National Aeronautics and Space Administration

www.nasa.gov

AOSP Newsletter

Airspace Operations and Safety Program (AOSP)

OCT-DEC 2018 | Quarter 1

FY18 Annual Program Review for 

AOSP Projects

4

FAA NextGen Executive Board 9
2 AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2018

AOSP IN THE NEWS

Awards gala to honor feds’ 

public service innovation

Federal Times (10/02) reports 

that Parimal Kopardekar, Senior 

Technologist for Air Transportation 

Systems at NASA’s Ames Research 

Center, and his team will be awarded 

the Promising Innovations Medal for 

their cross-agency efforts to design 

a traffic management system for 

commercial drone use.

Looking Ahead: 11 

Predictions On How Drone 

Deliveries Will Work

Forbes (10/04) reports while 

regulatory obstacles remain, drone 

technology continues to improve at 

rapid pace. Significant investment in 

the field has accelerated technology 

and adoption. NASA estimates 7 

million drones in the sky by 2020, 

with 2.6M in the commercial space. 

NASA’s involvement in air traffic 

control for drones is paving the way 

for governments and businesses 

to use them for many different 

courier needs.

NASA Plans For Urban Air 

Mobility ‘Grand Challenge’

Aviation Week (11/2) “Seattle—

NASA has rolled out its Grand 

Challenge plan to help guide, foster 

and enable the coming generation of urban air mobility (UAM) 

vehicles and is seeking feedback from 

industry to fine tune and guide the 

initiative.”

NASA Rolls Out Urban Air 

Mobility ‘Grand Challenge’ 

Plan

Aviation Week (11/8) “Widely 

viewed until recently as bordering on 

science fiction, the age of urban air 

mobility (UAM) is fast approaching 

reality and is poised to transform 

both aviation and society, says 

NASA. Now, with international 

activity in this new market 

accelerating, the agency has unveiled 

plans to cultivate the development of 

a U.S.-led urban air revolution.”
AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2018 3

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

DRAW Human-in-the-Loop 

Simulation #4 Completed

POC: DOUG ISAACSON

The Airspace Technology 

Demonstration–3 (ATD-3) team 

completed the fourth in a series 

of planned Human-in-the-Loop 

(HITL) studies of the Dynamic 

Routes for Arrivals in Weather 

(DRAW) tool, at the Air Traffic 

Control simulation laboratory at 

Ames Research Center in California, 

from October 22 - November 2. 

The purpose of this simulation was 

to evaluate arrival metering and 

weather impact mitigation benefits 

for Atlanta En Route Center (ZTL) 

arrivals, to assess the effects of 

different schedule freeze horizon 

distances on DRAW performance, 

Subject controller using the DRAW tool during HITL simulation #4.
4 AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2018

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

and to evaluate DRAW reroute 

coordination with expanded (relative 

to HITL simulation #3) operations 

into Jacksonville En Route Center 

(ZJX) airspace. Study participants 

included four recently-retired traffic 

management coordinators (TMCs), 

two each from ZTL and ZJX, 

and seven recently-retired Sector 

Controllers (two from ZTL, one 

from ZJX and four from Oakland 

Center). A pair of TMCs (one from 

ZTL, one from ZJX) participated 

as a team each week of the study, 

with the ZTL TMC participating 

as the primary DRAW user and the 

ZJX TMC providing consultation 

for reroutes impacting ZJX airspace 

and operations. Each TMC team 

evaluated two weather-impacted 

arrival traffic scenarios at two 

schedule freeze horizon distances, 

both with and without DRAW 

functionality, across 16 runs. The 

DRAW functions included TMC 

reroute advisories and schedule 

impact/delay information. TMCs 

used the DRAW trial planning 

capability to evaluate candidate 

reroutes for weather avoidance, 

assess their schedule delay impact, 

coordinate reroutes with sector 

controllers when required, and 

amend flight routes as necessary to 

maintain effective arrival metering.

The inclusion of ZJX personnel 

in HITL simulation #4 allowed 

researchers to investigate the 

coordination required for reroutes 

across center boundaries. Data 

collection included questionnaires 

and DRAW performance data. 

Researchers gained valuable feedback 

toward DRAW use in operations 

that may include extended metering 

and coupled scheduling. Data 

analysis is currently underway. 

ATD-2 Continues CLT 

Training for Phase 2 

Field Demonstration

POC: LINDSAY STEVENS

Due to the impacts of Hurricane 

Florence on the September Airspace 

Technology Demonstration–2 

(ATD-2) Phase 2 field 

demonstration training session, 

a second round of training was 

conducted at Charlotte Douglas 

International Airport (CLT) during 

the week of October 16-20. The 

ATD-2 team provided training 

for American Airlines (AAL) ramp 

controllers and regional carrier 

staff, FAA Air Traffic Control 

Tower (ATCT) traffic management 

coordinators (TMCs), and frontline managers (FLMs) on the new 

features for Phase 2, as well as 

refresher training for all features 

introduced since September 2017. 

Each training session enabled users 

to learn about the features while 

being fully hands-on with the 

system. In the ATCT, 11 TMCs 

and FLMs were trained on the 

updated system; in the AAL ramp, 

22 AAL personnel received full 

training and a handful of others 

received partial updates as available. 

FY18 Annual Program 

Review for AOSP Projects 

POC: JOSEPH DAVIS

From October 17-19, AOSP hosted 

its FY18 Annual Program Review at 

NASA Headquarters in Washington, 

DC. The purpose of the review was 

to look back at the 2018 challenges 

and accomplishments for each of 

the four AOSP projects: Airspace 

Technology Demonstrations 

(ATDs), Air Traffic ManagementeXploration (ATM-X), System 

Wide Safety (SWS), and Unmanned 

Aircraft System Traffic Management 

(UTM). At the Program Review, 

review panels were asked to assess 

the quality and performance of 

the four AOSP projects. Following 

the conclusion of the project 

presentations, the review panels 

were given an opportunity to discuss 

findings, make comments, and 

provide recommendations, which 

were presented to the program office 

at the end of the Program Review. 

Assurance Checklist Meeting 

POC: YURI GAWDIAK

On October 23, members of 

AOSP’s Risk Team met with 

Dr. Homayoon Dezfuli, NASA 
AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2018 5

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

Office of Safety and Mission 

Assurance (OSMA), to review the 

concept of a checklist for assurance 

for planning and risk management. 

The checklist is a matrix consisting 

of work-breakdown structure, 

product breakdown structure, and 

lifecycle phases. The System Wide 

Safety project performed an initial 

evaluation of the checklist to assess 

if it would help them search their 

risk trade space. OSMA agreed 

there is no standard checklist and 

no systematic way to ensure that 

the risk identification processes are 

thorough and complete. There was 

an agreement to work together on 

several related activities with OSMA 

in order to meet completeness/

assurance requirements that could 

leverage the matrix concept. 

ATD-2 Team Conducts Working 

Sessions with Phase 3 

Airline Field Demo Partners 

POC: ERIC CHEVALLEY

On October 23 and 24, NASA 

engineers met with field 

demonstration partners to 

discuss the Airspace Technology 

Demonstration–2 (ATD-2) Phase 

3 effort. The NASA team discussed 

the Phase 3 terminal departure 

capability with Southwest Airlines 

and American Airlines at their 

headquarters in the Dallas-Fort 

Worth (DFW) region. The team 

had robust discussions on the use 

of Trajectory Option Sets (TOS) to 

provide alternative routes out of the 

DFW Terminal Radar Approach 

Control Center (D10) region 

during periods of demand/capacity 

imbalance. The team also discussed 

methods to leverage existing coded 

departure routes to simplify initial 

evaluation of the concept, specific 

criteria that would help NASA 

identify good TOS candidates for 

airline operational use, and early 

mock-ups of the user interface. 

The discussions were productive 

and follow-up working sessions 

were scheduled in November. 

Briefing to Smart Buildings 

Action Cluster 

POC: YURI GAWDIAK

On October 24, Yuri Gawdiak, 

Associate Director for AOSP, 

provided a Web-Ex briefing to the 

Smart Buildings Action Cluster 

on the latest status of Urban 

Air Mobility (UAM) activities. 

The meeting was hosted by the 

National Telecommunications 

and Information Administration. 

For now, this community of 

practice is flight—following 

NASA’s UAM efforts— but will 

likely become more engaged once 

prototype vertiports will become 

part of the downstream Grand 

Challenges beyond 2020.

Cybersecurity Systems 

Modeling and Simulation 

POC: PAUL NELSON

The AOSP Cybersecurity 

Engineering Team recently 

completed initial training in October 

to enable an operating capability 

for cybersecurity systems modeling 

and engineering. The capability 

consists of software technology 

from Scalable Networks, dedicated 

hardware supported by the Air 

Traffic Management–eXploration 

(ATM-X) Glenn Communications 

Testbed, as well as software 

development, modeling, simulation, 

and mathematics expertise. The 

software and hardware components 

NASA met with Southwest Airlines (left) and American Airlines (right) to discuss ATD-2 Phase 3.
6 AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2018

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

are a result of significant FY18 

contributions from the AOSP 

ATM-X and System Wide Safety 

projects, as well as the Unmanned 

Aircraft Systems Integration in the 

National Airspace System project 

from the Integrated Aviation Systems 

Program. The initial modeling 

will consist of current public key 

infrastructure concepts being 

proposed or pursued for unmanned 

aircraft systems or urban air mobility.

These concepts are mostly focused 

on terrestrial networks operations 

and it is anticipated that significant 

research will be needed to mature 

these concepts from strict Internetbased technologies to support these 

highly different future environments. 

ICAROUS Sense and 

Avoid Characterization 

Phase 3 Testing 

POC: RON JOHNSON

On October 25, Phase 3 testing 

for the Independent Configurable 

Architecture for Reliable Operations 

of Unmanned Systems (ICAROUS) 

Sense and Avoid Characterization 

research was initiated at Beaver Dam 

Airpark in Elberon, Virginia. One 

requirement for the widespread 

use of small Unmanned Aircraft 

Systems (UAS) is the capability 

to autonomously sense and avoid 

other aircraft, both manned and 

unmanned. ICAROUS Sense and 

Avoid Characterization is being 

performed to develop technologies 

required for cooperative, 

autonomous sense and avoid for 

small UAS. “Cooperative” in this 

sense implies that all vehicles 

involved are broadcasting their 

location. ICAROUS Sense and 

Avoid Characterization uses 

Automatic Dependent SurveillanceBroadcast (ADS-B) technology, 

developed for manned aircraft, 

for small UAS applications. The 

objectives of ICAROUS Sense and 

Avoid Characterization research 

are to: evaluate the efficacy of 

representative small UAS micro 

ADS-B receivers to provide 

ADS-B in; evaluate the ability of 

using ADS-B to provide effective 

autonomous sense and avoid; assess 

the performance of ICAROUS 

to deconflict traffic; evaluate the 

effectiveness of reduced power 

ADS-B for small UAS applications 

(low-power ADS-B is required to 

mitigate potential overload of the 

ADS-B system that could be caused 

by large numbers of small UAS); 

assess the “well clear” definition 

for small UAS; and acquire highresolution, position-correlated 

video for Image Object Detection 

algorithm development. Phase 2 

testing was performed using two 

small UAS vehicles to evaluate small 

UAS versus small UAS autonomous 

sense and avoid in preparation for 

Phase 3. Phase 3 testing utilizes 

manned general aviation intruder 

aircraft. For the testing on October 

25, the SR-22 N504NA aircraft 

from the Langley Research Center in 

Virginia performed several hours of 

vehicle encounters with tremendous 

success for both head-on and 

crossing patterns. Phase 2 and Phase 

3 testing is planned to be completed 

in November and is funded by the 

UAS Traffic Management project. 

ATD-2 Briefs the 

Latest Updates to the 

Surface CDM Team 

POC: YOON JUNG

On October 30, NASA 

engineers participated in the 

Surface Collaborative Decision 

Making (CDM) team (SCT) 

meeting at Charlotte Douglas 

International Airport (CLT). 

The SCT membership consists of 

representatives from FAA, airlines, 

and airports. During the second 

departure bank in the morning, 

the SCT visited CLT Tower/

Terminal Radar Approach Control 

Center and American Airlines 

Hub Control Center (i.e, ramp 

tower) to observe surface metering 

and overhead stream insertion 

managed by the Airspace Technology 

Demonstration–2 (ATD-2) system. 

NASA also briefed the SCT on 

ATD-2 capacity usage and the 

upcoming ATD-2 Industry Day 

workshop tentatively scheduled 
AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2018 7

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

January 20-22, 2019, at Ames 

Research Center in California. In 

the afternoon, the SCT and NASA 

discussed further collaboration 

opportunities, especially for the 

ATD-2 Phase 3 work with the 

CDM Flow Evaluation Team. 

Phase 3 is planned to demonstrate 

the capability of combined surface 

metering and terminal airspace 

scheduling in the spring of 2019. 

The next January SCT meeting will 

be held at Ames in conjunction with 

the ATD-2 Industry Day workshop. 

Urban Air Mobility 

Coordination and Assessment 

Team Industry Day 

POC: KAREN CATE

The Urban Air Mobility (UAM) 

Coordination and Assessment 

Team (UCAT) conducted an 

Industry Day meeting in Seattle, 

Washington, from November 1–2. 

The purpose of this meeting was to 

gather with interested stakeholders 

and gain input on the UAM Grand 

Challenge demonstration, scheduled 

for 2020. Over 270 people from 

industry, academia, the FAA, and 

NASA attended the event. In 

particular, representatives from 

AOSP’s System Wide Safety, Air 

Traffic Management–eXploration 

(ATM-X), and Unmanned Aircraft 

System Traffic Management projects 

participated in the event. In support 

of this effort, NASA recently 

released a request for information 

(RFI) about participation in the 

Grand Challenge, where aircraft and 

airspace systems can demonstrate 

capabilities and technologies in order 

to further the realization of UAM 

operations. The announcement for 

the UAM Grand Challenge Industry 

Day was posted on FedBizOpps. 

UAM innovators were invited 

to discuss the role NASA would 

play in a UAM Grand Challenge 

and the utility to participating 

partners. The event overview 

and agenda can be viewed on the 

FedBizOpps RFI listed below. 

https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=o

pportunity&mode=form&id=5

7bbdeecd8e64a6a083ecb19e66

0cfdb&tab=core&_cview=0

Pete Slattery, National Air Traffic Controllers 

Association representative for Terminal Flight Data 

Management, gives a brief on the ATD-2 system.

Poster depicting NASA Aeronautics’ UAM Grand Challenge Industry Day event.
8 AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2018

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

Mobile Application Enables 

Information Exchange 

Between GA Pilots 

and ATD-2 System 

POC: DEBI BAKOWSKI

On November 5, the MITRE 

Corporation’s mobile application 

technology allowed a two-way 

information exchange between 

the NASA Airspace Technology 

Demonstration – 2 (ATD-2) 

system and General Aviation (GA) 

operations at Charlotte Douglas 

International Airport (CLT). The 

mobile app work is being led by 

the FAA’s NextGen Program Office 

(ANG). The mobile informationsharing technology will now receive 

flight-specific schedule and planning 

information when the GA pilot 

submits a ready-time for their flight. 

This exchange is being performed 

in a manner that is logically 

consistent with Terminal Flight Data 

Management (TFDM) interface 

specifications. Unlike commercial 

operations at CLT’s main ramp, 

where airlines share Earliest OffBlock Times for each departing 

flight, GA operations did not have 

that same mechanism. NASA, the 

FAA, and MITRE began the initial 

phase of beta-testing at CLT in 

October 2017 with a prototype 

mobile application that allowed 

GA pilots to submit a Ready-toTaxi Time (RTT) for their flight. 

The RTT represents the pilot’s 

best estimate of when they will be 

ready to contact Ground Control 

to request their taxi clearance. 

With better predictions of readytimes for GA flights, the ATD-2 

scheduler can more accurately 

predict runway demand and 

surface schedules. Based on pilot 

feedback, MITRE introduced an 

SMS texting capability earlier this 

year which allows participants to 

more conveniently submit their 

RTT via text rather than through 

a mobile application. Information 

generated by the ATD-2 scheduler is 

then passed to the user via the new 

TFDM Terminal Publication that 

NASA is publishing on the System 

Wide Information Management 

research and development network. 

This real-time data includes 

expected runway assignment, 

expected takeoff time, and Traffic 

Management Initiative information 

when applicable. NASA, the FAA, 

and MITRE will continue to 

work with participants to obtain 

their feedback on the new twoway information exchange. 

ATM-X Testbed Team Training 

and Development Meetings

POC: KEE PALOPO

The Air Traffic Management – 

The mobile information-sharing technology can now receive flight-specific schedule and planning information. eXploration (ATM-X) Testbed team 
AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2018 9

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

held multiple training sessions for 

users this past quarter. The first 

session was held at Langley Research 

Center in Virginia on October 

18. Training participants included 

researchers and software developers 

from Langley, Ames Research Center 

in California, and Glenn Research 

Center in Cleveland. The ATM-X 

Testbed is being developed to 

address simulation and testing needs 

for airspace operations research 

and development. The Testbed 

provides a sophisticated simulation 

and evaluation capability to test 

potential National Airspace System 

tools, procedures, and concepts. 

Researchers and developers can 

create repeatable, consistent air 

transportation scenarios and use a 

mix of live and virtual simulation 

assets during evaluation. This 

training session was the fourth 

in a series of training sessions for 

users in government, industry, and 

academia. Since September 2018, 

the team has trained participants 

from NASA’s Urban Air Mobility 

(UAM) subproject, Convergent 

Aeronautics Solutions project, 

System Wide Safety project, Uber, 

General Electric, Honeywell, and 

ATAC. The team is also exploring 

possibly recording the training 

for use by future audiences. 

A second meeting was held at 

Langley from November 7–8, in 

which researchers from the respective 

centers convened for hands-on 

software developer training on how 

to connect to the Testbed at Langley. 

Nineteen researchers participated 

at this meeting and are working on 

the ATM-X and Airspace Traffic 

Demonstration projects within 

AOSP. Training included relevant 

discussion and examples such as 

UAM mission planning, vertiport 

scheduling, conflict detection and 

resolutions, and human-in-the-loop 

UAM vehicle studies. The intent 

was to highlight Testbed utilities 

and research collaboration potential 

within the Testbed ecosystem.

FAA NextGen Executive Board 

POC: AKBAR SULTAN

On November 13, Akbar Sultan, 

Program Director for AOSP, 

represented NASA at a meeting 

of the NextGen Executive Board 

(NEB) at FAA Headquarters in 

Washington, DC. The NEB, which 

includes members from FAA, 

NASA, the Department of Defense, 

and the Department of Commerce, 

met to review and discuss key 

interagency NextGen initiatives. For 

this meeting, the agenda covered 

updates on the NextGen Advisory 

Committee, NextGen Executive 

Weather Panel, the Aviation Cyber 

Initiative, Automatic Dependent 

Surveillance—Broadcast technology, 

International Harmonization, 

and Space Traffic Management. 

Meeting with Korean 

UTM Team 

POC: RON JOHNSON

From November 13–14, the 

Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic 

Management (UTM) project team 

met with members of the Korean 

UTM team at Ames Research 

Center in California for discussions 

about a potential collaboration. 

Members of the Korean UTM 

team represent three aeronautical 

organizations within Korea: 

the Korea Aerospace Research 

Institute, the Korea Institute of 

Aviation Safety Technology, and 

the Korea Advanced Institute 

of Science and Technology. The 

discussions centered on jointly 

conducting simulations and 

flight tests primarily exercising 

the two use-cases of operations 

in mountainous and maritime 

environments. The discussions 

are intended to result in a 

memorandum of understanding and 

a technical work plan describing 

the collaboration that will take 

place over the next few years. 

ATD-2 Team Briefs the System 

Wide Information Management 

Industry-FAA Team 

POC: SHAWN GORMAN

On November 15, the Airspace 

Technology Demonstration–2 

(ATD-2) subproject participated 
10 AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2018

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

in the FAA Program Management 

Organization hosted System 

Wide Information Management 

Industry—FAA team (SWIFT) 

event in Washington, DC. The 

purpose of the SWIFT event 

was to foster discussion and 

innovation among users of System 

Wide Information Management 

(SWIM) data. The venue was wellattended by numerous industry 

airline operators, vendors that 

support these operators, the 

FAA, and NASA, and included a 

keynote presentation by Southwest 

Airlines. NASA’s presentations 

highlighted the ATD-2 operation 

in field environments for over a 

year, which is almost completely 

enabled by live SWIM feeds from 

six distinct SWIM services. NASA 

also presented the benefits that 

have been obtained from this 

system while illustrating specific 

operational uses of new data in 

both air traffic control and operator 

environments. The Terminal 

Flight Data Management Terminal 

Publication feed that NASA is 

producing on the SWIM research 

and development network was 

briefly discussed and the aviation 

community was encouraged 

to gain access to it to foster 

innovation. NASA also presented 

the challenges of consuming SWIM 

data from numerous sources, 

including understanding the data 

elements in the context of the 

operational FAA system source, 

mapping to consistent internal 

definitions, transforming to allow 

for robust handling of SWIM 

input changes, and producing 

the right data at the right time. 

The Fuser component that is 

used for mediation was briefly 

discussed as well as some lessons 

learned and how others in the 

community might gain access to it. 

Digital Transformation 

Team Activities 

POC: YURI GAWDIAK

This past quarter, Yuri Gawdiak, 

Associate Program Director 

for AOSP, and Tiffany Smith, 

Aeronautics Research Mission 

Directorate (ARMD) Knowledge 

ATD – 2 team participated in the FAA Program Management Organization hosted SWIFT event in Washington, DC.
AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2018 11

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

Management Officer, supported 

ongoing activities for the NASA 

Digital Transformation team.

On October 29, they conducted 

interviews of ARMD program 

directors in order to collect and 

assess their digital transformation 

maturity, success stories, targets of 

opportunities, and requirements for 

agency-wide digital transformations.

During the week of December 3, 

the Digital Transformation team 

conducted a review workshop. The 

workshop provided an opportunity 

to analyze the survey data 

collected, the implications drawn 

from the data, and preliminary 

recommendations for NASA. The 

workshop provided an opportunity 

for the centers, support offices, 

and mission directorates to weigh 

in on the data assessments and 

provide feedback on the initial 

recommendations as well as any 

additional inputs they may have. 

FAA/NASA Quarterly 

Review Meeting 

POC: MIKE MADSON

From December 3–5, representatives 

from the Airspace Technology 

Demonstration, Air Traffic 

Management–eXploration, System 

Wide Safety (SWS), and Unmanned 

Aircraft System Traffic Management 

projects met with the FAA for 

their regularly scheduled quarterly 

review meeting at Ames Research 

Center in California. Each project 

presented highlights and status since 

the previous meeting for each of 

the subprojects. For the first time, 

the FAA has asked to be briefed 

on the status of the SWS project.

ATD-2 Briefs at Collaborative 

Site Implementation 

Team Meetings 

POC: JEREMY COUPE

This past quarter, the Airspace 

Technology Demonstration–2 

(ATD-2) team participated 

in multiple FAA sponsored 

Collaborative Site Implementation 

Team (CSIT) meetings. The first 

meeting, held from October 16-17, 

was hosted by Delta Airlines (DAL) 

at their headquarters in Atlanta, 

Georgia. The two-day event was the 

second CSIT meeting that NASA 

has attended alongside members 

from the FAA’s terminal flight data 

management (TFDM) office, with 

the goal of helping airline operators 

prepare for the future deployment 

of TFDM across the National 

Airspace System (NAS). The first 

day consisted of briefings from both 

the FAA TFDM office as well as the 

ATD-2 team. The ATD-2 briefing 

contained an overview of the ATD-2 

system running at Charlotte Douglas 

International Airport (CLT), the 

accrued benefits during Phase 1 of 

operations, and the lessons learned 

throughout the project. Included in 

the ATD-2 briefing were early results 

from automated prescheduling 

of controlled flights from CLT 

into Atlanta Center airspace. On 

the second day, DAL provided 

NASA and the FAA brief American Airlines and Southwest Airlines on the TFDM system.
12 AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2018

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

a tour of ramp tower operations 

at Hartsfield- Jackson Atlanta 

International Airport, where NASA 

and FAA participants observed 

live operations. These observations 

were helpful for the NASA and 

FAA teams to envision how new 

data sharing from the future 

TFDM system might be integrated 

into the existing operation. 

The second meeting was held from 

December 4–5 and was hosted 

by American Airlines (AAL) and 

Southwest Airlines (SWA) at 

Southwest Airlines Headquarters 

in Dallas, Texas. The meeting with 

AAL included NASA and FAA 

representatives briefing AAL on the 

upcoming plans to deploy TFDM 

across the NAS. The briefing 

highlighted the similarities and 

differences between the ATD-2 

Integrated Arrival/Departure/

Surface (IADS) system and the 

TFDM system. NASA and the FAA 

briefed the company on the design 

of TFDM and its deployment plan 

across the NAS, and the accrued 

benefits of the IADS system at CLT. 

The meetings helped AAL and 

SWA get a better understanding 

of the TFDM system and how 

the transition from ATD-2 to 

TFDM will take place at both 

CLT and the North Texas region. 

ATD-2 Briefs its Phase 

3 Plans to the CDMFlow Evaluation Team 

POC: ERIC CHEVALLEY

This past quarter, NASA engineers 

provided multiple briefings to the 

Collaborative Decision Making 

(CDM) Flow Evaluation Team 

(FET) on the Airspace Technology 

Demonstration–2 (ATD-2) Phase 3 

field demonstration plans. The first 

meeting was held on October 18, 

in Orlando, Florida, in which the 

NASA team introduced its terminal 

departure scheduling concept that 

leverages multiple departure route 

Trajectory Option Sets (TOS) 

as well as the ATD-2 Integrated 

Arrival/Departure/Surface predictive 

engine to identify opportunities for 

rerouting departures during terminal 

demand/capacity imbalances. 

The initial phase of the Phase 3 

field demonstration research is 

scheduled for the summer of 2019 

in the North Texas metroplex. The 

NASA ATD-2 system includes a 

user interface to coordinate the use 

of departure TOS that is shared 

among field demo partners, as well 

as new technology in its predictive 

engine that assesses when flights 

have sufficient surface departure 

delay to warrant alternative routes 

as specified by the flight operator’s 

relative trajectory cost input. 

The CDM-FET provided helpful 

input, expressed interest in the 

project, and invited the NASA 

Members of the CDM-FET participating in the ATD-2 Phase 3 concept of use deep-dive briefing.
AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2018 13

TECHNICAL AND PROGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS

team to collaborate in future 

meetings as the work progresses. 

The second meeting occurred on 

December 6, in Washington, DC. 

At this meeting, the NASA team 

presented a deep-dive into the Phase 

3 concept with a storyboard that 

featured early mock-ups and data 

elements that will be used during 

the departure TOS operation. 

The CDM-FET group provided 

feedback on the concept of use and 

the data elements, and committed 

to providing ongoing support to 

NASA’s ATD–2 Phase 3 activities. 

National Transportation Safety 

Board Informative Tour 

POC: YURI GAWDIAK

On December 18, the National 

Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) 

hosted members of the FAA and 

NASA Aeronautics for an overview 

of NTSB operations, a walkthrough 

of related complex and highly 

automated mishaps and incidents, as 

well as a tour of the NTSB facilities. 
14 AOSP NEWSLETTER // OCT-DEC 2018

RECOGNITION

Dr. Parimal Kopardekar 

Selected for the Samuel 

J. Heyman Service to 

America Medal

POC: PARIMAL KOPARDEKAR

On October 2, Dr. Parimal H. 

Kopardekar, Senior Technologist 

for Air Transportation Systems at 

Ames Research Center in California, 

was presented a prestigious medal 

for government service at a gala in 

Washington, DC. Dr. Kopardekar 

was selected from more than 

300 nominees to receive a 2018 

Samuel J. Heyman Service to 

America Medal for his vital role in 

designing a first-of-its-kind traffic 

management system for unmanned 

aerial vehicles, paving the way for 

the safe, expeditious, and largescale use of commercial drones in 

the National Airspace System. 

Drones – Technology, 

Policy, and Society 

POC: PARIMAL KOPARDEKAR

On October 18, Dr. Parimal 

Kopardekar, Senior Technologist 

for Air Transportation Systems, 

presented “Private Unmanned Traffic 

Management” at the “Drones: 

Technology, Policy and Society” 

conference sponsored by Honeywell, 

CITRIS, and the Banatao Institute. 

The conference was held at the 

University of California, Berkeley. 

Small Unmanned Aerial 

Vehicle Coalition Meeting 

POC: PARIMAL KOPARDEKAR

On October 23, Dr. Parimal 

Kopardekar, Senior Technologist 

for Air Transportation Systems, 

represented NASA at the Small 

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) 

Coalition meeting. The Small UAV 

Coalition is a partnership of leading 

consumer and technology companies 

who promote U.S. leadership in the 

research, development, production, 

and application of UAVs and 

advocate for risk-based regulations 

which will allow for the safe and 

expedited integration of small UAVs 

into the National Airspace System. 

Dr. Parimal Kopardekar selected for the Samuel 

J. Heyman Service to America Medal.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Headquarters

300 E. Street, SW

Washington, DC 20024

www.nasa.gov/aeroresearch

www.nasa.gov