiments, 

and operational readiness 

assessments via two flight trials. 

Also on January 14, NASA gave 

an unplanned briefing to Virgin’s 

FAA dispatch inspector and lead 

dispatcher. Both recognized TASAR’s 

operational benefits and endorsed 

moving forward with operational 

trials. Based on the briefing and 

demos received, the FAA POI signed 

Virgin’s Operational Specification 

A061 “Use of Electronic Flight 

Bag,” as updated to include the TAP 

application, effective January 20. 

This accomplishment represents a 

significant milestone on the path 

toward operational TASAR trials, 

and future industry adoption should 

the trials demonstrate benefit. 

At a separate meeting on March 

15, NASA Langley Research 

Engineer David Wing and Alaska 

Airlines Fleet Technology Director 

Captain Scott Sander briefed the 

collaborative NASA/Alaska TASAR 

project to four FAA principal 

inspectors responsible for overseeing 

Alaska Airlines’ operations, safety 

and avionics. NASA and Alaska 

Airlines have a multi-year Space Act 

Agreement to test TASAR in revenue 

service. Before TASAR operational 

trials can commence, signatures from 

the FAA principal inspectors will be 

required that approve the installation 

of TASAR-related hardware 

and software on Alaska Airlines 

aircraft and the commencement 

of TASAR operations. 

The general response to the project 

was strong, and compliments were 

conveyed as to TAP’s intuitive user 

interface and functional capabilities. 

 

FAA Technical Interchange for 

Weather Routing Technologies

POC: DAVE McNALLY

On January 20-21, NASA’s 

Ames Research Center hosted a 

two-day technical interchange 

meeting with the Federal Aviation 

Administration’s (FAA) Next 

Generation Air Transportation 

System (NextGen) organization 

and MITRE’s Center for Advanced 

Aviation Systems Development. The 

meeting’s purpose was to discuss 

NASA’s current weather routing 

research capabilities, including 

Dynamic Weather Routes (DWR) 

Traffic Aware Planner
AOSP NEWSLETTER // JAN-MAR 2016 5

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

automation, for potential FAA 

deployment under the Collaborative 

Air Traffic Management Work 

Package 5, scheduled for a FAA 

final investment decision (FID) in 

2019, and national airspace system 

(NAS) deployment in about 2021. 

In a separate government-only 

meeting, the FAA and NASA 

exchanged technical concepts, 

test results, and discussed future 

research towards real-time trajectory 

automation to improve weather 

avoidance routes and reduce delay 

during convective weather events 

in the NAS. The FAA described 

their FID preparation requirements, 

and expressed interest in DWR 

follow-on research, including 

common high-value reroutes for 

multiple flights, and automation to 

enable time-based metering when 

weather impedes arrival flows to 

capacity-constrained airports. 

ATD-1 Flight Test Demo 

Milestone Announced

POC: DENISE SCEARCE

On January 22, in support of the 

Boeing Company-managed flight test 

demonstration under the terms of 

the $10.9 million, two-year flightcritical systems research contract task 

entitled “Air Traffic Management 

Technology Demonstration 1 

(ATD-1) Avionics Phase 2,” NASA’s 

Langley Research Center received an 

early draft of a Boeing/Honeywell 

Inc. configurable graphic display 

(CGD) and an electronic flight bag 

human machine interface (HMI) 

display. NASA Langley will provide 

pilot orientation to Honeywell and 

United Airlines crews for the 2017 

ATD-1 flight test demonstration 

of NASA’s avionics prototype 

Flight Deck Interval Management 

System (FIM), with orientation 

for the primary and backup flight 

crews to occur 30 days prior. 

A simulation environment utilizing 

Langley’s Cockpit Motion Facility 

will familiarize pilots with 757 

and 737 form, fit, and function 

understanding of FIM operational 

scenarios. Prior to the simulation 

and again just prior to the flight 

test demonstration, a computerbased trainer will reinforce the 

pilots’ understanding of the 

avionics prototype interface. Boeing 

and Honeywell are developing 

the ATD-1 avionics prototype 

displays by leveraging an existing 

NASA reference design used 

for this past summer’s Interval 

Management Alternative Clearances 

Experiment. Boeing is developing 

the CGD, while Honeywell is 

developing the HMI displays. 

The Boeing/Honeywell wireframes 

provide the early look necessary 

for the pilot orientation software 

developers to begin updating the 

existing NASA reference design. It is 

important for the Pilot Orientation 

displays to be consistent with the 

ATD-1 avionics prototype displays 

so as to reduce pilot-induced errors 

during the flight test demonstration 

in order to minimize the impact on 

the resultant performance data. 

The partnership between NASA, 

Boeing, Honeywell and United 

illustrates industry’s commitment 

to ensuring the success of this 

flight test demonstration and 

the advancement of the avionics 

prototype FIM system, which is 

planned for technology transfer to 

the Federal Aviation Administration. 

Technical Interchange 

with PANYNJ 

POC: YOON JUNG

NASA’s Ames Research Center 

hosted Mr. Ralph Tamburro, 

program manager for the Office 

of Delay Reduction at the Port 

Authority of New York and New 

Jersey (PANYNJ), for a technical 

interchange meeting on January 

26. NASA and PANYNJ are 

collaborating under a Space Act 

Agreement to conduct collaborative 

research on efficient surface traffic 

management through collaborative 

decision-making (CDM). 

During 2009-2010 and again in 

2013-2014, NASA Ames researchers 

conducted a thorough analysis of 

surface operations data collected 

before and after the Ground 

Management Program (GMP) 

was implemented at the John F. 

Kennedy International Airport 
6 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JAN-MAR 2016

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

(JFK). The GMP is a departure 

metering tool managed by the airport 

authority to improve efficiency of 

surface operations CDM among 

air carriers operating at JFK. 

The data analysis compared 

performance measures of surface 

operations before and after GMP 

implementation, and PANYNJ 

data was augmented with 

publicly available data sources, 

such as Bureau of Transportation 

Statistics, to address missing data. 

Results demonstrated that the 

implementation of GMP reduced 

taxi-out and takeoff delays, but 

increased gate delays. The outcomes 

were consistent with previous 

studies, thus validating NASA’s 

approach toward developing a future 

model of a surface-metering concept. 

The study was well received by 

Mr. Tamburro. Both parties 

exchanged ideas for future 

collaboration that could 

support NASA’s Airspace 

Technology Demonstration-2 

(ATD-2) Subproject. 

Data Management 

(RTT) Team Meeting

POC: MICHELLE ESHOW

On January 25, NASA’s Ames 

Research Center hosted the first 

workshop of the NASA/Federal 

Aviation Administration (FAA) 

Data Management Research and 

Technology Transition (RTT). 

Representing the FAA were 

Mr. Natesh Manikoth, chief scientist 

for national airspace system software, 

and Tom Tessitore, who is involved 

with data archiving and safety studies 

at the FAA’s William J. Hughes 

Technical Center. Mr. Manikoth and 

NASA researcher Michelle Eshow 

co-lead the RTT. The purpose of the 

meeting was to discuss relevant RTT 

products that could be exchanged 

between NASA and FAA, including 

uniform data models, interoperability 

standards, data sharing, data 

architecture, and efficient processing 

algorithms. Six principal investigators 

within NASA’s Airspace Operations 

and Safety Program presented work 

with potential relevance to the RTT. 

Based on the discussions in the 

workshop, going forward, the leads 

will write a more detailed RTT plan. 

AIME has Concluded

POC: SHERI BROWN

On January 28, the Automation 

and Information Management 

Experiment (AIME) was completed 

Representative Display information for AIME Experiment
AOSP NEWSLETTER // JAN-MAR 2016 7

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

in NASA Langley Research Center’s 

Cockpit Motion Facility’s Research 

Flight Deck (CMF/RFD). Over 

the preceding 11-week period, 12 

airline crews participated, including 

24 pilots, completing more than 

250 flights and accomplishing a 

significant milestone in the Air 

Traffic Management Technology 

Demonstration 1 (ATD-1) project. 

AIME’s primary objective was to 

raise the technology readiness level 

for selected new concepts designed 

to improve airplane state awareness, 

particularly in complex situations. 

Testing occurred across a span of 

conditions, including scenario 

emulations encountered in previous 

accidents. Secondary objectives 

were to assess the usability of the 

new technology ideas, such as ease 

of use, usefulness and overall usage 

in order to discover previously 

unknown contributing factors to 

loss of airplane state awareness; 

and to advance test infrastructure 

capability for subsequent studies 

in the CMF/RFD. The latter 

included both eye-tracking and 

physiological measurement systems, 

and several modifications to 

create Boeing 787-like flight deck 

interfaces and supporting systems. 

AIME was a highly collaborate 

activity involving personnel from 

four branches within NASA Langley 

and NASA’s Ames Research Center. 

External partners included RockwellCollins, Ohio University and the 

National Institute of Aerospace. An 

overview of AIME was presented at 

the American Institute of Aeronautics 

and Astronautics SciTech Forum 

January 4-8. Results analysis is 

underway, with findings expected 

to be published by autumn 2016.

SMART-NAS Visit to 

NextGen FTB

POC: KEE PALOPO

On February 4, to explore 

collaboration possibilities, the 

NASA Shadow Mode Assessment 

using Realistic Technologies for the 

National Airspace System (SMARTNAS) Test Bed team visited the 

Next Generation Air Transportation 

System (NextGen) Florida Test Bed 

(FTB) Facility, in Daytona, Fla. As 

the FTB is located next to Daytona 

Beach International Airport, the visit 

took place in a structure that houses 

the airport’s international terminal. 

At the FTB, Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA) NextGen 

TestBed Lead Mr. Nick Marzelli and 

FTB team members from EmbryRiddle Aeronautical University met 

with the NASA team, delivering 

an overview of operational systems 

for surface, departure and arrival 

terminal area airspace, as well as 

en route and oceanic airspace. 

These FTB systems include the 

FAA’s Surface Decision Support 

System, En Route Automation 

Modernization (ERAM), Advanced 

Technologies and Oceanic 

Procedures (ATOPs), and the 

Traffic Flow Management System. 

The SMART-NAS Test Bed does 

not currently have access to ERAM 

and ATOPs, which are candidates 

to be added via a connection to 

the FTB, and can be included 

as part of the test bed use-case 

development consideration. 

FAA’s NIWG Surface 

Team Briefed

POC: SHAWN ENGELLAND

On February 8, Mr. Shawn 

Engelland, technical lead 

for the Airspace Technology 

Demonstration-2 (ATD-2) 

Subproject, briefed the members of 

the Federal Aviation Administration’s 

(FAA) Next Generation Air 

Transportation System (NextGen) 

Integration Working Group (NIWG) 

Surface Team. The NIWG, a 

subcommittee of the FAA’s NextGen 

Advisory Committee, is comprised 

of several teams; in particular, the 

NIWG Surface Team generated 

“Recommendation #2” to the FAA 

to implement departure-metering 

capabilities consistent with the FAA’s 

Surface Collaborative Decision 

Making Concept of Operations. 

The FAA’s response to the 

recommendation was a decision 

to collaborate with NASA 

on the proposed ATD-2 field 

demonstration, planned for 

Charlotte-Douglas International 

Airport in Charlotte, North 

Carolina for fiscal year 2018. 

The NIWG Surface Team is led 
8 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JAN-MAR 2016

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

by Mr. Rob Goldman of Delta 

Airlines, and Mr. Steve Vail of 

Mosaic ATM, in partnership with 

Mr. Andras Kovacs and Ms. Susan 

Pfingster, both of the FAA. 

Mr. Engelland’s briefing was 

positively received and informed 

the NIWG about NASA’s planned 

efforts to test departure metering and 

metroplex capabilities through three 

phases of development and testing. 

FAA/NASA TIM on TASAR, 

SWIM and Data Comm

POC: SHERI BROWN

On February 9, NASA and the 

Federal Aviation Administration 

(FAA) held a Technical Interchange 

Meeting (TIM) at FAA Headquarters 

to discuss NASA’s work on 

the System Wide Information 

Management (SWIM), Data 

Communications, and Traffic Aware 

Strategic Aircrew Requests (TASAR) 

software tools. The TIM was hosted 

by FAA SWIM Portfolio Manager 

Jon Standley, and was attended 

by an additional six SWIM team 

members, Data Communications 

(Data Comm) Enroute Services 

Manager John Glassey, NASA 

TASAR Technical Lead David 

Wing, and NASA team members 

from Engility Corporation and the 

National Institute of Aerospace. 

The NASA team presented a TASAR 

overview, as well as demonstrations 

of the TASAR software application 

known as the Traffic Aware Planner 

(TAP). The FAA provided NASA 

a demonstration of live SWIM 

data access via the Jeppesen’s Flight 

Deck Pro application, a modified 

version of a common electronic 

flight bag commercial software 

application, and a prototype 

airline dispatcher interface. 

Information was also exchanged 

on NASA’s TASAR research and 

development (R&D) activities 

leading to work with Alaska 

Airlines and Virgin America in 

preparation for operational trials, 

as well as on the FAA SWIM 

demonstration flight program, 

which concludes later this year. The 

FAA is opening a data connection 

to the SWIM R&D network for 

the TASAR team, and will allow 

NASA’s airline operational trials 

to use this SWIM connection. 

Discussions were also held on 

various ways TASAR could integrate 

with SWIM and, eventually, with 

Data Comm to mutual benefit. As 

SWIM data sources grow and as 

Data Comm services come online 

enabling digital trajectory change 

requests and clearances, TASAR 

is ideally positioned to enhance 

and accelerate the benefits of these 

systems to the airspace user. Data 

Comm initial en route services will 

come available for testing in 2018. 

SWIM access to initial datasets are 

available for operational use now. 

This introductory TIM will be 

followed by quarterly meetings/

telecons to continue information 

exchange and further explore 

collaborative opportunities 

between the FAA and NASA 

with respect to TASAR. 

AA Visit Focuses on 

TASA Collaboration

POC: SHERI BROWN

As part of an ongoing research 

collaboration on advanced flight 

deck technologies – specifically, to 

coordinate and further define joint 

activities relevant to research goals 

in the Technologies for Airplane 

State Awareness (TASA) Subproject 

– American Airlines (AA) personnel 

visited NASA’s Langley Research 

Center on February 16. Visitors 

included the AA Director of 

Standards, as well as several check 

airmen and managers from training 

centers based in Dallas, Texas; 

Charlotte, N.C.; and Phoenix, Ariz. 

Specific topics included upset/

stall training, spatial disorientation, 

training for attention management, 

and airplane state awareness 

technologies. As part of ongoing 

efforts to implement congressionally 

mandated stall training for all 

U.S. airlines, the visitors received 
AOSP NEWSLETTER // JAN-MAR 2016 9

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

TASA background briefings and 

hands-on demonstrations of 

the Enhanced Upset Recovery 

simulator. In addition, tours 

were provided of the Visual 

Imaging Simulator for Transport 

Aircraft Systems Laboratory and 

the Research Flight Deck. 

Under the terms of a Space Act 

Agreement, efforts are currently 

underway to provide Langley 

researchers extensive access to 

various training simulators/facilities 

and AA personnel in support of 

TASA goals. Near-term activities 

include the development of a video 

introducing the NASA Langley-AA 

partnership, which will be shown 

in ground school classes for the 

next AA training cycle starting 

in April. NASA personnel from 

several branches supported the 

demonstrations, tours, and technical 

discussions, and coordination for 

the AA visitors was conducted 

by Captain Dan Kiggins of the 

National Institute of Aerospace. 

NASA UTM Collaborator 

Meeting

POC: JOEY RIOS

On February 17 in Seattle, Wash., 

NASA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems 

(UAV) Traffic Management (UTM) 

team met with several dozen 

commercial partners, as well as 

representatives from NASA’s Airspace 

Operations and Safety Program and 

the Federal Aviation Administration. 

Participants discussed how, going 

forward, organizations can become 

UTM service providers. An 

action item for the NASA UTM 

group was to create a concept 

of operations for how multiple, 

simultaneous instances of UTM 

might interact. A UTM working 

group composed of government 

and industry stakeholders is now in 

formation to evaluate this concept 

and potentially use it as a basis 

for future UTM operations. 
10 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JAN-MAR 2016

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

NASA NTX ATD-2 

Demo Planning

POC: ALAN CAPPS

More than 25 Airspace Technology 

Demonstration-2 (ATD-2) team 

members from NASA’s Ames 

Research Center, Mosaic ATM, and 

Science Applications International 

Corporation (SAIC) met at the 

NASA North Texas Research Station 

(NTX) on February 23-24 to engage 

in field demonstration planning and 

training of new personnel. The field 

demonstration, which will be held 

at Charlotte Douglas International 

Airport (CLT) in North Carolina, 

will begin initial equipment 

deployment in spring 2016. 

The demonstration will gradually 

integrate arrival/departure/surface 

operations involving airport, air 

traffic controllers, and airline 

personnel, with anticipated full 

system deployment completed and 

in daily use at CLT by 2019. The 

ATD-2 team evaluated surface 

model tests resulting from the 

live data systems housed in the 

NTX laboratory, discussed and 

planned software and integration 

testing of the system’s physical 

architecture, and considered 

the field demonstration test 

and evaluation strategy. 

During their two-day gathering, team 

members toured local operational 

facilities: the Fort Worth Air Route 

Traffic Control Center, the DallasFort Worth Air Traffic Control Tower, 

and the American Airlines Integrated 

Operations Center. Moving forward 

toward the field demonstration, 

the meeting established a common 

understanding for the ATD-2 team 

on the many parallel research and 

development efforts required. 

SMART-NAS Test Bed 

Architecture Workshop

POC: KEE PALOPO

On February 24-25, NASA’s Ames 

Research Center hosted a Shadow 

Mode Assessment Using Realistic 

Technologies for the National 

Airspace System Project (SMARTNAS) test bed meeting, focusing 

on architecture design and a cost/

benefits assessment. The workshop 

was attended by more than 80 

participants (roughly 60 in person 

and 20-plus remotely) from NASA’s 

four aeronautics centers, NASA 

Headquarters staff, personnel from 

the Federal Aviation Administration, 

and representatives from industry. 

Four NASA Research 

Announcement (NRA) teams 

presented their final architectures:

• Boeing (lead) and George Mason 

University; 

• Crown Consulting (lead), 

Mosaic ATM, and Pragmeering; 

• Metron Aviation (lead), JVN 

Communication, and The 

Innovation Laboratory; and 

• Robust Analytics (lead), 

SABRE, IBM, ATAC, JVN 

Communication, and Flight 

Research Associates. 

ATD-2 team members at work.
AOSP NEWSLETTER // JAN-MAR 2016 11

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

An important outcome of the 

workshop was to help solidify 

the choice of the test bed 

communication infrastructure 

for supporting existing and new 

research, and operational air 

traffic management systems. 

NASA Langley UA Technology 

Demonstrations

POC: RANDY BAILEY

On February 24, NASA’s Langley 

Research Center hosted United 

Airlines (UA) executives for 

a day of NASA technology 

demonstrations: a follow-on to a 

previous workshop held at NASA 

Langley in October 2015. The UA 

vice president for corporate safety, 

security, quality and environment 

attended the 2015 workshop and 

requested demonstrations for a 

larger UA executive group. The 

demonstrations were conducted 

in coordination with former 

Federal Aviation Administration 

(FAA) Associate Administrator for 

Aviation Safety Mr. Nick Sabatini. 

NASA Langley staff provided 

briefings and hands-on 

demonstrations, showcasing 

NASA research on vision system 

technologies (specifically, synthetic 

vision, enhanced flight vision and 

combined vision systems) and 

related technologies featured in 

Langley’s Research Flight Deck 

Simulator. The simulations focused 

on the integration of trajectorybased operations, such as area 

navigation and required navigation 

performance, with vision system 

technologies to attain visual 

flight rules-like airport access and 

capacities, independent of actual 

weather or constrained visibility. 

The group was also provided 

demonstrations of the enhanced 

upset recovery simulation in the 

Integration Flight Deck Simulator, 

showcasing improvements in 

stall characteristics and modeling 

fidelity in support of requirements 

development to meet new FAA 

regulations for crew training 

in a stall environment. 

Further, the group received a 

hands-on demonstration of ongoing 

NASA research on the employment 

of multiple psychophysiological 

measures, including eye gaze 

tracking, to improve training 

for commercial airline pilots. 

Collectively, this work is being 

conducted under the Technologies 

for Aircraft State Awareness 

Subproject, within the Airspace 

Technology Demonstration Project. 

AOSP Researchers Support 

California Aerospace Days

POC: RICH COPPENBARGER

On Feb. 29 – March 1, the fifth 

annual California Aerospace Days 

was held at the California State 

Capitol Building in Sacramento, 

Calif. Airspace Operations and 

Safety Program (AOSP) researchers 

supported this event with a 

booth highlighting both Airspace 

Technology Demonstration 

(ATD)-2 and unmanned aerial 

systems traffic management 

research being conducted at 

NASA’s Ames Research Center. 

AOSP researchers Rich Coppenbarger and Jane Thipphavong 

hosted exhibits on ATD-2 metroplex departure scheduling and the 

Dynamic Weather Routes System 

(DWR), explaining to approximately 

1,000 visitors, including students 

from area schools and state legislators, how these technologies build 

towards the larger ATD vision of 

gate-to-gate trajectory-based operations in the national airspace system. 

Rich Coppenbarger speaking with attendee at 

5th Annual California Aerospace Days
12 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JAN-MAR 2016

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

DFW Board Signs SAA 

with NASA Ames 

POC: PAUL BORCHERS

On March 3, the Dallas/Fort Worth 

International Airport (DFW) 

Board of Directors agreed to sign 

a five-year, non-reimbursable 

Space Act Agreement (SAA) with 

NASA’s Ames Research Center. 

This exchange establishes DFW 

Airport as an active participant 

in NASA’s air traffic management 

research and development projects 

through the NASA/Federal Aviation 

Administration North Texas 

Research Station (NTX). Under 

the terms of the SAA, the DFW 

board will supply accurate aircraft 

arrival and departure times from 

the gates at DFW, while NASA 

will supply repeaters of its advisory 

displays currently in use at the 

airport’s air traffic control towers. 

NTX will be the collection and 

dissemination point for this data 

exchange, and will maintain the 

equipment. The airport will 

likely use NASA’s advisory 

displays to help manage the ramps 

it controls at Terminals D and 

E, and for general situational 

awareness at its Airport Operations 

Center. NASA will be able to 

use the airport data to improve 

takeoff prediction time accuracy 

for NASA’s advisory tools. 

Stakeholders Briefed 

on PTM Progress 

POC: MICHAEL KOCH

On March 7, Michael Koch of 

NASA’s Langley Research Center 

briefed the Federal Aviation 

Administration’s (FAA) 

Manager for Oceanic Air Traffic 

Procedures Group (AJV-84), 

Ms. Karen Chiodini, and the FAA’s 

Oceanic Team/Flight Standards 

Service Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum Lead (AFS-470) 

Mr. Madison Walton on NASA’s 

Pair-wise Trajectory Management 

(PTM) Project. Several representatives from the FAA Surveillance 

and Broadcast Services Program 

Office were also in attendance. 

Since acceptance of the PTM concept 

by AJV-84 and AFS-470 is crucial 

to the adoption of the new procedure, the briefing covered the PTM 

concept and NASA’s plans to mature 

the technology. A continued partnership throughout the lifecycle of 

the project was also explored. NASA 

is interested in FAA involvement to 

help with requirements definition of 

procedures and ground automation.

 

The briefing was well received by 

Ms. Chiodini and Mr. Walton. Both 

commented that the concept has 

promise and offered constructive 

feedback for improvements. 

NASA will brief Ms. Chiodini 

and Mr. Walton periodically 

as the concept matures.

At another meeting on March 9, 

NASA Langley’s Michael Koch, 

Jennifer Kibler and Ryan Chartrand 

represented NASA at the quarterly 

meeting of the Radio Technical 

Commission for Aeronautics 

(RTCA) Special Committee (SC)-

186 Working Group (WG)-4 in 

Washington D.C. SC-186/WG4 is 

tasked with developing advanced 

interval management (A-IM) 

minimum operational performance 

standards, which are new Automatic 

Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast 

In capabilities being introduced as 

part the FAA’s Next Generation Air 

Transportation System Airspace 

Program. NASA’s PTM concept 

was one of several being considered 

for inclusion in the A-IM suite of 

applications. The purpose of the 

meeting was to assess the feasibility 

and benefits of candidate concepts to 

determine which should be included. 

The PTM personnel presented 

three working papers including: 

1. Benefits results from a recent 

fast-time simulation; 

2. The design methodology the 

PTM team used to develop the 

human machine interface (HMI) 

for the airborne tools; and 

3. A harmonization assessment 

aimed at identifying PTM 

functions common to other IM 

applications, as well as those that 

are new and must be defined. 
AOSP NEWSLETTER // JAN-MAR 2016 13

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

The HMI briefing included 

a demonstration of display 

elements and an overview of 

the display philosophy. 

Based on the briefings and other 

work leading up to the meeting, 

the committee determined that 

the concept is reasonably feasible 

for implementation and the 

benefits were sufficient enough to 

include PTM in the A-IM suite 

of applications for requirements 

development. It was also noted that 

the HMI work could be used to 

inform requirements and serve as a 

starting point for other applications. 

NASA Ames Researchers 

Host Lynbrook High School 

POC: JINN-HWEI CHENG AND WILLIAM CHAN

On March 14, and for the 10th 

year in a row, NASA’s Ames 

Research Center staff hosted high 

school students from Lynbrook 

High School in San Jose, Calif. for 

the annual Job Shadow Day. The 

group consisted of 10 students who 

participated in a presentation of 

the Airspace Operations and Safety 

Program’s air traffic management 

work (ATM), which included a 

discussion of the types of jobs at 

NASA. The students also toured 

the NASA Ames ATM labs and 

flight simulation facilities. Job 

Shadow continues to be one of 

the most popular participatory 

opportunities offered to pupils 

attending Lynbrook High. 

ARMD Thrust 6 

Autonomy Roadmap 

POC: SHIVANJLI SHARMA

An updated version of the NASA 

Aeronautics Research Mission 

Directorate (ARMD) Thrust 6 

Roadmap, “Assured Autonomy 

for Aviation Transformation,” was 

presented at the Aerospace Control 

and Guidance Systems Committee 

Meeting (ACGSC) on March 

17 in Napa, Calif. ACGSC was 

focused on design and analysis of 

control systems for aeronautic and 

surface vehicles, space systems, and 

development of autonomous control 

systems. Ms. Shivanjli Sharma, a 

Thrust 6 roadmap team member, 

outlined ARMD’s vision of the 

future of autonomy in aviation 

over the next 25 years and beyond, 

and described efforts to develop 

the roadmap and specific research 

themes needed to achieve this vision. 

The presentation was made to 

an audience of 25-30 researchers 

and engineers from government, 

industry and academia. Attendees 

had the opportunity for feedback 

and comments on continuing 

roadmap development, including 

thoughts on how partnerships 

with industry can be formulated to 

help support research challenges, 

and how specific applications of 

near-term autonomous systems 

can be tested and implemented. 

First UTM TCL-2 Flight 

Test Checkout 

POC: KEVIN WITZBERGER

The Unmanned Aerial Vehicles 

(UAV) Traffic Management (UTM) 

Subproject completed two days of 

Technical Capability Level 2 (TCL2) Checkout #1 flight testing at 

Moffett Federal Airfield, Calif. 

on Mar. 23-24. Three NASA 

Ames Research Center vehicles 

– a fixed-wing Dragon Eye and 

two multi-copters known as X8 

and IRIS – participated in the 

visual line-of-site flight test. 

Checkout #1 achieved a few firsts 

for the UTM sub-project: Three 

UAVs were flown concurrently – 

the most in the air during a UTM 

test to date – and, also for the first 

time, two UAVs were flown in 

the same area, separated only by 

altitude. Key participants included 

10 flight crew members (including 

one from NASA’s Langley Research 

Center), one range safety officer, 

five UTM support staff personnel, 

several logistics personnel, and 

five visual observers. Four of the 

five visual observers were firsttime UTM trainees, and soon 

will be formally certified. 

A number of test objectives were 

identified for TCL-2 Checkout #1, 

including UTM software capability 

checks, and personnel procedures 

and training required to facilitate 

this test and future flight tests. 
14 AOSP NEWSLETTER // JAN-MAR 2016

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

The UTM software appeared to 

perform as designed. Data analysis 

is underway. Lessons learned, 

including those gleaned from the 

flight-approval process, will be 

leveraged for the future flight tests. 

The next UTM flight test is 

TCL-2 Checkout #2, scheduled 

from June 27 to July 1 this year at 

Reno-Stead Airport in Nevada. 

Third VVAP III Experiment 

Concludes 

POC: SCOTT REARDON

Pilot loss of control is the leading 

cause of jet casualties worldwide. In 

response to these incidents, Congress 

has mandated that aircrews be 

trained in stall and upset recovery, 

which airlines attempt to do in 

motion-based simulators. However, 

simulator motion-cueing systems 

may not be configured to provide 

optimal stall and recovery training. 

Third in a series, and aimed at 

developing cueing requirements for 

full stall recognition and recovery 

training, the Visual-Vestibular 

Active Psychophysics III (VVAP 

III) experiment, sponsored by 

the Technologies for Airplane 

State Awareness Subproject, was 

performed between April 4 and 

May 20 in the Vertical Motion 

Simulator at NASA’s Ames Research 

Center. VVAP III’s goal was to 

develop a model of pilots’ combined 

motion and visual perception 

dynamics in the pitch/longitudinal, 

roll/lateral, and heave axes. 

Results will be used to configure 

simulator motion cueing systems 

for stall and recovery training. 

Overall, VVAP consists of a multiaxis pitch/roll-tracking task using 

an aircraft math model near stall. 

The pilot attempts to keep the 

aircraft level while a sum-ofsines disturbance is introduced in 

the pitch and roll axes. The pilot 

then tracks the disturbance in a 

simple primary flight display. 

Fifteen to 20 general aviation 

pilots will participate in each of the 

experiment’s iterations, first training 

with limited or no motion, and 

then performing the task with full 

motion in the pitch, longitudinal, 

roll, lateral and heave axes. 

Measurements of simulator visual 

and motion stimuli and pilot control 

inputs will be used to estimate the 

parameters of the pilot model. 

Vertical Motion Simulator
AOSP NEWSLETTER // JAN-MAR 2016 15

RECOGNITION

BOE Article Accepted

POC: DR. ANGELA HARRIVEL

Dr. Angela Harrivel of NASA’s 

Langley Research Center is first 

author on a manuscript entitled 

“Dynamic Filtering Improves 

Attentional State Prediction 

with fNIRS,” to be published in 

the Biomedical Optics Express 

Journal. The paper describes recent 

research on the prediction of task 

engagement via sensing executive 

attention and resting-state networks 

in the brain with multi-channel 

functional near infrared spectroscopy 

(fNIRS). The work described 

within contains attentional state 

prediction accuracy results across 

various existing and novel fNIRS 

signal processing methods, details 

the application of a Kalman filter 

to accomplish adaptive regression, 

and discusses dynamic noise removal 

in the context of functionally 

connected brain networks. These 

networks are relevant to external 

task engagement, mind wandering, 

meta-awareness, introspective 

memory recall and rumination. 

The co-authors are academic experts 

in the fields of functional magnetic 

resonance imaging, psychology, and 

fNIRS. Flight-simulation motionbased studies currently being 

conducted at NASA Langley employ 

fNIRS, electroencephalograms, 

and sympathetic nervous system 

measures (known in the aggregate as 

crew state monitoring technologies) 

to detect attentional state. The 

research aims to mitigate the effects 

of attentional human performance 

limiting states by improving 

crew awareness, thus reducing 

the frequency of commercial 

aviation accidents and incidents. 

This work is in response to the 

Commercial Aviation Safety 

Team, Safety Enhancement 211 

entitled “Training for Attention 

Management” that is supported 

by the Airspace Technology 

Demonstration Project.

NASA Ames Employees 

Recognized by ARMD 

AA Awards

POC: KATHY LEE

On March 31, Associate 

Administrator (AA) for NASA’s 

Aeronautics Research Mission 

Directorate (ARMD) Dr. Jaiwon 

Shin presented the 2015 ARMD 

AA Awards at a ceremony held at 

NASA’s Ames Research Center. The 

awards are given to individuals and 

groups, and recognize exemplary 

performance and essential 

contributions from across NASA’s 

four aeronautics research facilities. 

Airspace Operations and Safety 

Program individual award winners 

were Dr. Jaewoo Jung, for High 

Potentials; Shawn Engelland, for 

Strategic Partnerships; and Easter 

Wang, for Program and Mission 

Support. In addition, NASA Ames 

staff were part of the 

team receiving the Program and 

Mission Support Group award 

for the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles 

(UAV) Traffic Management (UTM) 

Convention Planning Team. 

NASA Ames received the 

majority of the 2015 awards. 

Congratulations to the recipients! 

L-R: Dr. Jaiwon Shin, Shawn Engelland, 

Dr. Tom Edwards

L-R: Dr. Jaiwon Shin, Easter Wang, 

Dr. Tom Edwards

L-R: Dr. Jaiwon Shin, Jaewoo Jung, 

Dr. Tom Edwards
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Headquarters

300 E. Street, SW

Washington, DC 20024

www.nasa.gov/aeroresearch

www.nasa.gov