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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 289 records · Page 16
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2011

TPSAS-NF1676L-12441-DND

The increasing presence of airport surface surveillance technologies has spawned a strong interest in airport surface traffic management research; the vast majority has assumed that the airport’s runway configuration is known and constant. Tactical Runway Configuration Management (TRCM), one component of NASA’s System Oriented Runway Management concept, plans the airport configuration to optimize traffic efficiency for the forecast weather, traffic, and other factors. While planning runway configuration can provide benefit and is required by other automation concepts, larger benefits are possible by planning other airport configuration decisions, such as runway assignment policies, that are currently made manually by controllers. A laboratory prototype of the TRCM algorithm which selects optimal airport configuration schedules has been implemented and studied within a simulation environment. The presentation will describe simulation results for several airports, under various weather and traffic conditions. The sequence of airport configurations recommended by TRCM result in significantly less delay than the airport configurations that were actually used by controllers, illustrating both the potential benefit from airport configuration optimization and the ability of TRCM to provide effective airport configuration schedules. The application to several, distinct airports demonstrates the approach is capable of handling the differences between airports with a common algorithm, while providing decision support that respects the current procedures at those airports. Consequently, TRCM is able to be deployed to any airport within the current National Airspace System. The TRCM algorithmic approach is also extensible to future operational scenarios. NASA is in the process of transferring the initial TRCM technology to the FAA. Future research will extend the concept and algorithm to provide coordinated plans for metroplex airports and study NextGen applications.

Stephen Atkins↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

TPSAS-NF1676L-14273-DND

ATOL is a World-unique lab facility that supports investigations / proof-of-concept studies to explore NextGen operations, procedures, and technologies. ATOL was originally created to fill a research gap at LaRC between low fidelity desk-top simulations and the high fidelity Cockpit Motion Facility for human-in-the-loop studies. Development began more than 10 years ago to study new ATM concept feasibility and distributed ATM flight deck capabilities in the en-route domain. First formal experiment in 2001. Capability was created as research requirements/goals dictated. Development philosophy is to develop models to the level of fidelity needed for studies. Simulation has numerous models/capabilities at varying levels of fidelity.

Tod Lewis↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

TPSAS-NF1676L-14313-DND

Wake vortices limit capacity - Data indicate that current spacing standards are often very conservative - Not weather dependent, but worstcase - Loss of airport capacity in poor weather operations - Loss of visual approaches - Loss of full use of many parallel runways This conservative spacing limits efficiency and capacity now as well as limits benefits expected from advanced NextGen super density concepts.

Neil O’Connor↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

TPSAS-NF1676L-15334-DND

Objective - develop a near-term application of ADS-B that delivers immediate airline benefits through the introduction of more efficient oceanic operations - Develop - Conduct the research, simulations, safety analyses and flight tests required that lead to an implementation of a new oceanic capability - Near-Term Application of ADS-B - ADS-B is a fundamental component of NextGen; near-term aspect helps get ADS-B out of the lab and into the real world - Immediate Airline Operational benefits - Airline operators benefit from their equipage investment; provides an incentive for operators to voluntarily equip with transformational technologies - More Efficient Operations - Applications that enable aircraft to fly at optimal altitudes, tracks and speeds - Oceanic - Air traffic environment that is open to new technologies and procedures - Provide tangible benefits by solving a significant problem (aircraft flying at inefficient altitudes) using relatively low cost technology

Kenneth M Jones↗
NASA NTRS2011

TPSAS-NF1676L-12263-DND

The increasing presence of airport surface surveillance technologies has spawned a strong interest in airport surface traffic management research; the vast majority has assumed that the airport’s runway configuration is known and constant. Tactical Runway Configuration Management (TRCM), one component of NASA’s System Oriented Runway Management concept, plans the airport configuration to optimize traffic efficiency for the forecast weather, traffic, and other factors. While planning runway configuration can provide benefit and is required by other automation concepts, larger benefits are possible by planning other airport configuration decisions, such as runway assignment policies, that are currently made manually by controllers. A laboratory prototype of the TRCM algorithm which selects optimal airport configuration schedules has been implemented and studied within a simulation environment. The presentation will describe simulation results for several airports, under various weather and traffic conditions. The sequence of airport configurations recommended by TRCM result in significantly less delay than the airport configurations that were actually used by controllers, illustrating both the potential benefit from airport configuration optimization and the ability of TRCM to provide effective airport configuration schedules. The application to several, distinct airports demonstrates the approach is capable of handling the differences between airports with a common algorithm, while providing decision support that respects the current procedures at those airports. Consequently, TRCM is able to be deployed to any airport within the current National Airspace System. The TRCM algorithmic approach is also extensible to future operational scenarios. NASA is in the process of transferring the initial TRCM technology to the FAA. Future research will extend the concept and algorithm to provide coordinated plans for metroplex airports and study NextGen applications.

Stephen Atkins↗
NASA NTRS2020

Integrated Demand Management: The FCA Balancing Algorithm

The Collaborative Trajectory Options Program (CTOP) is a new NextGen function that resides within the FAA’s Traffic Flow Management System (TFMS) software. CTOP was designed to be used in the United States’ national airspace to control the distribution of air traffic demand, both temporally and geographically, through a set of Flow Constrained Areas (FCAs). Each FCA is assigned capacity values that represent an estimated upper limit of manageable demand, and CTOP controls to that capacity by using Expect Departure Clearance Time (EDCT) air traffic control clearances, and/or rerouting flights to an alternate FCA or out of the CTOP completely. CTOP’s decisions about which control options best meet system and user needs are based on the Trajectory Options Set (TOS) submitted by airline operators for each flight. The FCA Balancing Algorithm (FBA) described in this document is a proposed decision support capability that generates CTOP capacity entries for FCAs controlling traffic to a common downstream constraint. The FBA provides an equitable distribution of impact, and addresses the added complexity of assigning FCA capacity values for this specific type of use case, greatly simplifying the FAA air traffic manager’s task.

IDM↗
NASA NTRS2020

Analysis of Pilot Monitoring Skills and a Review of Training Effectiveness

The commercial aviation industry world-wide has identified a need for improved pilot monitoring and awareness (e.g., FAA, 2013, ICAO, 2016). More specifically, aviation safety data indicate that failures in pilots’ flight path management (FPM) monitoring and awareness have contributed to a range of undesired outcomes: accidents, major upsets, and non-compliance with air traffic control (ATC) guidance. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has further stated that these types of FPM failures are likely to worsen with the increasingly complex air traffic control systems and FPM concepts proposed for NextGen (https://www.faa. gov/nextgen/what_is_nextgen/) operations (e.g., see Hah et al., 2017). Adding to this complexity is the introduction of increasingly automated aircraft systems that can increase monitoring burdens. One potential mitigation for this situation is to enhance pilot training for effective monitoring. NASA Ames Research Center was asked to identify and evaluate training approaches that have the potential to enhance pilots’ ability to effectively monitor for FPM (with the result of improved awareness). The focus of this work is to identify, develop or validate training guidance to improve pilot monitoring/awareness regarding FPM and mitigate the recent trend of accidents and incidents, especially loss of control (LOC) events. The result of this work should be input for improved industry standards and FAA guidance to reduce the risk of incidents and accidents due to inadequate pilot monitoring/awareness. This is the first of three reports that were developed for this project.

aviation human factors↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Demonstration of Airline-Based Airborne Reroute Operations using Trajectory Option Sets and Third-Party Tools

A concept that enables advanced airborne reroute operations is proposed, built on NextGen capabilities called Airborne Reroute (ABRR) and Trajectory Option Set (TOS). The concept introduces new third-party services / tools for the airline dispatchers to generate airline-preferred trajectories in response to convective weather events. The airborne TOS routes are sent to the traffic flow managers, who can evaluate the feasibility of the trajectory options with the help of their own third-party services / tools which have been built for this concept. A virtual demonstration study was conducted to elicit feedback from air traffic and airline subject-matter-experts. The feedback was generally positive, both in the benefits of the concept and the feasibility / need for the new tools to enable the concept but their feedback was mixed on the feasibility of the new tools to be third-party services instead of being integrated into their core tools. Nevertheless, this concept explores and demonstrates an evolutionary pathway toward a service-oriented future that shifts the responsibilities and the capabilities of air traffic operations from the air traffic service providers to the airline industry and third-party vendors.

airborne reroutes↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Communication Network Awareness Machine System Phase I Development: The Intelligent Party-Line Schema

As NextGen continues toward the full implementation of a Net-Centric Architecture (N-CA)it will inherently provide a continuous increase to the Three-Vs components (Volume, Velocity, and Variety) of big data . This will create an insurmountable environment for direct-action aviation personnel (DAAP)as the DAAP’s natural abilities to manage and process data into actionable information will be overmatched by the Three-Vs. Therefore, conducting operations within a N-CA requires that new tools and applications be researched and developed to aid the DAAP’s ability to understand and manage data, mitigate non-normals, create contingency plans and actions. This paper will describe a research area at NASA Langley Research Center known as the Intelligent Party-Line (IPL).

Intelligent Party-Line↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Discovery Synchronization Service (DSS) for UAM

NASA's ATM-X UAM Subproject recently completed the “X4 Strategic Conflict Management Simulation” with seven NC-1 airspace partners to develop and test initial UAM airspace management capabilities, including the Provider of Services for UAM (PSU), to enable strategic conflict management of UAM operations. The simulation environment leveraged the notional architecture from FAA NextGen UAM ConOps v1.0 and used technologies developed as part of UTM standards and applied them to UAM. One of the main technologies used was the Discovery and Synchronization Service (DSS) and some gaps in applying it to UAM were identified during X4. In this Technical Interchange Meeting (TIM), we will share the technical findings from the simulation and welcome industry feedback.

UAM↗
NASA NTRS2013

NASA's Single-Pilot Operations Technical Interchange Meeting: Proceedings and Findings

Researchers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center and Langley Research Center are jointly investigating issues associated with potential concepts, or configurations, in which a single pilot might operate under conditions that are currently reserved for a minimum of two pilots. As part of early efforts, NASA Ames Research Center hosted a technical interchange meeting in order to gain insight from members of the aviation community regarding single-pilot operations (SPO). The meeting was held on April 10-12, 2012 at NASA Ames Research Center. Professionals in the aviation domain were invited because their areas of expertise were deemed to be directly related to an exploration of SPO. NASA, in selecting prospective participants, attempted to represent various relevant sectors within the aviation domain. Approximately 70 people representing government, academia, and industry attended. A primary focus of this gathering was to consider how tasks and responsibilities might be re-allocated to allow for SPO.

post NextGen↗
NASA NTRS2013

An Evaluation of Operational Airspace Sectorization Integrated System (OASIS) Advisory Tool

In January 2013, a human-in-the-loop evaluation of the Operational Airspace Sectorization Integrated System (OASIS) was conducted in the Airspace Operations Laboratory of the Human Systems Integration Division (Code TH) in conjunction with the Aviation Systems Division (Code AF). The development of OASIS is a major activity of the Dynamic Airspace Configuration (DAC) research focus area within the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) Airspace Systems Program. OASIS is an advisory tool to assist Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) En Route Area Supervisors in their planning of sector combinedecombine 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. During the experiment, eight retired FAA personnel served as participants for a part-task evaluation of OASIS functionality, covering the user interface as well as the underlying algorithm. Participants gave positive feedback on both the user interface and the algorithm solutions for airspace configuration, including an excellent average rating of 94 on the tool usability scales. They also suggested various enhancements to the OASIS tool, which will be incorporated into the next tool development cycle for the full-scale human-in-the-loop evaluation to be conducted later this year.

decision support tools↗
NASA NTRS2013

Effects of Type and Strength of Force Feedback on Movement Time in a Target Selection Task

Future cockpits will likely include new onboard technologies, such as cockpit displays of traffic information, to help support future flight deck roles and responsibilities. These new technologies may benefit from multimodal feedback to aid pilot information processing. The current study investigated the effects of multiple levels of force feedback on operator performance in an aviation task. Participants were presented with two different types of force feedback (gravitational and spring force feedback) for a discrete targeting task, with multiple levels of gain examined for each force feedback type. Approach time and time in target were recorded. Results suggested that the two highest levels of gravitational force significantly reduced approach times relative to the lowest level of gravitational force. Spring force level only affected time in target. Implications of these findings for the design of future cockpit displays will be discussed.

CDTI↗
NASA NTRS2013

Pre-Study Walkthrough with a Commercial Pilot for a Preliminary Single Pilot Operations Experiment

The number of crew members in commercial flights has decreased to two members, down from the five-member crew required 50 years ago. One question of interest is whether the crew should be reduced to one pilot. In order to determine the critical factors involved in safely transitioning to a single pilot, research must examine whether any performance deficits arise with the loss of a crew member. With a concrete understanding of the cognitive and behavioral role of a co-pilot, aeronautical technologies and procedures can be developed that make up for the removal of the second aircrew member. The current project describes a pre-study walkthrough process that can be used to help in the development of scenarios for testing future concepts and technologies for single pilot operations. Qualitative information regarding the tasks performed by the pilots can be extracted with this technique and adapted for future investigations of single pilot operations.

Single Pilot Operations↗
NASA NTRS2018

Evaluation of Multiple Flow Constrained Area Capacity Setting Methods for Collaborative Trajectory Options Program

The purpose of this study was to compare flow constrained area (FCA) capacity setting methods for Collaborative Trajectory Options Program (CTOP) as they pertain to the Integrated Demand Management (IDM) concept. IDM uses flow balancing to manage air traffic across multiple FCAs with a common downstream constraint, as well as constraints at the respective FCA locations. FCA capacity rates can be set manually, but generating capacities for multiple, interdependent FCAs could potentially over-burden a user. A new enhancement to CTOP called the FCA Balance Algorithm (FBA) was developed at NASA Ames Research Center to improve the process of allocating capacity across multiple flow constrained segments in the airspace. The FBA evaluates the predicted demand and capacity across multiple FCAs and dynamically generates capacity settings for the FCAs that best meet capacity limits for all identified constraints. In a human-in-the-loop simulation study, both manual and automated capacity setting methods were evaluated in terms of their overall feasibility using measures of system performance, human performance, and qualitative feedback. Subject matter experts were asked to use three different methods to allocate capacity to three FCAs, either (1) by manually setting capacity for every 60-minute time window, (2) by manually setting capacity for every 15-minute time window, or (3) by using the FBA capability to automatically generate capacity settings. Results showed no significant differences in terms of overall system performance, indicated by similar ground delay and airport throughput numbers between methods. However, differences in individual strategies afforded by the manual methods allowed some participants to achieve system-wide delay that was much lower than the average. The FBA was the fastest method of capacity setting, and it received the lowest subjective rating scores on physical task load, mental task load, task difficulty and task complexity out of the three methods. Finally, participants explained through qualitative feedback that there were many benefits to using the FBA, such as ease of use, accuracy, and low risk of human input error. Participants did not experience the same limitations with the FBA that they did with the manual methods, such as reduced accuracy in the 60-minute manual condition, or high complexity in the 15-minute/manual condition. These results suggest that the FBA automation enhancement to CTOP maintains system performance while improving human performance. Therefore, the FBA could be introduced as a way to mitigate operator workload while planning a CTOP.

NextGen↗
NASA NTRS2014

Toward Single Pilot Operations: The Impact of the Loss of Non-Verbal Communication on the Flight Deck

Since the 1950s, the crew required to fly transport category aircraft has been reduced from five to two. NASA is currently exploring the feasibility of a further reduction to one pilot. In this study we examine the effects of separating the pilots on crew interaction. The results are consistent with earlier research on decision-making between remote groups. Pilots strongly prefer face-to-face interactions; however, we could find no impact of separation on their ultimate decisions. There were a number of areas in which separation negatively affected communications. We discuss possible mitigations for these areas.

Single Pilot Operations↗