Effects of Surveillance Range on the Corrective Alert Duration
This presentation shows the C20+C21 metric, an DAA alerting metric, under various radar field of views and as a function of ownship and intruder categories.
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This presentation shows the C20+C21 metric, an DAA alerting metric, under various radar field of views and as a function of ownship and intruder categories.
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There is an increasing interest in applying methods based on Machine Learning Techniques (MLT) to problems in Air Traffic Management (ATM). The current interest is based on developments in Cloud Computing, the availability of open software and the success of MLT in automation, consumer behavior and finance involving large databases. This paper reviews the current-state-of-the art in applying MLT to aviation operations, its promises and challenges. Historically aviation operations have been analyzed using physics-based models and provide information for making operational decisions. Aviation operations involving many decision makers, multiple objectives, poor or unavailable physics-based models and a rich historical database are prime candidates for analysis using data-driven methods. The promises and challenges in applying MLT to ATM is traced through three examples based on the authors’ experience, each separated by a decade, to show the influence of data and feature selection in the successful application of MLT to ATM. As always, the best approach depends on the task, the physical understanding of the problem and the quality and quantity of the available data.
These appendices analyze the alerting timeline and pop-up intruders resulting from the air-to-air finite radar's field of regard.
This document details the impact of the EO/IR sensor's noise on the performance of a detect-and-avoid system.
In the 21st Century, new aviation markets, vehicle types, and technologies are fast emerging, inspiring new operational concepts for the National Airspace System such as Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management and Urban Air Mobility. These novel operations envision a dramatic increase in aerial mobility, or the ability to navigate freely through the airspace with unprecedented access and operational flexibility. Implementing these concepts presents a major challenge to the existing operational modes of Visual Flight Rules (VFR) and Instrument Flight Rules (IFR), developed under the limitations of early 20th Century technology and procedures to ensure safe navigation and separation from traffic. To meet this challenge and to support the needs of operators in the 21st Century and beyond, this paper proposes that VFR and IFR be augmented by new flight rules – Digital Flight Rules (DFR) – that leverage modern and emerging technologies and are not bound by restrictions borne of the state of technology 75-100 years ago. The objective of DFR is to provide safe and unfettered access to the airspace to all participating vehicle operators under all visibility conditions without incurring the limitations in operational flexibility inherent to IFR and even VFR. Advancements in communications, navigation, surveillance, aircraft connectivity, information access, automation technology, and supporting ground infrastructure provide the opportunity for the vehicle operator to engage at an unprecedented level in managing their flights regardless of flight visibility. Under DFR, these advancements enable the vehicle operator to assume full responsibility for traffic separation and therefore full trajectory management authority in all visibility conditions and airspace regions. The changes in roles and responsibilities are expected to enable greater airspace access and operational flexibility than afforded by IFR and VFR, thus enabling the emergence of new operations and a new era of advanced aerial mobility.
This report documents a closed-loop analysis of an DAA system using a Electro/Optical sensor model. Safety and operational suitability metrics are computed. Results show that the safety metrics are most sensitive to the angular rate accuracy of the intruder aircraft. Trade-off between safety and operationl suitability metrics is discussed. Results from this work directly inform the requirements of an electro/optical sensors for detect-and-avoid.
In the 21st Century, new aviation markets, vehicle types, and technologies are fast emerging, inspiring new operational concepts for the National Airspace System such as Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management and Urban Air Mobility. These novel operations envision a dramatic increase in aerial mobility, or the ability to navigate freely through the airspace with unprecedented access and operational flexibility. Implementing these concepts presents a major challenge to the existing operational modes of Visual Flight Rules (VFR) and Instrument Flight Rules (IFR), developed under the limitations of early 20th Century technology and procedures to ensure safe navigation and separation from traffic. To meet this challenge and to support the needs of operators in the 21st Century and beyond, this paper proposes that VFR and IFR be augmented by new flight rules – Digital Flight Rules (DFR) – that leverage modern and emerging technologies and are not bound by restrictions borne of the state of technology 75-100 years ago. The objective of DFR is to provide safe and unfettered access to the airspace to all participating vehicle operators under all visibility conditions without incurring the limitations in operational flexibility inherent to IFR and even VFR. Advancements in communications, navigation, surveillance, aircraft connectivity, information access, automation technology, and supporting ground infrastructure provide the opportunity for the vehicle operator to engage at an unprecedented level in managing their flights regardless of flight visibility. Under DFR, these advancements enable the vehicle operator to assume full responsibility for traffic separation and therefore full trajectory management authority in all visibility conditions and airspace regions. The changes in roles and responsibilities are expected to enable greater airspace access and operational flexibility than afforded by IFR and VFR, thus enabling the emergence of new operations and a new era of advanced aerial mobility.
The UAM Airspace research roadmap defined herein is expected to be an important tool for the execution of NASA’s research over the next ten years, with the goal of evolving UAM airspace to UML-4. It provides a basis for prioritizing and coordinating research efforts, and for integrating results that build towards NASA’s research goals. The roadmap also has the potential to serve as a focal point for ongoing and continuous deliberation, as has been the case during its development. It naturally attracts questions and feedback that are beneficial to overall understanding, which is key to NASA’s leadership in defining the airspace of the future.
Description of FACET and it's capabilities associated with the patent.
The UAM Airspace research roadmap is being developed as a new System Engineering methodology leveraging Model Based System Engineering (MBSE) capabilities to help organize, integrate, and communicate NASA's UAM airspace research, with the goal of evolving UAM airspace to UML-4. It provides a basis for prioritizing and coordinating research efforts, and for integrating results that build towards NASA’s research goals. Version 1.2 is a development version of the roadmap, shared publicly to serve as a focal point for discussion and feedback leading to a future baselined version (v2.0). This version supersedes earlier publications, and will be superseded itself by later versions.
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The Digital Information Sub-project will hold a Technical Interchange Meeting (TIM) with JetBlue Airways to discuss potential collaboration opportunities as well as discuss upcoming NASA-led demonstrations. This interchange meeting will solicit feedback from JetBlue for consideration of the sub-project in upcoming development and to encourage future participation and collaboration.
The UAM Airspace research roadmap is being developed as a new System Engineering methodology leveraging Model Based System Engineering (MBSE) capabilities to help organize, integrate, and communicate NASA's UAM airspace research, with the goal of evolving UAM airspace to UML-4. It provides a basis for prioritizing and coordinating research efforts, and for integrating results that build towards NASA’s research goals. Version 2.0 is a baseline version of the roadmap, shared publicly to serve as a focal point for discussion and feedback. This version supersedes earlier publications, and will be superseded itself by later versions.
As electric vertical takeoff and landing air taxis make their way to urban airspace operations within the United States National Airspace System, many research efforts are underway to identify and understand pertinent issues needed to support the influx of new, passenger-carrying, air vehicles over highly dense, urban communities. The primary focus of the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Pilot/Provider of Services for UAM Information Exchange and Contingency Airspace Management Procedures study was to gather subjective data from subject matter experts concerning current-day airspace operations to identify potential gaps and improvements needed to support and sustain near-term UAM operations. These potential gaps and improvements will form the foundation for the development of initial information exchange requirements between the on-board pilot in command and other key entities. This paper focuses on the in-flight incapacitated pilot scenario from Phase I of the study, which gathered data from helicopter and general aviation fixed-wing pilots.
As electric vertical takeoff and landing air taxis make their way to urban airspace operations within the United States National Airspace System, many research efforts are underway to identify and understand pertinent issues needed to support the influx of new, passenger-carrying, air vehicles over highly dense, urban communities. The primary focus of the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Pilot/Provider of Services for UAM Information Exchange and Contingency Airspace Management Procedures study was to gather subjective data from subject matter experts concerning current-day airspace operations to identify potential gaps and improvements needed to support and sustain near-term UAM operations. These potential gaps and improvements will form the foundation for the development of initial information exchange requirements between the on-board pilot in command and other key entities. This paper focuses on the in-flight incapacitated pilot scenario from Phase I of the study, which gathered data from helicopter and general aviation fixed-wing pilots.
As the concept of on-demand electric air taxis gains popularity and begins to take shape, many research efforts are underway to address the challenges of integrating this new class of passenger-carrying air vehicles into the already congested U.S. National Airspace System. Through collaborations between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Federal Aviation Administration, and industry, this concept, commonly referred to as Urban Air Mobility (UAM), envisions a safe, reliable, and efficient mode of transportation traversing metropolitan and urban areas. Among the many challenges being tackled, airspace procedures and information requirements are critical areas of research that need to be addressed. In a joint effort between NASA and Joby Aviation, a human-in-the-loop study was conducted at the NASA Ames Research Center to evaluate initial and midterm operations with air traffic controllers and on-board UAM pilots in the Dallas area. This area was chosen due to its complex Class Bravo Airspace that extends to the surface over a relatively large area. To achieve the goals and objectives of the study, multiple preceding efforts were conducted to develop the candidate procedures and information requirements. This paper provides an overview of the operational concept used for the study, the process that was followed, and the findings from the two tabletop meetings and a shakedown activity. The combination of these led to a set of airspace procedures, letters of agreement, and information requirements that were evaluated in the human-inthe-loop study.
The primary contribution of this paper is an initial analysis of integrating digitally enabled cooperative operations (or digital operations for short) with Visual Flight Rules (VFR) and Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations in the terminal airspace around a Class D airport, specifically around Fort Worth Alliance airport (KAFW). Enabled by connected digital technologies and automated information exchange, digital operations as envisioned would utilize cooperative practices and operator-responsible separation to ensure safety. In the present study, three conflict management configurations for digital operations were analyzed: 1) centralized with a single instance of a conflict management service to model a scenario with only one fleet operator conducting digital operations or all fleet operators utilizing the same service, 2) federated with two different instances to model a scenario with two different fleet operators conducting digital operations, and 3) fully distributed with a different instance for each digital operation. In simulations in which recorded tracks for VFR and IFR operations were played back and digital operations were modeled that would nominally arrive at KAFW once every 20 minutes (given no conflict resolution maneuvers), there were one or fewer losses of separation (LOS) across the three conflict management configurations. The same result was seen in simulations in which digital operations would nominally arrive at KAFW once every 10 minutes. However, in simulations in which digital operations would nominally arrive at KAFW once every 5 minutes, the number of LOS ranged between six and ten. This highlights the need for follow-on research to investigate the extent to which additional capabilities for digital operations, such as complexity management and/or flow organization, may be needed.