ALBERT

Description: This paper presents viewgraphs on the development of the Weather Accident Prevention (WxAP) System architecture and Concept of Operation (CONOPS) activities. The topics include: 1) Background Information on System Architecture/CONOPS Activity; 2) Activity Work in Progress; and 3) Anticipated By-Products.

Description: This viewgraph presentation provides an overview of NASA-FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) collaboration efforts particularly in the area of aviation and aircraft safety. Five technology areas are being jointly by these agencies: (1) aviation weather information; (2) weather products; (3) automet technologies; (4) forward looking weather sensors and (5) turbulence controls and mitigation systems. Memorandum of Agreements (MOU) between these agencies are reviewed. A general review of the pros and pitfalls of inter-agency collaborations is also presented.

Description: An operational assessment of the NASA Langley Weather Information Network (WINN) System is presented. The objectives of this program include: 1) Determine if near real-time weather information presented on the flight deck improves pilot situational awareness of weather; and 2) Identify pilot interface issues related to the use of WINN system during test flights. This paper is in viewgraph form.

Description: In this viewgraph presentation, information is provided on a collaboration between NASA, the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), and NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association), particularly regarding the development of a TAMDAR Sensor system. TAMDAR is envisioned to downlink weather data such as icing, temperature, pressure altitude, humidity, magnetic heading, eddy dissipation rate, true airspeed, dew point, density altitude, and winds at altitude from non-jet aircraft. The weather data will be sent to FSL (Forecast Systems Laboratory), FSS (Flight Service Station), ATC (Air Traffic Control), AWC (Aviation Weather Center), and others via a ground-based infrastructure and to other aircraft. New weather products will be generated and uplinked to the cockpit.

Description: This paper presents a project overview and status for the Weather Accident Prevention (WxAP) aviation safety program. The topics include: 1) Weather Accident Prevention Project Background/History; 2) Project Modifications; 3) Project Accomplishments; and 4) Project's Next Steps.

Description: This viewgraph presentation provides information on the development of a system by which aircraft pilots will be warned of turbulence. This networked system of in situ sensors will be mounted on various aircraft all of which are linked through a ground based parabolic antenna. As its end result, this system will attempt to reduce the number of accidents arising from turbulence.

Description: This viewgraph presentation provides an overview of a simulation exercise designed to determine the estimated time required to configure a commercial aircraft cabin for safe transit of atmospheric turbulence. Simulations are to be carried out in a number of wide-body and narrow-body aircraft cabins using professional cabin crews and paid passenger subjects. A number of variables are considered including passenger load, flight attendant compliment, cabin class and cabin activities. Various scenarios are also being played out in the exercises.

Description: This viewgraph presentation provides information on an airborne experiment designed to test the decision making of pilots receiving different sources of meteorological data. The presentation covers the equipment used in the COnvective Weather Sources (CoWS) Experiment), including the information system and display devices available to some of the subjects. It also describes the experiment, which featured teams of general aviation pilots, who were onboard but did not actually fly the aircraft used in the experiment. The presentation includes the results of a survey of the subjects' confidence.

Description: The Airspace Systems Program (ASP) has identified a set of goals based on projections of annual passenger demands. The topics of discussion include: 1) Virtual Airspace Modeling and Simulation Project (VAMS) Project Description; 2) VAMS Project Management; 3) VAMS Project Schedule; and 4) Technical Interchange Meeting (TIM). This paper is in viewgraph form.

Description: The goals of the System-Level Integrated Concepts (SLIC) are to produce, and evaluate the benefits of a unified capacity-increasing concept, and to develop technology roadmaps to layout how such a concept can be developed and implemented in the National Airspace System (NAS).

Description: Along with concept developers, the Systems Evaluation and Assessment (SEA) sub-element of VAMS will develop those scenarios and metrics required for testing the new concepts that reside within the System-Level Integrated Concepts (SLIC) sub-element in the VAMS project. These concepts will come from the NRA process, space act agreements, a university group, and other NASA researchers. The emphasis of those concepts is to increase capacity while at least maintaining the current safety level. The concept providers will initially develop their own scenarios and metrics for self-evaluation. In about a year, the SEA sub-element will become responsible for conducting initial evaluations of the concepts using a common scenario and metric set. This set may derive many components from the scenarios and metrics used by the concept providers. Ultimately, the common scenario\metric set will be used to help determine the most feasible and beneficial concepts. A set of 15 questions and issues, discussed below, pertaining to the scenario and metric set, and its use for assessing concepts, was submitted by the SEA sub-element for consideration during the breakout session. The questions were divided among the three breakout groups. Each breakout group deliberated on its set of questions and provided a report on its discussion.

Description: This viewgraph presentation provides an overview on the use of technology 'roadmaps' in order to facilitate the research development of VAMS (Virtual Airspace Modeling and Simulation). These roadmaps are to be produced by each concept team, updated annually, discussed at the technical interchange meetings (TIMs), shared among all VAMS participants, and made available electronically. These concept-specific technology roadmaps will be subsequently blended into an integrated catalog of roadmaps, technical discussions, and research recommendations. A historical example of ATM (Air Traffic Management) research and technology from 1940 to 1999 as shown in a series of 'roadmaps' is also included.

Description: This paper presents trends and forces that shape 21 st century demand for higher-speed personal air transportation and outlines guidance developed by NASA in partnership with other federal and state government and industry partners, for Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) investment and partnership planning.

Description: Implementing SATS in Nebraska will require a number of changes, both technical and administrative. SATS will require major improvements in the infrastructure of Nebraska airports. Improving airport infrastructure so that it can accommodate SATS is first and most obvious goal. A second goal is to make airports financially sustainable over the long term with limited federal assistance. A third goal, closely related to the second, is to link the implementation of SATS with anticipated local economic growth. This can leverage local funds without tax increases, enhance the equity of the finance approach, improve planning of facility size, and reduce long-term per unit cost. Many of these goals are national issues, and presumably federal policy will determine how these goals are addressed. This study examines several financing options and discusses their ease of application to Nebraska's airports.

Description: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Federal Aviation Administration, as well as state, industry, and academia partners have joined forces to pursue the NASA National General Aviation Roadmap leading to a Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS). This long-term strategic undertaking has a goal to bring next-generation technologies and improve air access to small communities. The envisioned outcome is to improve travel between remote communities and transportation centers in urban areas by utilizing a new generation of single-pilot light planes for personal and business transportation between the nation's 5,400 public use general aviation airports. Current NASA investments in aircraft technologies are enabling industry to bring affordable, safe, and easy-to-use features to the marketplace, including "Highway in the Sky" glass cockpit operating capabilities, affordable crash worthy composite airframes, more efficient IFR flight training, and revolutionary engines. To facilitate this initiative, a comprehensive upgrade of public infrastructure must be planned, coordinated, and implemented within the framework of the national air transportation system. State partnerships are proposed to coordinate research support in key public infrastructure areas. Ultimately, SATS may permit more than tripling aviation system throughput capacity by tapping the under-utilized general aviation facilities to achieve the national goal of doorstep-to-destination travel at four times the speed of highways for the nation's suburban, rural, and remote communities.

Description: The objective of SATS is to reduce gridlock at hubs, reduce travel times, allow for personal control over travel, and anticipate demand shifts resulting from a migration from suburbs to rural places. The technology is presently available and economical to produce SATS aircraft. The public issue centers on the airports. SATS is a federal program, and many airports in the U.S. are under the control of local governments. The scope of the objective will require thousands of airports in rural and suburban areas to modify their infrastructure and increase their investment. Researchers at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), and others at other institutions, have prepared reports surveying the relevant issues of implementing SATS. Our UNO team focused on the issues of policy implementation, economic development, management, and finance specific to Nebraska. We are finding that these issues are similar to those in other states in our region and other rural states. This paper discusses how this investment might be financed.

Description: The Nebraska SATS project is a state-level component of NASA's Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS). During the next several years the project will examine several different factors affecting SATS implementation in Nebraska. These include economic and taxation issues, public policy issues, airport planning processes, information dissemination strategies, and systemic change factors. This background paper profiles the general aviation system in Nebraska. It is written to provide information about the "context" within which SATS will be pursued. The primary focus is thus on describing and providing background information about the current situation. A secondary focus is on drawing general conclusions about the ability of the current system to incorporate the types of changes implied by SATS. First, some brief information on the U.S. aviation system is provided. The next two sections profile the current general aviation aircraft and pilot base. Nebraska's system of general aviation airports is then described. Within this section of the paper, information is provided on the different types of general aviation airports in Nebraska, airport activity levels and current infrastructure. The fourth major section of the background paper looks at Nebraska's local airport authorities. These special purpose local governments oversee the majority of the general aviation airports in the state. Among the items examined are total expenditures, capital expenditures and planning activities. Next, the paper provides background information on the Nebraska Department of Aeronautics (NDA) and recent Federal funding for general aviation in Nebraska. The final section presents summary conclusions.

Description: An assessment and operationalization of the concept of sustainable air transport system is recognized as an important but complex research, operational and policy task. In the scope of the academic efforts to properly address the problem, this paper aims to assess the sustainability of air transport system. It particular, the paper describes the methodology for assessment of sustainability and its potential application. The methodology consists of the indicator systems, which relate to the air transport system operational, economic, social and environmental dimension of performance. The particular indicator systems are relevant for the particular actors such users (air travellers), air transport operators, aerospace manufacturers, local communities, governmental authorities at different levels (local, national, international), international air transport associations, pressure groups and public. In the scope of application of the methodology, the specific cases are selected to estimate the particular indicators, and thus to assess the system sustainability under given conditions.

Description: This research is concerned with developing passenger demand models for international aviation from/to Egypt. In this context, aviation sector in Egypt is represented by the biggest and main airport namely Cairo airport as well as by the main Egyptian international air carrier namely Egyptair. The developed models utilize two variables to represent aviation demand, namely total number of international flights originating from and attracted to Cairo airport as well as total number of passengers using Egyptair international flights originating from and attracted to Cairo airport. Such demand variables were related, using different functional forms, to several explanatory variables including population, GDP and number of foreign tourists. Finally, two models were selected based on their logical acceptability, best fit and statistical significance. To demonstrate usefulness of developed models, these were used to forecast future demand patterns.

Description: The aim of this communication is to study with a new scope the conditions of the equilibrium in an air transport market where two competitive airlines are operating. Each airline is supposed to adopt a strategy maximizing its profit while its estimation of the demand has a fuzzy nature. This leads each company to optimize a program of its proposed services (frequency of the flights and ticket prices) characterized by some fuzzy parameters. The case of monopoly is being taken as a benchmark. Classical convex optimization can be used to solve this decision problem. This approach provides the airline with a new decision tool where uncertainty can be taken into account explicitly. The confrontation of the strategies of the companies, in the ease of duopoly, leads to the definition of a fuzzy equilibrium. This concept of fuzzy equilibrium is more general and can be applied to several other domains. The formulation of the optimization problem and the methodological consideration adopted for its resolution are presented in their general theoretical aspect. In the case of air transportation, where the conditions of management of operations are critical, this approach should offer to the manager elements needed to the consolidation of its decisions depending on the circumstances (ordinary, exceptional events,..) and to be prepared to face all possibilities. Keywords: air transportation, competition equilibrium, convex optimization , fuzzy modeling,

Description: No abstract available

Description: The purpose of this presentation is to discuss tomorrow's air transportation system. Section of this presentation includes: chair comments; other general comments; surface congestion alleviation; runway productivity; enhanced arrival/departure tools; integrated airspace decision support tools; national traffic flow management, runway independent operations; ATM TFM weather; and terminal weather.

Description: Using a unique feature of air cargo transshipment data in the Northeast Asian region, this paper identifies the critical factors that determine the transshipment route choice. Taking advantage of the variations in the transport characteristics in each origin-destination airports pair, the paper uses a discrete choice model to describe the transshipping route choice decision made by an agent (i.e., freight forwarder, consolidator, and large shipper). The analysis incorporates two major factors, monetary cost (such as line-haul cost and landing fee) and time cost (i.e., aircraft turnaround time, including loading and unloading time, custom clearance time, and expected scheduled delay), along with other controls. The estimation method considers the presence of unobserved attributes, and corrects for resulting endogeneity by use of appropriate instrumental variables. Estimation results find that transshipment volumes are more sensitive to time cost, and that the reduction in aircraft turnaround time by 1 hour would be worth the increase in airport charges by more than $1000. Simulation exercises measures the impacts of alternative policy scenarios for a Korean airport, which has recently declared their intention to be a future regional hub in the Northeast Asian region. The results suggest that reducing aircraft turnaround time at the airport be an effective strategy, rather than subsidizing to reduce airport charges.

Description: Competition in the airline industry has been fierce since the industry was deregulated in 1978. The proponents of deregulation believed that more competition would improve efficiency and reduce prices and bring overall benefits to the consumer. In this paper, a case is made based on core theory that under certain demand and cost conditions more competition can actually lead to harmful consequences for industries like the airline industry or cause an empty core problem. Practices like monopolies, cartels, price discrimination, which is considered inefficient allocation of resources in many other industries, can actually be beneficial in the case of the airline industry in bringing about an efficient equilibrium.

Description: The deregulation of US aviation in 1978 resulted in the reconfiguration of airline networks into hub-and-spoke systems, spatially concentrated around a small number of central airports or 'hubs' through which an airline operates a number of daily waves of flights. A hub-and-spoke network requires a concentration of traffic in both space and time. In contrast to the U.S. airlines, European airlines had entered the phase of spatial network concentration long before deregulation. Bilateral negotiation of traffic fights between governments forced European airlines to focus their networks spatially on small number of 'national' airports. In general, these star-shaped networks were not coordinated in time. Transfer opportunities at central airports were mostly created 'by accident'. With the deregulation of the EU air transport market from 1988 on, a second phase of airline network concentration started. European airlines concentrated their networks in time by adopting or intensifying wave-system structures in their flight schedules. Temporal concentration may increase the competitive position of the network in a deregulated market because of certain cost and demand advantages.

Description: With the increasing trend of charging for externalities and the aim of encouraging the sustainable development of the air transport industry, there is a need to evaluate the social costs of these undesirable side effects, mainly aircraft noise and engine emissions, for different airports. The aircraft noise and engine emissions social costs are calculated in monetary terms for five different airports, ranging from hub airports to small regional airports. The number of residences within different levels of airport noise contours and the aircraft noise classifications are the main determinants for accessing aircraft noise social costs. Whist, based on the damages of different engine pollutants on the human health, vegetation, materials, aquatic ecosystem and climate, the aircraft engine emissions social costs vary from engine types to aircraft categories. The results indicate that the relationship appears to be curvilinear between environmental costs and the traffic volume of an airport. The results and methodology of environmental cost calculation could input for to the proposed European wide harmonized noise charges as well as the social cost benefit analysis of airports.

Description: This paper presents cost effective measures to reduce CO2 emissions in the air freight sector. One door-to-door transport chain is studied in detail from a Scandinavian city to a city in southern Europe. The transport chain was selected by a group of representatives from the air freight sector in order to encompass general characteristics within the sector. Three different ways of shipping air cargo are studied, i.e., by air freighter, as belly freight (in passenger aircrafts) and trucking. CO2 emissions are calculated for each part of the transport chain and its relative importance towards the total amount CO2 emitted during the whole transport chain is shown. It is confirmed that the most CO2 emitting part of the transport chain is the actual flight and that it is in the take-off and climbing phases that most fuel are burned. It is also known that the technical development of aircraft implies a reduction in fuel consumption for each new generation of aircraft. Thus, the aircraft manufacturers have an important role in this development. Having confirmed these observations, this paper focuses on other factors that significantly affects the fuel consumption. Analyzed factors are, e.g., optimization of speed and altitude, traffic management, congestion on and around the airfields, tankering, "latest acceptance time" for goods and improving the load factor. The different factors relative contribution to the total emission levels for the transport chain has been estimated.

Description: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, industry stakeholders, and academia, have joined forces to pursue the NASA National General Aviation Roadmap leading to a Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS). This strategic undertaking has a 25-year goal to bring the next-generation technologies and improve travel between remote communities and transportation centers in urban areas by utilizing the nation's 5,400 public use general aviation airports. To facilitate this initiative, a comprehensive upgrade of public infrastructure must be planned, coordinated, and implemented within the framework of the national air transportation system. The Nebraska NASA EPSCoR Program has proposed to deliver research support in key public infrastructure areas in coordination with the General Aviation Program Office at the NASA Langley Research Center. Ultimately, SATS may permit tripling aviation system throughput capacity by tapping the underutilized general aviation facilities to achieve the national goal of doorstep-to-destination travel at four times the speed of highways for the nation's suburban, rural, and remote communities.

Description: NASA, the U.S. Department of Transportation/Federal Aviation Administration, industry stakeholders, and academia have joined forces to pursue the NASA National General Aviation Roadmap leading to a Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS). This strategic undertaking has a 25-year goal to improve air access and bring next-generation technologies to small communities. The envisioned outcome is to improve travel between remote communities and transportation centers in urban areas by utilizing the nation's 5,400 public use general aviation airports. To facilitate this initiative, SATS stakeholders must plan, coordinate, and implement a comprehensive upgrade of public infrastructure within the framework of the national air transportation system. Ultimately, SATS may permit tripling aviation system throughput capacity by tapping the under-utilized airspace and general aviation facilities. The SATS investments, which begin in FY 2001, are designed to support the national goal of doorstep-to-destination travel at four times the speed of highways for the nation's suburban, rural, and remote communities.

Description: This presentation discusses the impact that technology will have on future ATM systems.

Description: This presentation discusses: AvSTAR Future System Effort Critically important; Investment in the future; Need to follow a systems engineering process; and Efforts need to be worked in worldwide context

Description: The objectives of this presentation is to provide the research and development by 2007 necessary to: complete the development of technology for tomorrow (Free-Flight); provide the foundations for setting the direction for the future (Beyond Free-Flight). The goals are to establish tomorrow's as well as the future's Air transportation system.

Description: Introduction / Background; Current Landscape and Future Vision; UAS (Unmanned Aircraft System) Demand and Key Challenges; UAS Airspace Access Pillars and Enablers; Overarching UAS Community Strategy; Long Term Vision Considerations; Recommendations and Next Steps.

Description: We are discussing needs of current and future airspace users and identifying implications for architecture and services.

Description: This report is part of a series of reports that address flight deck design and evaluation, written as a response to loss of control accidents. In particular, this activity is directed at failures in airplane state awareness in which the pilot loses awareness of the airplane's energy state or attitude and enters an upset condition. In a report by the Commercial Aviation Safety Team, an analysis of accidents and incidents related to loss of airplane state awareness determined that hazard alerting was not effective in producing the appropriate pilot response to a hazard (CAST, 2014). In the current report, we take a detailed look at 28 airplane state awareness accidents and incidents to determine how well the hazard alerting worked. We describe a five-step integrated alerting-to-recovery sequence that prescribes how hazard alerting should lead to effective flight crew actions for managing the hazard. Then, for each hazard in each of the 28 events, we determine if that sequence failed and, if so, how it failed. The results show that there was an alerting failure in every one of the 28 safety events, and that the most frequent failure (20/28) was tied to the flight crew not orienting to (not being aware of) the hazard. The discussion section summarizes findings and identifies alerting issues that are being addressed and issues that are not currently being addressed. We identify a few recent upgrades that have addressed certain alerting failures. Two of these upgrades address alerting design, but one response to the safety events is to upgrade training for approach to stall and stall recovery. We also describe issues that are not being addressed adequately: better alert integration for flight path management types of hazards, airplanes in the fleet that do not meet the current alerting regulations, a lack of innovation for addressing cases of channelized attention, and existing vulnerabilities in managing data validity.

Description: No abstract available

Description: Flexibility where possible, and structure where necessary. Consider the needs of national security, safe airspace operations, economic opportunities, and emerging technologies. Risk-based approach based on population density, assets on the ground, density of operations, etc. Digital, virtual, dynamic, and as needed UTM services to manage operations.

Description: Conduct research, development and testing to identify airspace operations requirements to enable large-scale visual and beyond visual line of sight UAS operations in the low-altitude airspace. Use build-a-little-test-a-little strategy remote areas to urban areas Low density: No traffic management required but understanding of airspace constraints. Cooperative traffic management: Understanding of airspace constraints and other operations. Manned and unmanned traffic management: Scalable and heterogeneous operations. UTM construct consistent with FAAs risk-based strategy. UTM research platform is used for simulations and tests. UTM offers path towards scalability.

Description: No abstract available

Description: With funding from Glenn's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, Cox & Company, Inc., built an ice protection system that combines thermal anti-icing and mechanical deicing to keep airfoils (wings and other lifting surfaces) clear of ice. Cox's concept was to combine an anti-icing system with NASA's Electro-Mechanical Expulsion Deicing System, a mechanical deicer. The anti-icing element of this hybrid would reduce the aerodynamic losses associated with deicing systems. The Cox Low Power Ice Protection System is the first new aircraft ice protection system that has been approved by the Federal Aviation Administration for use on a business jet in 40 years. While the system is currently sized for Premier class aircraft, there are no apparent constraints prohibiting its use on aircraft of any size. The company is investigating further applications, such as adapting the system for unmanned aerial vehicles and other military aircraft.

Description: NASA's Langley Research Center awarded Ballistic Recovery Systems, Inc., three Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts to research and develop a new, low cost, lightweight recovery system for aircraft in both civilian and military markets. The company responded with a unique ballistic parachute system that lowers an entire aircraft to the ground in the event of an emergency. BRS parachutes are designed to provide a safe landing for pilots and passengers while keeping them in their aircraft. They currently fit ultralights, kit-built aircraft, and certified small business aircraft. The parachutes are lifesavers in cases of engine failure, mid-air collisions, pilot disorientation or incapacitation, unrecovered spins, extreme icing, and fuel exhaustion. To date, over 148 lives were saved as a result of a BRS parachute system.

Description: Nicknamed the "ice zapper," the Electro Expulsive Separation System (EESS) is an aircraft ice removal system that "pulverizes ice and removes layers of ice as thin as frost or as thick as an inch of glaze," according to the principle inventor of the technology. Patented by NASA's Ames Research Center, the EESS consists of layers of conductors encased in materials that are bonded directly to the airframe structure. When ice accumulates on the aircraft, an electric current is sent through the conductors, causing them to pulse. Even though the conductors move less than a twenty-thousandth of an inch in just a millisecond, the movement is sufficient to pulverize the ice. It is this highly accelerated motion that shatters the ice into particles the size of table salt; too small to be harmful to the aircraft. When compared with other systems in use, such as thermal deicers and pneumatic boots, the ice zapper does very well. Thermal deicers are fairly common, although they use an enormous amount of energy and present the possibility of ice refreezing. Pneumatic boots are not always effective because they require an inflation device that is unable to work until a quarter inch of ice has accumulated. With both systems, the ice that is loosened may still be large enough to cause problems for the plane once dislodged.

Description: Atmospheric ionizing radiation is produced by extraterrestrial radiations incident on the Earth's atmosphere. These extraterrestrial radiations are of two sources: ever present galactic cosmic rays with origin outside the solar system and transient solar particle events that are at times very intense events associated with solar activity lasting several hours to a few days. Although the galactic radiation penetrating through the atmosphere to the ground is low in intensity, the intensity is more than two orders of magnitude greater at commercial aircraft altitudes. The radiation levels at the higher altitudes of the High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) are an additional factor of two higher. Ionizing radiation produces chemically active radicals in biological tissues that alter the cell function or result in cell death. Protection standards against low levels of ionizing radiation are based on limitation of excess cancer mortality or limitation of developmental injury resulting in permanent damage to the offspring during pregnancy. The crews of commercial air transport operations are considered as radiation workers by the EPA, the FAA, and the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). The annual exposures of aircrews depend on the latitudes and altitudes of operation and flight time. Flight hours have significantly increased since deregulation of the airline industry in the 1980's. The FAA estimates annual subsonic aircrew exposures to range from 0.2 to 9.1 mSv compared to 0.5 mSv exposure of the average nuclear power plant worker in the nuclear industry. The commercial aircrews of the HSCT may receive exposures above recently recommended allowable limits for even radiation workers if flying their allowable number of flight hours. An adequate protection philosophy for background exposures in HSCT commercial airtraffic cannot be developed at this time due to current uncertainty in environmental levels. In addition, if a large solar particle event occurs during flight at HSCT altitudes then passengers and crew may greatly exceed allowable limits unless means are available to reduce exposures.

Description: Crew Resource Management (CRM) is fundamentally a method for enhancing personal interactions among crewmembers so that safety and efficiency are increased, and at its core involves issues of culture and social interaction. Since CRM is increasingly being adopted by foreign carriers, it is important to evaluate standard CRM techniques from a cultural standpoint, especially if some of these techniques may be enhanced by adapting them to particular cultures. The purpose of this paper is to propose a model for an ideal CRM culture, and to suggest ways that CRM may be adapted to suit particular cultures. The research method was a simple literature search to gather data on CRM techniques and multicultural crews. The results indicate that CRM can be tailored to specific cultures for maximum effectiveness.

Description: Under an exclusive agreement with Eclipse Aviation Corporation, Williams International is manufacturing the EJ22 engine, a commercial version of the NASA/Williams FJX-2, for the Eclipse 500 aircraft. The new engine, which weighs approximately 85 pounds and delivers over 770 pounds of thrust, provides a higher thrust-to-weight ratio than any commercial turbofan ever produced. Being the smallest, quietest, and lightest commercial aircraft engine currently available, the EJ22 engine makes a whole new class of twinjet light aircraft feasible.

Description: During the past three winters, the NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field conducted icing research flights throughout the Great Lakes region to measure the characteristics of a severe icing condition having Supercooled Large Droplets (SLD). SLD was implicated in the 1994 crash of the ATR-72 commuter aircraft. This accident focused attention on the safety hazard associated with SLD, and it led the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to identify the need for a better understanding of the atmospheric characteristics of this icing condition. In response to this need, Glenn developed a cooperative icing flight research program with the FAA, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and the Atmospheric Environment Service of Canada. The primary objectives were to (1) characterize the SLD icing condition in terms of important icing-related parameters (such as cloud droplet size, cloud water content, and temperature), (2) develop and refine SLD icing weather forecast products, and (3) document and measure the effects of SLD ice accretions on aircraft performance.

Description: The Icing Branch at the NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field initiated and conducted the Modern Airfoils Ice Accretions project to identify ice shapes and determine their effects on the aerodynamic performance of aircraft, particularly on lift and drag. Previous aircraft ice shape and performance documentation focused on a few, older airfoils. This permitted more basic studies of the ice accretion process to be undertaken. However, having established both a working data base of ice shapes and the capability to predict these shapes for basic airfoils, questions arose about how ice might accrete differently on airfoils more representative of those being designed and flown on various aircraft today. Similarly, information about how these ice shapes would affect aerodynamic performance was needed.

Description: If our goal is to improve safety through machine, interface, and training design, then we must define a metric of flightdeck safety that is usable in the design process. Current measures associated with our notions of "good" pilot performance and ultimate safety of flightdeck performance fail to provide an adequate index of safe flightdeck performance for design evaluation purposes. The goal of this research effort is to devise a safety index and method that allows us to evaluate flightdeck performance holistically and in a naturalistic experiment. This paper uses Reason's model of accident causation (1990) as a basis for measuring safety, and proposes a relational database system and method for 1) defining a safety index of flightdeck performance, and 2) evaluating the "safety" afforded by flightdeck performance for the purpose of design iteration. Methodological considerations, limitations, and benefits are discussed as well as extensions to this work.

Description: Although differences exist between building software systems and building physical structures such as bridges and rockets, enough similarities exist that software engineers can learn lessons from failures in traditional engineering disciplines. This paper draws lessons from two well-known failures the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in 1940 and the destruction of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986 and applies these lessons to software system development. The following specific applications are made: (1) the verification and validation of a software system should not be based on a single method, or a single style of methods; (2) the tendency to embrace the latest fad should be overcome; and (3) the introduction of software control into safety-critical systems should be done cautiously.

Description: Airline fleet assignment involves the allocation of aircraft to a set of flights legs in order to meet passenger demand, while satisfying a variety of constraints. Over the course of the day, the routing of each aircraft is determined in order to minimize the number of required flights for a given fleet. The associated flow continuity and aircraft count constraints have led researchers to focus on obtaining quasi-optimal solutions, especially at larger scales. In this paper, the authors propose the application of an agent-based integer optimization algorithm to a "cold start" fleet assignment problem. Results show that the optimizer can successfully solve such highly- constrained problems (129 variables, 184 constraints).

Description: Weather Information Communications (WINCOMM) is part of the Weather Accident Prevention (WxAP) Project, which is part of the NASA's Aviation Safety and Security Program. The goals of WINCOMM are to facilitate the exchange of tactical and strategic weather information between air and ground. This viewgraph presentation provides information on data link decision factors, architectures, validation goals. WINCOMM is capable of providing en-route communication air-to-ground, ground-to-air, and air-to-air, even on international or intercontinental flights. The presentation also includes information on the capacity, cost, and development of data links.

Description: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has established an operational plan for the future Air Traffic Management (ATM) system, in which the Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC) is envisioned to evolve into digital messaging that will take on an ever increasing role in controller to pilot communications, significantly changing the way the National Airspace System (NAS) is operating. According to FAA, CPDLC represents the first phase of the transition from the current analog voice system to an International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) compliant system in which digital communication becomes the alternate and perhaps primary method of routine communication. The CPDLC application is an Air Traffic Service (ATS) application in which pilots and controllers exchange messages via an addressed data link. CPDLC includes a set of clearance, information, and request message elements that correspond to existing phraseology employed by current Air Traffic Control (ATC) procedures. These message elements encompass altitude assignments, crossing constraints, lateral deviations, route changes and clearances, speed assignments, radio frequency assignments, and various requests for information. The pilot is provided with the capability to respond to messages, to request clearances and information, to report information, and to declare/rescind an emergency. A 'free text' capability is also provided to exchange information not conforming to defined formats. This paper presents simulated results of the aeronautical telecommunication application Controller Pilot Data Link Communications over VHF Digital Link Mode 3 (VDL Mode 3). The objective of this simulation study was to determine the impact of CPDLC traffic loads, in terms of timely message delivery and capacity of the VDL Mode 3 subnetwork. The traffic model is based on and is used for generating air/ground messages with different priorities. Communication is modeled for the en route domain of the Cleveland Center air traffic (ZOB ARTCC).

Description: A discomforting reality has materialized on the transportation scene: our existing air and ground infrastructures will not scale to meet our nation's 21st century demands and expectations for mobility, commerce, safety, and security. The consequence of inaction is diminished quality of life and economic opportunity in the 21st century. Clearly, new thinking is required for transportation that can scale to meet to the realities of a networked, knowledge-based economy in which the value of time is a new coin of the realm. This paper proposes a framework, or topology, for thinking about the problem of scalability of the system of networks that comprise the aviation system. This framework highlights the role of integrated communication-navigation-surveillance systems in enabling scalability of future air transportation networks. Scalability, in this vein, is a goal of the recently formed Joint Planning and Development Office for the Next Generation Air Transportation System. New foundations for 21st thinking about air transportation are underpinned by several technological developments in the traditional aircraft disciplines as well as in communication, navigation, surveillance and information systems. Complexity science and modern network theory give rise to one of the technological developments of importance. Scale-free (i.e., scalable) networks represent a promising concept space for modeling airspace system architectures, and for assessing network performance in terms of scalability, efficiency, robustness, resilience, and other metrics. The paper offers an air transportation system topology as framework for transportation system innovation. Successful outcomes of innovation in air transportation could lay the foundations for new paradigms for aircraft and their operating capabilities, air transportation system architectures, and airspace architectures and procedural concepts. The topology proposed considers air transportation as a system of networks, within which strategies for scalability of the topology may be enabled by technologies and policies. In particular, the effects of scalable ICNS concepts are evaluated within this proposed topology. Alternative business models are appearing on the scene as the old centralized hub-and-spoke model reaches the limits of its scalability. These models include growth of point-to-point scheduled air transportation service (e.g., the RJ phenomenon and the Southwest Effect). Another is a new business model for on-demand, widely distributed, air mobility in jet taxi services. The new businesses forming around this vision are targeting personal air mobility to virtually any of the thousands of origins and destinations throughout suburban, rural, and remote communities and regions. Such advancement in air mobility has many implications for requirements for airports, airspace, and consumers. These new paradigms could support scalable alternatives for the expansion of future air mobility to more consumers in more places.

Description: The goal of the new NASA Aviation Safety Program (AvSP) is to reduce the civil aviation fatal accident rate by 80% in ten years and 90% in twenty years. This program is being driven by the accident data with a focus on the most recent history. Pilot error is the most commonly cited cause for fatal accidents (up to 70%) and obviously must be given major consideration in this program. While the greatest source of pilot error is the loss of situation awareness , mode confusion is increasingly becoming a major contributor as well. The January 30, 1995 issue of Aviation Week lists 184 incidents and accidents involving mode awareness including the Bangalore A320 crash 2/14/90, the Strasbourg A320 crash 1/20/92, the Mulhouse-Habsheim A320 crash 6/26/88, and the Toulouse A330 crash 6/30/94. These incidents and accidents reveal that pilots sometimes become confused about what the cockpit automation is doing. Consequently, human factors research is an obvious investment area. However, even a cursory look at the accident data reveals that the mode confusion problem is much deeper than just training deficiencies and a lack of human-oriented design. This is readily acknowledged by human factors experts. It seems that further progress in human factors must come through a deeper scrutiny of the internals of the automation. It is in this arena that formal methods can contribute. Formal methods refers to the use of techniques from logic and discrete mathematics in the specification, design, and verification of computer systems, both hardware and software. The fundamental goal of formal methods is to capture requirements, designs and implementations in a mathematically based model that can be analyzed in a rigorous manner. Research in formal methods is aimed at automating this analysis as much as possible. By capturing the internal behavior of a flight deck in a rigorous and detailed formal model, the dark corners of a design can be analyzed. This paper will explore how formal models and analyses can be used to help eliminate mode confusion from flight deck designs and at the same time increase our confidence in the safety of the implementation. The paper is based upon interim results from a new project involving NASA Langley and Rockwell Collins in applying formal methods to a realistic business jet Flight Guidance System (FGS).

Description: NASA's Aeronautics Blueprint lays out a research agenda for the Agency s aeronautics program. The word software appears only four times in this Blueprint, but the critical importance of safe and correct software to the fulfillment of the proposed research is evident on almost every page. Most of the technology solutions proposed to address challenges in aviation are software dependent technologies. Of the fifty-two specific technology solutions described in the Blueprint, forty-one depend, at least in part, on software for success. For thirty-five of these forty-one, software is not only critical to success, but also to human safety. That is, implementing the technology solutions will require using software in such a way that it may, if not specified, designed, and implemented properly, lead to fatal accidents. These results have at least two implications for the research based on the Blueprint: (1) knowledge about the current state-of-the-art and state-of-the-practice in software engineering and software system safety is essential, and (2) research into current unsolved problems in these software disciplines is also essential.

Description: A system named On-Board Inert Gas Generation System/On-Board Oxygen Generation System (OBIGGS/OBOGS) was studied with Boeing. The study established the requirements for nitrogen purge (for fuel tank inerting and cargo compartment fire suppression) and oxygen (for passengers and crew). The nitrogen would be used for suppressing fires and fuel tank explosions on the aircraft, and the oxygen would be used for breathing gas during high-altitude or emergency operations.

Description: The purpose of this study was to analyze GPS related adverse events such as accidents and incidents (A/I), Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) reports and Pilots Deviations (PDs) to create a framework for developing a human factors risk awareness program. Although the occurrence of directly related GPS accidents is small the frequency of PDs and ASRS reports indicated there is a growing problem with situational awareness in terminal airspace related to different types of GPs operational issues. This paper addresses the findings of the preliminary research and a brief discussion of some of the literature on related GPS and automation issues.

Description: Air traffic in the United States has continued to grow at a steady pace since 1980, except for a dip immediately after the tragic events of September 11, 2001. There are different growth scenarios associated both with the magnitude and the composition of the future air traffic. The Terminal Area Forecast (TAF), prepared every year by the FAA, projects the growth of traffic in the United States. Both Boeing and Airbus publish market outlooks for air travel annually. Although predicting the future growth of traffic is difficult, there are two significant trends: heavily congested major airports continue to see an increase in traffic, and the emergence of regional jets and other smaller aircraft with fewer passengers operating directly between non-major airports. The interaction between air traffic demand and the ability of the system to provide the necessary airport and airspace resources can be modeled as a network. The size of the resulting network varies depending on the choice of its nodes. It would be useful to understand the properties of this network to guide future design and development. Many questions, such as the growth of delay with increasing traffic demand and impact of the en route weather on future air traffic, require a systematic understanding of the properties of the air traffic network. There has been a major advance in the understanding of the behavior of networks with a large number of components. Several theories have been advanced about the evolution of large biological and engineering networks by authors in diversified disciplines like physics, mathematics, biology and computer science. Several networks exhibit a scale-free property in the sense that the probabilistic distribution of their nodes as a function of connections decreases slower than an exponential. These networks are characterized by the fact that a small number of components have a disproportionate influence on the performance of the network. Scale-free networks are tolerant to random failure of components, but are vulnerable to selective attack on components. This paper examines two network representations for the baseline air traffic system. A network defined with the 40 major airports as nodes and with standard flight routes as links has a characteristic scale: all nodes have 60 or more links and no node has more than 460 links. Another network is defined with baseline aircraft routing structure exhibits an exponentially truncated scale-free behavior. Its degree ranges from 2 connections to 2900 connections, and 225 nodes have more than 250 connections. Furthermore, those high-degree nodes are homogeneously distributed in the airspace. A consequence of this scale-free behavior is that the random loss of a single node has little impact, but the loss of multiple high-degree nodes (such as occurs during major storms in busy airspace) can adversely impact the system. Two future scenarios of air traffic growth are used to predict the growth of air traffic in the United States. It is shown that a three-times growth in the overall traffic may result in a ten-times impact on the density of traffic in certain parts of the United States.

Description: This presentation will: Describe some of the exploratory work and products of the UCAT, which lay the groundwork for NASAs UAM investments; Describe the UAM Grand Challenge

Description: For unmanned aerial systems (UAS) to be successfully deployed and integrated within the national airspace, it is imperative that they possess the capability to effectively complete their missions without compromising the safety of other aircraft, as well as persons and property on the ground. This necessity creates a natural requirement for UAS that can respond to uncertain environmental conditions and emergent failures in real-time, with robustness and resilience close enough to those of manned systems. We introduce a system that meets this requirement with the design of a real-time onboard system health management (SHM) capability to continuously monitor sensors, software, and hardware components. This system can detect and diagnose failures and violations of safety or performance rules during the flight of a UAS. Our approach to SHM is three-pronged, providing: (1) real-time monitoring of sensor and software signals; (2) signal analysis, preprocessing, and advanced on-the-fly temporal and Bayesian probabilistic fault diagnosis; and (3) an unobtrusive, lightweight, read-only, low-power realization using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) that avoids overburdening limited computing resources or costly re-certification of flight software. We call this approach rt-R2U2, a name derived from its requirements. Our implementation provides a novel approach of combining modular building blocks, integrating responsive runtime monitoring of temporal logic system safety requirements with model-based diagnosis and Bayesian network-based probabilistic analysis. We demonstrate this approach using actual flight data from the NASA Swift UAS.

Description: The "Smoke" experiment is a flight definition investigation that seeks to increase our understanding of spacecraft fire detection through measurements of particulate size distributions of preignition smokes from typical spacecraft materials. Owing to the catastrophic risk posed by even a very small fire in a spacecraft, the design goal for spacecraft fire detection is to detect the fire as quickly as possible, preferably in the preignition phase before a real flaming fire has developed. Consequently the target smoke for detection is typically not soot (typical of established hydrocarbon fires) but instead, pyrolysis products, and recondensed polymer particles. At the same time, false alarms are extremely costly as the crew and the ground team must respond quickly to every alarm. The U.S. Space Shuttle (STS: Space Transportation System) and the International Space Station (ISS) both use smoke detection as the primary means of fire detection. These two systems were designed in the absence of any data concerning low-gravity smoke particle (and background dust) size distributions. The STS system uses an ionization detector coupled with a sampling pump and the ISS system is a forward light scattering detector operating in the near IR. These two systems have significantly different sensitivities with the ionization detector being most sensitive (on a mass concentration basis) to smaller particulate and the light scattering detector being most sensitive to particulate that is larger than 1 micron. Since any smoke detection system has inherent size sensitivity characteristics, proper design of future smoke detection systems will require an understanding of the background and alarm particle size distributions that can be expected in a space environment.

Description: The Langley Research Center (LaRC) performed atmospheric radiation studies under the SST development program in which important ionizing radiation components were measured and extended by calculations to develop the existing atmospheric ionizing radiation (AIR) model. In that program the measured neutron spectrum was limited to less than 10 MeV by the available 1960-1970 instrumentation. Extension of the neutron spectrum to high energies was made using the LaRC PROPER-3C monte carlo code. It was found that the atmospheric neutrons contributed about half of the dose equivalent and approximately half of the neutron contribution was from high energy neutrons above 10 MeV. Furthermore, monte carlo calculations of solar particle events showed that potential exposures as large as 10-100 mSv/hr may occur on important high latitude routes but acceptable levels of exposure could be obtained if timely descent to subsonic altitudes could be made. The principal concern was for pregnant occupants onboard the aircraft. As a result of these studies the FAA Advisory Committee on the Radiobiological Aspects of the SST recommended: 1. Crew members will have to be informed of their exposure levels 2. Maximum exposures on any flight to be limited to 5 mSv 3. Airborne radiation detection devices for total exposure and exposure rates 4. Satellite monitoring system to provide SST aircraft real-time information on atmospheric radiation levels for exposure mitigation 5. A solar forecasting system to warn flight operations of an impending solar event for flight scheduling and alert status. These recommendations are a reasonable starting point to requirements for the HSCT with some modification reflecting new standards of protection as a result of changing risk coefficients.

Description: Among its many other functions, the Federal Aviation Administrations En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) provides external systems with real-time air traffic data for flights in enroute airspace in the National Airspace System. It replaced the En Route Host computer and backup system used at 20 FAA Air Route Traffic Control Centers (Centers) nationwide. Among the new features of ERAM, its output data stream of flight plan and track data includes a unique identifier for a flight originating in any one of the 20 ERAM Centers. The unique identifier, called the Global Unique Flight Identifier (GUFI), is persistent across all the Centers that track the flight. However, certain factors make it difficult to correlate data using the GUFI. First, the value of the GUFI is only unique within a time window of seven days. Second, the GUFI is attached only to flight-plan related data messages. Finally, track positions reported by ERAM do not reference the GUFI. In order to correlate historical as well as real time flight-plan and position related ERAM data, an efficient, heuristic approach was developed, and a prototype was developed. The approach showed that the processing speed, through parallel processing, is sufficient to correlate ERAM data in real-time. As described in this paper, when there are multiple track positions reported from multiple Centers within a few seconds, each position is assigned with a weighted score to indicate the quality of the position relative to its last know position. The weighted score can be used to eliminate potentially duplicate track positions. The approach is database-agnostic, and can be implemented in a Big Data system such as an Apache Hadoop system, as well as in traditional database systems.

Description: Video describing UTM

Description: Animation video explaining ATD-2

Description: Product distribution theory is a new collective intelligence-based framework for analyzing and controlling distributed systems. Its usefulness in distributed stochastic optimization is illustrated here through an airline fleet assignment problem. This problem involves the allocation of aircraft to a set of flights legs in order to meet passenger demand, while satisfying a variety of linear and non-linear constraints. Over the course of the day, the routing of each aircraft is determined in order to minimize the number of required flights for a given fleet. The associated flow continuity and aircraft count constraints have led researchers to focus on obtaining quasi-optimal solutions, especially at larger scales. In this paper, the authors propose the application of this new stochastic optimization algorithm to a non-linear objective cold start fleet assignment problem. Results show that the optimizer can successfully solve such highly-constrained problems (130 variables, 184 constraints).

Description: A simulation was conducted to examine the effect of shared air/ground authority when each is equipped with enhanced traffic- and conflict-alerting systems. The potential benefits of an advanced air traffic management (ATM) concept referred to as "free flight" include improved safety through enhanced conflict detection and resolution capabilities, increased flight-operations management, and better decision-making tools for air traffic controllers and flight crews. One element of the free-flight concept suggests shifting aircraft separation responsibility from air traffic controllers to flight crews, thereby creating an environment with "shared-separation" authority. During FY00. NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center completed the first integrated, high-fidelity, real-time, human-in-the-loop simulation.

Description: We describe results from an initial study to assess the suitability of various spectral bands for supporting the deployment of new aviation data links (ADL). The study focused on systems and spectral bands that can deliver VHF data link (VDL)-or-higher data rates in a two-way communication setting, including air-ground, ground-air, and air-air modes of operation. In the first part of our paper, we briefly discuss the current situation regarding communications, navigation, and surveillance (CNS) links and existing spectrum, and the well-known need for new aviation data links. We next provide an overview of related systems, and discuss key factors involved in the use of spectrum in various bands for any future integrated CNS data link, addressing primarily the lower few layers of the communications protocol stack. Desired attributes of a new ADL system are discussed, and the beneficial aspects of a particular transmission technique spread spectrum are summarized. We also provide a short list of several example potential spectral regions, and note that while none of the existing systems will likely meet the full range of desired features of a new ADL, several systems and spectral regions offer promise in terms of one or more characteristics. A detailed discussion and evaluation of these spectral regions is proposed as future work. We include a few brief examples to illustrate initial technical results regarding spread spectrum overlay, also a subject for future work.

Description: Viewgraphs o America's Next Generation of Aviation Vehicles are presented. The topics include: 1) UAV's- Unlimited Applications; 2) Global Challenges; 3) UAV/CNS Overview; 4) Communications; 5) Navigation; and 6) Surveillance.

Description: During the analysis of flight data and safety reports done in ASAP and FOQA programs, airline personnel are not able to access relevant aviation data for a variety of reasons. We have developed the Aviation Data Integration System (ADIS), a software system that provides integrated heterogeneous data to support safety analysis. Types of data available in ADIS include weather, D-ATIS, RVR, radar data, and Jeppesen charts, and flight data. We developed three versions of ADIS to support airlines. The first version has been developed to support ASAP teams. A second version supports FOQA teams, and it integrates aviation data with flight data while keeping identification information inaccessible. Finally, we developed a prototype that demonstrates the integration of aviation data into flight data analysis programs. The initial feedback from airlines is that ADIS is very useful in FOQA and ASAP analysis.

Description: In light of the events of September 11, 2001, NASA senior management requested an investigation of technologies and concepts to enhance aviation security. The investigation was to focus on near-term technologies that could be demonstrated within 90 days and implemented in less than 2 years. In response to this request, an internal NASA Glenn Research Center Communications, Navigation, and Surveillance Aviation Security Tiger Team was assembled. The 2-year plan developed by the team included an investigation of multiple aviation security concepts, multiple aircraft platforms, and extensively leveraged datalink communications technologies. It incorporated industry partners from NASA's Graphical Weather-in-the-Cockpit research, which is within NASA's Aviation Safety Program. Two concepts from the plan were selected for demonstration: remote "black box," and cockpit/cabin surveillance. The remote "black box" concept involves real-time downlinking of aircraft parameters for remote monitoring and archiving of aircraft data, which would assure access to the data following the loss or inaccessibility of an aircraft. The cockpit/cabin surveillance concept involves remote audio and/or visual surveillance of cockpit and cabin activity, which would allow immediate response to any security breach and would serve as a possible deterrent to such breaches. The datalink selected for the demonstrations was VDL Mode 2 (VHF digital link), the first digital datalink for air-ground communications designed for aircraft use. VDL Mode 2 is beginning to be implemented through the deployment of ground stations and aircraft avionics installations, with the goal of being operational in 2 years. The first demonstration was performed December 3, 2001, onboard the LearJet 25 at Glenn. NASA worked with Honeywell, Inc., for the broadcast VDL Mode 2 datalink capability and with actual Boeing 757 aircraft data. This demonstration used a cockpitmounted camera for video surveillance and a coupling to the intercom system for audio surveillance. Audio, video, and "black box" data were simultaneously streamed to the ground, where they were displayed to a Glenn audience of senior management and aviation security team members.

Description: Tools for Engine Diagnostics is a major task in the Propulsion System Health Management area of the Single Aircraft Accident Prevention project under NASA s Aviation Safety Program. The major goal of the Aviation Safety Program is to reduce fatal aircraft accidents by 80 percent within 10 years and by 90 percent within 25 years. The goal of the Propulsion System Health Management area is to eliminate propulsion system malfunctions as a primary or contributing factor to the cause of aircraft accidents. The purpose of Tools for Engine Diagnostics, a 2-yr-old task, is to establish and improve tools for engine diagnostics and prognostics that measure the deformation and damage of rotating engine components at the ground level and that perform intermittent or continuous monitoring on the engine wing. In this work, nondestructive-evaluation- (NDE-) based technology is combined with model-dependent disk spin experimental simulation systems, like finite element modeling (FEM) and modal norms, to monitor and predict rotor damage in real time. Fracture mechanics time-dependent fatigue crack growth and damage-mechanics-based life estimation are being developed, and their potential use investigated. In addition, wireless eddy current and advanced acoustics are being developed for on-wing and just-in-time NDE engine inspection to provide deeper access and higher sensitivity to extend on-wing capabilities and improve inspection readiness. In the long run, these methods could establish a base for prognostic sensing while an engine is running, without any overt actions, like inspections. This damage-detection strategy includes experimentally acquired vibration-, eddy-current- and capacitance-based displacement measurements and analytically computed FEM-, modal norms-, and conventional rotordynamics-based models of well-defined damages and critical mass imbalances in rotating disks and rotors.

Description: A series of thermally stable polymer samples were tested. These materials are called low heat release materials and are designed for aircraft interior decorative materials. The materials are designed to give off a minimum amount of noxious gases when heated, which increases the possibility that people can escape from a burning aircraft. New cabin materials have suitably low heat release so that fire does not spread, toxic chemicals are not given off, and the fire-emergency escape time for crew and passengers is lengthened. These low heat-release materials have a variety of advantages and applications: interiors for ground-based facilities, interiors of space vehicles, and many commercial fire-protection environments. A microscale combustion calorimeter at the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Technical Center tested NASA Langley Research Center materials samples. The calorimeter is shown. A sharp, quantitative, and reproducible heat-release-rate peak is obtained in the microscale heat-release-rate test. The newly tested NASA materials significantly reduced the heat release capacity and total heat release. The thermal stability and flammability behavior of the samples was very good. The new materials demonstrated a factor of 4 reduction in total heat release over ULTEM (a currently used material). This information is provided in the following barchart. In other tests, the materials showed greater than a factor 9 reduction in heat-release capacity over ULTEM. The newly tested materials were developed for low dielectric constant, low color, and good solubility. A scale up of the material samples is needed to determine the repeatability of the performance in larger samples. Larger panels composed of the best candidate materials will be tested in a larger scale FAA Technical Center fire facility. The NASA Glenn Research Center, Langley (Jeff Hinkley), and the FAA Technical Center (Richard Lyon) cooperatively tested these materials for the Accident Mitigation aspects of Fire Prevention under NASA's Aviation Safety Program.

Description: The goal of the NASA Aviation Safety Program (AvSP) is to develop and demonstrate technologies that contribute to a reduction in the aviation fatal accident rate by a factor of 5 by the year 2007 and by a factor of 10 by the year 2022. Integrated safety analysis of day-to-day operations and risks within those operations will provide an understanding of the Aviation Safety Program portfolio. Safety benefits analyses are currently being conducted. Preliminary results for the Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS) and Weather Accident Prevention (WxAP) projects of the AvSP have been completed by the Logistics Management Institute under a contract with the NASA Glenn Research Center. These analyses include both a reliability analysis and a computer simulation model. The integrated safety analysis method comprises two principal components: a reliability model and a simulation model. In the reliability model, the results indicate how different technologies and systems will perform in normal, degraded, and failed modes of operation. In the simulation, an operational scenario is modeled. The primary purpose of the SVS project is to improve safety by providing visual-flightlike situation awareness during instrument conditions. The current analyses are an estimate of the benefits of SVS in avoiding controlled flight into terrain. The scenario modeled has an aircraft flying directly toward a terrain feature. When the flight crew determines that the aircraft is headed toward an obstruction, the aircraft executes a level turn at speed. The simulation is ended when the aircraft completes the turn.

Description: Communications technologies are being developed to address safety issues during aviation travel. Some of these technologies enable the aircraft to be in constant bidirectional communications with necessary systems, people, and other aircraft that are not currently in place today. Networking technologies, wireless datalinks, and advanced avionics techniques are areas of particular importance that the NASA Glenn Research Center has contributed. Glenn, in conjunction with the NASA Ames Research Center, NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, and NASA Langley Research Center, is investigating methods and applications that would utilize these communications technologies. In mid-June 2000, the flight readiness of the network and communications technologies were demonstrated via a simulated aircraft. A van simulating an aircraft was equipped with advanced phased-array antennas (Advanced Communications/Air Traffic Management (AC/ATM) Advanced Air Transportation Technologies (AATT) project) that used commercial Ku-band satellite communications to connect Glenn, Dryden, and Ames in a combined system ground test. This test simulated air-ground bidirectional transport of real-time digital audio, text, and video data via a hybrid network configuration that demonstrated the flight readiness of the network and communications technologies. Specifically, a Controller Pilot Data Link Communications application was used with other applications to demonstrate a multiprotocol capability via Internet-protocol encapsulated ATN (Aeronautical Telecommunications Network) data packets. The significance of this combined ground test is its contribution to the Aero Information Technology Base Program Level I milestone (Software Technology investment area) of a real-time data link for the National Airspace System. The objective of this milestone was to address multiprotocol technology applicable for real-time data links between aircraft, a satellite, and the ground as well as the ability to distribute flight data with multilevel priorities among several sites.

Description: The tendency for the jet engine rotor to continue to rotate after crash presents the probability that crash-spilled combustibles suspended in the air or puddled on the ground at the engine inlet may be sucked into the engine. Studies with jet engines operating on a test stand and full-scale crashes of turbojet-powered airplanes showed that combustibles drawn into the engine in this way ignite explosively within the engine. Experiment showed that the gas flow through the engine is too rapid to permit the ignition of ingested combustibles on the hot metal in contact with the main gas stream. Ignition will occur on those hot surfaces not in the main gas stream. The portion of the engine airflow is diverted for cooling and ventilation to these zones where the gas moves slowly enough for ignition to occur.

Description: The field of digital avionics experienced another year of important advances in civil aviation, military systems, and space applications. As a result of the events of 9/11/2001, NASA has pursued activities to apply its aerospace technologies toward improved aviation security. Both NASA Glenn Research Center and Langley Research Center have performed flight research demonstrations using advanced datalink concepts to transmit live pictures from inside a jetliner, and to downlink the contents of the plane's 'black box' recorder in real time. The U.S. Navy and General Electric demonstrated survivable engine control (SEC) algorithms during engine ground tests at the Weapons Survivability Laboratory at China Lake. The scientists at Boeing Satellite Systems advanced the field of stellar inertial technology with the development of a new method for positioning optical star trackers on satellites.

Description: FACT is a software program that provides important information about winter weather operations to airline dispatchers and airport personnel. FACT has a "quad" design and shows various maps, text, and tabular information. It also has a team messaging capability. It is meant to be used by airline dispatchers and airport personnel to manage winter storms. This presentation is for a meeting with Boeing. COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT; AIRLINE OPERATIONS; STORMS COMPUTER PROGRAMS; AIRLINE OPERATIONS; WEATHER FORECASTING; MESSAGE PROCESSING; AIRCRAFT COMMUNICATION; WINTER; STORMS (METEOROLOGY); COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT

Description: AEDT2b (Aviation Environment Design Tool version 2b) is FAA's aviation environmental consequence tool. We have integrated part of AEDT2b's fuel and emission computation modules with our FACET in the past years. This talk is to provide the feedback to AEDT2b's development team from a ATM researcher viewpoint.

Description: This paper identifies and characterizes factors that contribute to operator workload in unmanned vehicle systems. Our objective is to provide a basis for developing models of workload for use in design and operation of complex human-machine systems. In 1986, Hart developed a foundational conceptual model of workload, which formed the basis for arguably the most widely used workload measurement techniquethe NASA Task Load Index. Since that time, however, there have been many advances in models and factor identification as well as workload control measures. Additionally, there is a need to further inventory and describe factors that contribute to human workload in light of technological advances, including automation and autonomy. Thus, we propose a conceptual framework for the workload construct and present a taxonomy of factors that can contribute to operator workload. These factors, referred to as workload drivers, are associated with a variety of system elements including the environment, task, equipment and operator. In addition, we discuss how workload moderators, such as automation and interface design, can be manipulated in order to influence operator workload. We contend that workload drivers, workload moderators, and the interactions among drivers and moderators all need to be accounted for when building complex, human-machine systems.

Description: This work introduces an approach to estimate the complexity of a low-altitude air traffic scenario involving multiple UASs using mathematical programming. Given a set of multi-point UAS flight trajectories, vehicle dynamics, and a conflict resolution algorithm, an abstract model is developed such that it can be solved quickly using a mathematical programming optimization software without running high-fidelity simulations that can be computationally expensive and may not suit real-time apA quick and accurate assessment of complexity for a given traffic scenario can help plan and schedule flights to alleviate traffic bottleneck and mitigate operation risks, especially for unmanned aerial system traffic management where high traffic density or complexity is expected. This work introduces a traffic scenario complexity metric that was constructed based on the number of potential conflicts weighted by the conflict resolution cost associated. The cost associated with a conflict is calculated based on the corresponding conflict resolution maneuvers. To obtain the conflict resolution maneuvers, a MILP-based optimization was formulated with the vehicle model and conflict management parameters incorporated. To evaluate the complexity metrics, an approach of using measurements from high-fidelity simulations was proposed. The scenario complexity measurements for 920 random-generated scenarios were obtained through high-fidelity simulations and treated as the ground truth. Two statistics methods: Pearson and Alternative Conditional Expectations were applied for analysis. The results showed that the number of flights has low correlation with the scenario complexity according to the correlation coefficients calculated by both methods. The Alternative Conditional Expectations method shows that the proposed scenario complexity metric has better correlation with the ground truth than the number of potential conflicts.plications. In the abstract model, each vehicle is represented by a time-varied vector associated with position, speed, and heading information. The total extra distance that aircraft need to divert from their original routes to avoid collisions is computed and used to setup a quadratic programming formula. The metrics including the number of conflicts and extra distances travelled by all vehicles are then utilized to estimate the complexity of a given UAS flight scenario. Results and verification against high-fidelity simulations will be provided in the final draft.

Description: In air traffic control, task demand and workload have important implications for the safety and efficiency of air traffic, and remain dominant considerations. Within air traffic control, task demand is dynamic. However, research on demand transitions and subsequent controller perception and performance is limited. This research uses an air traffic control simulation to investigate the effect of task demand transitions, and the direction of those transitions, on workload and fatigue and one efficiency performance measure. Results indicate that a change in task demand appears to affect both workload and fatigue ratings, although not necessarily performance. In addition, participants workload and fatigue ratings in equivalent task demand periods appear to change depending on the demand period preceding the time of the current ratings. Further research is needed to enhance understanding of demand transition and workload history effects on operator experience and performance, in both air traffic control and other safety-critical domains.

Description: In February 1997, President Clinton announced a national goal to reduce the weather related fatal accident rate for aviation by 80% in ten years. To support that goal, NASA established an Aviation Weather Information Distribution and Presentation Project to develop technologies that will provide timely and intuitive information to pilots, dispatchers, and air traffic controllers. This information should enable the detection and avoidance of atmospheric hazards and support an improvement in the fatal accident rate related to weather. A critical issue in the success of NASA's weather information program is the rate at which the market place will adopt this new weather information technology. This paper examines that question by developing estimated adoption curves for weather information systems in five critical aviation segments: commercial, commuter, business, general aviation, and rotorcraft. The paper begins with development of general product descriptions. Using this data, key adopters are surveyed and estimates of adoption rates are obtained. These estimates are regressed to develop adoption curves and equations for weather related information systems. The paper demonstrates the use of adoption rate curves in product development and research planning to improve managerial decision processes and resource allocation.

Description: Realization of the expected proliferation of Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) operations in the National Airspace System (NAS) depends on the development and validation of performance standards for UAS Detect and Avoid (DAA) Systems. The RTCA Special Committee 228 is charged with leading the development of draft Minimum Operational Performance Standards (MOPS) for UAS DAA Systems. NASA, as a participating member of RTCA SC-228 is committed to supporting the development and validation of draft requirements for DAA surveillance system performance. A recent study conducted using NASA's ACES (Airspace Concept Evaluation System) simulation capability begins to address questions surrounding the development of draft MOPS for DAA surveillance systems. ACES simulations were conducted to study the performance of sensor systems proposed by the SC-228 DAA Surveillance sub-group. Analysis included but was not limited to: 1) number of intruders (both IFR and VFR) detected by all sensors as a function of UAS flight time, 2) number of intruders (both IFR and VFR) detected by radar alone as a function of UAS flight time, and 3) number of VFR intruders detected by all sensors as a function of UAS flight time. The results will be used by SC-228 to inform decisions about the surveillance standards of UAS DAA systems and future requirements development and validation efforts.

Description: Target generation systems provide the positions of aircraft in air traffic simulations. As the scope of the simulation domains expand, there is a need to develop systems that can provide position reports for thousands of aircraft simultaneously and at update rates that support out-the-window visualization. This paper discusses the motivation and reasoning behind investigating development of a next generation target generator through distributed computing using clustered node processing and how a target generation system benefit future research that utilizes human-in-the-loop simulations.

Description: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has enhanced the Time-Based Flow Management (TBFM) scheduling tool with a "Checkbox ON" vs. "OFF" function which allows Traffic Management Coordinators (TMCs) to make room in a crowded arrival stream for a departure. When scheduling a departure, having the checkbox ON can delay the Scheduled Times of Arrivals (STAs) of the airborne flights upstream of the TBFM freeze horizons and can compress these flights to their minimum required spacing, thereby creating a slot for a departure. Hence, having the checkbox ON can reduce the frequent ground delays of aircraft departing near high volume airports but can increase delays for airborne arrivals. A Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) simulation compared arrival and departure delays to Newark Airport (EWR) with the checkbox ON vs. OFF as the default position. Three other conditions in this HITL involved various National Airspace System (NAS)-wide approaches for timely delivery of aircraft to the TBFM region. These conditions were: Baseline, using current Mile-in-Trail (MIT) spacing restrictions; Integrated Demand Management (IDM), where all aircraft were given departure times (Expect Departure Clearance Times, or EDCTs), ultimately based on the EWR Airport Arrival Rate; and IDM plus Required Time of Arrival (RTA), a flight deck tool which allowed some aircraft to meet a controlled time of arrival to the TBFM area more precisely. Results showed that the checkbox tool was powerful: with the checkbox ON, departure delays decreased and airborne delays increased, as predicted. However, assuming that the cost ratio of a minute of airborne delay to a minute of departure delay is in the range of 1.2 to 3, as commonly indicated by the literature, checkbox ON and checkbox OFF conditions showed approximately equal total delay costs, i.e., the cost of delays in the air balanced the cost of the delay on the ground. The three scheduling conditions also had approximately equal total delay costs, although a simulation artifact may have reduced the delays in the Baseline condition. In the debrief following the simulation, the TMCs concluded that the checkbox should be used flexibly depending on the current delay situation, and suggested modifications to the checkbox tool which would help them use it in this way, along with enhanced training. The relatively similar total cost of both checkbox default options in this simulation indicates that this might be a fruitful approach, and replace the necessity to have the checkbox rigidly set to either ON or OFF.

Description: This paper presents an encounter-based simulation architecture developed at NASA to facilitate flexible and efficient Detect and Avoid modeling in parametric or tradespace studies on large data sets. The basic premise of this tool is that large-scale input data can be reduced to a set of `canonical encounters' and that using the reduced data in simulations does not lead to loss of fidelity. A canonical encounter is specified as ownship and intruder flight portions potentially resulting in a loss of well clear along with a set of properties that characterize the encounter. The advantages of using canonical encounters include faster simulations, reduced memory footprint, ability to select encounters based on user-specified criteria, shared encounters across multiple teams, peer-reviewed encounters, and a better understanding of the input data set, to name a few.

Description: Current radar-based air traffic service providers may preserve privacy for military and corporate operations by procedurally preventing public release of selected flight plans, position, and state data. The FAA mandate for national adoption of Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) in 2020 does not include provisions for maintaining these same aircraft-privacy options, nor does it address the potential for spoofing, denial of service, and other well-documented risk factors. This paper presents an engineering prototype that embodies a design and method that may be applied to mitigate these ADS-B security issues. The design innovation is the use of an open source permissioned blockchain framework to enable aircraft privacy and anonymity while providing a secure and efficient method for communication with Air Traffic Services, Operations Support, or other authorized entities. This framework features certificate authority, smart contract support, and higher-bandwidth communication channels for private information that may be used for secure communication between any specific aircraft and any particular authorized member, sharing data in accordance with the terms specified in the form of smart contracts. The prototype demonstrates how this method can be economically and rapidly deployed in a scalable modular environment.

Description: No abstract available

Description: The objective of this task is to evaluate thermal cycle behavior of advanced 2.5/3D electronics commercial-off the-shelf (COTS) packages of different configurations assembled onto printed circuit boards (PCBs). Three key approaches were considered for evaluation. The first approach focused on the through-mold via (TMV) technology at assembly level. The second approach focused on evaluation of 2.5D (also known as, System in Package (SiP)) in fine pitch ball grid array (FPGA). The third approach focused on evaluation of through-silicone-via (TSV) technologies. This report presents the test results for TMV and SiP packaging technologies and reliability, and it also provides lessons learned on quality assurance methods. Specifically, the report presents the test matrix for various 3D TMV packaging assembly configurations and reliability characterizations performed under two accelerated thermal cycling (ATC) and accelerated thermal shock cycling (ATSC) conditions. The ATC and ATSC were performed in the range of 55C to 125C and 100C to 100C, respectively. The report also includes assembly of a SiP a 60-mm fine-pitch ball-grid array (FPGA) interposer with an IC at the center and six chip-scale package (CSP) daisy chains at the peripherywith package assembly characterizations. After assembly, the daisy chains were subjected to ATCs in the range of 40C to 125C for reliability evaluation. Finally, for both TMV and SiP packaging configurations, characterizations results by X-ray, optical imaging, and daisy-chain resistance evaluations were also presented.

Description: This presentation describes one of the areas of the Detect-and-Avoid work NASA is working on: reduce the barriers for UAS operations with low cost, size, weight, and power sensors.

Description: Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) vehicle and airspace technologies promise large increases in the number of aircraft in operation. One critical technology for these emerging markets is the increased use of automated systems to reduce pilot skill, training, and proficiency requirements. While the use of these systems promises to reduce or eliminate pilot functions in the long-term, the technology development for the required functions will necessitate a phased transition. The transition to, and adoption of automated systems will generate new safety challenges. This presentation discusses current safety challenges, new challenges for eVTOLs, and some research focused on addressing these challenges.

Description: This paper analyzes the properties of air traffic conflicts in a future free routing system against those in the current structured routing system. Simulation of en route air traffic operations (above 18,000 ft) over the contiguous United States for a 24-hour period, constructed with initial conditions from actual air traffic data, were conducted using the Future ATM Concepts Evaluation Tool (FACET). Free routes were modeled as great circle (direct) routes from origin to destination, and structured routes were derived from actual flight plans along the current system of air routes. The conflict properties analyzed in this study include: (1) Total number of conflicts; (2) Distributions of key conflict parameters; and, (3) Categorization of conflicts into independent conflicts and two types of interacting conflicts. Preliminary results (for Denver Center traffic) indicate that conflict properties in a free routing system are different from those in the current structured routing system. In particular, a free routing system has significantly fewer conflicts, involving a correspondingly smaller number of aircraft, compared to the current structured routing system. Additionally, the conflict parameter distributions indicate that free routing conflicts are less intrusive than structured routing conflicts, and would therefore require small trajectory deviations for resolution.

Description: The NASA Ames Research Center CAE Boeing 747300 flight simulator is used primarily for the study of human factors in aviation safety. The simulator is constantly upgraded to maintain a configuration match to a specific United Airlines aircraft and maintains the highest level of FAA certification to ensure credibility to the results of research programs. United's 747-400 fleet and hence the simulator are transitioning from the older Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS) to the state-of-the-art Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS). GPWS was an early attempt to reduce or eliminate Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT). Basic GPWS alerting modes include: excessive descent rate, excessive terrain closure rate, altitude loss after takeoff, unsafe terrain clearance, excessive deviation below glideslope, advisory callouts and windshear alerting. However, since GPWS uses the radar altimeter which looks straight down, ample warning is not always provided. EGPWS retains all of the basic functions of GPWS but adds the ability to look ahead by comparing the aircraft position to an internal database and provide additional alerting and display capabilities. This paper evaluates three methods of incorporating EGPWS in the simulator and describes the implementation and architecture of the preferred option.

Description: The En-route Descent Advisor (EDA) is a suite of decision support tool (DST) capabilities for en route sector subject to metering restrictions such as those generated by the Center TRACON Automation System (CTAS) Traffic Management Advisor. EDA assists controllers with high-density arrival metering by providing fuel-efficient metering-conformance advisories, integrated with conflict detection and resolution (CD&R) capabilities, to minimize deviations from the user s preferred trajectory. These DST capabilities will enable controllers to change their procedures from ones that are oriented towards sector management to procedures oriented towards trajectory management. Although adaptable to current procedures and airspace structure, EDA is intended as a tool for transitioning traffic from a Free Flight environment to an efficiently organized flow into terminal airspace. This paper describes the transition airspace problem and EDA concept, defines the key benefit mechanisms that will be enabled by EDA capabilities, and presents a traffic scenario to illustrate the use of the tool.

Description: During the past decade, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been developing and evaluating a suite of decision support tools (DSTs) to aid the air traffic controller in the management of traffic. These tools are known collectively as the Center/TRACON Automation System (CTAS). The primary focus of CTAS is increased capacity. As part of a new NASA program called Quiet Aircraft Technology (QAT), the following question is being addressed: Can CTAS technology also support the noise mitigation requirements imposed by the community? Controllers currently support a variety of low noise procedures in low traffic densities but, as traffic increases, these must be abandoned due to excessive spacing requirements for vectoring or inter-arrival spacing requirements needed to handle a spectrum of low noise procedures. NASA is currently investigating how to provide controllers with noise-mitigation-based advisories which address these issues without negatively impacting capacity. These issues are of global concern which must be addressed as the demand for air travel continues to increase.

Description: The measurement of operational acceptability is important for the development, implementation, and evolution of air traffic management decision support tools. The Controller Acceptance Rating Scale was developed at NASA Ames Research Center for the development and evaluation of the Passive Final Approach Spacing Tool. CARS was modeled after a well-known pilot evaluation rating instrument, the Cooper-Harper Scale, and has since been used in the evaluation of the User Request Evaluation Tool, developed by MITRE's Center for Advanced Aviation System Development. In this paper, we provide a discussion of the development of CARS and an analysis of the empirical data collected with CARS to examine construct validity. Results of intraclass correlations indicated statistically significant reliability for the CARS. From the subjective workload data that were collected in conjunction with the CARS, it appears that the expected set of workload attributes was correlated with the CARS. As expected, the analysis also showed that CARS was a sensitive indicator of the impact of decision support tools on controller operations. Suggestions for future CARS development and its improvement are also provided.

Description: When solving problems, multi-person airline crews can choose whether to work together, or to address different aspects of a situation with a divide and conquer strategy. Knowing which of these strategies is most effective may help airlines develop better procedures and training. This paper concentrates on joint attention as a measure of crew coordination. We report results obtained by applying cross recurrence analysis to eye movement data from two-person crews, collected in a flight simulator experiment. The analysis shows that crews exhibit coordinated gaze roughly 1/6th of the time, with a tendency for the captain to lead the first officers visual attention. The degree to which crews coordinate their gaze is not significantly correlated with performance ratings assigned by instructors; further research questions and approaches are discussed.

Description: Long-Haul Aircraft consume most of their fuel during the cruise phase of flight. The inefficiency in cruise flights compared to efficient routes varies is around 3 to 4. The efficiency of oceanic flights is low due to limited navigational and communication equipment, congestion and airspace restrictions. The availability of Automated Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) and other improvements provides opportunity for better strategic planning of trajectories. Transatlantic flights between US and Europe constitute one of the busiest oceanic airspace regions in the world. This talk examines the benefits of a wind-optimal trajectory concept with a strategic de-confliction component compared to the current flight planning using the North Atlantic Tracks. The analysis is based on air traffic between US and Europe during July 2012. The potential fuel savings are in the range of (420-970) kg per flight for a Boeing 767-300, the most widely used aircraft between the city-pairs in this study. The talk also describes a global simulation of aviation operations combining flight plans and real air traffic data with historical commercial city-pair aircraft type and schedule data and global atmospheric data. The resulting capability extends the simulation and optimization functions of NASAs Future Air Traffic Management Concept Evaluation Tool (FACET) to global scale. This new capability is used to characterize the evolution of global air traffic, analyze fuel savings and seasonal variations in the long-haul wind-optimal traffic patterns in six major regions of the world.