SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Airport”

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.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

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

At least 919 records · Page 51

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS2001

The Conference Proceedings of the 2001 Air Transport Research Society (ATRS) of the WCTR Society

The papers presented at this conference include: 1) The Global Airline Company: Agent of Market Power or Competition? 2) Airport Pavement Management; 3) Reservation System Providers and the Impact of Codeshare Arrangements on Screen Display; 4) Strategic Classification of Current Airline Alliances and Examination of Critical Factors Involving the Formations - an Explorative Perspective; 5) Airport Privatization Policy and Performance Measurement in Korea; 6) Pilot and Air Traffic Controller Relationships: The Role of Interdependence and Relative Influence; 7) Liberalization of Air Cargo Services: Background and an Economic Analysis; 8) The Implication of Hub and Spoke Network on the Airline Alliance Strategy.

Lee, Yeong-Heok↗

NASA NTRS2002

Preliminary Design and Evaluation of Portable Electronic Flight Progress Strips

There has been growing interest in using electronic alternatives to the paper Flight Progress Strip (FPS) for air traffic control. However, most research has been centered on radar-based control environments, and has not considered the unique operational needs of the airport air traffic control tower. Based on an analysis of the human factors issues for control tower Decision Support Tool (DST) interfaces, a requirement has been identified for an interaction mechanism which replicates the advantages of the paper FPS (e.g., head-up operation, portability) but also enables input and output with DSTs. An approach has been developed which uses a Portable Electronic FPS that has attributes of both a paper strip and an electronic strip. The prototype flight strip system uses Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) to replace individual paper strips in addition to a central management interface which is displayed on a desktop computer. Each PDA is connected to the management interface via a wireless local area network. The Portable Electronic FPSs replicate the core functionality of paper flight strips and have additional features which provide a heads-up interface to a DST. A departure DST is used as a motivating example. The central management interface is used for aircraft scheduling and sequencing and provides an overview of airport departure operations. This paper will present the design of the Portable Electronic FPS system as well as preliminary evaluation results.

Doble, Nathan A.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Runway Operations Planning: A Two-Stage Solution Methodology

The airport runway is a scarce resource that must be shared by different runway operations (arrivals, departures and runway crossings). Given the possible sequences of runway events, careful Runway Operations Planning (ROP) is required if runway utilization is to be maximized. Thus, Runway Operations Planning (ROP) is a critical component of airport operations planning in general and surface operations planning in particular. From the perspective of departures, ROP solutions are aircraft departure schedules developed by optimally allocating runway time for departures given the time required for arrivals and crossings. In addition to the obvious objective of maximizing throughput, other objectives, such as guaranteeing fairness and minimizing environmental impact, may be incorporated into the ROP solution subject to constraints introduced by Air Traffic Control (ATC) procedures. Generating optimal runway operations plans was approached in with a 'one-stage' optimization routine that considered all the desired objectives and constraints, and the characteristics of each aircraft (weight class, destination, Air Traffic Control (ATC) constraints) at the same time. Since, however, at any given point in time, there is less uncertainty in the predicted demand for departure resources in terms of weight class than in terms of specific aircraft, the ROP problem can be parsed into two stages. In the context of the Departure Planner (OP) research project, this paper introduces Runway Operations Planning (ROP) as part of the wider Surface Operations Optimization (SOO) and describes a proposed 'two stage' heuristic algorithm for solving the Runway Operations Planning (ROP) problem. Focus is specifically given on including runway crossings in the planning process of runway operations. In the first stage, sequences of departure class slots and runwy crossings slots are generated and ranked based on departure runway throughput under stochastic conditions. In the second stage, the departure class slots are populated with specific flights from the pool of available aircraft, by solving an integer program. Preliminary results from the algorithm implementation on real-world traffic data are included.

Anagnostakis, Ioannis↗

NASA NTRS2001

Aircraft Optimization for Minimum Environmental Impact

The objective of this research is to investigate the tradeoff between operating cost and environmental acceptability of commercial aircraft. This involves optimizing the aircraft design and mission to minimize operating cost while constraining exterior noise and emissions. Growth in air traffic and airport neighboring communities has resulted in increased pressure to severely penalize airlines that do not meet strict local noise and emissions requirements. As a result, environmental concerns have become potent driving forces in commercial aviation. Traditionally, aircraft have been first designed to meet performance and cost goals, and adjusted to satisfy the environmental requirements at given airports. The focus of the present study is to determine the feasibility of including noise and emissions constraints in the early design of the aircraft and mission. This paper introduces the design tool and results from a case study involving a 250-passenger airliner.

Antoine, Nicolas↗

NASA NTRS2003

Synthetic Vision Enhances Situation Awareness and RNP Capabilities for Terrain-Challenged Approaches

The Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS) Project of Aviation Safety Program is striving to eliminate poor visibility as a causal factor in aircraft accidents as well as enhance operational capabilities of all aircraft through the display of computer generated imagery derived from an onboard database of terrain, obstacle, and airport information. To achieve these objectives, NASA 757 flight test research was conducted at the Eagle-Vail, Colorado airport to evaluate three SVS display types (Head-Up Display, Head-Down Size A, Head-Down Size X) and two terrain texture methods (photo-realistic, generic) in comparison to the simulated Baseline Boeing-757 Electronic Attitude Direction Indicator and Navigation / Terrain Awareness and Warning System displays. These independent variables were evaluated for situation awareness, path error, and workload while making approaches to Runway 25 and 07 and during simulated engine-out Cottonwood 2 and KREMM departures. The results of the experiment showed significantly improved situation awareness, performance, and workload for SVS concepts compared to the Baseline displays and confirmed the retrofit capability of the Head-Up Display and Size A SVS concepts. The research also demonstrated that the pathway and pursuit guidance used within the SVS concepts achieved required navigation performance (RNP) criteria.

Kramer, Lynda J.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Flight Simulator Evaluation of Display Media Devices for Synthetic Vision Concepts

The Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS) Project of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Aviation Safety Program (AvSP) is striving to eliminate poor visibility as a causal factor in aircraft accidents as well as enhance operational capabilities of all aircraft. To accomplish these safety and capacity improvements, the SVS concept is designed to provide a clear view of the world around the aircraft through the display of computer-generated imagery derived from an onboard database of terrain, obstacle, and airport information. Display media devices with which to implement SVS technology that have been evaluated so far within the Project include fixed field of view head up displays and head down Primary Flight Displays with pilot-selectable field of view. A simulation experiment was conducted comparing these display devices to a fixed field of view, unlimited field of regard, full color Helmet-Mounted Display system. Subject pilots flew a visual circling maneuver in IMC at a terrain-challenged airport. The data collected for this experiment is compared to past SVS research studies.

Arthur, J. J., III↗

NASA NTRS2004

Pulsed Lidar Performance/Technical Maturity Assessment

This report describes the results of investigations performed by the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) under a task entitled 'Pulsed Lidar Performance/Technical Maturity Assessment' funded by the Crew Systems Branch of the Airborne Systems Competency at the NASA Langley Research Center. The investigations included two tasks, 1.1(a) and 1.1(b). The Tasks discussed in this report are in support of the NASA Virtual Airspace Modeling and Simulation (VAMS) program and are designed to evaluate a pulsed lidar that will be required for active wake vortex avoidance solutions. The Coherent Technologies, Inc. (CTI) WindTracer LIDAR is an eye-safe, 2-micron, coherent, pulsed Doppler lidar with wake tracking capability. The actual performance of the WindTracer system was to be quantified. In addition, the sensor performance has been assessed and modeled, and the models have been included in simulation efforts. The WindTracer LIDAR was purchased by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for use in near-term field data collection efforts as part of a joint NASA/FAA wake vortex research program. In the joint research program, a minimum common wake and weather data collection platform will be defined. NASA Langley will use the field data to support wake model development and operational concept investigation in support of the VAMS project, where the ultimate goal is to improve airport capacity and safety. Task 1.1(a), performed by NCAR in Boulder, Colorado to analyze the lidar system to determine its performance and capabilities based on results from simulated lidar data with analytic wake vortex models provided by NASA, which were then compared to the vendor's claims for the operational specifications of the lidar. Task 1.1(a) is described in Section 3, including the vortex model, lidar parameters and simulations, and results for both detection and tracking of wake vortices generated by Boeing 737s and 747s. Task 1.1(b) was performed by GTRI in Atlanta, Georgia and is described in Section 4. Task 1.1(b) includes a description of the St. Louis Airport (STL) field test being conducted by the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, and it also addresses the development of a test plan to validate simulation studies conducted as part of Task 1.1(a). Section 4.2 provides a description of the Volpe STL field tests, and Section 4.3 describes 3 possible ways to validate the WindTracer lidar simulations performed in Task 1.1(a).

Gimmestad, Gary G.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Enhanced Images for Checked and Carry-on Baggage and Cargo Screening

The current X-ray systems used by airport security personnel for the detection of contraband, and objects such as knives and guns that can impact the security of a flight, have limited effect because of the limited display quality of the X-ray images. Since the displayed images do not possess optimal contrast and sharpness, it is possible for the security personnel to miss potentially hazardous objects. This problem is also common to other disciplines such as medical Xrays, and can be mitigated, to a large extent, by the use of state-of-the-art image processing techniques to enhance the contrast and sharpness of the displayed image. The NASA Langley Research Center's Visual Information Processing Group has developed an image enhancement technology that has direct applications to this problem of inadequate display quality. Airport security X-ray imaging systems would benefit considerably by using this novel technology, making the task of the personnel who have to interpret the X-ray images considerably easier, faster, and more reliable. This improvement would translate into more accurate screening as well as minimizing the screening time delays to airline passengers. This technology, Retinex, has been optimized for consumer applications but has been applied to medical X-rays on a very preliminary basis. The resultant technology could be incorporated into a new breed of commercial x-ray imaging systems which would be transparent to the screener yet allow them to see subtle detail much more easily, reducing the amount of time needed for screening while greatly increasing the effectiveness of contraband detection and thus public safety.

Woodell, Glenn↗

NASA NTRS2001

Aviation System Capacity Program Terminal Area Productivity Project: Ground and Airborne Technologies

Ground and airborne technologies were developed in the Terminal Area Productivity (TAP) project for increasing throughput at major airports by safely maintaining good-weather operating capacity during bad weather. Methods were demonstrated for accurately predicting vortices to prevent wake-turbulence encounters and to reduce in-trail separation requirements for aircraft approaching the same runway for landing. Technology was demonstrated that safely enabled independent simultaneous approaches in poor weather conditions to parallel runways spaced less than 3,400 ft apart. Guidance, control, and situation-awareness systems were developed to reduce congestion in airport surface operations resulting from the increased throughput, particularly during night and instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). These systems decreased runway occupancy time by safely and smoothly decelerating the aircraft, increasing taxi speed, and safely steering the aircraft off the runway. Simulations were performed in which optimal trajectories were determined by air traffic control (ATC) and communicated to flight crews by means of Center TRACON Automation System/Flight Management System (CTASFMS) automation to reduce flight delays, increase throughput, and ensure flight safety.

Giulianetti, Demo J.↗

NASA NTRS2004

The NASA Aircraft VOrtex Spacing System (AVOSS): Concept Demonstration Results and Future Direction

Since the late 1990s the national airspace system has been recognized as approaching a capacity crisis. In the light of this condition, industry, government, user organizations, and educational institutions have been working on procedural and technological solutions to the problem. One aspect of system operations that holds potential for improvement is the separation criteria applied to aircraft for wake vortex avoidance. These criteria, applied when operations are conducted under instrument flight rules (IFR), were designed to represent safe spacing under weather conditions conducive to the longest wake hazards. It is well understood that wake behavior is dependent on meteorological conditions as well as the physical parameters of the generating aircraft. Under many ambient conditions, such as moderate crosswinds or turbulence, wake hazard durations are substantially reduced. To realize this reduction NASA has developed a proof-of-concept Aircraft VOrtex Spacing System (AVOSS). Successfully demonstrated in a realtime field demonstration during July 2000 at the Dallas Ft. Worth International Airport (DFW), AVOSS is a novel integration of weather sensors, wake sensors, and analytical wake prediction algorithms. AVOSS provides dynamic wake separation criteria that are a function of the ambient weather conditions for a particular airport, and the predicted wake behavior under those conditions. Wake sensing subsystems provide safety checks and validation for the predictions. The AVOSS was demonstrated in shadow mode; no actual spacing changes were applied to aircraft. This paper briefly reviews the system architecture and operation, reports the latest performance results from the DFW deployment, and describes the future direction of the project.

Rutishauser, David K.↗

NASA NTRS2000

NASA's Subsonic Jet Transport Noise Reduction Research

Although new jet transport airplanes in today s fleet are considerably quieter than the first jet transports introduced about 40 years ago, airport community noise continues to be an important environmental issue. NASA s Advanced Subsonic Transport (AST) Noise Reduction program was begun in 1994 as a seven-year effort to develop technology to reduce jet transport noise 10 dB relative to 1992 technology. This program provides for reductions in engine source noise, improvements in nacelle acoustic treatments, reductions in the noise generated by the airframe, and improvements in the way airplanes are operated in the airport environs. These noise reduction efforts will terminate at the end of 2001 and it appears that the objective will be met. However, because of an anticipated 3-8% growth in passenger and cargo operations well into the 21st Century and the slow introduction of new the noise reduction technology into the fleet, world aircraft noise impact will remain essentially constant until about 2020 to 2030 and thereafter begin to rise. Therefore NASA has begun planning with the Federal Aviation Administration, industry, universities and environmental interest groups in the USA for a new noise reduction initiative to provide technology for significant further reductions.

Powell, Clemans A.↗

NASA NTRS1996

Reduction of Weather-Related Terminal Area Delays in the Free-Flight Era

While much of the emphasis of the free-flight movement has been concentrated on reducing en-route delays, airport capacity is a major bottleneck in the current airspace system, particularly during bad weather. According to the Air Transport Association (ATA) Air Carrier Delay Reports, ground delays (gate-hold, taxi-in, and taxi-out) comprise 75 percent of total delays. It is likely that the projected steady growth in traffic will only exacerbate these losses. Preliminary analyses show that implementation of the terminal area technologies and procedures under development in NASA s Terminal Area Productivity program can potentially save the airlines at least $350M annually in weather-related delays by the year 2005 at Boston Logan and Detroit airports alone. This paper briefly describes the Terminal Area Productivity program, outlines the costhenefit analyses that are being conducted in support of the program, and presents some preliminary analysis results.

Johnson, Sally C.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Small Aircraft Transportation System, Higher Volume Operations Concept: Normal Operations

This document defines the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS), Higher Volume Operations (HVO) concept for normal conditions. In this concept, a block of airspace would be established around designated non-towered, non-radar airports during periods of poor weather. Within this new airspace, pilots would take responsibility for separation assurance between their aircraft and other similarly equipped aircraft. Using onboard equipment and procedures, they would then approach and land at the airport. Departures would be handled in a similar fashion. The details for this operational concept are provided in this document.

Abbott, Terence S.↗

NASA NTRS2001

The Development of the Multi-Center Traffic Management Advisor (MCTMA): Traffic Flow Management Research in a Multi-Facility Environment

The Traffic Management Advisor (TMA) is a decision-support tool for traffic managers and air traffic controllers that provides traffic flow visualization and other flow management tools. TMA creates an efficiently sequenced and safely spaced schedule for arrival traffic that meets but does not exceed specified airspace system constraints. TMA is being deployed at selected facilities throughout the National Airspace System in the US as part of the FAA's Free Flight Phase 1 program. TMA development and testing, and its current deployment, focuses on managing the arrival capacity for single major airports within single terminal areas and single en route centers. The next phase of development for this technology is the expansion of the TMA capability to complex facilities in which a terminal area or airport is fed by multiple en route centers, thus creating a multicenter TMA functionality. The focus of the multi-center TMA (McTMA) development is on the busy facilities in the Northeast comdor of the US. This paper describes the planning and development of McTMA and the challenges associated with adapting a successful traffic flow management tool for a very complex airspace.

Lee, Katharine K.↗

NASA NTRS2001

Historical Overview of Research on Lift-Generated Vortex Wakes

A historical overview is presented of research conducted on the structure and modification of the vortices generated by the lifting surfaces of subsonic transport aircraft. Although primarily presented from an experimental point of view, the use of relatively compact theoretical formulations and concepts are used to indicate the progress made. It is pointed out that the first objective of the research is to reduce the magnitude of the hazard potential posed by the wakes of aircraft by modifying the aerodynamics of the wake-generating aircraft. A secondary objective is to develop the technology that will make it possible to safely avoid vortex wakes in the airport environment for increased capacity. If either or both objectives are achieved, the hazard posed by vortex wakes should have a greatly reduced impact on the operational capacity of airports for landings and takeoffs. Since a satisfactory solution to either of these two goals have not yet been achieved, the last part of the presentation will be devoted to a discussion of some requirements that have been placed on any prospective solution to either goal, if is to be acceptable. The material to be used in the presentation is published in the open literature.

Rossow, Vernon J.↗

NASA NTRS2001

Historical Overview of Research on Lift-Generated Vortex Wakes

Rossow, Vernon J.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Cold Aero Performance of a Two-Dimensional Mixer Ejector Nozzle

Since 1986, NASA and the U.S. aerospace industry have been assessing the economic viability and environmental acceptability of a second-generation supersonic civil transport, or High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT). Environmental acceptability in terms of airport community noise and economic viability are critical elements in this endeavor. Development of a propulsion system that satisfies strict airport noise regulations (FAR36 Stage III levels), at acceptable performance and weight, is critical to the success of any HSCT program. Two-dimensional mixer-ejector (2DME) exhaust systems are one approach in achieving this goal. In support of HSCT development, GEAE (GE Aircraft Engines), under contract to the NASA Glenn Research Center, conducted this test program at the NASA Langley 16 ft transonic wind tunnel to evaluate the cold aerodynamic performance aspects of the 2DME exhaust system concept. The effects of SAR (SAR, suppressor area ratio, = mixed-flow area/primary nozzle throat area), MAR (MAR = overall exhaust system exit/mixing-plane area), flap length, CER (suppressor chute expansion ratio), chute alignment, and free stream Mach number were investigated on a 1/11th cold aerodynamic scale model of a 2DME exhaust system.

Balan, C.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Wake Vortex Advisory System (WakeVAS) Evaluation of Impacts on the National Airspace System

This report is one of a series that describes an ongoing effort in high-fidelity modeling/simulation, evaluation and analysis of the benefits and performance metrics of the Wake Vortex Advisory System (WakeVAS) Concept of Operations being developed as part of the Virtual Airspace Modeling and Simulation (VAMS) project. A previous study, determined the overall increases in runway arrival rates that could be achieved at 12 selected airports due to WakeVAS reduced aircraft spacing under Instrument Meteorological Conditions. This study builds on the previous work to evaluate the NAS wide impacts of equipping various numbers of airports with WakeVAS. A queuing network model of the National Airspace System, built by the Logistics Management Institute, Mclean, VA, for NASA (LMINET) was used to estimate the reduction in delay that could be achieved by using WakeVAS under non-visual meteorological conditions for the projected air traffic demand in 2010. The results from LMINET were used to estimate the total annual delay reduction that could be achieved and from this, an estimate of the air carrier variable operating cost saving was made.

Smith, Jeremy C.↗