1

QUARTER 3: APR–JUN 2012

Airspace Systems 

Program Newsletter

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

www.nasa.gov

p4 DWR Briefing to Joint FAA/

Industry DCIT, April 2012

p8 Interchange with FAA on EDA 

Deployment and Trajectory 

Prediction, June 2012

3

Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUN 2012

Dear Colleague,

Please join us!

NASA’s Airspace Systems Program will host an Industry Day and Technical Interchange Meeting (TIM) to 

facilitate the discussion of key research and development issues for the Next Generation Air Transportation 

System (NextGen).

Come join us in these discussions from April 30-

May 2, 2013.

Our two projects, NextGen Concepts and Technology 

Development and NextGen Systems Analysis, Integration and Evaluation, and our partners will share highlights of their research. This forum will provide the 

opportunity to present recent developments and results, 

to participate in open technical exchange, and to solicit 

your feedback to enhance the program. For more information regarding the Airspace Systems Program and its 

projects, please visit the aeronautics website: http://www.

aeronautics.nasa.gov.

The meeting will be held in Building 152 at the Ames 

Research Center, Moffett Field, Northern California’s 

Silicon Valley. Additional details about the venue 

and agenda for the Industry Day and Technical 

Interchange Meeting will be available in the next few 

weeks on our website, which will be updated regularly: 

http://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov/programs_asp.htm. The 

forum will include plenary sessions, discussion panels, 

demonstrations and parallel technical tracks examining 

the full range of NextGen research.

If you have questions regarding event logistics, please 

contact Mr. Barry Sullivan, ASP Technical Integration Manager, via email at barry.t.sullivan@nasa.gov or 

phone (650-604-6756).

I look forward to seeing you this coming spring!

John Cavolowsky

Program Director, Airspace Systems Program

// Program Director’s Letter
4

Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUN 2012

DWR Briefing to Joint FAA/Industry DCIT, 

April 2012

Dave McNally presented the Dynamic Weather 

Routes (DWR) concept and analysis results at the 

joint Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)/Industry Data Communications Implementation Team 

(DCIT) monthly meeting in Washington, DC. The 

DCIT is focused on near-term applications for today’s 

air/ground data communications (data comm). With 

a current emphasis on departure clearance messages, 

they expressed interest in DWR-like technology for 

en route trials planned for 2014. McNally was invited 

by DCIT industry co-lead Rob Mead of Boeing, and 

co-presented the DWR brief with Captain Rick Shay of 

United Airlines. Shay, a long-standing active member of 

the DCIT, demonstrated strong support for the DWR 

concept, helped answer many detailed questions from 

the group. Approximately fifty members attended the 

meeting in person or via telecom—including airline 

// Technical/Programmatic Highlights 

Dynamic Weather Route user interface showing a reroute issued to an American Airlines flight on July 31, 2012. 

Filed	
  Flight	
  Plan	
  Route	
  

Dynamic	
  Weather	
  Route	
  

5.1	
  min	
  Flying	
  Time	
  Saved	
  
5

Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUN 2012

representatives from United, American, FedEx, and 

Delta—and indicated strong support for the concept. 

(POC: Dave McNally)

Aviation Systems Division Intern Wins 

NASA Aeronautics Scholarship, April 2012

Brian Andrade, a freshman at San Jose State University and a 2011 summer intern in the Aviation Systems 

Division at NASA’s Ames Research Center, has won a 

prestigious NASA Aeronautics Scholarship. Only 25 

out of the 300 applicants were awarded this two-year 

scholarship. The scholarship provides $15K tuition 

support per year and a $10K summer internship at a 

NASA Center to further develop aeronautics research. 

Last summer, as a member of the Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) program, Brian 

developed Matlab-based tools that drastically reduced 

the time and effort to interpret the results of complex 

separation assurance simulations. He accomplished this 

task despite having had no prior Matlab experience. 

He was under the mentorship of researcher, Ms. Arwa 

Aweiss. The tools Brian developed are still in use in the 

Aviation Systems Division. 

(POC: Aisha Bowe)

Machine-Learning Techniques Applied to 

Air Traffic Management Project, April 2012

NASA researcher Michael Bloem teamed up with 

David Hattaway of Microsoft and Nicholas Bambos, 

a faculty member at Stanford University, to compare 

machine learning algorithms that suggest miles-in-trail 

air traffic management initiatives to FAA decision-makers. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) uses 

traffic management initiatives to ensure that demand 

for air traffic resources such as airspace and runways 

does not exceed the available capacity. Miles-in-trail 

restrictions are a type of traffic management initiative 

requiring that flights in a flow of air traffic crossing a 

certain point be separated by a designated distance in 

miles. This comparison of machine learning methods 

was based on historical data and provides some initial 

insights that can be applied to a joint NASA-FAA project that seeks patterns in previous traffic management 

initiatives to inform future air traffic management decisions. Their work was presented at the International 

Conference of Research in Air Transportation conference that was held in Berkeley, CA in May 2012. 

(POC: Michael Bloem)

SFO Stratus GDP Model Assessment Begins, 

May 2012

The operational assessment of a model that calculates key Ground Delay Program (GDP) parameters 

(e.g., GDP end time, scope and rate) for San Francisco 

International Airport (SFO) began in May. More GDPs 

are implemented at SFO than any other airport in 

the United States because of the impact of the marine 

stratus layer. Mosaic ATM conducted a training session 

at the Oakland Air Route Traffic Control Center on 

April 25 and a second session at the National Weather 

Service (NWS) in Monterey on April 26 for specialists who will evaluate this tool during the 2012 stratus 
6

Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUN 2012

season. Attendees included supervisory traffic management coordinators from Oakland Center, controllers 

from San Francisco tower, traffic management coordinators from the FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center (ATCSCC), and meteorologists from the 

Central Weather Service Unit at Oakland Center and 

the NWS in Monterey. These personnel work with the 

ATCSCC to implement air traffic initiatives so similar 

training has been provided to the ATCSCC. The evaluation period is May 15 through October 15, 2012. 

This activity is a follow-on to the shadow mode assessment that took place from June 1 through October 15, 

2011. The team supporting this operational assessment 

will include personnel from the FAA, NASA, Mosaic 

ATM, MIT Lincoln Laboratory and the NWS. 

(POC: Shon Grabbe)

NASA and FAA Begin PDRC Field Evaluation, 

May 2012 

NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration 

(FAA) launched the spring 2012 field evaluation of the 

Precision Departure Release Capability (PDRC) tool. 

PDRC will aid in improving tactical departure operations by enabling the automated exchange of surface 

scheduling information to en route tactical departure 

scheduling systems. Objectives for this field evaluation are to assess system performance and quantify the 

various contributors to scheduling uncertainty. These 

objectives will be accomplished as FAA Traffic Management Coordinators (TMCs) from Fort Worth En route 

Center, and Dallas/Fort Worth TRACON and Towers, 

use PDRC to schedule at least 100 actual departures 

subject to traffic management restrictions. During the 

first week of evaluation, NASA researchers worked 

with the FAA TMCs to conduct practice runs of 

PDRC scheduling and to finalize the test configuration 

and procedures. Additionally, TMCs have developed 

innovative uses of PDRC technology that will lead to 

updates to the Concept of Operations. 

(POC: Shawn Engelland)

SARDA Simulation, May 2012

The Spot and Runway Departure Advisor (SARDA) 

human-in-the-loop (HITL) simulation successfully 

completed three weeks of testing at the FutureFlight 

Central tower simulation facility at NASA’s Ames 

Research Center. SARDA is an integrated decision support tool for tower controllers and airline ramp operators to enhance the efficiency of surface traffic and 

reduce fuel consumption. In the simulation, SARDA 

provided tactical advisories to the tower controllers to 

manage surface traffic more efficiently by optimally 

scheduling aircraft releases from spots, and by sequencing runway operations including takeoffs and runway 

crossings to maximize throughput and minimize system 

delay. The tool also provided gate push-back times 

to airlines, which allowed the ramp operators to hold 

departure aircraft at their gates for a specific amount 

of time and reduce delays in the runway queue. The 

objective of the simulation was to evaluate performance 

of the SARDA tool, including efficiency, throughput 

and predictability. Human factors metrics, includ-
7

Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUN 2012

ing controller workload and situation awareness, were 

also measured during the simulation. A total of 48 

runs were conducted enabling data collection for both 

performance and human factors metrics. Both baseline 

and advisory scenarios with two levels of traffic density 

for the east side of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) operations were simulated. The controller advisories, for Ground and Local controllers, were 

displayed on Electronic Flight Strips using touch screen 

interactive technology. A total of six retired DFW tower 

controllers participated in the simulation. 

(POC: Yoon Jung)

Air/Ground Function Allocation Simulation 

in AOL, May 2012

The Airspace Operations Lab (AOL) of the Human 

Systems Integration Division conducted a humanin-the-loop simulation to investigate new function 

allocations for separation assurance in air traffic control. 

This simulation involved more than 30 participants, 

including current airline pilots, general aviation pilots, 

and retired FAA air traffic controllers. This simulation is part of a series of simulations conducted in 

close cooperation with the Air Traffic Operations Lab 

(ATOL) at NASA’s Langley Research Center to investigate the feasibility of distributing the responsibility for 

separating aircraft between the ground controller and 

the flight deck and their respective automated systems. 

The simulation tested an array of NASA-developed 

tools designed to assist controllers and pilots in managing mixed operations at air traffic levels that far exceed 

today’s capacity in order to meet the demands of 

NextGen. A two-week experiment that will also include 

current FAA controllers is planned for later this year. 

(POC: Thomas Prevot)

FAA Experts and NASA Researchers 

Collaborate on OASIS Design, May 2012

NASA researchers met with FAA subject matter 

experts (SMEs) at Ames Research Center to elicit their 

guidance on the design of the Operational Airspace 

Sectorization Integrated System (OASIS), a major 

development activity of the Dynamic Airspace Configuration (DAC) research focus area. OASIS assists 

Area Supervisors in their planning of sector combine/

decombine operations as well as opening/closing of 

Data-side (D-side) control positions; these advisory 

solutions are tailored to the predicted traffic demand 

over the next few hours. Ten SMEs with many years of 

experience at four different Air Route Traffic Control 

Centers (ARTCCs) participated in this design meeting. 

Their technical exchange with NASA researchers provided numerous operational insights and suggestions 

for enhancing the OASIS algorithm and user interface. They also assisted in the planning of the OASIS 

HITL simulation scheduled for November 2012. This 

design meeting and the upcoming HITL simulation 

are key milestones along the path to a field evaluation 

of OASIS at the Cleveland ARTCC in the fall of 2013. 

(POC: Karl Bilimoria)
8

Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUN 2012

SPO Planning Meeting, May 2012

A Single Pilot Operations (SPO) meeting was conducted to identify major research areas of interest and 

required effort, including analysis and simulation needs, 

for the SPO research plan. This technical interchange 

focused on exploring the challenges, feasibility and 

practicality of single pilot operations. Attendees did 

not assume that single pilot operations are feasible 

or desirable, but rather focused on identifying the 

considerations that must be explored to make that 

determination. The goal of the meeting was to support a rich dialogue that will ultimately lead to clear 

research issues that will, in turn, inform future NASA 

research and development in this area. The meeting was 

well-attended by government and industry personnel. 

Proceedings of the meeting are available for download 

at http://human-factors.arc.nasa.gov/groups/FDDRL/SPO/

agenda.php 

(POC: Parimal Kopardekar)

Interchange with FAA on EDA Deployment 

and Trajectory Prediction, June 2012

Technical leads from the FAA Time-Based Flow Management (TBFM) Program, responsible for deployment 

decisions concerning arrival-metering automation, met 

with NASA Ames researchers regarding the Efficient 

Descent Advisor (EDA) and trajectory predictions in 

arrival automation.

The FAA took delivery of EDA earlier this year, and 

the TBFM group is currently planning how best to 

begin deploying EDA as a tool for controlling to Traffic Management Advisor (TMA) arrival schedules in 

a fuel-efficient manner. Current FAA plans call for 

the deployment of an initial EDA capability by 2014 

(full deployment in ~2020) that produces automated 

speed advisories only; i.e., no path-stretch advisories. 

In anticipation of the FAA’s initial deployment needs, a 

simplified version of EDA, called “EDA Lite,” has been 

developed in the NASA research software baseline. This 

prototype was demonstrated to the FAA visitors to show 

how controllers could use a simplified version of EDA 

that blends automated speed advisories with manual 

path adjustments to absorb large amounts of delay 

when needed. It was further shown how the added 

flexibility of EDA Lite might allow controllers to steer 

around convective weather during metering operations.

Discussions were also held on the more general subject of improving trajectory predictions in arrival automation and, in particular, how the automated downlink 

of parameters such as predicted Top of Descent, weight, 

winds and pilot-preferred speed profile could substantially improve trajectory-prediction accuracy in 

the arrival domain. NASA is currently engaged in the 

Trajectory Data Exchange (TDX) activity with Boeing, 

exploring how current airborne equipage and datalink 

services might be leveraged to provide airborne parameters on a routine basis for improving trajectory prediction and controller situational awareness.

The FAA visitors showed considerable interest in 

EDA Lite as a stepping stone towards a full EDA 

deployment. They also expressed their desire to stay 

informed of NASA’s progress with TDX. 

(POC: Rich Coppenbarger)
9

Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUN 2012

FIAT Simulation Initial Integration 

Completed, June 2012

The Fully Integrated ATD-1 Technology (FIAT) team 

tested the initial integration of the Terminal Precision Scheduling and Spacing (TAPSS) system and the 

Flight Deck Interval Management (FIM) technology in 

the Air Traffic Control lab. The objective of the FIAT 

simulation is to validate the system performance of the 

Research Traffic Management Advisor (rTMA) software, 

which will be used for the first Air Traffic Management 

Technology Demonstration (ATD-1). ATD-1 combines 

advanced time-based scheduling in terminal airspace, 

controller managed spacing tools, and FIM to achieve 

sustained fuel efficient operations during periods 

of high traffic demand. These activities are aimed at 

accelerating airspace technology transition in general, 

and Automated Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast 

(ADS-B) technology adoption in particular. The integrated TAPSS and FIM system was evaluated using the 

LAX airspace, under a mixed Area Navigation (RNAV) 

The Traffic Management Advisor (TMA) will determine an arrival schedule along advanced RNAV arrival routes for safe, 

orderly, and expeditious flow of traffic in the terminal area.
10

Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUN 2012

routing infrastructure and saturated traffic demand 

levels. NASA Ames and Langley experts supported 

the initial integration. Controllers from Los Angeles 

Center, Southern California TRACON and two pilots 

contributed to validating and refining the concept of 

operations, procedures, symbology and phraseology to 

handle the controller and pilot interactions in a mixed 

equipage environment. The team completed a plan for 

a series of HITL simulations that will support ATD-1. 

(POC: Jane Thipphavong)

Controller-Managed Spacing Simulation 

Completed, June 2012 

The third in a series of Airspace Operations Lab 

(AOL) simulations conducted this year in support of 

ATD-1 was successfully completed. The simulation in 

the AOL exercised laboratory prototypes of all three 

promising NASA technologies that comprise the integrated ATD-1 arrival solution: the Traffic Management 

Advisor with Terminal Metering (TMA-TM) developed 

in the NASA Ames Aviation Systems division; FIM, 

developed at NASA Langley Research Center; and 

Controller-Managed Spacing (CMS) tools developed in 

the NASA Ames Human Systems Integration Division’s 

AOL. The simulation focused on refining the CMS 

tools and ATD-1 air/ground operations, and used 

Dallas/Fort Worth airport arrival flows that included a 

mix of FIM-equipped and non-FIM-equipped aircraft. 

Participants included four en-route and six terminalarea air traffic controllers with DFW experience, as well 

as twelve multi-aircraft and eight single-aircraft pilots. 

The results of the experiment are expected to provide 

additional insights into automation and operational 

concept efficacy, and to inform plans for integrated 

ATD-1 simulations scheduled for FY13. 

(POCs: Todd Callantine, Tom Prevot)

SAIE Project Scientist Leads International 

Symposium Workshop, June 2012 

Dr. Natalia Alexandrov conducted a workshop at 

the Third International Air Transport and Operations 

Flight Deck Interval Management (FIM) tools aboard 

the aircraft will enable flight crews to precisely space their 

aircraft relative to others to achieve ideal spacing.
11

Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUN 2012

Symposium and the 2012 Complex World Seminar, 

Delft, the Netherlands. The workshop centered on the 

aspects of complexity related to making a case for new 

technology implementation to participants of the air 

transportation system, such as airlines, and to address 

the difficulty in modernization of air transportation. 

Following an introductory presentation, a lively 

discussion took place. Opinions among the participants were split: one group maintained that air 

transportation modernization, if needed, would occur 

strictly subject to market dynamics; the other, larger, 

group felt that regulation would be required for the 

benefit of both the system and its users. The participants’ comments have been recorded, and a summary 

is available from n.alexandrov@nasa.gov. Alexandrov 

also gave a presentation during the Symposium, titled 

“Control of Future Air Traffic Systems via Complexity 

Bound Management.” 

(POC: Natalia Alexandrov)

Facility Experiment Review Completed for 

Upcoming ATD-1 Simulation, June 2012

The Facility Experiment Review for the Interval 

Management for the Near-Term Operations Validation 

of Acceptability (IM-NOVA) simulation was successfully completed. Data collection is scheduled to begin 

July 31 and continue through the end of August. 

(POC: Jennifer Murdoch)

Surface Conflict Detection and Resolution

NRA Completed, June 2012

The Optimal Synthesis NASA Research Announcement (NRA) on surface conflict detection and 

resolution was completed, including delivery of final 

presentation and documentation. 

(POC: Seth Kurasaki)

Stochastic Modeling NRA Award, June

2010

Boeing was awarded a NASA Research Announcement 

(NRA) for the Stochastic Modeling of Arrival Time 

Accuracy and Transit Time Range for NextGen Operations in Super Dense Airspace. Under this NRA, Boeing 

will develop a range of stochastic models of arrival time 

accuracy and feasible transit time range for mixedequipage NextGen operations in the terminal area, and 

investigate the effect of the fidelity of these uncertainty 

models on time-based scheduling performance. 

(POC: Mike Guminsky)

PDRC RTP Available, June 2012

The Precision Departure Release Capability (PDRC) 

team announces the availability of the recent PDRC 

research transition product (RTP), a technology 

transfer the NASA/FAA Integrated Arrival Departure/

Surface Research Transition Team began coordinating 

in 2009. Over the last six months, NASA/FAA coordination has intensified with the PDRC team meeting 
12

Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUN 2012

with TBFM and TFDM research product recipients 

on a monthly basis. These inter-agency coordination 

efforts have helped the NASA team develop highquality deliverables that address FAA needs. Several 

more PDRC products will be transitioned from NASA 

to FAA during the next two-and-a-half years. 

The PDRC RTP consists of these five documents:

1. PDRC-IADS Concept of Operations, version 2.0, 

30 Jun 2012. 

2. PDRC-IADS Technology Description, version 

1.0, 30 Jun 2012. 

3. PDRC-IADS Research Notebook, version 1.0, 30 

Jun 2012.

4. Engelland, S.A. and Capps, A., “Trajectory-Based 

Takeoff Time Predictions Applied to Tactical 

Departure Scheduling: Concept Description, 

System Design, and Initial Observations,” AIAA2011-6875, 11th AIAA Aviation Technology, 

Integration, and Operations (ATIO) Conference, 

Virginia Beach, VA, 20-22 Sep. 2011. 

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

publications/2011/AIAA-2011-6875.pdf

5. Capps, A. and Engelland, S.A., “Characterization 

of Tactical Departure Scheduling in the National 

Airspace System,” AIAA-2011-6835, 11th AIAA 

Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations 

(ATIO) Conference, Virginia Beach, VA, 20-22 

Sep. 2011. 

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

publications/2011/AIAA-2011-6835.pdf 

(POC: Shawn Engelland)
13

Airspace Systems Program Newsletter: Quarter 3, APR–JUN 2012

Recent/Upcoming ASP Events

July 9–20 T-TSAFE Simulation #3, NASA Ames

July 10–12 ATD-1 FY13 Simulation Planning Meeting

July 30–August 10 Functional Allocation HITL Simulation, NASA Ames

July 31–August 31 IM-NOVA Simulation

August 29 ATD-1 Industry Day, NASA Langley

Sep 10–14 Joint NASA REACT-2/FAA TSS Simulation, NASA Ames

Oct 15–19 Data Collection Simulation for Version 1.0 of ATD-1, NASA Ames

Oct 29–Nov 9 OASIS HITL Simulation, NASA Ames

Nov 12–16 ATD-1 Integrated System Check

April 30–May 3, 2013 ASP Industry Day and Technical Interchange Meeting, NASA Ames
National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Headquarters

300 E. Street, SW

Washington, DC 20024

www.aeronautics.nasa.gov

www.nasa.gov

SAVE THE DATE

april 30–may 3, 2013

Airspace Systems Program 

FY2013 Industry Day and

Technical Interchange Meeting

Ames Research Center

Mountain View, CA

Ames Research Center