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At least 55 records · Page 3

Development of a High-Fidelity Simulation Environment for Shadow-Mode Assessments of Air Traffic Concepts

This paper describes the Shadow-Mode Assessment Using Realistic Technologies for the National Airspace System (SMART-NAS) Test Bed. The SMART-NAS Test Bed is an air traffic simulation platform being developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The SMART-NAS Test Bed's core purpose is to conduct high-fidelity, real-time, human-in-the-loop and automation-in-the-loop simulations of current and proposed future air traffic concepts for the United States' Next Generation Air Transportation System called NextGen. The setup, configuration, coordination, and execution of realtime, human-in-the-loop air traffic management simulations are complex, tedious, time intensive, and expensive. The SMART-NAS Test Bed framework is an alternative to the current approach and will provide services throughout the simulation workflow pipeline to help alleviate these shortcomings. The principle concepts to be simulated include advanced gate-to-gate, trajectory-based operations, widespread integration of novel aircraft such as unmanned vehicles, and real-time safety assurance technologies to enable autonomous operations. To make this possible, SNTB will utilize Web-based technologies, cloud resources, and real-time, scalable, communication middleware. This paper describes the SMART-NAS Test Bed's vision, purpose, its concept of use, and the potential benefits, key capabilities, high-level requirements, architecture, software design, and usage.

human-in-the-loop↗

Design of an air traffic computer simulation system to support investigation of civil tiltrotor aircraft operations

This research project addresses the need to provide an efficient and safe mechanism to investigate the effects and requirements of the tiltrotor aircraft's commercial operations on air transportation infrastructures, particularly air traffic control. The mechanism of choice is computer simulation. Unfortunately, the fundamental paradigms of the current air traffic control simulation models do not directly support the broad range of operational options and environments necessary to study tiltrotor operations. Modification of current air traffic simulation models to meet these requirements does not appear viable given the range and complexity of issues needing resolution. As a result, the investigation of systemic, infrastructure issues surrounding the effects of tiltrotor commercial operations requires new approaches to simulation modeling. These models should be based on perspectives and ideas closer to those associated with tiltrotor air traffic operations.

Rogers, Ralph V.↗

Optimal Traffic Signal Control Using Priority Metric Based on Real-Time Measured Traffic Information

Optimizing traffic control systems at traffic intersections can reduce network-wide fuel consumption as well as improve traffic flow. While traffic signals have conventionally been controlled based on predetermined schedules, various adaptive control systems have been developed recently using advanced sensors such as cameras, radars, and LiDARs. By utilizing rich traffic information enabled by the advanced sensors, more efficient or optimal traffic signal control is possible in response to varying traffic conditions. This paper proposes an optimal traffic signal control method to minimize network-wide fuel consumption utilizing real-time traffic information provided by advanced sensors. This new method employs a priority metric calculated by a weighted sum of various factors, including the total number of vehicles, total vehicle speed, vehicle waiting time, and road preference. Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used as a global optimization method to determine the optimal weights in the priority metric. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method, a traffic simulation model is developed in a high-fidelity traffic simulation environment called SUMO, based on a real-world traffic network. The traffic flow within this model is simulated using actual measured traffic data from the traffic network, enabling a comprehensive assessment of the novel optimal traffic signal control method in realistic conditions. The simulation results show that the proposed priority metric-based real-time traffic signal control algorithm can significantly reduce network-wide fuel consumption compared to the conventional fixed-time control and coordinated actuated control methods that are currently used in the modeled network. Additionally, incorporating truck priority in the priority metric leads to further improvements in fuel consumption reduction.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

A Global System for Transportation Simulation and Visualization in Emergency Evacuation Scenarios

Simulation-based studies are frequently used for evacuation planning and decision making processes. Given the transportation systems complexity and data availability, most evacuation simulation models focus on certain geographic areas. With routine improvement of OpenStreetMap road networks and LandScanTM global population distribution data, we present WWEE, a uniform system for world-wide emergency evacuation simulations. WWEE uses unified data structure for simulation inputs. It also integrates a super-node trip distribution model as the default simulation parameter to improve the system computational performance. Two levels of visualization tools are implemented for evacuation performance analysis, including link-based macroscopic visualization and vehicle-based microscopic visualization. For left-hand and right-hand traffic patterns in different countries, the authors propose a mirror technique to experiment with both scenarios without significantly changing traffic simulation models. Ten cities in US, Europe, Middle East, and Asia are modeled for demonstration. With default traffic simulation models for fast and easy-to-use evacuation estimation and visualization, WWEE also retains the capability of interactive operation for users to adopt customized traffic simulation models. For the first time, WWEE provides a unified platform for global evacuation researchers to estimate and visualize their strategies performance of transportation systems under evacuation scenarios.

Emergency Evacuation↗

ASPIRES: Airport Shuttle Planning and Improved Routing Event-driven Simulation

Most of the existing traffic simulation packages require significant calibration work to be able to reflect reality. To evaluate special operations including emerging technologies, a microscopic simulation that tracks detailed interactions of all the elements of the traffic systems is usually needed. This type of simulation is usually computationally demanding. This work developed an Airport Shuttle Planning and Improved Routing Event-driven Simulation (ASPIRES) package to simulate and evaluate current, potential, and future airport shuttle operations. Here, the simulation was driven by data and thus did not require much calibration effort. The discrete-event simulation nature of ASPIRES makes the simulation computationally efficient. Simulating 1 day of shuttle operations takes less than 2s. The study site of this work is the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in the U.S. The shuttle service that connects the five terminals of the airport and the rental car center was studied. Travel times, dwell times, and passenger arrivals were simulated using empirical distributions derived mainly from real data to capture the stochastic nature of the rental car center shuttle bus operations. Data on bus miles traveled, bus energy consumption, passenger wait times, and passengers left behind at stops were collected to study the trade-off between energy use and passenger experience. Electric bus and on-demand bus operations were also included. The simulation outputs can show passengers statistics at terminals, shuttles statistics, and charging station statistics. ASPIRES cannot be used to model a generic traffic system but is well-suited for fleet systems.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

A Scale-Dynamic Network Abstraction Approach for Traffic Analysis

The necessary trade-off between accuracy and efficiency of various traffic simulation tools depends on the resolution of the roadway network. While a detailed high-resolution road network could better represent connectivity of real-world road network and ensure an accurate simulation result, a low-resolution network omitting trivial details could reduce computational burden and improve the computational efficiency of traffic simulation. This study focuses on dynamically adjusting the roadway network resolution during the process of simulation-based dynamic traffic assignment (SBDTA) with the objective to expedite both the simulation and the assignment within SBDTA. We propose to divide the whole time horizon into several periods dynamically and to Abstract the network for each period separately. The result showed that half of the CPU time for both the simulation and the assignment is saved, while the network performance remains consistent or near consistent compared with the scenario using the most detailed network.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

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↗

Development of a Prototype Automation Simulation Scenario Generator for Air Traffic Management Software Simulations

A technique for automated development of scenarios for use in the Multi-Center Traffic Management Advisor (McTMA) software simulations is described. The resulting software is designed and implemented to automate the generation of simulation scenarios with the intent of reducing the time it currently takes using an observational approach. The software program is effective in achieving this goal. The scenarios created for use in the McTMA simulations are based on data taken from data files from the McTMA system, and were manually edited before incorporation into the simulations to ensure accuracy. Despite the software s overall favorable performance, several key software issues are identified. Proposed solutions to these issues are discussed. Future enhancements to the scenario generator software may address the limitations identified in this paper.

Khambatta, Cyrus F.↗

Air Traffic Management TestBed Simulation Architect: User'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 provides 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 concepts 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 Simulation Architect application provides a graphical user interface tool for designing traffic scenarios and simulations using blocks representing components and links representing message channels linking them. This guide describes a high-level user interface design of Simulation Architect and provides information for a new user to compose traffic scenarios and simulations.

Software User Guide↗

Implementing and Simulating Dynamic Traffic Assignment with Intelligent Transportation Systems in Cube Avenue

As urban populations and traffic congestion levels increase, effective use of information and communication tools and intelligent transportation systems as becoming increasingly important in order to maximize the efficiency of transportation networks. The appropriate placement and employment of these tools within a network is critical to their effectiveness. This presentation proposes and demonstrates the use of a commercial transportation simulation tool to simulate dynamic traffic assignment and rerouting to model route modifications as a result of traffic information.

Foytik, Peter↗

Development of a High-Fidelity Simulation Environment for Shadow-Mode Assessments of Air Traffic Concepts

This paper will describe the purpose, architecture, and implementation of a gate-to-gate, high-fidelity air traffic simulation environment called the Shadow Mode Assessment using Realistic Technologies for the National Airspace System (SMART-NAS) Test Bed.The overarching purpose of the SMART-NAS Test Bed (SNTB) is to conduct high-fidelity, real-time, human-in-the-loop and automation-in-the-loop simulations of current and proposed future air traffic concepts for the Next Generation Air Transportation System of the United States, called NextGen. SNTB is intended to enable simulations that are currently impractical or impossible for three major areas of NextGen research and development: Concepts across multiple operational domains such as the gate-to-gate trajectory-based operations concept; Concepts related to revolutionary operations such as the seamless and widespread integration of large and small Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) vehicles throughout U.S. airspace; Real-time system-wide safety assurance technologies to allow safe, increasingly autonomous aviation operations. SNTB is primarily accessed through a web browser. A set of secure support services are provided to simplify all aspects of real-time, human-in-the-loop and automation-in-the-loop simulations from design (i.e., prior to execution) through analysis (i.e., after execution). These services include simulation architecture and asset configuration; scenario generation; command, control and monitoring; and analysis support.

human-in-the-loop↗

Software for Simulating Air Traffic

Future Air Traffic Management Concepts Evaluation Tool (FACET) is a system of software for performing computational simulations for evaluating advanced concepts of advanced air-traffic management. FACET includes a program that generates a graphical user interface plus programs and databases that implement computational models of weather, airspace, airports, navigation aids, aircraft performance, and aircraft trajectories. Examples of concepts studied by use of FACET include aircraft self-separation for free flight; prediction of air-traffic-controller workload; decision support for direct routing; integration of spacecraft-launch operations into the U.S. national airspace system; and traffic- flow-management using rerouting, metering, and ground delays. Aircraft can be modeled as flying along either flight-plan routes or great-circle routes as they climb, cruise, and descend according to their individual performance models. The FACET software is modular and is written in the Java and C programming languages. The architecture of FACET strikes a balance between flexibility and fidelity; as a consequence, FACET can be used to model systemwide airspace operations over the contiguous U.S., involving as many as 10,000 aircraft, all on a single desktop or laptop computer running any of a variety of operating systems. Two notable applications of FACET include: (1) reroute conformance monitoring algorithms that have been implemented in one of the Federal Aviation Administration s nationally deployed, real-time, operational systems; and (2) the licensing and integration of FACET with the commercially available Flight Explorer, which is an Internet- based, real-time flight-tracking system.

Sridhar, Banavar↗

Terminal area air traffic control simulation

To study the impact of advanced aeronautical technologies on operations to and from terminal airports, a computer model of air traffic movements was developed. The advantages of fast-time simulation are discussed, and the arrival scheduling and flight simulation are described. A New York area study, user's guide, and programmer's guide are included.

Source record↗

Pricing Strategy of Electric Vehicle Aggregators Based on Locational Marginal Price to Minimize Photovoltaic (PV) Curtailment

The global climate crisis demands urgent action to mitigate global warming. Using renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power, for electricity generation is crucial. This shift from centralized to distributed power systems, however, brings challenges, including voltage fluctuations and renewable energy curtailment. The rapid growth of the electric vehicle (EV) industry adds complexity, increasing overall electricity demand and straining the power supply during peak charging times. This paper proposes a scheduling strategy for EV aggregators to reduce renewable energy curtailment and stabilize grid operation by strategically scheduling EV charging. Using Multi -Agent Transport Simulation (MATSim), a traffic simulation tool, EV driving data in Denver, Colorado, USA, were modeled. The EV aggregator adjusts charging fees based on locational marginal prices, encouraging EVs to charge at different stations according to pricing. Simulations on an IEEE 33-bus system with distributed energy resources and EV charging stations validate the proposed algorithm, demonstrating its effectiveness in reducing curtailment by 12.55% and stabilizing grid operation.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

Impact of Automation Support on the Conflict Resolution Task in a Human-in-the-Loop Air Traffic Control Simulation

To determine the capabilities and limitations of human operators and automation in separation assurance roles, the second of three Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) part-task studies investigated air traffic controllers ability to detect and resolve conflicts under varying task sets, traffic densities, and run lengths. Operations remained within a single sector, staffed by a single controller, and explored, among other things, the controllers responsibility for conflict resolution with or without their involvement in the conflict detection task. Furthermore, these conditions were examined across two different traffic densities; 1x (current-day traffic) and a 20 increase above current-day traffic levels (1.2x). Analyses herein offer an examination of the conflict resolution strategies employed by controllers. In particular, data in the form of elapsed time between conflict detection and conflict resolution are used to assess if, and how, the controllers involvement in the conflict detection task affected the way in which they resolved traffic conflicts.

human-in-the-loop simulation↗

Research in ground-based near-terminal area 4D guidance and control

This paper describes work being done at NASA, Langley Research Center and at the Research Triangle Institute on advanced, ground-based guidance and control for the near terminal area. Large-scale computer traffic simulations in conjunction with flight experiments with a Boeing 737 aircraft will be used to evaluate various concepts for automated terminal area metering and spacing. The all-digital real-time air traffic simulation model is described. Facilities for aircraft tracking and for interfacing the aircraft with the digital simulation are discussed, along with possible application to other types of experiments.

Britt, C. L., Jr.↗

Integration of Weather Data into Airspace and Traffic Operations Simulation (ATOS) for Trajectory- Based Operations Research

Explicit integration of aviation weather forecasts with the National Airspace System (NAS) structure is needed to improve the development and execution of operationally effective weather impact mitigation plans and has become increasingly important due to NAS congestion and associated increases in delay. This article considers several contemporary weather-air traffic management (ATM) integration applications: the use of probabilistic forecasts of visibility at San Francisco, the Route Availability Planning Tool to facilitate departures from the New York airports during thunderstorms, the estimation of en route capacity in convective weather, and the application of mixed-integer optimization techniques to air traffic management when the en route and terminal capacities are varying with time because of convective weather impacts. Our operational experience at San Francisco and New York coupled with very promising initial results of traffic flow optimizations suggests that weather-ATM integrated systems warrant significant research and development investment. However, they will need to be refined through rapid prototyping at facilities with supportive operational users We have discussed key elements of an emerging aviation weather research area: the explicit integration of aviation weather forecasts with NAS structure to improve the effectiveness and timeliness of weather impact mitigation plans. Our insights are based on operational experiences with Lincoln Laboratory-developed integrated weather sensing and processing systems, and derivative early prototypes of explicit ATM decision support tools such as the RAPT in New York City. The technical components of this effort involve improving meteorological forecast skill, tailoring the forecast outputs to the problem of estimating airspace impacts, developing models to quantify airspace impacts, and prototyping automated tools that assist in the development of objective broad-area ATM strategies, given probabilistic weather forecasts. Lincoln Laboratory studies and prototype demonstrations in this area are helping to define the weather-assimilated decision-making system that is envisioned as a key capability for the multi-agency Next Generation Air Transportation System [1]. The Laboratory's work in this area has involved continuing, operations-based evolution of both weather forecasts and models for weather impacts on the NAS. Our experience has been that the development of usable ATM technologies that address weather impacts must proceed via rapid prototyping at facilities whose users are highly motivated to participate in system evolution.

Peters, Mark↗

Cluster Node Computing for Target Generation Systems in Aircraft Simulations

Target generation systems provide the positions of aircraft in air traffic simulations. As the scope of the simulation domains expand, there is a need to develop systems that can provide position reports for thousands of aircraft simultaneously and at update rates that support out-the-window visualization. This paper discusses the motivation and reasoning behind investigating development of a next generation target generator through distributed computing using clustered node processing and how a target generation system benefit future research that utilizes human-in-the-loop simulations.

air traffic simulations↗