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DOE OSTI2026

Integrated System Planning: Emerging Software Requirements in the Power Industry

Power system planning software remains fragmented across organizational boundaries, with specialized tools for capacity expansion, production cost modeling, power flow, and dynamic analysis operating on incompatible data models and assumptions. This article argues that the fragmentation is not merely a technical problem but a predictable consequence of Conway's law: software architectures mirror the departmental structures within which they are developed. Regulatory milestones like Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Order 888 formalized these divisions, but the roots trace back to the distinct engineering disciplines-mechanical, chemical, and electrical-that staffed generation and transmission planning departments in vertically integrated utilities. As the industry moves toward integrated system planning (ISP) that coordinates generation, transmission, and distribution investment decisions, the software ecosystem must evolve accordingly. We identify five categories of software requirements to enable this transition: coherent data inputs decoupled from individual applications, unified and extensible data schemas, modular component representations that support multiple abstraction levels, lifecycle management of planning datasets, and well-defined application programming interface (API) contracts that separate data exchange from algorithmic control. We examine how these requirements interact with three common workflow patterns-serial gate clearing, sequential multiapplication, and convergence oriented-and discuss the interface design principles each demands. We then outline a vision for platform-based planning architectures where specialized analytical services compose through standardized interfaces and where artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) tools augment decision support within a disciplined software infrastructure. The practices proposed here offer a path from today's siloed tool collections toward collaborative planning ecosystems capable of handling the complexity of modern power system transformation.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

NASA NTRS2006

Intelligent Rover Execution for Detecting Life in the Atacama Desert

On-board supervisory execution is crucial for the deployment of more capable and autonomous remote explorers. Planetary science is considering robotic explorers operating for long periods of time without ground supervision while interacting with a changing and often hostile environment. Effective and robust operations require on-board supervisory control with a high level of awareness of the principles of functioning of the environment and of the numerous internal subsystems that need to be coordinated. We describe an on-board rover executive that was deployed on a rover as past of the "Limits of Life in the Atacama Desert (LITA)" field campaign sponsored by the NASA ASTEP program. The executive was built using the Intelligent Distributed Execution Architecture (IDEA), an execution framework that uses model-based and plan-based supervisory control of its fundamental computational paradigm. We present the results of the third field experiment conducted in the Atacama desert (Chile) in August - October 2005.

Baskaran, Vijayakumar↗

NASA NTRS2011

Warp Field Mechanics 101

This paper will begin with a short review of the Alcubierre warp drive metric and describes how the phenomenon might work based on the original paper. The canonical form of the metric was developed and published in [6] which provided key insight into the field potential and boost for the field which remedied a critical paradox in the original Alcubierre concept of operations. A modified concept of operations based on the canonical form of the metric that remedies the paradox is presented and discussed. The idea of a warp drive in higher dimensional space-time (manifold) will then be briefly considered by comparing the null-like geodesics of the Alcubierre metric to the Chung-Freese metric to illustrate the mathematical role of hyperspace coordinates. The net effect of using a warp drive technology coupled with conventional propulsion systems on an exploration mission will be discussed using the nomenclature of early mission planning. Finally, an overview of the warp field interferometer test bed being implemented in the Advanced Propulsion Physics Laboratory: Eagleworks (APPL:E) at the Johnson Space Center will be detailed. While warp field mechanics has not had a Chicago Pile moment, the tools necessary to detect a modest instance of the phenomenon are near at hand.

White, Harold↗

NASA NTRS2021

Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE)

NASA has partnered with Advanced Space to develop and build the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) mission which will serve as a pathfinder for Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NHRO) operations around the Moon. The NHRO, (Perilune = 3,200 km; Apolune = 70,000 km) will be the intended orbit for the NASA’s Artemis Gateway lunar orbital platform. The CAPSTONE mission will validate simulations and confirm operational planning for Gateway while also validating performance of navigation and station-keeping requirements for the Power and Propulsion Element. Thus, this mission will provide operational experience to NASA, commercial, and international missions for operations in a demanding orbital regime. The baseline for CAPSTONE is to fly a 12U cubesat developed, integrated, and tested by Tyvak Nanosatellite Systems carrying a payload communications system capable of cross-link ranging with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), a dedicated payload flight computer for software demonstration, and a camera. The launch, coordinated by NASA Launch Services Program, will be provided by a Rocket Lab launch vehicle utilizing their new Proton upper stage to deploy the CAPSTONE spacecraft into the lunar orbit. The CAPSTONE mission is targeting a launch no earlier than September 23, 2021. Upon launch, the spacecraft will traverse a highly efficient transfer taking approximately three months to enter a primary demonstration phase in an NRHO for six months followed by a twelve month technology enhancement operations phase. The CAPSTONE Project is lead by Advanced Space, LLC of Boulder Colorado. Spacecraft development and mission operations will be conducted by Tyvak Nanosatellite Systems of Irvine, California. Noted objectives for the CAPSTONE mission will be to demonstrate the accessibility of NHROs, validate key operational concepts in the NHRO environment, lay a foundation for commercial support of future lunar operations and accelerate the availability of peer-to-peer navigation capabilities provided by the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System (CAPS). The CAPSTONE mission is funded through NASA's Small Spacecraft Technology Program (SSTP), which is one of several programs in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. SSTP is chartered to develop and demonstrate technologies to enhance and expand the capabilities of small spacecraft with a particular focus on enabling new mission architectures through the use of small spacecraft, expanding the reach of small spacecraft to new destinations, and augmenting future missions with supporting small spacecraft. The launch for the CAPSTONE Mission is provided by Human Exploration & Operations Missions Directorate Advanced Exploration Systems Division. Coordination and Acquisition of the Launch is managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program. The CAPSTONE Mission and project status will be presented.

CAPSTONE↗

NASA NTRS2021

Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) Mission

CAPSTONE↗

NASA NTRS2021

Fairfax County Urban Development: Identifying Urban Heat Mitigation Strategies for Climate Adaptation Planning in Fairfax County, Virginia

Extreme high temperatures lead to increased instances of cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, and even death, as well as increased energy consumption and infrastructure costs. People in urbanized areas experience higher temperatures than rural areas due to diminished vegetation and increased impervious surfaces which absorb and radiate heat. Fairfax County, Virginia has embarked on Resilient Fairfax, a program aimed at addressing climate adaptation and resilience. The DEVELOP team partnered with the Fairfax County Office of Environmental and Energy Coordination (OEEC) to assess the extent of the urban heat island effect on the county and its most vulnerable populations. The team used data from Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS), as well as the ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) for the years 2013 to 2021 and found that the hottest spots were in densely urbanized areas, with temperatures as much as 47°F above that of undeveloped reference areas. The team used the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) urban cooling model and determined that areas with higher tree canopy cover had greater heat mitigation capacity. Estimates from the InVEST model showed that a 4.5% increase in canopy cover across the county could result in a temperature reduction of up to 2.4°F in some areas. The results will allow partners to assess heat distribution across Fairfax County and implement effective mitigation strategies, including locating prime locations for cooling centers and increasing canopy cover.

W. Pierce Holloway↗

DOE OSTI2025

Impact of U-10Mo HALEU Fuel Element Tolerances on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Reactor safety and operational performance – Neutronics

The U.S. is coordinating efforts for the conversion of six U.S. high performance research reactors (USHPRR), including one critical assembly from highly enriched uranium (HEU) to low-enriched uranium (LEU). In order to continue the mission of these reactors, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Reactor (MITR), and achieve similar performance, high assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) with a high-density metallic alloy of uranium with 10 wt% molybdenum (U-10Mo) is being considered. Following the preliminary design of the proposed MITR LEU fuel elements using the U-10Mo monolithic alloy, the impact of the fabrication specification was assessed. This work focuses on the analysis of select neutronics characteristics of the MITR LEU core as a function of the variation of the relevant fuel specification parameters (e.g., U-10Mo composition, fuel plate thickness, etc.). A separate article submitted to this journal addresses the impact on the thermal hydraulic performance. The analyses in these works are performed based on an all-LEU conversion management plan identified in previous work, in which only the proposed elements are utilized for achieving the conversion of MITR. The variations of two main neutronics characteristics are assessed as a function of the variability of the specification parameters resulting from the fabrication process: the MITR LEU core reactivity and the fuel cycle length. The main findings of this work show that the MITR core can meet the operational requirements during the LEU transition plan under the limiting fabrication parameter combinations considered. In addition, the analyses show that the dependency of the core neutronics characteristics on the specification parameters is highly linear within the specification tolerances. The rates of variation are reported in detail for each parameter and can serve as a powerful tool for future MITR fuel management in cases such as when HALEU supply is established that may allow additional cycle length or other operational benefits.

Conversion↗

DOE OSTI2024

Solar and Storage Integration in the Southeastern United States: Economics, Reliability, and Operations

Solar energy has the potential to be a core energy resource for the southeastern United States. To better understand the implications of higher levels of solar PV (27%-43% of total generation capacity) and electricity storage (13%-49% of peak load) would affect electricity system reliability, costs, and operations in the U.S. Southeast, this study sought to address two main questions. First, how would higher levels of solar PV and electricity storage impact the costs, reliability, and operations of electricity systems in the Southeast in 2035? Second, at different levels of solar PV and electricity storage, what are the benefits of operational coordination among utilities in the Southeast, through more efficient regional dispatch and sharing operating reserves? To answer these questions, the study used detailed capacity expansion and dispatch modeling to develop and examine 15 scenarios with different levels of solar PV, electricity storage, and operational coordination, focusing on the year 2035. The study also evaluates the benefits of operational coordination among utilities through more efficient regional dispatch and reserve sharing, at different levels of solar and storage. The study focuses on five balancing regions that cover Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and parts of Mississippi and Missouri.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2014

SU-E-T-465: Dose Calculation Method for Dynamic Tumor Tracking Using a Gimbal-Mounted Linac

Purpose: Dynamic tumor tracking using the gimbal-mounted linac (Vero4DRT, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., Japan) has been available when respiratory motion is significant. The irradiation accuracy of the dynamic tumor tracking has been reported to be excellent. In addition to the irradiation accuracy, a fast and accurate dose calculation algorithm is needed to validate the dose distribution in the presence of respiratory motion because the multiple phases of it have to be considered. A modification of dose calculation algorithm is necessary for the gimbal-mounted linac due to the degrees of freedom of gimbal swing. The dose calculation algorithm for the gimbal motion was implemented using the linear transformation between coordinate systems. Methods: The linear transformation matrices between the coordinate systems with and without gimbal swings were constructed using the combination of translation and rotation matrices. The coordinate system where the radiation source is at the origin and the beam axis along the z axis was adopted. The transformation can be divided into the translation from the radiation source to the gimbal rotation center, the two rotations around the center relating to the gimbal swings, and the translation from the gimbal center to the radiation source. After operating the transformation matrix to the phantom or patient image, the dose calculation can be performed as the no gimbal swing. The algorithm was implemented in the treatment planning system, PlanUNC (University of North Carolina, NC). The convolution/superposition algorithm was used. The dose calculations with and without gimbal swings were performed for the 3 × 3 cm{sup 2} field with the grid size of 5 mm. Results: The calculation time was about 3 minutes per beam. No significant additional time due to the gimbal swing was observed. Conclusions: The dose calculation algorithm for the finite gimbal swing was implemented. The calculation time was moderate.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗

NASA NTRS1974

Study of ephemeris accuracy of the minor planets

The current state of minor planet ephemerides was assessed, and the means for providing and updating these emphemerides for use by both the mission planner and the astronomer were developed. A system of obtaining data for all the numbered minor planets was planned, and computer programs for its initial mechanization were developed. The computer based system furnishes the osculating elements for all of the numbered minor planets at an adopted date of October 10, 1972, and at every 400 day interval over the years of interest. It also furnishes the perturbations in the rectangular coordinates relative to the osculating elements at every 4 day interval. Another computer program was designed and developed to integrate the perturbed motion of a group of 50 minor planets simultaneously. Sampled data resulting from the operation of the computer based systems are presented.

Brooks, D. R.↗

DOE OSTI2018

Replacement of Melter 2 at the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) - 18608

The original DWPF melter was replaced in 2002 with an identical unit, and radioactive operation of Melter 2 commenced in 2003. After nearly 14 years of service, a lower electrode failure of Melter 2 occurred in February 2017 which required its removal and replacement with Melter 3. The scope of the replacement outage involves several significant evolutions: - Shutdown of Melter 2 and placement into a safe state; - Remote external and internal inspection of Melter 2 to chronicle its condition prior to removal; - Disassembly and removal of Melter 2 from the process cell; - Placement of Melter 2 into a storage box and transport to a storage vault; - Preparation and initial testing of Melter 3 prior to transport to the DWPF; - Transport to the DWPF and installation of Melter 3 in the process cell; - Final startup testing and initiation of radioactive operation. Upon determination that repair of Melter 2 was not feasible, DWPF created an outage team to integrate schedules and resources needed to execute melter replacement as well as including maintenance scope for facility work that can only be performed when the melter is de-energized. The execution of this scope required integration with other mission critical outage activities already in progress, and planned to start, including initial facility tie-in scope for the new Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF). This unplanned addition of the melter replacement scope to the existing outage scope resulted in the longest facility outage period since the initiation of radioactive operations at the DWPF in 1996. Successful completion of this scope across all Liquid Waste facilities would require balance - for schedules, resources, priority, funding, etc. To overcome the significant challenges created by this additional scope, a WAR Room was established to ensure adequate integration and coordination of critical resources, and daily progress. The execution of this scope has required the integration of nearly two dozen work groups across multiple facilities at Savannah River Site (SRS), in addition to support from nearly a dozen vendors. The melter replacement outage was executed with a high degree of disciplined operation to ensure the facility was ready to resume glass pouring operation in time to support restart of the Liquid Waste program at the Savannah River Site (SRS). This paper will provide a brief overview of Melter 2 operational history. The execution of the removal and replacement operations will be described with a specific focus on lessons learned and opportunities where the outage execution diverged from the original Melter 1 replacement outage. It is expected to be of interest to vitrification facilities, as well as facilities, which require remote maintenance and replacement of large process equipment. (author)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

DOE OSTI2012

Central Plateau Cleanup at DOE's Hanford Site - 12504

The discussion of Hanford's Central Plateau includes significant work in and around the center of the Hanford Site - located about 7 miles from the Columbia River. The Central Plateau is the area to which operations will be shrunk in 2015 when River Corridor cleanup is complete. This work includes retrieval and disposal of buried waste from miles of trenches; the cleanup and closure of massive processing canyons; the clean-out and demolition to 'slab on grade' of the high-hazard Plutonium Finishing Plant; installation of key groundwater treatment facilities to contain and shrink plumes of contaminated groundwater; demolition of all other unneeded facilities; and the completion of decisions about remaining Central Plateau waste sites. A stated goal of EM has been to shrink the footprint of active cleanup to less than 10 square miles by 2020. By the end of FY2011, Hanford will have reduced the active footprint of cleanup by 64 percent exceeding the goal of 49 percent. By 2015, Hanford will reduce the active footprint of cleanup by more than 90 percent. The remaining footprint reduction will occur between 2015 and 2020. The Central Plateau is a 75-square-mile region near the center of the Hanford Site including the area designated in the Hanford Comprehensive Land Use Plan Environmental Impact Statement (DOE 1999) and Record of Decision (64 FR 61615) as the Industrial-Exclusive Area, a rectangular area of about 20 square miles in the center of the Central Plateau. The Industrial-Exclusive Area contains the 200 East and 200 West Areas that have been used primarily for Hanford's nuclear fuel processing and waste management and disposal activities. The Central Plateau also encompasses the 200 Area CERCLA National Priorities List site. The Central Plateau has a large physical inventory of chemical processing and support facilities, tank systems, liquid and solid waste disposal and storage facilities, utility systems, administrative facilities, and groundwater monitoring wells. As a companion to the Hanford Site Cleanup Completion Framework document, DOE issued its draft Central Plateau Cleanup Completion Strategy in September 2009 to provide an outline of DOE's vision for completion of cleanup activities across the Central Plateau. As major elements of the Hanford cleanup along the Columbia River Corridor near completion, DOE believed it appropriate to articulate the agency vision for the remainder of the cleanup mission. The Central Plateau Cleanup Completion Strategy and the Hanford Site Cleanup Completion Framework were provided to the regulatory community, the Tribal Nations, political leaders, the public, and Hanford stakeholders to promote dialogue on Hanford's future. The Central Plateau Cleanup Completion Strategy describes DOE's vision for completion of Central Plateau cleanup and outlines the decisions needed to achieve the vision. The Central Plateau strategy involves steps to: (1) contain and remediate contaminated groundwater, (2) implement a geographic cleanup approach that guides remedy selection from a plateau-wide perspective, (3) evaluate and deploy viable treatment methods for deep vadose contamination to provide long-term protection of the groundwater, and (4) conduct essential waste management operations in coordination with cleanup actions. The strategy will also help optimize Central Plateau readiness to use funding when it is available upon completion of River Corridor cleanup projects. One aspect of the Central Plateau strategy is to put in place the process to identify the final footprint for permanent waste management and containment of residual contamination within the 20-square-mile Industrial-Exclusive Area. The final footprint identified for permanent waste management and containment of residual contamination should be as small as practical and remain under federal ownership and control for as long as a potential hazard exists. Outside the final footprint, the remainder of the Central Plateau will be available for other uses consistent with the Hanford Comprehensive Land-Use Plan (DOE 1999), while maintained under federal ownership and control. (author)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

DOE OSTI2024

Hybrid Power Plants: Status of Operating and Proposed Plants, 2024 Edition [Slides]

Improving battery technology and the growth of variable renewable generation are driving a surge of interest in “hybrid” power plants that combine, for example, wind or solar generating capacity with co-located batteries. While most of the current interest involves pairing photovoltaic (PV) plants with batteries, other types of hybrid or co-located plants with wide-ranging configurations have been part of the U.S. electricity mix for decades. This annually updated briefing tracks and maps existing hybrid or co-located plants across the United States while also synthesizing data from power purchase agreements (PPAs) and generation interconnection queues to shed light on near- and long-term development pipelines. The scope includes “co-located hybrids” that pair two or more resources (e.g., multiple types of generation and/or generation with storage) that are operated largely independently behind a single point of interconnection, and “full hybrids” that also feature coordinated operations of the co-located resources. The focus is on plants with one megawatt (MW) or more of capacity; smaller (often behind-the-meter) projects are also increasingly common, but are not included in this data synthesis.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Enabling Communication Between Astronauts and Ground Teams for Space Exploration Missions

Over the last four years, Playbook’s Mission Log has evolved to become an enabling capability for analog missions that simulate deep space, exploration missions with communication transmission latency. Playbook is a planning and execution web-application for mission operations, aggregating multiple sources of information for astronauts to execute the mission in one place: timeline, procedures, chat interface. Playbook’s Mission Log provides a multimedia chat software interface with unique features and functionalities that support asynchronous communication between analog astronauts and ground support teams. This paper describes the iterative design the Mission Log has undergone based on user observations and solicited feedback. Key features include indicators that help users cope with asynchronous communication as well as aids that assist teams coordinate work. Future work and capabilities are outlined, which build upon the increased use of the Mission Log as a communication and coordination tool for space exploration.

communication↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Using Open Standards and NASA Open Source Simulation Tools to Model Artemis Base Camp Mission Timelines

The United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has announced that the Artemis Program will return humans to the Moon, establishing a persistent presence with the Artemis Base Camp (ABC), and extend human exploration to Mars. The NASA Exploration Systems Simulations (NExSyS) team at NASA’s Johnson Space Center is using internationally developed simulation interoperability standards and NASA open source simulation tools to support Artemis concept, analysis, designs, development, training, and ultimately operations. The NExSyS team has been tasked to support early ABC architecture and mission analysis using mission time lines developed by the crew operations mission planning team. The NExSyS team is developing a distributed simulation framework with initial Artemis element implementations to model the ABC mission timelines using the international simulation interoperability standard High Level Architecture (HLA), the Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization’s Space Reference Federation Object Model (SpaceFOM), the NASA open source Trick Simulation Environment, and another NASA open source interface package called TrickHLA. The ABC architecture is composed of a number of key surface elements and resources. Some examples of modeled elements (also known as entities) are landers, habitats, rovers, logistics carriers, and astronauts. Some examples of modeled transferable and consumable resources are power, water, oxygen, nitrogen, scientific samples, and food. These entities and resources are modeled in a collection of individual simulations called Federates. A coordinated collection of interoperable federates is called a Federation and when these federates are tied together in a coordinated simulation run, it is referred to as a Federation Execution. The federates communicate through HLA using data exchange formats defined by a collection of machine readable files called Federation Object Models (FOMs). These FOM files are based on extensions to the SpaceFOM. This enables the instantiation and sharing of objects and interactions between federates in the federation. These provide for entity and resource tracking, object transfer, and data collection. Federate interactions are used to trigger events and notify federates of entity or resource transfers. For the initial implementation, the constituent federates are Trick-based simulations that use TrickHLA to provide the required HLA-base interoperability. These Trick-based simulations provide the required modeling for the individual Artemis elements along with the associated element resources. These federates provide a means to explore traverses between surface elements and exploration sites as scheduled in a mission timeline and explore the affects traverse times have on the overall mission timeline. The mission time lines are modeled using a Trick input file event handling capabilities. Each timeline operation is handled as individual simulation events, and triggered based on previous event status, time of operation, and simulated task completions. In addition, the ABC Federation can be used to perform Monte Carlo analysis. The Monte Carlo tool can vary the inputs, timings, and malfunctions to show how various contingencies in the mission can affect the mission timeline.

Keaton Craig Dodd↗

NASA NTRS1989

A situated reasoning architecture for space-based repair and replace tasks

Space-based robots need low level control for collision detection and avoidance, short-term load management, fine-grained motion, and other physical tasks. In addition, higher level control is required to focus strategic decision making as missions are assigned and carried out. Reasoning and control must be responsive to ongoing changes in the environment. Research aimed at bridging the gap between high level artificial intelligence (AI) planning techniques and task-level robot programming for telerobotic systems is described. Situated reasoning is incorporated into AI and Robotics systems in order to coordinate a robot's activity within its environment. An integrated system under development in a component maintenance domain is described. It is geared towards replacing worn and/or failed Orbital Replacement Units (ORUs) designed for use aboard NASA's Space Station Freedom based on the collection of components available at a given time. High level control reasons in component space in order to maximize the number operational component-cells over time, while the task-level controls sensors and effectors, detects collisions, and carries out pick and place tasks in physical space. Situated reasoning is used throughout the system to cope with component failures, imperfect information, and unexpected events.

Bloom, Ben↗

NASA NTRS1991

Overview of NASA communications infrastructure

The infrastructure of NASA communications systems for effecting coordination across NASA offices and with the national and international research and technological communities is discussed. The offices and networks of the communication system include the Office of Space Science and Applications (OSSA), which manages all NASA missions, and the Office of Space Operations, which furnishes communication support through the NASCOM, the mission critical communications support network, and the Program Support Communications network. The NASA Science Internet was established by OSSA to centrally manage, develop, and operate an integrated computer network service dedicated to NASA's space science and application research. Planned for the future is the National Research and Education Network, which will provide communications infrastructure to enhance science resources at a national level.

Arnold, Ray J.↗

NASA NTRS2011

A Human Factors Approach to Bridging Systems and Introducing New Technologies

The application of human factors in aviation has grown to cover a wide range of disciplines and methods capable of assessing human-systems integration at many levels. For example, at the individual level, pilot workload may be studied while at the team level, coordinated workload distribution may be the focal point. At the organizational level, the way in which individuals and teams are supported by training and standards, policies and procedures may introduce additional, relevant topics. A consideration of human factors at each level contributes to our understanding of successes and failures in pilot performance, but this system focused on the flight deck alone -- is only one part of the airspace system. In the FAA's NextGen plan to overhaul the National Airspace System (NAS), new capabilities will enhance flightdeck systems (pilots), flight operations centers (dispatchers) and air traffic control systems (controllers and air traffic managers). At a minimum, the current roles and responsibilities of these three systems are likely to change. Since increased automation will be central to many of the enhancements, the role of automation is also likely to change. Using NextGen examples, a human factors approach for bridging complex airspace systems will be the main focus of this presentation. It is still crucial to consider the human factors within each system, but the successful implementation of new technologies in the NAS requires an understanding of the collaborations that occur when these systems intersect. This human factors approach to studying collaborative systems begins with detailed task descriptions within each system to establish a baseline of the current operations. The collaborative content and context are delineated through the review of regulatory and advisory materials, letters of agreement, policies, procedures and documented practices. Field observations and interviews also help to fill out the picture. Key collaborative functions across systems are identified and placed on a phase-of-flight timeline including information requirements, decision authority and use of automation, as well as level of frequency and criticality.

Kanki, Barbara G.↗