Fast-Time Evaluations of Airborne Merging and Spacing in Terminal Arrival Operations

Krishnamurthy, Karthik; Barmore, Bryan E.; Bussink, Frank; Weitz, Lesley A.; Dahlene, Laura

doi:10.2514/6.2005-6143

Cited by 26 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 5 publications

(6 reference statements)

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“…That study evaluated AMSTAR performance for typical step-descent arrival routes, which are approach methods commonly used today. The fast-time study demonstrated that AMSTAR and its onboard systems are highly robust to moderate variations in Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) range, wind prediction errors, requiredtime-of-arrival metering errors, and merge frequency [5].…”

Section: Airborne Precision Spacingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Runway throughput is increased with more accurate inter-aircraft spacing at the runway threshold, which can reduce excess spacing buffers between aircraft pairs [4][5][6]. However, as runways are expected to handle a higher volume of traffic, aircraft noise becomes a concern for residents living in areas surrounding 0-7803-9307-4/05/$20.00 ©2005 IEEE.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An Analysis of Merging and Spacing Operations with Continuous Descent Approaches

Weitz

Hurtado

Barmore³

et al.

24th Digital Avionics Systems Conference

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Researchers at the NASA Langley ResearchCenter are developing the Airborne Precision Spacing (APS) concept to increase runway arrival throughput at capacity-constrained airports. Under APS operations, arrival capacity is increased by improving the precision of inter-arrival spacing at the runway threshold. Flight crews achieve this improved precision with the assistance of a new flight-deck system, which allows spacing operations to commence even while the aircraft and its lead are on different arrival routes to the runway. However, the increases in traffic volume that could be enabled by APS operations could also elevate noise concerns at busy airports.Noise-and fuel-efficiency concerns have independently motivated the air traffic management community to investigate Continuous Descent Approaches (CDAs) as alternatives to traditional arrival route profiles. However, uncertainties associated with CDA operations can cause runway capacity to be sacrificed. For this reason, CDA routes have only been implemented during lowdensity traffic operations.In this paper we report on current research into the integration of these two advancements, by employing APS operations to merge and space aircraft that are flying CDA arrival routes. Results obtained to date indicate that, while retaining the benefits of both techniques may be unachievable, APS operations can achieve narrow distributions of inter-aircraft spacing errors at the runway threshold for CDA routes. Analysis of the data also indicates that the spacing error distribution may be sensitive to inaccuracies in modeling the CDA trajectories for the aircraft and its lead.

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Section: Airborne Precision Spacingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Analysis of Merging and Spacing Operations with Continuous Descent Approaches

Weitz

Hurtado

Barmore³

et al.

24th Digital Avionics Systems Conference

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“…The behavior of a mix of spacing algorithms operating together also needs to be studied to determine if they produce a stable operation. st Digital Avionics Systems Conference October [14][15][16][17][18]2012 …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A comparative study of interval management control law capabilities

Barmore¹,

Smith²,

Palmer³

2012

2012 IEEE/AIAA 31st Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC)

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This paper presents a new tool designed to allow for rapid development and testing of different control algorithms for airborne spacing. This tool, Interval Management Modeling and Spacing Tool (IM MAST), is a fast-time, low-fidelity tool created to model the approach of aircraft to a runway, with a focus on their interactions with each other. Errors can be induced between pairs of aircraft by varying initial positions, winds, speed profiles, and altitude profiles.Results to-date show that only a few of the algorithms tested had poor behavior in the arrival and approach environment. The majority of the algorithms showed only minimal variation in performance under the test conditions. Trajectorybased algorithms showed high susceptibility to wind forecast errors, while performing marginally better than the other algorithms under other conditions. Trajectory-based algorithms have a sizable advantage, however, of being able to perform relative spacing operations between aircraft on different arrival routes and flight profiles without employing "ghosting" methods. This comes at the higher cost of substantially increased complexity, however. Additionally, it was shown that earlier initiation of relative spacing operations provided more time for corrections to be made without any significant problems in the spacing operation itself. Initiating spacing farther out, however, would require more of the aircraft to begin spacing before they merge onto a common route.

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“…For the assigned spacing interval the required wake turbulence separation criteria were converted 2C3-5 into time-based separations using the expected slowest final approach speeds based on wake category [12]. These numbers were then rounded upward approximately 10 seconds to add a safety buffer between spacing the aircraft and separating them.…”

Section: Overall Spacing Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Airborne Precision Spacing: A Trajectory-Based Aprroach to Improve Terminal Area Operations

Barmore

2006

2006 Ieee/Aiaa 25TH Digital Avionics Systems Conference

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Airborne Precision Spacing has been developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) over the past seven years as an attempt to benefit from the capabilities of the flight deck to precisely space their aircraft relative to another aircraft. This development has leveraged decades of work on improving terminal area operations, especially the arrival phase. With APS operations, the air traffic controller instructs the participating aircraft to achieve an assigned interarrival spacing interval at the runway threshold, relative to another aircraft. The flight crew then uses airborne automation to manage the aircraft's speed to achieve the goal. The spacing tool is designed to keep the speed within acceptable operational limits, promote system-wide stability, and meet the assigned goal. This reallocation of tasks with the controller issuing strategic goals and the flight crew managing the tactical achievement of those goals has been shown to be feasible through simulation and flight test. A precision of ±2-3 seconds is generally achievable. Simulations of long strings of arriving traffic show no signs of instabilities or compression waves. Subject pilots have rated the workload to be similar to current-day operations and eye-tracking data substantiate this result. This paper will present a high-level review of research results over the past seven years from a variety of tests and experiments. The results will focus on the precision and accuracy achievable, flow stability and some major sources of uncertainty. The paper also includes a summary of the flight crew's procedures and interface and a brief concept overview. Development of Airborne Spacing ApplicationsThe concept of Airborne Precision Spacing (APS) operations in terminal area arrival flows has evolved from several decades of research into aircraft-managed spacing [1], [2]-[6]. Early research indicated that, by precisely spacing aircraft across the runway threshold, variability in threshold crossing times could be reduced, thereby increasing runway throughput [5]. Further, even a small increase in runway throughput could lead to a significant decrease in landing delays for airports during high-demand conditions [1]. Simulator experiments at NASA established the feasibility of using traffic information displayed on the flight deck to enable airborne-managed spacing [3], [6] from crew workload and acceptability considerations. This phase of research also determined that time-based spacing was superior to distance-based spacing due to the successive speed reductions that are inherent in arrival flows.Recent improvements in airborne display and computing capabilities, the emergence of Automatic Dependant Surveillance -Broadcast (ADS-B) technology for the sharing of traffic data, and the growing need for capacity-increasing concepts of operation have sparked renewed interest in airborne precision spacing operations. Starting in 1999, NASA researchers developed a preliminary concept of operations for terminal-area precision spacing operations [7]...

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Fast-Time Evaluations of Airborne Merging and Spacing in Terminal Arrival Operations

Cited by 26 publications

References 5 publications

An Analysis of Merging and Spacing Operations with Continuous Descent Approaches

An Analysis of Merging and Spacing Operations with Continuous Descent Approaches

A comparative study of interval management control law capabilities

Airborne Precision Spacing: A Trajectory-Based Aprroach to Improve Terminal Area Operations

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