Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Air Traffic Management”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 55 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2017

Applying Graph Theory to Problems in Air Traffic Management

Graph theory is used to investigate three different problems arising in air traffic management. First, using a polynomial reduction from a graph partitioning problem, it isshown that both the airspace sectorization problem and its incremental counterpart, the sector combination problem are NP-hard, in general, under several simple workload models. Second, using a polynomial time reduction from maximum independent set in graphs, it is shown that for any fixed e, the problem of finding a solution to the minimum delay scheduling problem in traffic flow management that is guaranteed to be within n1-e of the optimal, where n is the number of aircraft in the problem instance, is NP-hard. Finally, a problem arising in precision arrival scheduling is formulated and solved using graph reachability. These results demonstrate that graph theory provides a powerful framework for modeling, reasoning about, and devising algorithmic solutions to diverse problems arising in air traffic management.

computational complexity↗
NASA NTRS1998

A Cognitive-System Model for En Route Air Traffic Management

NASA Ames Research Center has been engaged in the development of advanced air traffic management technologies whose basic form is cognitive aiding systems for air traffic controller and flight deck operations. In the design and evaluation of such systems the dynamic interaction between the airborne aiding system and the ground-based aiding systems forms a critical coupling for control. The human operator is an integral control element in the system and the optimal integration of human decision and performance parameters with those of the automation aiding systems offers a significant challenge to cognitive engineering. This paper presents a study in full mission simulation and the development of a predictive computational model of human performance. We have found that this combination of methodologies provide a powerful design-aiding process. We have extended the computational model Man Machine Integrated Design and Analysis System (N13DAS) to include representation of multiple cognitive agents (both human operators and intelligent aiding systems), operating aircraft airline operations centers and air traffic control centers in the evolving airspace. The demands of this application require the representation of many intelligent agents sharing world-models, and coordinating action/intention with cooperative scheduling of goals and actions in a potentially unpredictable world of operations. The operator's activity structures have been developed to include prioritization and interruption of multiple parallel activities among multiple operators, to provide for anticipation (knowledge of the intention and action of remote operators), and to respond to failures of the system and other operators in the system in situation-specific paradigms. We have exercised this model in a multi-air traffic sector scenario with potential conflict among aircraft at and across sector boundaries. We have modeled the control situation as a multiple closed loop system. The inner and outer loop alerting structure of air traffic management has many implications that need to be investigated to assure adequate design. First, there are control and stability factors implicit in the design. As the inner loop response time approaches that of the outer loop, system stability may be compromised in that controllers may be solving a problem the nature of which has already been changed by pilot action. Second, information exchange and information presentation for both air and ground must be designed to complement as opposed to compete with each other. Third, the level of individual and shared awareness in trajectory modification and flight conformance needs to be defined. Fourth, the level of required awareness and performance impact of mixed fleet operations and failed-mode recovery must be explored.

Corker, Kevin M.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Trajectory Simulation for Air Traffic Management Employing a Multirotor Urban Air Mobility Aircraft Model

This paper describes a point-mass model of a multirotor electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft designed to carry up to five passengers and a pilot. The model employs thrust, thrust vector angle and bank angle as controls, which are computed in part using the acceleration, heading-angle rate, and flight-path-angle rate generated by control systems in response to speed, heading angle, and flight-path angle commands. The equations of motion are integrated forward in time using the controls needed for following the desired vertical climb/descent and speed profiles, and horizontal path and cruise speed in the presence of wind to generate the flight trajectory.

trajectory simulation, urban air mobility aircraft↗
NASA NTRS2017

Applying Graph Theory to Problems in Air Traffic Management

Graph theory is used to investigate three different problems arising in air traffic management. First, using a polynomial reduction from a graph partitioning problem, it is shown that both the airspace sectorization problem and its incremental counterpart, the sector combination problem are NP-hard, in general, under several simple workload models. Second, using a polynomial time reduction from maximum independent set in graphs, it is shown that for any fixed e, the problem of finding a solution to the minimum delay scheduling problem in traffic flow management that is guaranteed to be within n1-e of the optimal, where n is the number of aircraft in the problem instance, is NP-hard. Finally, a problem arising in precision arrival scheduling is formulated and solved using graph reachability. These results demonstrate that graph theory provides a powerful framework for modeling, reasoning about, and devising algorithmic solutions to diverse problems arising in air traffic management.

precision arrival scheduling↗
NASA NTRS1997

Human-Centered Technologies and Procedures for Future Air Traffic Management

The use of various methodologies to predict the impact of future Air Traffic Management (ATM) concepts and technologies is explored. The emphasis has been on the importance of modeling coordination and cooperation among multiple agents within this system, and on understanding how the interactions among these agents will be influenced as new roles, responsibilities, procedures and technologies are introduced. To accomplish this, we have been collecting data on performance under the current air traffic management system, identifying critical problem areas and looking for examples suggestive of general approaches for solving such problems. Using the results of these field studies, we have developed a set of concrete scenarios centered around future designs, and have studied performance in these scenarios with a set of 40 controllers, dispatchers, pilots and traffic managers.

Smith, Philip↗
NASA NTRS1998

Controller Strategies for Managing Air Traffic in High Altitude Arrival Sectors

Substantial increases in the volume of air traffic in the National Airspace System (NAS) are forecast for the next decade, with the number of passengers travelling on U.S. airlines expected to increase by as much as 60%. This increased demand on system capacity will be accompanied by increases in traffic complexity as air traffic service providers routinely accommodate user preferred routing requests. Changes to the NAS to meet these new demands are currently underway, including development of new decision support tools to aid controllers in monitoring and managing air traffic, and increased air-to-air and air-to-ground information exchange. Changes in roles and responsibilities of pilots and controllers in flight path management will accompany these changes in traffic patterns and information technology, however the ultimate responsibility for maintaining aircraft separation will remain with the air traffic controller. A thorough understanding of the methods controllers use to manage air traffic will help ensure that changes to the NAS are implemented in a way that maintains the controller's ability to separate aircraft as the system evolves. This presentation describes the strategies controllers use today to manage arrival traffic in its descent from cruise altitude to the Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) boundary. Factors that increase the complexity of this task include the presence of overflight traffic, varying aircraft performance characteristics, winds aloft, ground speed variations with altitude, the need to merge arrival traffic into a single stream, and, when arrival traffic exceeds airport runway capacity, the added task of metering flow into the TRACON. Because of the limited information available to controllers to manage arrival traffic, their strategies are often driven by the need to reduce the task's complexity, which can result in de-optimized flight paths for individual aircraft (e.g., sub-optimal descent or speed profiles). Understanding these strategies and the cognitive demands that drive them will support a safe transition to a NAS that relies on enhanced technologies. In addition, it could enable system developers to identify opportunities for new automation-based procedures or information displays that could reduce the controller's workload and increase operational efficiency.

Smith, Nancy↗
NASA NTRS2002

Aeronautical Communications Research and Development Needs for Future Air Traffic Management Applications

Continuing growth in regional and global air travel has resulted in increasing traffic congestion in the air and on the ground. In spite of occasional temporary downturns due to economic recessions and catastrophic events, average growth rates of air travel have remained high since the 1960s. The resulting congestion, which constrains expansion of the air transportation industry, inflicts schedule delays and decreases overall system efficiency, creating a pressing need to develop more efficient methods of air traffic management (ATM). New ATM techniques, procedures, air space automation methods, and decision support tools are being researched and developed for deployment in time frames stretching from the next few years to the year 2020 and beyond. As these methods become more advanced and increase in complexity, the requirements for information generation, sharing and transfer among the relevant entities in the ATM system increase dramatically. However, current aeronautical communications systems will be inadequate to meet the future information transfer demands created by these advanced ATM systems. Therefore, the NASA Glenn Research Center is undertaking research programs to develop communication, methods and key technologies that can meet these future requirements. As part of this process, studies, workshops, testing and experimentation, and research and analysis have established a number of research and technology development needs. The purpose of this paper is to outline the critical research and technology needs that have been identified in these activities, and explain how these needs have been determined.

Kerczewski, Robert J.↗
NASA NTRS2023

Performance Modeling of Urban Air Mobility Vehicles to Support Air Traffic Management Research

The recent emergence of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) vehicles has resulted in a need for flight performance models that enable comprehensive simulation-based research on air traffic management topics such as route structure, scheduling, and separation standards. Successful performance modeling methods exist for a wide range of traditional aircraft designs. However, comparable modeling methods appropriate for UAM vehicles that combine fixed-wing and rotorcraft performance have not yet been established. One challenge to progress has been the lack of available data capturing the performance characteristics and unique flight profiles of these aircraft. This paper describes methods used to generate the required performance data and the development of performance models for UAM vehicles. Included is a review of the energy and power equations often used in developing performance models for traditional aircraft as well as a discussion of their applicability to UAM vehicles. The challenge of generating realistic performance data in over-actuated vehicles transitioning from hover to cruise flight is also addressed through an approach based on objective function optimization. A table-based performance model format adapted to UAM configurations is described, as well as parametric models intended to accompany the performance table to allow detailed modeling of power and fuel consumption during accelerated flight, turning flight, or flight at an arbitrary climb or descent rate. A discussion of future work is also provided, including the need for refinement of UAM performance modeling methods and formats, especially in conjunction with improvements to aerodynamic modeling of vehicles with complex designs where strong interaction effects may dominate important regions of the flight envelope.

Performance Modeling↗
NASA NTRS2023

Performance Modeling of Urban Air Mobility Vehicles to Support Air Traffic Management Research

The recent emergence of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) vehicles has resulted in a need for flight performance models that enable comprehensive simulation-based research on air traffic management topics such as route structure, scheduling, and separation standards. Successful performance modeling methods exist for a wide range of traditional aircraft designs. However, comparable modeling methods appropriate for UAM vehicles that combine fixed-wing and rotorcraft performance have not yet been established. One challenge to progress has been the lack of available data capturing the performance characteristics and unique flight profiles of these aircraft. This paper describes methods used to generate the required performance data and the development of performance models for UAM vehicles. Included is a review of the energy and power equations often used in developing performance models for traditional aircraft as well as a discussion of their applicability to UAM vehicles. The challenge of generating realistic performance data in over-actuated vehicles transitioning from hover to cruise flight is also addressed through an approach based on objective function optimization. A table-based performance model format adapted to UAM configurations is described, as well as parametric models intended to accompany the performance table to allow detailed modeling of power and fuel consumption during accelerated flight, turning flight, or flight at an arbitrary climb or descent rate. A discussion of future work is also provided, including the need for refinement of UAM performance modeling methods and formats, especially in conjunction with improvements to aerodynamic modeling of vehicles with complex designs where strong interaction effects may dominate important regions of the flight envelope.

Performance Modeling↗
NASA NTRS1995

NASA and FAA Programs in Air Traffic Management

This presentation will present an overview of NASA and joint NASA/FAA R&D programs related to Air Traffic Management. In addition it will address the plans for the new Advanced Air Transportation Technologies program, which will investigate methods for achieving the airline industries needs for increased flexibility in the nation's air traffic management system.

Condon, Gregory W.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Hyper-Spectral Networking Concept of Operations and Future Air Traffic Management Simulations

The NASA sponsored Hyper-Spectral Communications and Networking for Air Traffic Management (ATM) (HSCNA) project is conducting research to improve the operational efficiency of the future National Airspace System (NAS) through diverse and secure multi-band, multi-mode, and millimeter-wave (mmWave) wireless links. Worldwide growth of air transportation and the coming of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) will increase air traffic density and complexity. Safe coordination of aircraft will require more capable technologies for communications, navigation, and surveillance (CNS). The HSCNA project will provide a foundation for technology and operational concepts to accommodate a significantly greater number of networked aircraft. This paper describes two of the HSCNA projects technical challenges. The first technical challenge is to develop a multi-band networking concept of operations (ConOps) for use in multiple phases of flight and all communication link types. This ConOps will integrate the advanced technologies explored by the HSCNA project and future operational concepts into a harmonized vision of future NAS communications and networking. The second technical challenge discussed is to conduct simulations of future ATM operations using multi-bandmulti-mode networking and technologies. Large-scale simulations will assess the impact, compared to todays system, of the new and integrated networks and technologies under future air traffic demand.

communication link modeling↗
NASA NTRS2012

A Perspective on NASA Ames Air Traffic Management Research

This paper describes past and present air-traffic-management research at NASA Ames Research Center. The descriptions emerge from the perspective of a technical manager who supervised the majority of this research for the last four years. Past research contributions built a foundation for calculating accurate flight trajectories to enable efficient airspace management in time. That foundation led to two predominant research activities that continue to this day - one in automatically separating aircraft and the other in optimizing traffic flows. Today s national airspace uses many of the applications resulting from research at Ames. These applications include the nationwide deployment of the Traffic Management Advisor, new procedures enabling continuous descent arrivals, cooperation with industry to permit more direct flights to downstream way-points, a surface management system in use by two cargo carriers, and software to evaluate how well flights conform to national traffic management initiatives. The paper concludes with suggestions for prioritized research in the upcoming years. These priorities include: enabling more first-look operational evaluations, improving conflict detection and resolution for climbing or descending aircraft, and focusing additional attention on the underpinning safety critical items such as a reliable datalink.

Schroeder, Jeffery A.↗
NASA NTRS2023

Air Traffic Management TestBed: Non-Java Programming Language Support

The Air Traffic Management (ATM) TestBed provides a simple and easy capability to connect high-fidelity simulations for supporting National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and community research. Simulation components are connected to the TestBed via plugin adapters which can be publishers, subscribers, or both. Though the plugin adapters are written in Java programming language, connectivity between TestBed and non-Java applications are supported. This document describes procedures to access the TestBed data exchange messages using external applications such as MATLAB and web browsers, as well as non-Java programming language such as C, Python, and JavaScript. Example simulation layouts are presented. Step-by-step instructions to run adapters, and to connect to the external tools are also provided.

Chok Fung Lai↗
NASA NTRS2008

Analysis of a Dynamic Multi-Track Airway Concept for Air Traffic Management

The Dynamic Multi-track Airways (DMA) Concept for Air Traffic Management (ATM) proposes a network of high-altitude airways constructed of multiple, closely spaced, parallel tracks designed to increase en-route capacity in high-demand airspace corridors. Segregated from non-airway operations, these multi-track airways establish high-priority traffic flow corridors along optimal routes between major terminal areas throughout the National Airspace System (NAS). Air traffic controllers transition aircraft equipped for DMA operations to DMA entry points, the aircraft use autonomous control of airspeed to fly the continuous-airspace airway and achieve an economic benefit, and controllers then transition the aircraft from the DMA exit to the terminal area. Aircraft authority within the DMA includes responsibility for spacing and/or separation from other DMA aircraft. The DMA controller is responsible for coordinating the entry and exit of traffic to and from the DMA and for traffic flow management (TFM), including adjusting DMA routing on a daily basis to account for predicted weather and wind patterns and re-routing DMAs in real time to accommodate unpredicted weather changes. However, the DMA controller is not responsible for monitoring the DMA for traffic separation. This report defines the mature state concept, explores its feasibility and performance, and identifies potential benefits. The report also discusses (a) an analysis of a single DMA, which was modeled within the NAS to assess capacity and determine the impact of a single DMA on regional sector loads and conflict potential; (b) a demand analysis, which was conducted to determine likely city-pair candidates for a nationwide DMA network and to determine the expected demand fraction; (c) two track configurations, which were modeled and analyzed for their operational characteristic; (d) software-prototype airborne capabilities developed for DMA operations research; (e) a feasibility analysis of key attributes in the concept design; (f) a near-term, transitional application of the DMA concept as a proving ground for new airborne technologies; and (g) conclusions. The analysis indicates that the operational feasibility of a national DMA network faces significant challenges, especially for interactions between DMAs and between DMA and non-DMA traffic. Provided these issues are resolved, sectors near DMAs could experience significant local capacity benefits.

Wing, David J.↗
NASA NTRS2020

Air Traffic Management TestBed Traffic Viewer: Developer's Guide

The Air Traffic Management (ATM) TestBed is a Platform as a Service that is being developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to help design, configure, integrate, run, and monitor air traffic simulations. The platform is designed to provide cloud services including back-end, big-data analytics tools, on-demand computing resource management, data storage, and communication middleware. The ATM TestBed reduces the time to test concepts and technologies, supports interactions among various methods such as human-in-the-loop and automation-in-the-loop simulations, and enables collaborative simulations by sharing technologies and tools in the ATM community. The Traffic Viewer application provides a graphical user interface tool for visualizing real and simulated air traffic as well as airspace definition in two-dimensional space. This guide describes a high-level design and implementation of Traffic Viewer and provides information for a new developer or a user to add new capabilities by following the software design and leveraging existing capabilities.

Lai, Chok Fung↗
NASA NTRS2000

Antennas Designed for Advanced Communications for Air Traffic Management (AC/ATM) Project

The goal of the Advanced Communications for Air Traffic Management (AC/ATM) Project at the NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field is to enable a communications infrastructure that provides the capacity, efficiency, and flexibility necessary to realize a mature free-flight environment. The technical thrust of the AC/ATM Project is targeted at the design, development, integration, test, and demonstration of enabling technologies for global broadband aeronautical communications. Since Ku-band facilities and equipment are readily available, one of the near-term demonstrations involves a link through a Kuband communications satellite. Two conformally mounted antennas will support the initial AC/ATM communications links. Both of these are steered electronically through monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) amplifiers and phase shifters. This link will be asymmetrical with the downlink to the aircraft (mobile vehicle) at a throughput rate of greater than 1.5 megabits per second (Mbps), whereas the throughput rate of the uplink from the aircraft will be greater than 100 kilobits per second (kbps). The data on the downlink can be narrow-band, wide-band, or a combination of both, depending on the requirements of the experiment. The AC/ATM project is purchasing a phased-array Ku-band transmitting antenna for the uplink from the test vehicle. Many Ku-band receiving antennas have been built, and one will be borrowed for a short time to perform the initial experiments at the NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field. The Ku-band transmitting antenna is a 254-element MMIC phased-array antenna being built by Boeing Phantom Works. Each element can radiate 100 mW. The antenna is approximately 43-cm high by 24-cm wide by 3.3-cm thick. It can be steered beyond 60 from broadside. The beamwidth varies from 6 at broadside to 12 degrees at 60 degrees, which is typical of phased-array antennas. When the antenna is steered to 60 degrees, the beamwidth will illuminate approximately five satellites on the orbital arc. Spread spectrum techniques will be employed to keep the power impinging on the adjacent satellites below their noise floor so that no interference results. This antenna is power limited. If the antenna elements (currently 254) are increased by a factor of 4 (1024) or 16 (4096), the gain will increase and the beamwidth will decrease in proportion. For the latter two antenna sizes, the power must be "backed off" to prevent interference with the neighboring satellites. The receiving antenna, which is approximately 90-cm high, 60-cm wide, and 3.5-cm thick, is composed of 1500 phased-array elements. The system phased-array controller can control both a 1500-element receiving antenna and a 500-element transmitting antenna. For ground testing, this controller will allow manual beam pointing and polarization alignment. For normal operation, the system can be connected to the receiving antenna and the navigation system for real-time autonomous track operation. This will be accomplished by first pointing both antennas at the satellite using information from the aircraft data bus. Then, the system phased-array controller will electronically adjust the antenna pointing of the receiving antenna to find the peak signal. After the peak signal has been found, the beam of the transmitting antenna will be pointed to the same steering angles as the receiving antenna. For initial ground testing without an aircraft, the ARINC 429 data bus (ARINC Inc., Annapolis, Maryland) will be simulated by a gyro system purchased for the follow-on to the Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) Arrays for Satellite Communication on the Move (MASCOM) Project. MASCOM utilized the Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) with a pair of Ka-band experimental phased-array antennas.

Zakrajsek, Robert J.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Air Traffic Management Research at NASA Ames

The Aviation Systems Division at the NASA Ames Research Center conducts leading edge research in air traffic management concepts and technologies. This overview will present concepts and simulation results for research in traffic flow management, safe and efficient airport surface operations, super density terminal area operations, separation assurance and system wide modeling and simulation. A brief review of the ongoing air traffic management technology demonstration (ATD-1) will also be presented. A panel discussion, with Mr. Davis serving as a panelist, on air traffic research will follow the briefing.

Davis, Thomas J.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Cyber-Threat Assessment for the Air Traffic Management System: A Network Controls Approach

Air transportation networks are being disrupted with increasing frequency by failures in their cyber- (computing, communication, control) systems. Whether these cyber- failures arise due to deliberate attacks or incidental errors, they can have far-reaching impact on the performance of the air traffic control and management systems. For instance, a computer failure in the Washington DC Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZDC) on August 15, 2015, caused nearly complete closure of the Centers airspace for several hours. This closure had a propagative impact across the United States National Airspace System, causing changed congestion patterns and requiring placement of a suite of traffic management initiatives to address the capacity reduction and congestion. A snapshot of traffic on that day clearly shows the closure of the ZDC airspace and the resulting congestion at its boundary, which required augmented traffic management at multiple locations. Cyber- events also have important ramifications for private stakeholders, particularly the airlines. During the last few months, computer-system issues have caused several airlines fleets to be grounded for significant periods of time: these include United Airlines (twice), LOT Polish Airlines, and American Airlines. Delays and regional stoppages due to cyber- events are even more common, and may have myriad causes (e.g., failure of the Department of Homeland Security systems needed for security check of passengers, see [3]). The growing frequency of cyber- disruptions in the air transportation system reflects a much broader trend in the modern society: cyber- failures and threats are becoming increasingly pervasive, varied, and impactful. In consequence, an intense effort is underway to develop secure and resilient cyber- systems that can protect against, detect, and remove threats, see e.g. and its many citations. The outcomes of this wide effort on cyber- security are applicable to the air transportation infrastructure, and indeed security solutions are being implemented in the current system. While these security solutions are important, they only provide a piecemeal solution. Particular computers or communication channels are protected from particular attacks, without a holistic view of the air transportation infrastructure. On the other hand, the above-listed incidents highlight that a holistic approach is needed, for several reasons. First, the air transportation infrastructure is a large scale cyber-physical system with multiple stakeholders and diverse legacy assets. It is impractical to protect every cyber- asset from known and unknown disruptions, and instead a strategic view of security is needed. Second, disruptions to the cyber- system can incur complex propagative impacts across the air transportation network, including its physical and human assets. Also, these implications of cyber- events are exacerbated or modulated by other disruptions and operational specifics, e.g. severe weather, operator fatigue or error, etc. These characteristics motivate a holistic and strategic perspective on protecting the air transportation infrastructure from cyber- events. The analysis of cyber- threats to the air traffic system is also inextricably tied to the integration of new autonomy into the airspace. The replacement of human operators with cyber functions leaves the network open to new cyber threats, which must be modeled and managed. Paradoxically, the mitigation of cyber events in the airspace will also likely require additional autonomy, given the fast time scale and myriad pathways of cyber-attacks which must be managed. The assessment of new vulnerabilities upon integration of new autonomy is also a key motivation for a holistic perspective on cyber threats.

Complex Networks↗