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NASA NTRS1998

Steps Towards the Integration of Conflict Resolution with Metering and Scheduling

NASA Ames Research Center is developing decision support tool technology for air traffic controllers to improve the efficiency and capacity of National Airspace System. The goal is to provide technology, tools and procedures that result in the highest possible level of user preferred trajectories whenever possible with safe and efficient traffic management when necessary. The work is being conducted under the NASA Advanced Air Transportation Technology Program in cooperation with the FAA through the Inter-Agency Integrated Product Team. The objective is to develop technology and procedures that lead towards a seamless integration of conflict resolution with metering and scheduling for arrival aircraft and en route aircraft that are under metering restrictions. A requirement is that the integration incorporate user preferred trajectories. The ultimate goal is the implementation and validation of the Descent Advisor (DA) concept which provides clearance advisories to a sector controller that simultaneously meet metering constraints, are conflict free, incorporate a user preferred (e.g., minimum fuel) descent profile, and generally require no further corrective clearance as the aircraft transitions from en route cruise into the TRACON. The DA concept may also be applied to en route aircraft under metering constraints, e.g., miles-in-trail. To achieve the DA concept a stepwise development and field evaluation is anticipated. This paper addresses the initial steps towards implementation of the DA. The Traffic Management Advisor (TMA) computes arrival time sequence and required delay information for display to the sector controller during periods when arrivals must be metered due to landing rate restrictions at the airport. The Initial Conflict Probe (ICP) compares trajectory predictions for all aircraft and alerts the controller when any two aircraft are predicted to violate separation standards (5 mi. and 2000 ft. in en route airspace). ICP also includes a trial planning function allowing the controller to develop and check a separate "what if" trajectory for conflict resolution. TMA and ICP currently operate independent of one another and have separate controller displays. The TMA meter list is on the radar controller's plan view display. The ICP is still under development, but the current concept calls for a list of predicted conflicts at the data controller position. The research described herein address two steps towards the implementation of DA. The first is to develop a concept for integrated display of conflict and metering information on a controller's display. The objective is to provide the controller with situational awareness of one problem while he develops a solution to the other. The next step is to expand the concept for display of automated clearance advisories for one problem (e.g., metering) which take into account the other problems (e.g., conflicts). Information to be communicated between TMA and ICP to facilitate' manual or automated advisories is being identified as the concept matures. In order to study the ICP/TMA integration concept the CTAS conflict probe capability has been adapted to Ft. Worth Center. The system is being validated in the laboratory with all-track data and for non -interference with TMA, TMA is already running as a daily use prototype at Ft. Worth Center. A laboratory prototype system has been developed under the CTAS baseline which combines conflict and metering information on a common user interface. Elements of the user interface are shown in Figure 1. In this simple illustration the user sees the simultaneous effect of a trial plan on meter fix delay and conflict status. Delay information is shown in the aircraft flight data block, the meter list, and the TMA timeline. Experience during Descent Advisor development and observations at Ft. Worth Center high and low attitude arrival sectors during metering suggests that manual trial planning will be unworkable during rush periods due to high controller workload.

McNally, B. David↗

NASA NTRS2020

Generation and Calibration of Linear Models of Aircraft with Highly Coupled Aeroelastic and Flight Dynamics

The lightweight structures and unconventional configurations being considered for the next generation of aircraft mean that any effort to predict or control the flight dynamics is impacted by the structural dynamics. One of the most severe forms of coupling between aeroelasticity and flight dynamics is an instability called body freedom flutter. The existing tools often assume a relatively weak effect of structural dynamics on the flight dynamics, and are therefore incapable of modeling strong interactions like body freedom flutter. A method of combining different sources of data traditionally used for aeroelasticity and flight dynamics is described by reconciling many of the differences between these models. By building upon past modeling efforts, a level of familiarity in the approach is achieved. Generally the differences from the traditional approaches are subtle but significant. The traditional frequency domain flutter model in a modal coordinate system is converted to a form consistent with a time domain flight dynamics model. The time domain rational function approximation about a non-inertial coordinate system and the unique constraints for the conversion between the inertial and non-inertial coordinate systems are discussed. A consistent transformation of the states of aeroelastic models to flight dynamics models is derived, which enables the integration of data from higher fidelity computational fluid dynamics models or wind-tunnel testing. The present method of integrating multidisciplinary data was used to create models that compare well with X-56A flight-test data, including conditions past the flutter speed.

Ouellette, Jeffrey↗

NASA NTRS2018

Spacecraft Micro-Vibration: A Survey of Problems, Experiences, Potential Solutions, and Some Lessons Learned

Predicting, managing, controlling, and testing spacecraft micro-vibrations due to on-board internal disturbance sources is a formidable multi-disciplinary systems engineering challenge, especially for those observatories hosting extremely sensitive optical sensor payloads with stringent requirements on allowable Line-of-Sight (LOS) jitter. In this paper some specific spacecraft micro-vibration engineering challenges will be introduced and described. Technical background context is provided with the inclusion of several illustrative examples of NASA and ESA missions (both past and present) where dynamic interactions have to be addressed and which have demanding payload instrument LOS jitter requirements. A general modeling, analysis, simulation, and test approach to address and solve the overall problem of spacecraft micro-vibrations is outlined. Recommended rules of thumb are presented to provide guidance for analysts on where to initiate and how to approach a new spacecraft micro-vibration design problem. A set of experience based spacecraft micro-vibration lessons learned are also presented in the hope they can be leveraged on new system development projects to help overcome unfamiliarity with previously identified micro-vibration technical pitfalls and challenges.

Alvarez-Salazar, Oscar S.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Prediction of wing aeroelastic effects on aircraft lift and pitching moment characteristics

The distribution of flight loads on an aircraft structure determines the lift and pitching moment characteristics of the aircraft. When the load distribution changes due to the aeroelastic response of the structure, the lift and pitching moment characteristics also change. Some estimate of the effect of aeroelasticity on stability and control characteristics, particularly lift and pitching moment, is required for use in aircraft simulation models for evaluation of flight characteristics. This presentation outlines a procedure to incorporate aeroelastic effects into lift and pitching moment data from wind tunnel tests. Results are presented which were obtained from applying this procedure to an aircraft with a very flexible transport-type research wing. The procedure described is generally applicable to all types of aircraft.

Eckstrom, C. V.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Blade-mounted trailing edge flap control for BVI noise reduction

Numerical procedures based on the 2-D and 3-D full potential equations and the 2-D Navier-Stokes equations were developed to study the effects of leading and trailing edge flap motions on the aerodynamics of parallel airfoil-vortex interactions and on the aerodynamics and acoustics of the more general self-generated rotor blade vortex interactions (BVI). For subcritical interactions, the 2-D results indicate that the trailing edge flap can be used to alleviate the impulsive loads experienced by the airfoil. For supercritical interactions, the results show the necessity of using a leading edge flap, rather than a trailing edge flap, to alleviate the interaction. Results for various time dependent flap motions and their effect on the predicted temporal sectional loads, differential pressures, and the free vortex trajectories are presented. For the OLS model rotor, contours of a BVI noise metric were used to quantify the effects of the trailing edge flap on the size and directivity of the high/low intensity noise region(s). Average reductions in the BVI noise levels on the order of 5 dB with moderate power penalties on the order of 18 pct. for a four bladed rotor and 58 pct. for a two bladed rotor were obtained.

Hassan, A. A.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Flight investigation of the effect of tail configuration on stall, spin, and recovery characteristics of a low-wing general aviation research airplane

Flight tests were performed to investigate the stall, spin, and recovery characteristics of a low-wing, single-engine, light airplane with four interchangeable tail configurations. The four tail configurations were evaluated for effects of varying mass distribution, center-of-gravity position, and control inputs. The airplane tended to roll-off at the stall. Variations in tail configuration produced spins ranging from 40 deg to 60 deg angle of attack and turn rates of about 145 to 208 deg/sec. Some unrecoverable flat spins were encountered which required use of the airplane spin chute for recovery. For recoverable spins, antispin rudder followed by forward wheel with ailerons centered provided the quickest spin recovery. The moderate spin modes agreed very well with those predicted from spin-tunnel model tests, however, the flat spin was at a lower angle of attack and a slower rotation rate than indicated by the model tests.

Stough, H. Paul, III↗

NASA NTRS2004

Jet Engine Noise Generation, Prediction and Control

Aircraft noise has been a problem near airports for many years. It is a quality of life issue that impacts millions of people around the world. Solving this problem has been the principal goal of noise reduction research that began when commercial jet travel became a reality. While progress has been made in reducing both airframe and engine noise, historically, most of the aircraft noise reduction efforts have concentrated on the engines. This was most evident during the 1950 s and 1960 s when turbojet engines were in wide use. This type of engine produces high velocity hot exhaust jets during takeoff generating a great deal of noise. While there are fewer commercial aircraft flying today with turbojet engines, supersonic aircraft including high performance military aircraft use engines with similar exhaust flow characteristics. The Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-229, pictured in Figure la, is an example of an engine that powers the F-15 and F-16 fighter jets. The turbofan engine was developed for subsonic transports, which in addition to better fuel efficiency also helped mitigate engine noise by reducing the jet exhaust velocity. These engines were introduced in the late 1960 s and power most of the commercial fleet today. Over the years, the bypass ratio (that is the ratio of the mass flow through the fan bypass duct to the mass flow through the engine core) has increased to values approaching 9 for modern turbofans such as the General Electric s GE-90 engine (Figure lb). The benefits to noise reduction for high bypass ratio (HPBR) engines are derived from lowering the core jet velocity and temperature, and lowering the tip speed and pressure ratio of the fan, both of which are the consequences of the increase in bypass ratio. The HBPR engines are typically very large in diameter and can produce over 100,000 pounds of thrust for the largest engines. A third type of engine flying today is the turbo-shaft which is mainly used to power turboprop aircraft and helicopters. An example of this type of engine is shown in Figure IC, which is a schematic of the Honeywell T55 engine that powers the CH-47 Chinook helicopter. Since the noise from the propellers or helicopter rotors is usually dominant for turbo-shaft engines, less attention has been paid to these engines in so far as community noise considerations are concerned. This chapter will concentrate mostly on turbofan engine noise and will highlight common methods for their noise prediction and reduction.

Huff, Dennis L.↗

NASA NTRS1985

The distribution of compositional classes in the asteroid belt: A cosmochemical fingerprint?

Studies of the physical properties of the asteroids show a nonrandom distribution of types across the belt for asteroid classes E, S, M, F, C, P, and D. The general trend is for asteroids in the inner belt to have higher albedos and stronger mafic silicate absorption features than those asteroids located further out in the belt. One interpretation of this trend is that the asteroids, which occupy the region between the silicate rich terrestrial planets and the volatile rich outer planets, have preserved in their heliocentric compositional distribution a cosmochemical fingerprint of the thermodynamic conditions present in the solar nebula at the time of their formation. This hypothesis predicts that the differences in the spectral properties among the low albedo classes (C, P, F, P, and D) are due to temperature controlled processes which formed carbonaceous opaques. If this is true then the exact composition of the opaque components could, in principle, be used to determine the thermodynamic conditions between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter during the formation of the asteroids.

Gradie, J.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Identification of aerodynamic models for maneuvering aircraft

Due to the requirement of increased performance and maneuverability, the flight envelope of a modern fighter is frequently extended to the high angle-of-attack regime. Vehicles maneuvering in this regime are subjected to nonlinear aerodynamic loads. The nonlinearities are due mainly to three-dimensional separated flow and concentrated vortex flow that occur at large angles of attack. Accurate prediction of these nonlinear airloads is of great importance in the analysis of a vehicle's flight motion and in the design of its flight control system. A satisfactory evaluation of the performance envelope of the aircraft may require a large number of coupled computations, one for each change in initial conditions. To avoid the disadvantage of solving the coupled flow-field equations and aircraft's motion equations, an alternate approach is to use a mathematical modeling to describe the steady and unsteady aerodynamics for the aircraft equations of motion. Aerodynamic forces and moments acting on a rapidly maneuvering aircraft are, in general, nonlinear functions of motion variables, their time rate of change, and the history of maneuvering. A numerical method was developed to analyze the nonlinear and time-dependent aerodynamic response to establish the generalized indicial function in terms of motion variables and their time rates of change.

Chin, Suei↗

NASA NTRS1999

Clouds in ECMWF's 30 KM Resolution Global Atmospheric Forecast Model (TL639)

Global models of the general circulation of the atmosphere resolve a wide range of length scales, and in particular cloud structures extend from planetary scales to the smallest scales resolvable, now down to 30 km in state-of-the-art models. Even the highest resolution models do not resolve small-scale cloud phenomena seen, for example, in Landsat and other high-resolution satellite images of clouds. Unresolved small-scale disturbances often grow into larger ones through non-linear processes that transfer energy upscale. Understanding upscale cascades is of crucial importance in predicting current weather, and in parameterizing cloud-radiative processes that control long term climate. Several movie animations provide examples of the temporal and spatial variation of cloud fields produced in 4-day runs of the forecast model at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) in Reading, England, at particular times and locations of simultaneous measurement field campaigns. model resolution is approximately 30 km horizontally (triangular truncation TL639) with 31 vertical levels from surface to stratosphere. Timestep of the model is about 10 minutes, but animation frames are 3 hours apart, at timesteps when the radiation is computed. The animations were prepared from an archive of several 4-day runs at the highest available model resolution, and archived at ECMWF. Cloud, wind and temperature fields in an approximately 1000 km X 1000 km box were retrieved from the archive, then approximately 60 Mb Vis5d files were prepared with the help of Graeme Kelly of ECMWF, and were compressed into MPEG files each less than 3 Mb. We discuss the interaction of clouds and radiation in the model, and compare the variability of cloud liquid as a function of scale to that seen in cloud observations made in intensive field campaigns. Comparison of high-resolution global runs to cloud-resolving models, and to lower resolution climate models is leading to better understanding of the upscale cascade and suggesting new cloud-radiation parameterizations for climate models.

Cahalan, R. F.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Stability and Control Challenges for COMSAC: A NASA Langley Perspective

This presentation is designed as a limited-scope "tutorial" and is aimed primarily at the CFDer who has not been exposed to stability and control problems. Examples of some classic S&C problems are used for illustration. S&C is a fundamental technology for enabling flight, but significant problems with the prediction of S&C characteristics persists, especially where separated flow is involved. Even after 100 years of flight, experimental methods still have significant limitations. Experimental and computational tools can and must be complementary. NASA Flight Prediction Workshop (Williamsburg, Virginia, November 2002) brought together experts from government, industry, and academia to discuss problems associated with state-of-the-art flight prediction. Among the concerns highlighted were deficiencies in S&C prediction lack of calibrated CFD tools for aerodynamic prediction in general.

Fremaux, Charles Michael↗

NASA NTRS2018

Spacecraft Micro-Vibration: A Survey of Problems, Experiences, Potential Solutions, and Some Lessons Learned

Predicting, managing, controlling, and testing spacecraft microvibrations due to on-board internal disturbance sources is a formidable multi-disciplinary systems engineering challenge, especially for those observatories hosting extremely sensitive optical sensor payloads with stringent requirements on allowable line-of-sight jitter. In this paper some specific spacecraft micro-vibration engineering challenges will be introduced and described. Technical background context is provided with the inclusion of several illustrative examples of NASA and European Space Agency missions (both past and present) where dynamic interactions have to be addressed and which have demanding payload instrument line-of-sight jitter requirements. A general modeling, analysis, simulation, and test approach to address and solve the overall problem of spacecraft micro-vibrations is outlined. Recommended rules of thumb are presented to provide guidance for analysts on where to initiate and how to approach a new spacecraft micro-vibration design problem. A set of experience-based spacecraft micro-vibration lessons learned are also presented in the hope they can be leveraged on new system development projects to help overcome unfamiliarity with previously identified microvibration technical pitfalls and challenges.

Dennehy, Cornelius↗

NASA NTRS1986

Prediction of wing aeroelastic effects on aircraft lift and pitching moment characteristics

The distribution of flight loads on an aircraft structure determine the lift and pitching moment characteristics of the aircraft. When the load distribution changes due to the aeroelastic response of the structure, the lift and pitching moment characteristics also change. An estimate of the effect of aeroelasticity on stability and control characteristics is often required for the development of aircraft simulation models of evaluation of flight characteristics. This presentation outlines a procedure for incorporating calculated linear aeroelastic effects into measured nonlinear lift and pitching moment data from wind tunnel tests. Results are presented which were obtained from applying this procedure to data for an aircraft with a very flexible transport type research wing. The procedure described is generally applicable to all types of aircraft.

Eckstrom, Clinton V.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Prediction of wing aeroelastic effects on aircraft life and pitching moment characteristics

Eckstrom, Clinton V.↗

NASA NTRS1972

A wind-tunnel evaluation of analytical techniques for predicting static stability and control characteristics of flexible aircraft

An experimental evaluation of analytical techniques for predicting certain stability and control characteristics of a large flexible aircraft is presented. Analytical methods based on both the model approach and flexibility influence coefficients are developed to predict the aerodynamic characteristics of a flexible airplane. These methods are then applied to a flexibly scaled model of a supersonic transport configuration. Comparisons of wind-tunnel data, calculations based on the model approach, and flexibility influence coefficients are presented over the Mach number range from 0.6 to 2.7. An examination of the results obtained from this study indicates that both analytical techniques predict reasonably well the effect of flexibility on the basic longitudinal characteristics and that both techniques give generally comparable results.

Abel, I.↗

NASA NTRS1990

An overview of selected NASP aeroelastic studies at the NASA Langley Research Center

Following an initial discussion of the NASP flight environment, the results of recent aeroelastic testing of NASP-type highly swept delta-wing models in Langley's Transonic Dynamics Tunnel (TDT) are summarized. Subsonic and transonic flutter characteristics of a variety of these models are described, and several analytical codes used to predict flutter of these models are evaluated. These codes generally provide good, but conservative predictions of subsonic and transonic flutter. Also, test results are presented on a nonlinear transonic phenomena known as aileron buzz which occurred in the wind tunnel on highly swept delta wings with full-span ailerons. An analytical procedure which assesses the effects of hypersonic heating on aeroelastic instabilities (aerothermoelasticity) is also described. This procedure accurately predicted flutter of a heated aluminum wing on which experimental data exists. Results are presented on the application of this method to calculate the flutter characteristics of a fine-element model of a generic NASP configuration. Finally, it is demonstrated analytically that active controls can be employed to improve the aeroelastic stability and ride quality of a generic NASP vehicle flying at hypersonic speeds.

Spain, Charles V.↗

NASA NTRS2009

Latency and User Performance in Virtual Environments and Augmented Reality

System rendering latency has been recognized by senior researchers, such as Professor Fredrick Brooks of UNC (Turing Award 1999), as a major factor limiting the realism and utility of head-referenced displays systems. Latency has been shown to reduce the user's sense of immersion within a virtual environment, disturb user interaction with virtual objects, and to contribute to motion sickness during some simulation tasks. Latency, however, is not just an issue for external display systems since finite nerve conduction rates and variation in transduction times in the human body's sensors also pose problems for latency management within the nervous system. Some of the phenomena arising from the brain's handling of sensory asynchrony due to latency will be discussed as a prelude to consideration of the effects of latency in interactive displays. The causes and consequences of the erroneous movement that appears in displays due to latency will be illustrated with examples of the user performance impact provided by several experiments. These experiments will review the generality of user sensitivity to latency when users judge either object or environment stability. Hardware and signal processing countermeasures will also be discussed. In particular the tuning of a simple extrapolative predictive filter not using a dynamic movement model will be presented. Results show that it is possible to adjust this filter so that the appearance of some latencies may be hidden without the introduction of perceptual artifacts such as overshoot. Several examples of the effects of user performance will be illustrated by three-dimensional tracking and tracing tasks executed in virtual environments. These experiments demonstrate classic phenomena known from work on manual control and show the need for very responsive systems if they are indented to support precise manipulation. The practical benefits of removing interfering latencies from interactive systems will be emphasized with some classic final examples from surgical telerobotics, and human-computer interaction.

Ellis, Stephen R.↗

NASA NTRS2012

The Stellar Imager (SI) - A Mission to Resolve Stellar Surfaces, Interiors, and Magnetic Activity

The Stellar Imager (SI) is a space-based, UV/Optical Interferometer (UVOI) designed to enable 0.1 milli-arcsecond (mas) spectral imaging of stellar surfaces and of the Universe in general. It will also probe via asteroseismology flows and structures in stellar interiors. SI will enable the development and testing of a predictive dynamo model for the Sun, by observing patterns of surface activity and imaging of the structure and differential rotation of stellar interiors in a population study of Sun-like stars to determine the dependence of dynamo action on mass, internal structure and flows, and time. SI's science focuses on the role of magnetism in the Universe and will revolutionize our understanding of the formation of planetary systems, of the habitability and climatology of distant planets, and of many magnetohydrodynamically controlled processes in the Universe. SI is a "LandmarklDiscovery Mission" in the 2005 Heliophysics Roadmap, an implementation of the UVOI in the 2006 Astrophysics Strategic Plan, and a NASA Vision Mission ("NASA Space Science Vision Missions" (2008), ed. M. Allen). We present here the science goals of the SI Mission, a mission architecture that could meet those goals, and the technology development needed to enable this mission

Christensen-Dalsgaard, Jorgen↗