Prototype flight management capabilities to explore temporal RNP concepts

Ballin, Mark G.; Williams, D. H.; Allen, B. Danette; Palmer, Michael T.

doi:10.1109/dasc.2008.4702797

Cited by 19 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…But note that P-RNAV is at present focused on lateral deviations from track rather that longitudinal time keeping on approach -which is a much more difficult system to develop -e.g. see Ballin et al (2008). Whatever the form of the transition to a 4D-trajectory system, there is one unifying feature: priority for the time-based aircraft.…”

Section: Mstmentioning

confidence: 97%

Simple Models for Airport Delays During Transition to a Trajectory-Based Air Traffic System

Brooker

2009

J. Navigation

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It is now widely recognised that a paradigm shift in air traffic control concepts is needed. This requires state-of-the-art innovative technologies, making much better use of the information in the air traffic management (ATM) system. These paradigm shifts go under the names of NextGen in the USA and SESAR in Europe, which inter alia will make dramatic changes to the nature of airport operations. A vital part of moving from an existing system to a new paradigm is the operational implications of the transition process. There would be business incentives for early aircraft fitment, it is generally safer to introduce new technologies gradually, and researchers are already proposing potential transition steps to the new system. Simple queuing theory models are used to establish rough quantitative estimates of the impact of the transition to a more efficient time-based -four-dimensional (4D) -navigational and ATM system. Such models are approximate, but they do offer insight into the broad implications of system change and its significant features. 4D-equipped aircraft in essence have a contract with the airport runway -they would be required to turn up at a very precise time -and, in return, they would get priority over any other aircraft waiting for use of the runway. The main operational feature examined here is the queuing delays affecting non-4D-equipped arrivals. These get a reasonable service if the proportion of 4D-equipped aircraft is low, but this can deteriorate markedly for high proportions, and be economically unviable. Preventative measures would be to limit the additional growth of 4D-equipped flights and/or to modify their contracts to provide sufficient space for the non-4D-equipped flights to operate without excessive delays. There is a potential for non-Poisson models, for

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Section: Mstmentioning

confidence: 97%

Simple Models for Airport Delays During Transition to a Trajectory-Based Air Traffic System

Brooker

2009

J. Navigation

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“…However, kinetic energy deviations under path-on-elevator guidance translate to an aircraft that persistently requires thrust inputs. Continuous 4D navigation is a desirable feature, since it enables straightforward implementation of redundant systems for verifying the integrity of the 4D navigation and the compliance with the contracted 4DT [16,18].…”

Section: Figure 5 Aircraft Is Under Sustained Tail Wind Perturbationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been reported [6][7][8] that these methods may achieve continuous 4D navigation, requiring significant throttle activity if the path is to be maintained. In turn, continuous 4D guidance methods that do not require constraining the vertical position to the nominal path have been proposed in the past [9][10][11], and a new breed of methods motivated by current ATM modernization efforts are currently emerging [12][13][14][15][16][17][18], that potentially seek continuous 4D navigation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A 4DT may be defined in a strict sense as a predicted trajectory, negotiated between an aircraft and the Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP), that comprises the lateral and vertical paths, together with the time of arrival at one or several waypoints along the track (see [2], page [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. The 4DT also includes required deviation limits for lateral, vertical, and along-track directions [2] -for instance, Required Navigation Performance (RNP) levels-.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A novel four-dimensional guidance for continuous descent approaches

Garrido-López

D'Alto

Ledesma

2009

2009 IEEE/AIAA 28th Digital Avionics Systems Conference

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This paper proposes an innovative guidance for descending aircraft, the so-called CDA-MP 4D Guidance, where CDA-MP stands for Continuous Descent Approaches for Maximum Predictability. The vertical guidance consists of a novel combination of elevator and throttle actuations that enable accurate continuous 4D navigation while minimizing fuel consumption, throttle activity, gas emissions, and noise production during descent. The method uses elevator actuations to control groundspeed and efficiently match a prescribed groundspeed law. By conservation of energy, uncertainties such as wind translate into potential energy (vertical) errors if the along-track position of the aircraft is to match the guidance reference at all times. Along-track predictability makes spacing between aircraft or estimated arrival times to metering fixes more predictable, and due to its continuous nature provides an enhanced level of integrity for the entire system. All these factors represent enormous advantages for the future Air Transportation System. Previous vertical guidance developments have included ground speed control by elevator actuation, but this method includes an additional logic for throttle activity to control the mechanical energy of the aircraft, which is the actual contribution of this method. The engine is actuated with a given law that uses near-idle thrust values in order to confine vertical deviations within predefined thresholds from the guidance reference with minimal engine interventions. Simulated descents for Boeing aircraft under the proposed guidance are presented, and the potential strengths and benefits of this guidance with respect to existing methods are discussed.

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“…The 4D FMS (Flight Management System) goes one step further to track multiple RTAs including continuous 4D trajectories. NASA Langley researchers 10 have developed a guidance strategy for tracking a sequence of RTAs. This research was motivated by the desire to define a temporal RNP specification similar to the existing lateral path tracking specification.…”

Section: B Previous Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and Evaluation of Guidance Algorithms for 4D-Trajectory-Based Terminal Airspace Operations

Vaddi

Sweriduk

Tandale

et al. 2012

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

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This paper develops guidance algorithms suitable for 4D-trajectory-based airspace operations. A previous paper by the same authors proposed a 4D-trajectory-based operational concept for terminal area operations. The concept consists of ground-side automation for synthesis of 4D trajectories and flight-deck-side automation for tracking the 4D-trajectory clearances. Whereas the previous paper dealt with the ground-side automation, the current paper deals with the flight-deck-side automation. The guidance algorithms are part of the flight automation necessary to realize the 4D-trajectory-based operations. The guidance algorithm design is based on the principles of feedback linearization and pole-placement techniques from feedback control theory. 4D trajectories are assumed to be designed using lower-fidelity models such as Base of Aircraft DAtabase (BADA) by ground-side automation. The guidance algorithms in the flight-deck automation on the other hand use higher-fidelity models to track the 4D trajectories. The guidance algorithm computes pitch attitude and throttle commands necessary to continually track a 4D trajectory. Closed-loop simulations using the high-fidelity TSRV aircraft model obtained from NASA Langley indicate very good tracking performance with time-tracking errors less than 1 second. Simulations demonstrate robustness to wind and temperature uncertainties. The guidance implemented on a pair of aircraft also demonstrate the capability to maintain along-trail separation.

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Prototype flight management capabilities to explore temporal RNP concepts

Cited by 19 publications

References 8 publications

Simple Models for Airport Delays During Transition to a Trajectory-Based Air Traffic System

Simple Models for Airport Delays During Transition to a Trajectory-Based Air Traffic System

A novel four-dimensional guidance for continuous descent approaches

Design and Evaluation of Guidance Algorithms for 4D-Trajectory-Based Terminal Airspace Operations

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