Visual Data Comm: A Tool for Visualizing Data Communication in the Multi Sector Planner Study

Data comm is a new technology proposed in future air transport system as a potential tool to provide comprehensive data connectivity. It is a key enabler to manage 4D trajectory digitally, potentially resulting in improved flight times and increased throughput. Future concepts with data comm integration have been tested in a number of human-in-the-loop studies but analyzing the results has proven to be particularly challenging because future traffic environment in which data comm is fully enabled has assumed high traffic density, resulting in data set with large amount of information. This paper describes the motivation, design, current and potential future application of Visual Data Comm (VDC), a tool for visualizing data developed in Java using Processing library which is a tool package designed for interactive visualization programming. This paper includes an example of an application of VDC on data pertaining to the most recent Multi Sector Planner study, conducted at NASA s Airspace Operations Laboratory in 2009, in which VDC was used to visualize and interpret data comm activitie

User Selection Criteria of Airspace Designs in Flexible Airspace Management

A method for identifying global aerodynamic models from flight data in an efficient manner is explained and demonstrated. A novel experiment design technique was used to obtain dynamic flight data over a range of flight conditions with a single flight maneuver. Multivariate polynomials and polynomial splines were used with orthogonalization techniques and statistical modeling metrics to synthesize global nonlinear aerodynamic models directly and completely from flight data alone. Simulation data and flight data from a subscale twin-engine jet transport aircraft were used to demonstrate the techniques. Results showed that global multivariate nonlinear aerodynamic dependencies could be accurately identified using flight data from a single maneuver. Flight-derived global aerodynamic model structures, model parameter estimates, and associated uncertainties were provided for all six nondimensional force and moment coefficients for the test aircraft. These models were combined with a propulsion model identified from engine ground test data to produce a high-fidelity nonlinear flight simulation very efficiently. Prediction testing using a multi-axis maneuver showed that the identified global model accurately predicted aircraft responses

Ground-Ground Data Communication-Assisted Planning and Coordination: Shorter Verbal Communications

A human-in-the-loop simulation was conducted to investigate the operational feasibility, technical requirements, and potential improvement in airspace efficiency of adding a Multi-Sector Planner position. A subset of the data from that simulation is analyzed here to determine the impact, if any, of ground-ground data communication (Data Comm) on verbal communication and coordination for multi-sector air traffic management. The results suggest that the use of Data Comm significantly decreases the duration of individual verbal communications. The results also suggest that the use of Data Comm, as instantiated in the current simulation, does not obviate the need for accompanying voice calls

A Human-in-the Loop Exploration of the Dynamic Airspace Configuration Concept

An exploratory human-in-the-loop study was conducted to better understand the impact of Dynamic Airspace Configuration (DAC) on air traffic controllers. To do so, a range of three progressively more aggressive algorithmic approaches to sectorizations were chosen. Sectorizations from these algorithms were used to test and quantify the range of impact on the controller and traffic. Results show that traffic count was more equitably distributed between the four test sectors and duration of counts over MAP were progressively lower as the magnitude of boundary change increased. However, taskload and workload were also shown to increase with the increase in aggressiveness and acceptability of the boundary changes decreased. Overall, simulated operations of the DAC concept did not appear to compromise safety. Feedback from the participants highlighted the importance of limiting some aspects of boundary changes such as amount of volume gained or lost and the extent of change relative to the initial airspace design

A Comparison Analysis of Surrogate Safety Measures with Car-Following Perspectives for Advanced Driver Assistance System

Surrogate Safety Measure (SSM) is one of the most widely used methods for identifying future threats, such as rear-end collision. Various SSMs have been proposed for the application of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), including Forward Collision Warning System (FCWS) and Emergency Braking System (EBS). The existing SSMs have been mainly used for assessing criticality of a certain traffic situation or detecting critical actions, such as severe braking maneuvers and jerking before an accident. The ADAS shows different warning signals or movements from drivers’ driving behaviours depending on the SSM employed in the system, which may lead to low reliability and low satisfaction. In order to explore the characteristics of existing SSMs in terms of human driving behaviours, this study analyzes collision risks estimated by three different SSMs, including Time-To-Collision (TTC), Stopping Headway Distance (SHD), and Deceleration-based Surrogate Safety Measure (DSSM), based on two different car-following theories, such as action point model and asymmetric driving behaviour model. The results show that the estimated collision risks of the TTC and SHD only partially match the pattern of human driving behaviour. Furthermore, the TTC and SHD overestimate the collision risk in deceleration process, particularly when the subject vehicle is faster than its preceding vehicle. On the other hand, the DSSM shows well-matched results to the pattern of the human driving behaviour. It well represents the collision risk even when the preceding vehicle moves faster than the follower one. Moreover, unlike other SSMs, the DSSM shows a balanced performance to estimate the collision risk in both deceleration and acceleration phase. These research findings suggest that the DSSM has a great potential to enhance the driver’s compliance to the ADAS, since it can reflect how the driver perceives the collision risks according to the driving behaviours in the car-following situation. Document type: Articl

A Human-in-the-Loop Evaluation of Multi-Sector Planning in Mixed Equipage Airspace (MSP III)

A human-in-the-loop (HITL) simulation was conducted in May 2010 to determine the feasibility and value 01 conducting multi-sector planning (MSP) operations in a mixed equipage environment. Aircraft were categorized as equipped or unequipped based on the presence or absence of an air-ground data communications (Data Comm) capability for receiving auto-loadable clearances and transfer of communication messages from the air navigation service provider (ANSP). The purpose of the study was to determine the feasibility and possible benefits of introducing multi-sector planning in a mixed equipage context, or whether Data Comm equipage was required for MSP operations. Each test scenario presented one of three different equipage levels to the controllers (10%, 50% or 90% equipped aircraft), so that the operational impact of different equipage levels could be observed. Operational feasibility assessment addressed two related questions: (1) are MSP operations feasible for unequipped aircraft, and (2) are they feasible in a mixed equipage context. Similarly, two categories of potential benefits were explored: (1) system performance improvements (e.g., throughput, workload) associated with MSP at different equipage levels, and (2) the possibility of providing differential service for equipage through MSP operations. Tool requirements (for both planning and controller stations), as well as planning and coordination procedures - within facility (traffic management unit/operational area) and within sector (R-Side/D-Side) - were two other topics addressed in the study. Overall, results suggested that MSP operations were feasible in a mixed equipage environment and that the tools were effective with both equipped and unequipped aircraft. Using the MSP tools, traffic management coordinators were able to manage controller task load, effectively balancing throughput with complexity and controller task load at each of the three equipage levels tested

Scheduling and Separating Departures Crossing Arrival Flows in Shared Airspace

Flight efficiency and reduction of flight delays are among the primary goals of NextGen. In this paper, we propose a concept of shared airspace where departures fly across arrival flows, provided gaps are available in these flows. We have explored solutions to separate departures temporally from arrival traffic and pre-arranged procedures to support controllers' decisions. We conducted a Human-in-the-Loop simulation and assessed the efficiency and safety of 96 departures from the San Jose airport (SJC) climbing across the arrival airspace of the Oakland and San Francisco arrival flows. In our simulation, the SJC tower had a tool to schedule departures to fly across predicted gaps in the arrival flow. When departures were mistimed and separation could not be ensured, a safe but less efficient route was provided to the departures to fly under the arrival flows. A coordination using a point-out procedure allowed the arrival controller to control the SJC departures right after takeoff. We manipulated the accuracy of departure time (accurate vs. inaccurate) as well as which sector took control of the departures after takeoff (departure vs. arrival sector) in a 2x2 full factorial plan. Results show that coordination time decreased and climb efficiency increased when the arrival sector controlled the aircraft right after takeoff. Also, climb efficiency increased when the departure times were more accurate. Coordination was shown to be a critical component of tactical operations in shared airspace. Although workload, coordination, and safety were judged by controllers as acceptable in the simulation, it appears that in the field, controllers would need improved tools and coordination procedures to support this procedure

A Comparison Analysis of Surrogate Safety Measures with Car-Following Perspectives for Advanced Driver Assistance System

Surrogate Safety Measure (SSM) is one of the most widely used methods for identifying future threats, such as rear-end collision. Various SSMs have been proposed for the application of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), including Forward Collision Warning System (FCWS) and Emergency Braking System (EBS). The existing SSMs have been mainly used for assessing criticality of a certain traffic situation or detecting critical actions, such as severe braking maneuvers and jerking before an accident. The ADAS shows different warning signals or movements from drivers’ driving behaviours depending on the SSM employed in the system, which may lead to low reliability and low satisfaction. In order to explore the characteristics of existing SSMs in terms of human driving behaviours, this study analyzes collision risks estimated by three different SSMs, including Time-To-Collision (TTC), Stopping Headway Distance (SHD), and Deceleration-based Surrogate Safety Measure (DSSM), based on two different car-following theories, such as action point model and asymmetric driving behaviour model. The results show that the estimated collision risks of the TTC and SHD only partially match the pattern of human driving behaviour. Furthermore, the TTC and SHD overestimate the collision risk in deceleration process, particularly when the subject vehicle is faster than its preceding vehicle. On the other hand, the DSSM shows well-matched results to the pattern of the human driving behaviour. It well represents the collision risk even when the preceding vehicle moves faster than the follower one. Moreover, unlike other SSMs, the DSSM shows a balanced performance to estimate the collision risk in both deceleration and acceleration phase. These research findings suggest that the DSSM has a great potential to enhance the driver’s compliance to the ADAS, since it can reflect how the driver perceives the collision risks according to the driving behaviours in the car-following situation