Abstract:
Techniques for providing synthetic air traffic management in a fast-time environment are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of providing a closed-loop air traffic management simulation gateway between a decision support tool (DST) and an airspace modeler includes receiving airspace simulation data from an airspace modeler. The airspace simulation may be converted to emulated radar signals at an update interval. The emulated radar signals may be transmitted to a decision support tool for analysis. A recommendation may be received from the decision support tool based on the emulated radar signals, which may be used to generate a synthetic actor response based on the recommendation. The synthetic actor may provide the response to the airspace modeler to enable updating the airspace simulation data. In this manner the design of more efficient airspace routes, arrival and departure routes and procedures may be more quickly achieved.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0001]    The present disclosure is directed to air traffic management, and more specifically, is directed to methods and systems for providing a synthetic air traffic management fast-time environment for developing air traffic management systems. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Air traffic control is an important function to maintain operation of increasingly congested airspace. As airspace and airport activity increases, reliance on improved techniques for managing air traffic is necessary to maintain safe and efficient activity. 
         [0003]    Decision support tools (DST) may be used to assist human operators (such as air traffic controllers, airline operators and pilots), who make many of the pertinent decisions to manage airspace and airport activity. For example, decision support tools may receive real-time airspace and airport activity data, analyze the data, and provide recommendations to the human controllers. The human operators may receive each recommendation and then implement the recommendation or a portion thereof, ignore the recommendation, or take another action during management of the airspace and airport activity. 
         [0004]    Testing a DST may be an expensive and time consuming process. For example, a real-time test of a DST using human operators may require many months to complete and still may lack an ability to exhaustively test all possible scenarios of airspace and airport activity, thus making exhaustive testing impractical. Testing is an inherent part of the design process for the DST. The time and expense for conducting experiments using human operators limits the amount of data than can be collected to feed the design process of the DST. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0005]    Embodiments of methods and systems for providing synthetic air traffic management in a fast-time (accelerated) environment are disclosed. Embodiments of methods and systems in accordance with the present disclosure may advantageously improve testing, analysis, design, operation, reliability, and related processes of air traffic management decision support tools. Airspace and procedure changes to current or proposed airspace route structures may be more quickly evaluated. The methods and systems provide improved and more efficient design of airspace routes, arrival and departure routes and procedures. 
         [0006]    In one embodiment, a method of providing a closed-loop air traffic management simulation gateway between a decision support tool (DST) and an airspace modeler includes receiving airspace simulation data from the airspace modeler. The airspace simulation may be converted to emulated radar signals at an update interval. The emulated radar signals may be transmitted to a decision support tool for analysis. A recommendation may be received from the decision support tool based on the emulated radar signals, which may be used to generate a synthetic actor response based on the recommendation. The synthetic actor may provide the response to the airspace modeler to enable updating the airspace simulation data. 
         [0007]    In another embodiment, a system providing an air traffic management fast-time environment (SAFE) includes a decision support tool (DST) interface to interact with a DST module. An airspace modeler module is provided, and a preferred airport and airspace modeler is “Total Airport and Airspace Modeler® (TAAM) available from Jeppesen Sanderson, Inc of Englewood, Colo. An interface may be included to interact with the TAAM module. A SAFE gateway may be included to facilitate communications between the DST module and the TAAM module. In addition, the SAFE gateway may include a radar emulator module and a synthetic actor module. The radar emulator module may convert data received from the TAAM interface into radar signals for transmission to the DST interface. The synthetic actor module may receive a recommendation from the DST interface and provide a response to the TAAM interface. 
         [0008]    In a further embodiment, a method of providing a gateway between an airspace modeler and a decision support tool (DST) includes transmitting received output data from the airspace modeler to the DST. A recommendation may be received from the DST based on the received output data. A response may be generated based on the recommendation. The response may be transmitted to the airspace modeler. 
         [0009]    The features, functions, and advantages can be achieved independently in various embodiments of the present disclosure or may be combined in yet other embodiments. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]    Embodiments of systems and methods in accordance with the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the following drawings. 
           [0011]      FIG. 1  shows a schematic of a synthetic air traffic management fast-time environment in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure; 
           [0012]      FIG. 2  is a flow diagram of an illustrative process for running a simulation using a synthetic air traffic management fast-time model in accordance with another embodiment of the disclosure; 
           [0013]      FIG. 3  shows a flow diagram of an illustrative process of providing a synthetic actor in accordance with yet another embodiment of the disclosure; 
           [0014]      FIG. 4  is a flow diagram of an illustrative process of analyzing a response from the synthetic actor in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure; 
           [0015]      FIG. 5  shows a flow diagram of an illustrative process of providing a radar emulation in accordance with another embodiment of the disclosure; and 
           [0016]      FIG. 6  is an illustrative computing environment for hosting a synthetic air traffic management fast-time environment, as illustrated in  FIG. 1 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0017]    Methods and systems for providing a synthetic air traffic management fast-time environment are described herein. Many specific details of certain embodiments of the disclosure are set forth in the following description and in  FIGS. 1 through 6  to provide a thorough understanding of such embodiments. One skilled in the art, however, will understand that the present disclosure may have additional embodiments, or that the present disclosure may be practiced without several of the details described in the following description. 
         [0018]      FIG. 1  shows a schematic of a synthetic air traffic management fast-time environment  100  in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. The environment  100  may include a synthetic ATM (air traffic management) fast-time environment  102  (or simply “SAFE”) and a decision support tool (DST)  104 . The DST  104  may be any tool, set of computer instructions, and the like for receiving airspace activity data, and transmitting a recommendation for operation in the received airspace. As used herein, any reference to airspace may also include airport activity. In an example, the DST  104  may receive radar signals of aircraft in a defined region. The DST  104  may analyze the radar signals and generate efficient routing for the aircraft based on various factors, such as trajectory of aircraft, prioritization rules, and so forth. When used effectively, a DST  104  may enable realization of increased airspace and airport efficiency and capacity. 
         [0019]    In one or more embodiments, the SAFE  102  may include an airspace modeler  106  and a SAFE gateway  108 . In some embodiments, the airspace modeler  106  is a “Total Airport and Airspace Modeler®” (TAAM) available from Jeppesen Sanderson, Inc of Englewood, Colo. The  106  may provide a simulation of real-world airspace and/or airport activity to model traffic behavior in an air traffic management (ATM) system. For example, the TAAM  106  may be a customizable application which can simulate complex operations of interrelated interactions of aircraft, airports, air traffic controller instructions, and other relevant data. 
         [0020]    The TAAM  106  may receive inputs from various sources, such as human analysts, control systems (e.g., the SAFE gateway  108 , etc.), and so forth. The inputs may include initial parameters which control the output of the TAAM  106 . For example, inputs may enable an analyst to operate TAAM  106  to provide exhaustive scenarios to test rare and rare-normal cases. The TAAM  106  may enable testing stress simulations of an ATM system. Other inputs may include simulated or real human input, such as aircraft operational decisions which include rerouting aircraft. The TAAM  106  may implement the received inputs to create, update, and maintain the airspace and airport simulation. In some embodiments, the TAAM  106  may periodically output a location (e.g., latitude, longitude, trajectory, etc.) and time for each object (e.g., aircraft, etc.) in the model. In accordance with some embodiments, the TAAM  106  may create a simulation which can be used to provide data to the DST  104 , such that the DST operates as if it were in communication with a real-world ATM environment. 
         [0021]    In accordance with some embodiments, the SAFE gateway  108  provides an interface between the TAAM  106  and the DST  104 , among other functions performed by the SAFE gateway. Simulation data  110  may be transmitted from the TAAM  106  to the SAFE gateway  108 . The SAFE gateway  108  may convert the simulation data  110  into radar simulation data  112 , which may be transmitted to the DST  104 . From the DST  104 , the radar simulation data may be indistinguishable from real-world radar data. The DST may provide recommendations  114  to the SAFE gateway  108  based on the radar simulation data  112  and other factors (e.g., protocol, decision tools, etc.). The SAFE gateway  108  may selectively implement the recommendations  114  to create a synthetic actor response  116 , which may be transmitted to the TAAM  106 . 
         [0022]    The SAFE gateway  108  facilitates a closed-loop cycle including data which is transmitted from the TAAM  106  and the DST  104 . In some embodiments, a user (e.g., an analyst, an evaluator, etc.) may configure the SAFE gateway  108  and initiate operation of the SAFE gateway. Accordingly, the SAFE gateway  108  may enable testing, analysis, design, operation simulation, reliability checking, and related processes of the DST  104  in communication to the TAAM  106 . For example, the DST  104  may be evaluated for basic operation, for parameters of the DST system including DST specific parameters and parameters implemented via the SAFE gateway  108 , integration of the DST in the ATM system, and testing an overall viability of the entire system when implemented with a human component. The SAFE gateway  108 , as implemented, may automate software testing to enable faster and more robust software development which may improve operation, reliability, and other aspects of the DST  104 . 
         [0023]      FIG. 2  is a flow diagram of an illustrative process  200  for running a simulation using a synthetic air traffic management fast-time model in accordance with another embodiment of the disclosure. The process  200  is illustrated as a collection of blocks in a logical flow graph, which represent a sequence of operations that can be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination thereof. In the context of software, the blocks represent computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, perform the recited operations. Generally, computer-executable instructions include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, and the like that perform particular functions or implement particular abstract data types. The order in which the operations are described is not intended to be construed as a limitation, and any number of the described blocks can be combined in any order and/or in parallel to implement the process. Other processes described throughout this disclosure, in addition to the process  200 , shall be interpreted accordingly. 
         [0024]    As shown in  FIG. 2 , at  202 , simulation parameters may be uploaded for clock synchronization. The clock synchronization may enable running the synthetic air traffic management in fast-time, as opposed to real-time. For example, a scenario may be executed in fast-time in a fraction of the real-time, such as a 24-hour real-time scenario run in 30 seconds in fast-time, among other possible accelerated time rates. The clock synchronization may be controlled by the TAAM  106 , the DST  104 , the SAFE gateway  108 , or another separate component within the environment  100  of  FIG. 1 . Fast-time automation combined with the configurability of parameters allows testing of a much wider range of scenarios. The fast-time capability resulting from the clock synchronization may also enable generation of large data volumes, which may result in more extensive trade studies that can be performed on the DST&#39;s parameters, allowing the DST  104  to be optimized for a proposed deployment. 
         [0025]    At  204 , the SAFE gateway  108  receives the TAAM  106  simulation model. The TAAM simulation model may be transmitted to the SAFE gateway  108  via a wired or wireless connection. For example, the TAAM  106  may reside in a remote server which transmits packets of data, including location representations for aircraft, to a server hosting the SAFE gateway  108 . At  206 , a closed-loop cycle is initiated to process the TAAM simulation model from the operation  204  based on the clock synchronization at the operation  202 . 
         [0026]    The closed-loop cycle at  206  includes a number of processes which describe interactions between at least the TAAM  106 , the DST  104 , and the SAFE gateway  108 . At  208 , the SAFE gateway  108  generates a radar simulation and transmits the radar simulation to the DST  104 . The radar simulation may be created by a radar emulator which converts the received data from the TAAM  106  into one or more radar signals which may be received, analyzed, and processed by the DST  104 . At  210 , the SAFE gateway  108  receives a DST recommendation. The DST  104  may create the recommendation based on the received radar signals based on predetermined logic integrated in the DST  104 . 
         [0027]    In accordance with some embodiments, at  212 , the SAFE gateway  108  generates synthetic actor response and transmits the response to the TAAM  106 . The basic function of the synthetic actor is to convert the DST recommendation into response action (an acceptance of the recommendation or a portion thereof, a rejection, a request, and so forth) to be performed on the ATM model (i.e., the TAAM  106 ). The synthetic Actor component of the SAFE gateway  108  receives the decision recommendations and takes the role of a human operator. The synthetic actor responses may include latency (e.g., representing human processing and/or implementation time), predetermined decision protocol, and other aspects which model an actual human actor in a real-world environment. In some embodiments, the synthetic actor may include test logic such as to facilitate generating error cases. 
         [0028]    At  214 , the operation  206  includes a continue decision operation. Although the continue decision operation is shown in  FIG. 2  as following the synthetic actor response transmission to the TAAM  106 , the continuation decision at  214  may be located anywhere in the closed-loop operation  206 , or in multiple locations within the closed-loop. If the continue decision operation is affirmative, at  216 , the SAFE gateway  108  may receive the TAAM updated simulation model based on the synthetic actor response from the operation  212 . The output of the operation  216  may continue to the operation  208  to continue the closed-loop operation  206 . Alternatively, at  218 , the closed-loop operation  206  may be terminated and/or results from the closed-loop operation may be analyzed and/or reported to evaluate the DST  104 , or other components of the synthetic air traffic management fast-time environment. For example, the operation  218  may report the number of conflicts created in the TAAM  106  based on a parameters inputted into the SAFE gateway  108  for a particular implementation of the DST  104 . The number of conflicts may then be compared to other data sets to determine the viability, adequacy, improvement options, or other information for the DST  104 . 
         [0029]      FIG. 3  shows a flow diagram of an illustrative process  300  of providing a synthetic actor in accordance with yet another embodiment of the disclosure. At  302 , a user may enter a configuration interface for the synthetic actor. For example, the SAFE gateway  108  may include a user interface that allows an analyst to configure the synthetic actor by inputting or selecting various options. 
         [0030]    At  304 , a user may determine a latency for the synthetic actor. The latency may include one or more of a human response time, a human processing time, and an implementation time, among other possible latency periods. The latency may be fixed (e.g., same for each closed-loop cycle), random within a predetermined distribution (e.g., minimum and maximum time constraints may be set), or based on the situation such as the complexity of the recommendation from the DST  104  or the overall state of air traffic simulation. The effect of latencies on the performance of the DST  104  may be helpful in analyzing the effectiveness of the DST. For example, latencies may provide insight as to when recommendations from the DST  104  are stale, or otherwise untimely, and cannot be implemented in the ATM model. With latencies, the SAFE gateway  108  may support a parametric study that is conducted on such latencies, providing an analysis of the affects of latencies. Existing technology using human-in-the-loop would only demonstrate the feasibility of the system with the latencies experienced in a handful of scenarios. 
         [0031]    In accordance with some embodiments, at  306 , a user may select a set of operational rules for the synthetic actor. The set of operational rules may be selectively based on sub-operations  308 , 310 , and  312 . At  308 , operator rules may be determined and/or selected to provide a simulation of an aircraft pilot or other vehicle operator (e.g., airport ground transport, etc.). At  310 , operation center rules may be determined for a control center such as an airline control center or other non-air traffic control center which may make decisions which impact the ATM. At  312 , an air traffic controller rules may be determined. In some instances, one of the operations  308 ,  310 , and  312  may be implement, or a combination of the operations  308 ,  310 ,  312  may be implemented in the process  300 . In some embodiments, each of the operations  308 ,  310 , and  312  may include separate customizable inputs. 
         [0032]    At  314 , the synthetic actor inputs provided in the process  300  may be initiated. For example, an analyst may select a latency profile at the operation  304  and set operational rules for the synthetic actor at the operation  306 . The operational rules then determine how the synthetic actor responds to recommendations received from the DST  104  when executed in the process  200 , such as at the operation  212  where the SAFE gateway  108  generates the synthetic actor response. 
         [0033]      FIG. 4  is a flow diagram of an illustrative process  400  of analyzing a response from the synthetic actor in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. At  402 , the synthetic actor of the SAFE gateway  108  receives the recommendations of the DST  104 . At  404 , the synthetic actor generates a response after a latency period. At  406 , a decision operation determines whether the response by the synthetic actor is timely. If the latency period is too long, the recommendation from the DST  104  may become stale and no longer allow a response to be accepted by the ATM model. For example, an aircraft may have a brief window of opportunity to redirect its course before a conflict is created by the redirect, any efficiency gained is no longer achievable, or other reasons occur which make the recommendation stale. If the action is not timely at the decision operation  406 , a failure report may be logged, outputted, or otherwise recorded at  408 . 
         [0034]    In some embodiments, at  410 , the synthetic actor response may be transmitted to the TAAM  106  for review. For example, the TAAM  106  may receive the response, determine the feasibility of the response, and then either allow, modify, or deny the response from the synthetic actor at the operation  410 . At  412 , a decision operation determines whether the TAAM  106  accepts the response. If the response is not accepted, the process  400  may be rerouted to the DST  104  at  214 , the cycle may continue without a response, or other actions in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure may take place to continue the closed-loop cycle  206  of  FIG. 2 . If the response is accepted, at  416 , the action is transmitted to the TAAM  106  for processing. Thus, the TAAM  106  may continue the simulation by making any necessary modification to reflect changes, either directly or indirectly, caused by the response from the synthetic actor. Stated another way, the TAAM  106  may receive the response from the synthetic actor, and subject to the TAAM&#39;s assessment of the feasibility of the response (representing the rest of ATM), the TAAM may update the model. Any updates in TAAM may be reflected in the traffic visible to the DST, thus closing the loop shown in the closed-loop cycle at the operation  206  of  FIG. 2 . 
         [0035]      FIG. 5  shows a flow diagram of an illustrative process  500  of providing a radar emulation in accordance with another embodiment of the disclosure. At  502 , a user may initiate a radar emulation options selection. At  504 , one or more radar signal types may be selected to be emulated by the SAFE gateway  108 . For example, the TAAM may include a client application program interface (API) which outputs location information and other relevant information of the TAAM  106 . The radar emulator may read output data from the TAAM  106  and may implement one or more types of radar signals directed to the DST  104 . The radar signals outputted from the radar emulator and received by the DST may be indistinguishable from real-world radar signals. 
         [0036]    At  506 , the user may select a latency and an update interval for the radar signals. For example, the TAAM  106  may output data at a first frequency. The update interval for the radar signals may be set to a second frequency, which may be the same as the first frequency or may be at a lower frequency. In some embodiments, the interval for radar signals at the operation  506  may be determined by the clock synchronization in the operation  202  of  FIG. 2 . The radar emulator may include a time stamp to facilitate control of the second frequency and/or to either drive or align with the clock synchronization as described with reference to the operation  202 . 
         [0037]    In some embodiments, at  508 , the user may select attributes of the radar feed. For example, the TAAM client API may include a software development kit (SDK) which may facilitate the construction of variants of the radar emulation to represent differing radar feed. The SAFE gateway  108  may manipulate a radar signal feed to observe any effects on the DST from problems with the feed including, but not limited to, message ordering, lag, scrambling. At  510 , the radar emulation may be initiated by the SAFE gateway  108 . 
         [0038]      FIG. 6  is an illustrative computing environment  600  for hosting the synthetic air traffic management fast-time environment  100 , as illustrated in  FIG. 1 . The environment  600  may include a computing device such as a server, desktop computer, laptop, or other computing device. The computing device  602  contains modules to perform the function of the SAFE gateway  108  as disclosed herein. As shown in the environment  600 , the computing device  602  may be in communication with the TAAM  106  and the DST  104 , each being hosted by one or more servers, via a network  604 . In one or more embodiments, the computing device  602 , the TAAM  106 , and the DST  104  may be arranged on a single server, across multiple servers, or in other suitable arrangements to enable efficient processing of modules described herein. The network  604  may be wired or wireless and provide connectivity between the computing device  602  and the TAAM  106  and the DST  104 . Wireless environments may include cellular, PCS, WIFI, Ultrawideband, Bluetooth, satellite transmission, and other equivalent wireless technologies. Although  FIG. 6  depicts only one computing device  602 , multiple computing devices may be used for in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. 
         [0039]    The computing device  602  may include a number of components. The components may include one or more processors  606  that are coupled to instances of a user interface (UI)  608 . The UI  608  represents any devices and related drivers that enable the computing device  602  to receive input from a user or other system, and to provide output to the user or other system. Thus, to receive inputs, the UI  608  may include keyboards or keypads, mouse devices, touch screens, microphones, speech recognition packages, imaging systems, or the like. Similarly, to provide outputs, the UI  608  may include speakers, display screens, printing mechanisms, or the like. 
         [0040]    The computing device  602  may include one or more instances of a computer-readable storage media  610  that are addressable by the processor  606 . As such, the processor  606  may read data or executable instructions from, or store data to, the storage media  610 . The storage media  610  may contain the SAFE gateway  108 , which may be implemented as one or more software modules that, when loaded into the processor  606  and executed, cause the computing device  602  to perform any of the functions described herein. Additionally, the storage media  610  may contain implementations of any of the various software modules described herein. 
         [0041]    A clock synchronization module  612  may be implemented to provide the fast-time environment, which is described with reference to the operation  202  of  FIG. 2 . In some embodiments the clock synchronization module may use a time indicator, such as a time stamp from an existing source, such as the TAAM  106  or the DST  104 . In other embodiments, the clock synchronization may drive the time indicator, such as providing a time stamp within the SAFE gateway  108 . 
         [0042]    A synthetic actor module  614  may facilitate providing the various functions of the synthetic actor, such as the functions described with reference to at least the operation  212  of  FIG. 2 , the process  300  of  FIG. 3 , and the operation  404  of  FIG. 4 . For example, the synthetic actor module  614  may receive a recommendation from the DST  104  and determine a response, such as implement the recommendation or portion thereof, reject the recommendation, or take another action. In addition, latency and/or errors may be included in the output of the synthetic actor module  614  to simulate a human actor, such as an ATM controller, a pilot, an airline operation center, or another entity. 
         [0043]    A radar emulator module  616  may receive data from the TAAM  106 , such as via a TAAM client API, and create a radar feed having one or more radar signals, which is transmitted to the DST  104 . The radar emulator module  616  may provide functions such as those described with reference to at least the operation  208  of  FIG. 2 , the process  500  of  FIG. 5 . 
         [0044]    The environment  600  may include the DST  104  having a DST storage media  618 , which may host a DST module  620 . Similarly, the TAAM  106  may have a TAAM storage media  622 , which may host a TAAM module  624 . The DST storage media  618  and the TAAM storage media  622  may be in communication with the computing device  602  via the network  604  to provide access by the SAFE gateway  108 , such as to create architecture as represented in the environment  100  of  FIG. 1 . In some embodiments, the DST storage media  618  and/or the TAAM storage media  622  may be implemented on separate servers, on storage devices accessible by the computing device  602 , or in other configurations. As configured in the environment  600 , the SAFE gateway  108  may receive data from the DST module  620  and the TAAM module  624 , which may enable a user to test, analyze, operate, determine reliability, or perform other related processes of the DST  104 . In particular, a user may modify aspects of the SAFE gateway  108 , such as the update interval and latency, to determine whether the DST manages the airspace simulation created by the airspace modeler within a predetermined operational threshold. 
         [0045]    While preferred and alternate embodiments of the disclosure have been illustrated and described, as noted above, many changes can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, the scope of the disclosure is not limited by the disclosure of these preferred and alternate embodiments. Instead, the disclosure should be determined entirely by reference to the claims that follow.