Airborne Four-Dimensional Flight Management in a Time-based Air Traffic Control Environment

Advanced Air Traffic Control (ATC) systems are being developed which contain time-based (4D) trajectory predictions of aircraft. Airborne flight management systems (FMS) exist or are being developed with similar 4D trajectory generation capabilities. Differences between the ATC generated profiles and those generated by the airborne 4D FMS may introduce system problems. A simulation experiment was conducted to explore integration of a 4D equipped aircraft into a 4D ATC system. The NASA Langley Transport Systems Research Vehicle cockpit simulator was linked in real time to the NASA Ames Descent Advisor ATC simulation for this effort. Candidate procedures for handling 4D equipped aircraft were devised and traffic scenarios established which required time delays absorbed through speed control alone or in combination with path stretching. Dissimilarities in 4D speed strategies between airborne and ATC generated trajectories were tested in these scenarios. The 4D procedures and FMS operation were well received by airline pilot test subjects, who achieved an arrival accuracy at the metering fix of 2.9 seconds standard deviation time error. The amount and nature of the information transmitted during a time clearance were found to be somewhat of a problem using the voice radio communication channel. Dissimilarities between airborne and ATC-generated speed strategies were found to be a problem when the traffic remained on established routes. It was more efficient for 4D equipped aircraft to fly trajectories with similar, though less fuel efficient, speeds which conform to the ATC strategy. Heavy traffic conditions, where time delays forced off-route path stretching, were found to produce a potential operational benefit of the airborne 4D FMS

Piloted simulation of an air-ground profile negotiation process in a time-based Air Traffic Control environment

Historically, development of airborne flight management systems (FMS) and ground-based air traffic control (ATC) systems has tended to focus on different objectives with little consideration for operational integration. A joint program, between NASA's Ames Research Center (Ames) and Langley Research Center (Langley), is underway to investigate the issues of, and develop systems for, the integration of ATC and airborne automation systems. A simulation study was conducted to evaluate a profile negotiation process (PNP) between the Center/TRACON Automation System (CTAS) and an aircraft equipped with a four-dimensional flight management system (4D FMS). Prototype procedures were developed to support the functional implementation of this process. The PNP was designed to provide an arrival trajectory solution which satisfies the separation requirements of ATC while remaining as close as possible to the aircraft's preferred trajectory. Results from the experiment indicate the potential for successful incorporation of aircraft-preferred arrival trajectories in the CTAS automation environment. Fuel savings on the order of 2 percent to 8 percent, compared to fuel required for the baseline CTAS arrival speed strategy, were achieved in the test scenarios. The data link procedures and clearances developed for this experiment, while providing the necessary functionality, were found to be operationally unacceptable to the pilots. In particular, additional pilot control and understanding of the proposed aircraft-preferred trajectory, and a simplified clearance procedure were cited as necessary for operational implementation of the concept

Palynology, vegetation and climate of the Waikato lowlands, North Island, New Zealand, since c. 18,000 years ago

The vegetational and climatic history of the Waikato lowlands during the last c. 18,000 years is inferred from the palynology of sediment cores from Lakes Rotomanuka, Rotokauri, and Okoroire. Intra- and inter-lake correlations were aided by multiple tephra layers interbedded with the lake sediments. The detailed chronological resolution given by these tephra sequences shows that late glacial-post glacial vegetational and climatic changes were nearly simultaneous throughout the Waikato lowlands

RSM 1.0 user's guide: A resupply scheduler using integer optimization

The Resupply Scheduling Model (RSM) is a PC based, fully menu-driven computer program. It uses integer programming techniques to determine an optimum schedule to replace components on or before a fixed replacement period, subject to user defined constraints such as transportation mass and volume limits or available repair crew time. Principal input for RSJ includes properties such as mass and volume and an assembly sequence. Resource constraints are entered for each period corresponding to the component properties. Though written to analyze the electrical power system on the Space Station Freedom, RSM is quite general and can be used to model the resupply of almost any system subject to user defined resource constraints. Presented here is a step by step procedure for preparing the input, performing the analysis, and interpreting the results. Instructions for installing the program and information on the algorithms are given

Constructing A Flexible Likelihood Function For Spectroscopic Inference

We present a modular, extensible likelihood framework for spectroscopic inference based on synthetic model spectra. The subtraction of an imperfect model from a continuously sampled spectrum introduces covariance between adjacent datapoints (pixels) into the residual spectrum. For the high signal-to-noise data with large spectral range that is commonly employed in stellar astrophysics, that covariant structure can lead to dramatically underestimated parameter uncertainties (and, in some cases, biases). We construct a likelihood function that accounts for the structure of the covariance matrix, utilizing the machinery of Gaussian process kernels. This framework specifically address the common problem of mismatches in model spectral line strengths (with respect to data) due to intrinsic model imperfections (e.g., in the atomic/molecular databases or opacity prescriptions) by developing a novel local covariance kernel formalism that identifies and self-consistently downweights pathological spectral line "outliers." By fitting many spectra in a hierarchical manner, these local kernels provide a mechanism to learn about and build data-driven corrections to synthetic spectral libraries. An open-source software implementation of this approach is available at http://iancze.github.io/Starfish, including a sophisticated probabilistic scheme for spectral interpolation when using model libraries that are sparsely sampled in the stellar parameters. We demonstrate some salient features of the framework by fitting the high resolution $V$-band spectrum of WASP-14, an F5 dwarf with a transiting exoplanet, and the moderate resolution $K$-band spectrum of Gliese 51, an M5 field dwarf.Comment: Accepted to ApJ. Incorporated referees' comments. New figures 1, 8, 10, 12, and 14. Supplemental website: http://iancze.github.io/Starfish

Measuring Academic Integrity Perceptions and the Correlation with Ethical Reasoning

Here we share findings of student and faculty perceptions of academic integrity practices at two institutions, gaps between these perceptions, and how these perceptions may correlate with markers of ethical engineering identity formation. We hypothesize that a climate of informed ethical practices surrounding academic integrity supports higher levels of student outcomes on an ethical reasoning assessment. As part of this mixed methods study, engineering students indicated their perceptions via a confidential survey of how well faculty fulfill several best practices for supporting academic integrity: articulating clear policies, preventing cheating, and promoting the value of integrity in class. Students also self-reported their perceived achievement of ethical reasoning and what value they place on it. Student responses are compared with performance on an objective ethical-reasoning exam which involves applying a code of ethics to multiple-choice problems that are modeled after licensing exam ethics questions. Engineering faculty indicated via an anonymized survey and individual interviews their perceptions of how well they fulfill the same best practices for supporting academic integrity as referenced above. Faculty also shared perceptions of the achievement level of student ethical reasoning and what value students place upon it. The gap of student vs. faculty perceptions is compared with student performance on the objective ethical-reasoning exam at one institution. We expected larger perception gaps would correlate to lower ethical reasoning performance. Although our data is not sufficient to support the hypothesis, the results contribute significantly to further investigation and future academic integrity work. Future work beyond the scope of this paper will seek to lower the perception gap by identifying and motivating better faculty support for student academic integrity, which is hoped to lead to higher student outcomes. The work reported in this paper is designed to assess needs and serve as the background to launch future changes in academic integrity education and practices within the two Engineering Schools studied

Cluster, Classify, Regress: A General Method For Learning Discountinous Functions

This paper presents a method for solving the supervised learning problem in which the output is highly nonlinear and discontinuous. It is proposed to solve this problem in three stages: (i) cluster the pairs of input-output data points, resulting in a label for each point; (ii) classify the data, where the corresponding label is the output; and finally (iii) perform one separate regression for each class, where the training data corresponds to the subset of the original input-output pairs which have that label according to the classifier. It has not yet been proposed to combine these 3 fundamental building blocks of machine learning in this simple and powerful fashion. This can be viewed as a form of deep learning, where any of the intermediate layers can itself be deep. The utility and robustness of the methodology is illustrated on some toy problems, including one example problem arising from simulation of plasma fusion in a tokamak.Comment: 12 files,6 figure

The Standard Model on a D-brane

We present a consistent string theory model which reproduces the Standard Model, consisting of a D3-brane at a simple orbifold singularity. We study some simple features of the phenomenology of the model. We find that the scale of stringy physics must be in the multi-TeV range. There are natural hierarchies in the fermion spectrum and there are several possible experimental signatures of the model.Comment: 8 pages Latex, 1 fig. v2: discussion improved, added new reference

Consortium and Workers’ Compensation: The Demolition of Consortium

The article discusses issues on spousal consortium claims and workers\u27 compensation in the U.S., including the aspects of compensation for accidental injuries and tort claims