A Flight Deck Decision Support Tool for Autonomous Airborne Operations

Ballin, Mark G.; Sharma, Vivek; Vivona, Robert A.; Johnson, Edward J.; Ramiscal, Ermin

doi:10.2514/6.2002-4554

Cited by 39 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…In addition, onboard computational power and software capabilities now exist to rapidly process this information and provide highly efficient, automated, and reliable conflict detection, resolution, and prevention services, not to mention unprecedented flight optimization (ref. 8). In essence, aircraft have acquired and significantly exceeded all that was lacking in the early days of IMC flight that required operators to rely on ground-based services for separation.…”

Section: Why New Flight Rules?mentioning

confidence: 99%

For Spacious Skies: Self-Separation with "Autonomous Flight Rules" in US Domestic Airspace

Wing

Cotton

2011

11th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations (ATIO) Conference

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Autonomous Flight Rules (AFR) are proposed as a new set of operating regulations in which aircraft navigate on tracks of their choice while self-separating from traffic and weather. AFR would exist alongside Instrument and Visual Flight Rules (IFR and VFR) as one of three available flight options for any appropriately trained and qualified operator with the necessary certified equipment. Historically, ground-based separation services evolved by necessity as aircraft began operating in the clouds and were unable to see each other. Today, technologies for global precision navigation, emerging airborne surveillance, and onboard computing enable traffic conflict management to be fully integrated with navigation procedures onboard the aircraft. By self-separating, aircraft can operate with more flexibility and fewer flight restrictions than are required when using ground-based separation. The AFR concept proposes a practical means in which self-separating aircraft could share the same airspace as IFR and VFR aircraft without disrupting the ongoing processes of Air Traffic Control. The paper discusses the context and motivation for implementing self-separation in US domestic airspace. It presents a historical perspective on separation, the proposed way forward in AFR, the rationale behind mixed operations, and the expected benefits of AFR for the airspace user community.

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Section: Why New Flight Rules?mentioning

confidence: 99%

For Spacious Skies: Self-Separation with "Autonomous Flight Rules" in US Domestic Airspace

Wing

Cotton

2011

11th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations (ATIO) Conference

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“…3 By performing some of the functions of separation of air traffic, a system on the aircraft flight deck can help reduce the load on groundbased systems, especially as airspace becomes more complex. 4 The AFR concept, in particular, promises more complete use of airspace between the jet routes, potentially raising capacity or mitigating capacity loss due to weather systems while providing substantial user benefits in flight efficiency and operational flexibility. 5 Automated support for airborne self-separation is necessary even for relatively simple tasks, largely because it is difficult for pilots to visualize the interactions between aircraft.…”

Section: Motivations For Flight-deck Support For Airborne Self-sementioning

confidence: 99%

Autonomous Operations Planner: A Flexible Platform for Research in Flight-Deck Support for Airborne Self-Separation

Karr¹,

Vivona²,

Roscoe³

et al. 2012

12th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations (ATIO) Conference and 14th AIAA/ISSMO Multidisciplinary Analysis And

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The Autonomous Operations Planner (AOP), developed by NASA, is a flexible and powerful prototype of a flight-deck automation system to support self-separation of aircraft. The AOP incorporates a variety of algorithms to detect and resolve conflicts between the trajectories of its own aircraft and traffic aircraft while meeting route constraints such as required times of arrival and avoiding airspace hazards such as convective weather and restricted airspace. This integrated suite of algorithms provides flight crew support for strategic and tactical conflict resolutions and conflict-free trajectory planning while en route. The AOP has supported an extensive set of experiments covering various conditions and variations on the self-separation concept, yielding insight into the system's design and resolving various challenges encountered in the exploration of the concept. The design of the AOP will enable it to continue to evolve and support experimentation as the self-separation concept is refined.

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“…NASA Langley Research Center is developing a research prototype of this toolset, the Autonomous Operations Planner (AOP). AOP is being developed [4,5] to integrate crew preferences, TFM constraints, airspace constraints and traffic information into the planning and execution of efficient autonomous operations.…”

Section: Autonomous Aircraft Operationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Autonomous aircraft operations using RTCA guidelines for airborne conflict management

Krishnamurthy

Wing

Barmore

et al. 2003

22nd Digital Avionics Systems Conference Proceedings (Cat No 03CH37449) DASC-03

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A human-in-the-loop experiment was performed at the NASA Langley Research Center to study the feasibility of DAG-TM autonomous aircraft operations in highly constrained airspace. The airspace was constrained by a pair of special-use airspace (SUA) regions on either side of the pilot's planned route. Traffic flow management (TFM) constraints were imposed as a required time of arrival and crossing altitude at an en route fix. Key guidelines from the RTCA Airborne Conflict Management (ACM) concept were applied to autonomous aircraft operations for this experiment. These concepts included the RTCA ACM definitions of distinct conflict detection and collision avoidance zones, and the use of a graded system of conflict alerts for the flight crew.Three studies were conducted in the course of the experiment. The first study investigated the effect of hazard proximity upon pilot ability to meet constraints and solve conflict situations. The second study investigated pilot use of the airborne tools when faced with an unexpected loss of separation (LOS). The third study explored pilot interactions in an over-constrained conflict situation, with and without priority rules dictating who should move first.Detailed results from these studies were presented at the 5 th USA/Europe Air Traffic Management R&D Seminar (ATM2003). This overview paper focuses on the integration of the RTCA ACM concept into autonomous aircraft operations in highly constrained situations, and provides an overview of the results presented at the ATM2003 seminar. These results, together with previously reported studies, continue to support the feasibility of autonomous aircraft operations.

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A Flight Deck Decision Support Tool for Autonomous Airborne Operations

Cited by 39 publications

References 10 publications

For Spacious Skies: Self-Separation with "Autonomous Flight Rules" in US Domestic Airspace

For Spacious Skies: Self-Separation with "Autonomous Flight Rules" in US Domestic Airspace

Autonomous Operations Planner: A Flexible Platform for Research in Flight-Deck Support for Airborne Self-Separation

Autonomous aircraft operations using RTCA guidelines for airborne conflict management

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