Volpe Center | Information Resources | Highlights

Information Resources

Volpe Center Highlights

Safety

Promote public health and safety by working toward the elimination of transportation-related deaths, injuries, and property damage.

Continued Efforts to Enhance Grade Crossing Safety (FRA)

Since the early 1970's, the Volpe Center has played an important role in the Department's success in drastically reducing the number of fatalities at highway-railroad grade crossings, as a result of multiple safety research efforts. Unfortunately, these crossings continue to be a priority transportation safety issue, as evidenced by the recent tragic fatal accident in Illinois in which a train struck a school bus stopped at a traffic intersection. As part of the ongoing safety research effort, Mr. John Pollard, of the Center's Operator Performance and Safety Analysis Division, was recently in Gering, NE at the stationary horn demonstration test site. The purpose of the visit was to interview town officials, Union Pacific signal maintenance personnel and locomotive engineers regarding their perceptions about maintenance and reliability problems with the Automated Horn System (AHS). He also observed the work of a contractor performing an acoustic survey in Gering, which was designed to quantify the reduction in community noise impact resulting from the use of the AHS. Although the technical problems with the AHS have largely been eliminated, the interviews with the engineers showed that they remain highly skeptical of both the reliability of the AHS and the track circuits which actuate it and also about whether they would really be absolved of responsibility if there were an accident due to hardware malfunction. If the project is successful, FRA is likely to seek changes to Federal laws and regulations requiring the blowing of horns at crossings, so that other communities may employ stationary horns to achieve noise abatement.

GPS Aeronautical Information System Becomes Operational (FAA)

The Volpe Center's Global Positioning System (GPS) Aeronautical Information System was recently declared operational by the FAA. The system provides airport-specific GPS outage data to the FAA's Automated Flight Service Stations, which is a great benefit to civilian pilots who previously were only notified of the GPS satellites that were out of service. During the pre-flight planning process, pilots can receive notification of the availability of GPS Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring to conduct a nonprecision approach for their destination at their estimated time of arrival. This effort is an expansion of the military GPS Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) System developed by the Volpe Center. The GPS aeronautical information and NOTAM systems were also the focus of discussions at the recent United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) global navigation meeting in Montreal, Canada. Other countries, such as Canada and Australia, already have expressed an interest in working with the Center to develop GPS NOTAM systems for their own use.

Biomechanics Research to Improve Vehicle Passenger Safety (NHTSA)

Mr. Frank DiMasi, of the Center's Vehicle Crashworthiness Division, recently delivered a technical paper at the 39th Stapp Car Crash Conference, held in San Diego, CA. The paper he presented, which was co-authored with Drs. Rolf Eppinger and Faris Bandak, of NHTSA's Biomechanics Division, is titled "Computational Analysis of Head Impact Responses Under Car Crash Loadings." It describes a computational methodology for estimating damage to the soft tissue of the brain using a finite element model of the brain and a procedure to replicate dynamic head loads using accelerometer data acquired from crash tests.

Flight Crew Performance in GPS Operations (FAA)

As part of its support to the Global Positioning System (GPS) IPT (Integrated Product Team), the Volpe Center's Operator Performance and Safety Analysis Division prepared a guidebook for certification of pilot usability aspects of new GPS receivers. The handbook is currently in use in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. As new receivers are certified by the FAA, the Center purchases and installs them in research aircraft and flight tests them through a series of standard flight maneuvers. Dr. Steven Huntley is a member of the FAA's Special Certification Review Team for GPS Stand-alone Receivers in support of the GPS satellite office. Recently, he was with the team in Austin, TX to review two new GPS receivers proposed by Trimble, Inc. for use in GPS-guided instrument approaches and to review the current Trimble 2000 unit with FAA certification and national resource specialists. Based on this review, Trimble will address information display and programming logic problems to meet U.S. requirements.

Flight Standards Training Class Conducted (FAA)

Ms. Ann DiMare, of the Center's Aviation Safety Division, recently conducted the first Network Administration Training Class to 10 Flight Standards Service (AFS) computer specialists at the Volpe Center campus, in Cambridge, MA. The Volpe Center developed the Network Administration Course, which is a 64 hour (17 module) intermediate level course, for all AFS computer specialists who serve as their office network administrator (approximately 100 people total). Ten more sessions of this course will be taught at the Volpe Center from November 1995 through June 1996. During the training, each network administrator will have his or her own workstation and network server on which to perform laboratory exercises and troubleshooting.

Participation in International Mechanical Engineering Congress

Dr. Herbert Weinstock, Ms. Kris Severson, and Messrs. Jeffrey Gordon and David Tyrell, all of the Center's Structures and Dynamics Division, recently participated in the 1995 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, held in San Francisco, CA, and sponsored by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Mr. Tyrell presented a paper titled "Train Crashworthiness Design for Occupant Survivability." In addition, he served as Vice-Chairman of the session titled Crashworthiness and Occupant Protection: Occupant Protection in Transportation Systems-II. Ms. Severson presented a paper titled "Analysis of Occupant Protection Strategies in Train Collisions at this session." Mr. Gordon presented the paper titled "Prospects for Making Carbide Free Bainitic Thick Steel Plate by Means of Controlled Quenching: A First Estimate," which he co-authored with Dr. Oscar Orringer.

Key Participation in Aviation Safety Panel on GPS (FAA)

Two members of the Department's Center for Navigation, located at the Volpe Center, recently served as panelists for a seminar on the Global Positioning System (GPS), sponsored by the Aviation Safety Program Office of the FAA's Boston Flight Standards District Office. The seminar, held at Hanscom Air Force Base, MA, was attended by over 260 general aviation pilots. Ms. Van Dyke gave an overview of the Air Force Notice to Airman System and the FAA Aeronautical Information System, and how these systems would convey GPS outage information to pilots. The Volpe Center has been supporting both the Air Force and the FAA in this area. Ms. Carpenter gave an overview of the Federal Radionavigation Plan, published by the Center, and discussed radionavigation system transition issues of interest to general aviation. The panel also included representatives from FAA, Mitre Corp., Northstar, and ARINC Inc. The seminar was very well received by the audience, and pilots were eager to receive more detailed information on GPS receiver certification and operation as GPS transitions into the National Airspace System.