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At least 973 records · Page 54

Acceptability of Flight Deck-Based Interval Management Crew Procedures

The Interval Management for Near-term Operations Validation of Acceptability (IM-NOVA) experiment was conducted at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center (LaRC) in support of the NASA Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) Airspace Systems Program's Air Traffic Management Technology Demonstration - 1 (ATD-1). ATD-1 is intended to showcase an integrated set of technologies that provide an efficient arrival solution for managing aircraft using NextGen surveillance, navigation, procedures, and automation for both airborne and ground-based systems. The goal of the IM-NOVA experiment was to assess if procedures outlined by the ATD-1 Concept of Operations, when used with a minimum set of Flight deck-based Interval Management (FIM) equipment and a prototype crew interface, were acceptable to and feasible for use by flight crews in a voice communications environment. To investigate an integrated arrival solution using ground-based air traffic control tools and aircraft automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B) tools, the LaRC FIM system and the Traffic Management Advisor with Terminal Metering and Controller Managed Spacing tools developed at the NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) were integrated in LaRC's Air Traffic Operations Laboratory. Data were collected from 10 crews of current, qualified 757/767 pilots asked to fly a high-fidelity, fixed based simulator during scenarios conducted within an airspace environment modeled on the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) Terminal Radar Approach Control area. The aircraft simulator was equipped with the Airborne Spacing for Terminal Area Routes algorithm and a FIM crew interface consisting of electronic flight bags and ADS-B guidance displays. Researchers used "pseudo-pilot" stations to control 24 simulated aircraft that provided multiple air traffic flows into DFW, and recently retired DFW air traffic controllers served as confederate Center, Feeder, Final, and Tower controllers. Pilot participant feedback indicated that the procedures used by flight crews to receive and execute interval management (IM) clearances in a voice communications environment were logical, easy to follow, did not contain any missing or extraneous steps, and required the use of an acceptable level of workload. The majority of the pilot participants found the IM concept, in addition to the proposed FIM crew procedures, to be acceptable and indicated that the ATD-1 procedures can be successfully executed in a near-term NextGen environment.

Murdock, Jennifer L.↗

A New Look at the GEO and Near-GEO Regimes: Operations, Disposals, and Debris

Since 1963 more than 900 spacecraft and more than 200 launch vehicle upper stages have been inserted into the vicinity of the geosynchronous regime. Equally important, more than 300 spacecraft have been maneuvered into disposal orbits at mission termination to alleviate unnecessary congestion in the finite GEO region. However, the number of GEO satellites continues to grow, and evidence exists of a substantial small debris population. In addition, the operational modes of an increasing number of GEO spacecraft differ from those of their predecessors of several decades ago, including more frequent utilization of inclined and eccentric geosynchronous orbits. Consequently, the nature of the GEO regime and its immediate surroundings is evolving from well-known classical characteristics. This paper takes a fresh look at the GEO satellite population and the near- and far-term environmental implications of the region, including the effects of national and international debris mitigation measures.

Johnson, Nicholas↗

Air Traffic Management Technology Demostration Phase 1 (ATD) Interval Management for Near-Term Operations Validation of Acceptability (IM-NOVA) Experiment

The Interval Management for Near-term Operations Validation of Acceptability (IM-NOVA) experiment was conducted at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center (LaRC) in support of the NASA Airspace Systems Program's Air Traffic Management Technology Demonstration-1 (ATD-1). ATD-1 is intended to showcase an integrated set of technologies that provide an efficient arrival solution for managing aircraft using Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) surveillance, navigation, procedures, and automation for both airborne and ground-based systems. The goal of the IMNOVA experiment was to assess if procedures outlined by the ATD-1 Concept of Operations were acceptable to and feasible for use by flight crews in a voice communications environment when used with a minimum set of Flight Deck-based Interval Management (FIM) equipment and a prototype crew interface. To investigate an integrated arrival solution using ground-based air traffic control tools and aircraft Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) tools, the LaRC FIM system and the Traffic Management Advisor with Terminal Metering and Controller Managed Spacing tools developed at the NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) were integrated into LaRC's Air Traffic Operations Laboratory (ATOL). Data were collected from 10 crews of current 757/767 pilots asked to fly a high-fidelity, fixed-based simulator during scenarios conducted within an airspace environment modeled on the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) Terminal Radar Approach Control area. The aircraft simulator was equipped with the Airborne Spacing for Terminal Area Routes (ASTAR) algorithm and a FIM crew interface consisting of electronic flight bags and ADS-B guidance displays. Researchers used "pseudo-pilot" stations to control 24 simulated aircraft that provided multiple air traffic flows into the DFW International Airport, and recently retired DFW air traffic controllers served as confederate Center, Feeder, Final, and Tower controllers. Analyses of qualitative data revealed that the procedures used by flight crews to receive and execute interval management (IM) clearances in a voice communications environment were logical, easy to follow, did not contain any missing or extraneous steps, and required the use of an acceptable workload level. The majority of the pilot participants found the IM concept, in addition to the proposed FIM crew procedures, to be acceptable and indicated that the ATD-1 procedures could be successfully executed in a nearterm NextGen environment. Analyses of quantitative data revealed that the proposed procedures were feasible for use by flight crews in a voice communications environment. The delivery accuracy at the achieve-by point was within +/-5 sec, and the delivery precision was less than 5 sec. Furthermore, FIM speed commands occurred at a rate of less than one per minute, and pilots found the frequency of the speed commands to be acceptable at all times throughout the experiment scenarios.

Kibler, Jennifer L.↗

Operational Characteristics Identification and Simulation Model Verification for Incheon International Airport

Incheon International Airport (ICN) is one of the hub airports in East Asia. Airport operations at ICN have been growing more than 5% per year in the past five years. According to the current airport expansion plan, a new passenger terminal will be added and the current cargo ramp will be expanded in 2018. This expansion project will bring 77 new stands without adding a new runway to the airport. Due to such continuous growth in airport operations and future expansion of the ramps, it will be highly likely that airport surface traffic will experience more congestion, and therefore, suffer from efficiency degradation. There is a growing awareness in aviation research community of need for strategic and tactical surface scheduling capabilities for efficient airport surface operations. Specific to ICN airport operations, a need for A-CDM (Airport - Collaborative Decision Making) or S-CDM(Surface - Collaborative Decision Making), and controller decision support tools for efficient air traffic management has arisen since several years ago. In the United States, there has been independent research efforts made by academia, industry, and government research organizations to enhance efficiency and predictability of surface operations at busy airports. Among these research activities, the Spot and Runway Departure Advisor (SARDA) developed and tested by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is a decision support tool to provide tactical advisories to the controllers for efficient surface operations. The effectiveness of SARDA concept, was successfully verified through the human-in-the-loop (HITL) simulations for both spot release and runway operations advisories for ATC Tower controllers of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) in 2010 and 2012, and gate pushback advisories for the ramp controller of Charlotte/Douglas International Airport (CLT) in 2014. The SARDA concept for tactical surface scheduling is further enhanced and is being integrated into NASA's Airspace Technology Demonstration - 2 (ATD-2) project for technology demonstration of Integrated Arrival/Departure/Surface (ADS) operations at CLT. This study is a part of the international research collaboration between KAIA (Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement)/KARI (Korea Aerospace Research Institute) and NASA, which is being conducted to validate the effectiveness of SARDA concept as a controller decision support tool for departure and surface management of ICN. This paper presents the preliminary results of the collaboration effort. It includes investigation of the operational environment of ICN, data analysis for identification of the operational characteristics of the airport, construction and verification of airport simulation model using Surface Operations Simulator and Scheduler (SOSS), NASA's fast-time simulation tool.

scheduling↗

Flight demonstration of flight termination system and solid rocket motor ignition using semiconductor laser initiated ordnance

Solid State Laser Initiated Ordnance (LIO) offers new technology having potential for enhanced safety, reduced costs, and improved operational efficiency. Concerns over the absence of programmatic applications of the technology, which has prevented acceptance by flight programs, should be abated since LIO has now been operationally implemented by the Laser Initiated Ordnance Sounding Rocket Demonstration (LOSRD) Program. The first launch of solid state laser diode LIO at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) occurred on March 15, 1995 with all mission objectives accomplished. This project, Phase 3 of a series of three NASA Headquarters LIO demonstration initiatives, accomplished its objective by the flight of a dedicated, all-LIO sounding rocket mission using a two-stage Nike-Orion launch vehicle. LIO flight hardware, made by The Ensign-Bickford Company under NASA's first Cooperative Agreement with Profit Making Organizations, safely initiated three demanding pyrotechnic sequence events, namely, solid rocket motor ignition from the ground and in flight, and flight termination, i.e., as a Flight Termination System (FTS). A flight LIO system was designed, built, tested, and flown to support the objectives of quickly and inexpensively putting LIO through ground and flight operational paces. The hardware was fully qualified for this mission, including component testing as well as a full-scale system test. The launch accomplished all mission objectives in less than 11 months from proposal receipt. This paper concentrates on accomplishments of the ordnance aspects of the program and on the program's implementation and results. While this program does not generically qualify LIO for all applications, it demonstrated the safety, technical, and operational feasibility of those two most demanding applications, using an all solid state safe and arm system in critical flight applications.

Schulze, Norman R.↗

Disentangling core and edge mechanisms of the density limit in DIII-D negative triangularity plasmas

The density limit is investigated in the DIII-D negative triangularity plasmas which lack a standard H-mode edge. We find the limit may not be a singular disruptive boundary but a multifaceted density saturation phenomenon governed by distinct core and edge transport mechanisms. Sustained, non-disruptive operation is achieved at densities up to 1.8 times the Greenwald limit ($n_\mathrm{G}$) until the termination of auxiliary heating. Systematic power scans show distinct power scalings for the core ($n_e \propto P_\mathrm{SOL}^{0.27\pm0.03}$) and edge ($n_e \propto P_\mathrm{SOL}^{0.42\pm0.04}$) density limits. The edge density saturation is triggered by the onset of a non-disruptive, high-field side radiation front and the associated cooling, which clamps the edge density below . In contrast, the core density continues to rise until it saturates, a state characterized by enhanced core turbulence. Core transport evolves from a diffusive to an intermittent, avalanche-like state, as indicated by heavy-tailed probability density functions (kurtosis ≈ 6), increased Hurst exponents, and a $1/f$-type power spectrum. These findings suggest that the density limit in the low-confinement regime is determined by a combination of edge radiative cooling and core turbulent transport. This distinction provides separate targets for control strategies aimed at extending the operational space of future fusion devices.

density limit↗

Overview of Research Transition Products

Demonstrate increased, more consistent use of Performance‐ Based Navigation (PBN). Accelerate transfer of NASA scheduling and spacing technologies for inclusion in late mid‐term NAS. During high‐fidelity human‐in‐the‐loop simulations of Terminal Sequencing and Spacing, air traffic controllers have significantly improved their use of PBN procedures during busy traffic periods without increased workload. Executed an aggressive, short timeframe development schedule. Developed TSS prototype based upon FAA operational systems. Conducted multiple joint FAA/NASA human‐in‐the‐loop simulations. Performed repeated incremental deliveries of tech transfer material to non‐traditional RTT stakeholders. Will continue to participate in later phases of FAA acquisition process. ATD‐1 transferred Terminal Sequencing and Spacing (TSS) technologies to the FAA. TSS enables routine use of underutilized advanced avionics and PBN procedures. Potential benefits to airlines operating at initial TSS sites estimated to be $300‐400M/year. FAA is planning for an initial capability in the NAS in 2018.

Technology Transfer↗

The Conference Proceedings of the 1998 Air Transport Research Group (ATRG) of the WCTR Society

Contents include the following: Airport choice in a multiple airport region: an empirical analysis for the San Francisco bay area. Liberalization of the westeuropian aviation: choice of a new hub airport for an airline. Austin Bergstrom airport traffic control tower establishment of a major activity level tower. A study to optimize the environmental capacity of Amsterdam airport schiphol.Airport performance in stakeholder involvement and communication strategies: a comparison of major Australian and North American air carrier and general aviation airports. Airport planning and location.Location of international airport and regional development. A simulation technique for analysis of Brasilian airport passanger terminal building.Multimodal airport access in Japan. Planning surface access provision at major airports Airline economics and the inclusion of environmental costs on airport hub pricing: a theoretical analysis. Airport financing and user charge systems in the USA. Optimal demand for operating lease of aircraft. Aircraft leasing industry and social welfare.The development of performance indicators for airports: a management perspective. Study about operational effect of the "security check-in" implantation in Brasilian international airports.Austin Bergstrom west loop cable system.and Optimal resource allocation model for airport passanger terminals.

Oum, Tae Hoon↗

Aircraft Design Considerations to Meet One Engine Inoperative (OEI) Safety Requirements

Commercial airlines are obligated to operate such that an aircraft can suffer an engine failure at any point in its mission and terminate the flight without an accident. Only minimal aircraft damage is allowable, such as brake replacement due to very heavy application, or an engine inspection and/or possible removal due to use of an emergency rating. Such performance criteria are often referred to as zero exposure, referring to zero accident exposure to an engine failure. The critical mission segment for meeting one engine inoperative (OEI) criteria is takeoff. For a given weight, wind, and ambient condition, fixed wing aircraft require a balanced field length. This is the longer of the distance to take off if an engine fails at a predetermined critical point in the takeoff profile, or the distance to reject the takeoff and brake to a stop. Rotorcraft have requirements for horizontal takeoff procedures that are equivalent to a balanced field length requirements for fixed wing aircraft. Rotorcraft also perform vertical procedures where no runway or heliport distance is available. These were developed primarily for elevated heliports as found on oil rigs or rooftops. They are also used for ground level operations as might be found at heliports at the end of piers or other confined areas.

Scott, Mark W.↗

High-temperature carbon dioxide capture in a porous material with terminal zinc hydride sites

Carbon capture can mitigate point-source carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions, but hurdles remain that impede the widespread adoption of amine-based technologies. Capturing CO 2 at temperatures closer to those of many industrial exhaust streams (>200°C) is of interest, although metal oxide absorbents that operate at these temperatures typically exhibit sluggish CO 2 absorption kinetics and instability to cycling. Here, in this study, we report a porous metal–organic framework featuring terminal zinc hydride sites that reversibly bind CO 2 at temperatures above 200°C—conditions that are unprecedented for intrinsically porous materials. Gas adsorption, structural, spectroscopic, and computational analyses elucidate the rapid, reversible nature of this transformation. Extended cycling and breakthrough analyses reveal that the material is capable of deep carbon capture at low CO 2 concentrations and high temperatures relevant to postcombustion capture.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Airborne Precision Spacing for Dependent Parallel Operations Interface Study

This paper describes a usability study of proposed cockpit interfaces to support Airborne Precision Spacing (APS) operations for aircraft performing dependent parallel approaches (DPA). NASA has proposed an airborne system called Pair Dependent Speed (PDS) which uses their Airborne Spacing for Terminal Arrival Routes (ASTAR) algorithm to manage spacing intervals. Interface elements were designed to facilitate the input of APS-DPA spacing parameters to ASTAR, and to convey PDS system information to the crew deemed necessary and/or helpful to conduct the operation, including: target speed, guidance mode, target aircraft depiction, and spacing trend indication. In the study, subject pilots observed recorded simulations using the proposed interface elements in which the ownship managed assigned spacing intervals from two other arriving aircraft. Simulations were recorded using the Aircraft Simulation for Traffic Operations Research (ASTOR) platform, a medium-fidelity simulator based on a modern Boeing commercial glass cockpit. Various combinations of the interface elements were presented to subject pilots, and feedback was collected via structured questionnaires. The results of subject pilot evaluations show that the proposed design elements were acceptable, and that preferable combinations exist within this set of elements. The results also point to potential improvements to be considered for implementation in future experiments.

Volk, Paul M.↗

Implementing the Mars Science Laboratory Terminal Descent Sensor Field Test Campaign

Overall, the MSL TDS Field Test campaign was very successful. TDS was shown to perform extremely well over the required operational envelope. Early BB TDS field tests uncovered a number of issues, but none that invalidated the TDS design or implementation. EM TDS tests uncovered minor things of interest, but nothing of concern. Value of testing hardware in the field was demonstrated and significantly contributed to the overall TDS V&V effort. Over the 5-plus year field test campaign, numerous lessons were learned that will inform future field test efforts.

Terminal Descent Sensor↗

Operational Characteristics Identification and Simulation Model Verification for Incheon International Airport

Incheon International Airport (ICN) is one of the hub airports in East Asia. Airport operations at ICN have been growing more than 5 percent per year in the past five years. According to the current airport expansion plan, a new passenger terminal will be added and the current cargo ramp will be expanded in 2018. This expansion project will bring 77 new stands without adding a new runway to the airport. Due to such continuous growth in airport operations and future expansion of the ramps, it will be highly likely that airport surface traffic will experience more congestion, and therefore, suffer from efficiency degradation. There is a growing awareness in aviation research community of need for strategic and tactical surface scheduling capabilities for efficient airport surface operations. Specific to ICN airport operations, a need for A-CDM (Airport - Collaborative Decision Making) or S-CDM (Surface - Collaborative Decision Making), and controller decision support tools for efficient air traffic management has arisen since several years ago. In the United States, there has been independent research efforts made by academia, industry, and government research organizations to enhance efficiency and predictability of surface operations at busy airports. Among these research activities, the Spot and Runway Departure Advisor (SARDA) developed and tested by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is a decision support tool to provide tactical advisories to the controllers for efficient surface operations. The effectiveness of SARDA concept, was successfully verified through the human-in-the-loop (HITL) simulations for both spot release and runway operations advisories for ATC Tower controllers of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) in 2010 and 2012, and gate pushback advisories for the ramp controller of Charlotte-Douglas International Airport (CLT) in 2014. The SARDA concept for tactical surface scheduling is further enhanced and is being integrated into NASA's Airspace Technology Demonstration-2 (ATD-2) project for technology demonstration of Integrated Arrival-Departure-Surface (IADS) operations at CLT. This study is a part of the international research collaboration between KAIA (Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement), KARI (Korea Aerospace Research Institute) and NASA, which is being conducted to validate the effectiveness of SARDA concept as a controller decision support tool for departure and surface management of ICN. This paper presents the preliminary results of the collaboration effort. It includes investigation of the operational environment of ICN, data analysis for identification of the operational characteristics of the airport, construction and verification of airport simulation model using Surface Operations Simulator and Scheduler (SOSS), NASA's fast-time simulation tool.

surface operations analysis↗

Study of the application of advanced technologies to long range transport aircraft. Volume 2: Advanced technology program recommendations

The benefits of the application of advanced technology to future transport aircraft were investigated. The noise reduction goals established by the CARD (Civil Aviation Research and Development) study for the 1981-1985 time period can be satisfied. Reduced terminal area and airway congestion can result from use of advanced on-board systems and operating procedures. The use of advanced structural design concepts can result in greatly reduced gross weight and improved operating economics. The full potential of these benefits can be realized in a 1985 airplane by implementing a research and development program that is funded to an average level of approximately $55 million per year over a ten year period.

Source record↗

Information processing requirements for on-board monitoring of automatic landing

A systematic procedure is presented for determining the information processing requirements for on-board monitoring of automatic landing systems. The monitoring system detects landing anomalies through use of appropriate statistical tests. The time-to-correct aircraft perturbations is determined from covariance analyses using a sequence of suitable aircraft/autoland/pilot models. The covariance results are used to establish landing safety and a fault recovery operating envelope via an event outcome tree. This procedure is demonstrated with examples using the NASA Terminal Configured Vehicle (B-737 aircraft). The procedure can also be used to define decision height, assess monitoring implementation requirements, and evaluate alternate autoland configurations.

Sorensen, J. A.↗

Thermal performance of shaft bearing system

Computer program calculates loads, torques, temperature, and fatigue life of multibearing shaft system operating with either wet or dry friction. Program is also capable of predicting system reactive to termination of lubricant supply to bearings and other lubricated mechanical elements.

Crecelius, W.↗

VAS operational procedures and results at the Kansas City Satellite Field Services Station

An operational assessment of VAS data by using a Man-computer Interactive Data Access System (McIDAS) terminal linked by a 9600 band telephone line is discussed. Seven hours of VAS data were processed and edited daily. Data was scheduled 16 hours a day, 7 days a week; however, during this time period there were very few days with 16 hours of data to evalute. The McIDAS terminal, which has 10 display frames and 5 graphics, provide access to the sounding data processed. These data are processed using two procedures. The dwell sounding data are generated by using all 12 spectral channels with a spin budget of 39. To provide coverage for most of the United States, soundings are made starting at 18 minutes after the hour from approximately 49 deg N to 36 deg N and at 48 minutes after the hour from 36 deg N to 26 deg N. The dwell imaging mode uses 11 channels but the spin budge is 17. With the reduced spin budget, retrievals can be made at 18 or 48 minutes after the hour for approximately 44 deg N to 27 deg N. With these constraints a schedule, of data sets was proposed to use the schedule and how the data set could be used are shown.

Heckman, B.↗

Wind-Tunnel-Model Leak-Checking System

Voice-actuated system allows one operator to do work of three. System uses voice-recognition-and-response unit and graphics terminal to interact with technician and to provide technician visual feedback. Computer-based Leakcheck system allows computer to do more of total work in checking model for leaks to reduce time and manpower required to perform task.

Larson, W. E.↗