Volpe Center: Volpe Center Highlights

Information Resources

Volpe Center Highlights - March/April 2003

Papers and Presentations

The Volpe Center co-sponsored, with the American Society of Civil Engineers, the 7th International Conference on Applications of Advanced Technology in Transportation, held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, August 5 through 7, 2002. In addition to the Volpe participation described in the November/ December 2002 edition of Volpe Highlights, Mr. Harvey A. Brand, Information Integration Division, presented the paper, "NASR -- The FAA's System for Managing Aeronautical Information." The Center supports the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Flight Data Center, and was integrally involved in the definition, development, and implementation of the National Airspace System Resources System.

Magnetic levitation (maglev) is an advanced transportation technology in which magnetic forces lift, propel, and guide a vehicle over a specially designed guideway. The Volpe Center supports the FRA's Maglev Deployment Program.

As part of the Volpe Center's Outreach and Education Activity, Dr. Aviva Brecher of the Office of Environmental Preservation and Systems Modernization presented the invited lecture "Bringing Magnetic Levitation Trains to the USA: Technology and Policy Challenges" at a meeting of the Magnetics Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Central New England Council on December 4, 2002, in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.
On December 11, 2002, Mr. William Chernicoff of the Service and Operations Assessment Division participated in the Electric Vehicle Association of the Americas' Electric Transportation Industry Conference in Hollywood Beach, Florida. He served as a panelist and delivered a presentation titled "Transportation-Stationary Fuel Cell Synergies? A Systems Perspective." The Volpe Center is providing technical support in this area to a number of sponsors, including the Department of Defense, the National Park Service, and the Federal Transit Administration.
Dr. James Hallock, Chief of the Aviation Safety Division, presented a paper at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 41st Aerospace Sciences Meeting held in Reno, Nevada on January 6 and 7, 2003. The paper, "Wake Vortex Effects on Parallel Runway Operations," was coauthored by researchers at the Volpe Center and Deutche Flugsicherung GmbH (DFS, the German Air Navigation organization).
Mr. Jack Perkins of the Knowledge Engineering Division gave a presentation at the third NASA Ames Virtual Airspace Modeling and Simulation Technical Interchange Meeting on January 14, 2003. His presentation "A Methodology for Defining VAMS Scenario Requirements" described the analytic approach he developed to define operational scenario requirements for fast-time modeling national airspace operations.
Dr. Tom Seliga, Surveillance and Assessment Division, presented two papers at the 19th International Conference on Interactive Information and Processing Systems for Meteorology, Oceanography, and Hydrology held in Long Beach, California, from February 10 through 13. The first paper, "Spatial-Temporal Behavior of RVR Visibility of ILS Runways at Select Major Airports," was coauthored with David A. Hazen and Leo G. Jacobs of Titan/System Resources Corporation, Billerica, Mass. and Deborah B. Lawrence of the FAA and addresses the natural variability of visibility that occurs along runways and throughout airports. The second paper, "Thunderstorm Characterizations Derived from Cloud to Ground Lightning Flash Data Based on Intercomparisons of Hovmller Diagrams and Spatial Density Data," was coauthored with David A. Hazen of Titan/System Resources Corporation and Cynthia Schauland of the FAA and illustrates novel ways of displaying lightning data that provide valuable insights into the behavior of thunderstorms.

The Center for Cyber Protection

Since the 1980s, the Volpe Center has been helping its clients, including large federal agencies such as the Department of Defense and Federal Aviation Administration, to implement cyber security programs. As part of the Volpe Center's Infrastructure Protection and Operations Division, the Center for Cyber Protection has evolved into a center of excellence for cyber security needs. Experts at the Center for Cyber Protection have a robust understanding of both the cyber and physical components of transportation infrastructure.

A new brochure describes how the Center helps clients throughout the risk-management cycle of designing, assessing, implementing, and operating information security systems. To receive this brochure or other information about the Volpe Center, please use the contact information below.

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