Volpe Center Year in Review 2008
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Communication, Navigation, and Surveillance (CNS) and Traffic Management Systems
The Communication, Navigation, and Surveillance and Traffic Management Systems COI maintains and applies internationally recognized capabilities in communication, navigation, surveillance, operations management, and associated information technology disciplines to enhance the capacity, safety, and security of next-generation transportation systems. It serves as a focal point on Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) systems engineering for the civil community and fosters interagency coordination efforts.
FAA Terminal Facilities Enhancements Support
The Volpe Center supports the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in program and schedule management and systems engineering for the replacement of airport traffic control towers (ATCTs) and terminal radar approach control (TRACON) facilities. FAA's Terminal Facilities Group is responsible for the establishment, replacement, and modernization of terminal air traffic control facilities to ensure cost-effective infrastructure platforms for the control of air traffic in the National Airspace System (NAS). This project supports FAA's management of capital investment projects that will improve the aviation infrastructure and provide increased reliability throughout the NAS.
During the past year, the Volpe Center supported the Terminal Facilities Group in three distinct areas:
- Played a key role in establishing baselines for new projects, including the LaGuardia ATCT (New York); the Memphis, Tennessee ATCT/TRACON; the Dayton, Ohio ATCT; the Pensacola, Florida TRACON; the Islip, New York ATCT; the Reno, Nevada ATCT; and the Boise, Idaho ATCT.
- Provided systems-engineering support to ensure that implementation and integration requirements associated with ATCT and TRACON replacement facilities were fully and accurately defined and addressed. Systemsengineering documents were developed for the Boise, Idaho TRACON realignment into the Salt Lake City, Utah TRACON. Ongoing analysis includes the Dayton, Ohio TRACON realignment into the Columbus, Ohio TRACON; the Reno, Nevada TRACON realignment into the Northern California TRACON in Sacramento; and the Gulfport, Mississippi ATCT/TRACON replacement.
- Provided safety and risk-management analysis to terminal air traffic control facility projects in Memphis, Tennessee; the New Orleans, Louisiana Lakefront; Morristown, New Jersey; and Charlotte, North Carolina. (Sponsored by DOT/FAA)
National Airspace System Performance Analysis System
FAA operates and maintains NAS facilities and equipment dedicated to the provision of safe, reliable, and cost-effective air traffic control services for NAS users and the flying public. FAA also maintains a schedule of improvements to the NAS in order to meet the continuing demands of aviation growth and safety.
The Air Traffic Organization Technical Operations (ATO-W) NAS Quality Assurance and Performance Team is responsible for two major components of NAS operations and maintenance: (1) achieving zero unscheduled outages for NAS facilities and facility equipment, and (2) ensuring the cost efficiency of ATO-W ongoing operations and maintenance activities.
The Volpe Center developed the NAS Performance Analysis System (NASPAS) to support operations and maintenance within NAS. This system is a computer-based repository for NAS facility and equipment performance data, containing statistical analysis tools for converting these data into management reports. The NASPAS is used to track service performance at air traffic facilities, analyze facility outages, compare facility performance with national averages, and identify equipment problems.
NASPAS was originally developed as an FAA Headquarters-only information system in 1983. Since then, it has undergone major changes in equipment platforms and software. Volpe Center recently completed development of a web-based version of NASPAS. This system was deployed nationally in February 2008. FAA intranet users can easily access and use Web NASPAS. Enhancements to the new system are now being developed with a scheduled release in late 2008. The Volpe Center is also developing classroom training materials for the web NASPAS system. A beta training session was held at the Center during September 2008. In FY 2009, classroom training for the system will be conducted at Headquarters and in the three Service Areas (Eastern, Central, and Western). (Sponsored by DOT/FAA)
Vehicle Simulation Tool Development
The Volpe Center has developed a Monte Carlo-based computer simulation capability to enable rigorous analysis and certification of terminal procedures, equipment, and airspace in the NAS for the FAA Flight Standards Office. This simulation capability will play a critical role as FAA seeks to safely implement new terminal arrival procedures based on Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) technology to meet the expected capacity gains anticipated for the Next Generation Air Transportation System.
The overall goal of the Vehicle Simulation Tool (VST) project has been to provide a thoroughly documented, life-cycle managed, multiprocessor-capable, Government-owned stochastic-simulation capability enabling a rigorous analysis and certification of procedures, equipment, and airspace in the NAS for the FAA Flight Standards Office. The VST consists of approximately 60,000 lines of code and is the result of nearly 14 labor years of development effort. Unique elements of this complex computer simulation are the stochastic (i.e., random, but with known probability distributions) models of almost every component of the NAS, mechanical, electronic, and human, including navigation aids, surveillance systems (such as radar), pilots, aircraft, air traffic controllers, and weather. These models are combined with known, discrete artifacts such as FAA-database-supplied runway size and configuration, and obstacles. The Volpe Center has enhanced the VST by developing an airframe-type-specific kinematic aircraft model, a high-performance random number generator, a precise WGS-84-compliant elliptical earth model, and a graphical user interface integrating worldwide photo-realistic airport depictions and real-time 3-D animation.
Due to the complexity and aviation safety-critical nature of the simulation development effort, the Volpe Center approach to the project entailed a Public Request for Information Solicitation followed by extensive consultation with FAA, industry, and academic experts to plan the development effort. Program planning steps included extensive risk mitigation planning, organization of the multitude of tasks into two distinct and progressively more complex development phases, seating of a peer-review board, and design of a detailed verification and validation process that compared VST results with previous benchmarked FAA analysis results using several powerful statistical tools. (Sponsored by DOT/FAA)
FAA Runway Status Lights Program Support
Runway Status Lights (RWSL) is an FAA program to reduce airport runway incursions, which rank near the top of both the FAA and the U.S. DOT Inspector General lists of airport safety concerns.
The Volpe Center is providing project management support to the RWSL program. Volpe Center project staff maintain an overall program master schedule and a project schedule status review spreadsheet, and circulate the schedule and review spreadsheet to the FAA project team for status and progress updates. The Volpe Center team identifies key milestones and resources and associated reporting capabilities, and develops and monitors schedules for the site-by-site RWSL implementation efforts, including key FAA and contractor activities and dependencies. The key site implementation is scheduled to start in early 2009 at Orlando (Florida) International Airport.
Runway incursions have been included in the National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) "top ten" list for over a decade. Runway status lights constitute a response to the NTSB recommendation that the FAA require "a ground movement safety system that will prevent runway incursions; the system should provide a direct warning capability to flight crews." Runway status lights provide a direct indication to flight crews that it is unsafe to enter a runway or to begin a take off. The Volpe Center provides a crucial element in ensuring the RWSL System provides safety backup to controllers, pilots, and vehicle operators by increasing situational awareness in the runway environment. The FAA demonstrated RWSL capabilities using prototype systems at the Dallas-Fort Worth and San Diego International airports, and is now tailoring the system for deployment at 22 airports during its first phase of RWSL implementation with an option to include 13 additional airports. (Sponsored by DOT/FAA)
FAA Telecommunications Orders Review and Reference Data Support
The Volpe Center's Communication and Operations Division designed, developed, and continues to maintain the FAA Telecommunications Information Management System (TIMS). Now in its final year of operation, many functions performed by TIMS are being transferred to other information systems. The FAA's Telecommunications Services Group (TSG), however, has a continuing need for accurate, up-to-date FAA-owned reference data and for a centralized review of its orders to the Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization (DITCO) for administrative telecommunications services.
Under an Intra-Agency Agreement established with the TSG, the Volpe Center now performs technical and financial reviews of FAA requests for administrative telecommunications services. Financial review ensures that requests have sufficient support funding. Technical review verifies the technical contents of requests before its submission to DITCO, and also includes working with the National Communications System within the Department of Homeland Security to obtain the appropriate level of Telecommunications Service Priority.
The Volpe Center is also developing the Telecommunications Reference Data Toolkit for use in maintaining master lists of FAA facility, program, and project codes and is also supporting the FAA in transitioning the maintenance of FAA telecommunications facility address data support from FAA Headquarters to the Volpe Center. (Sponsored by DOT/FAA)
Aircraft Wake Turbulence Program
Wake vortices are turbulent eddies generated by the motion of air flowing from the wings of heavy aircraft. The Volpe Center develops procedures and systems that mitigate aircraft wake avoidance requirements in the airport area, while also increasing the safety of operations. This requires the collection, analysis, and interpretation of aircraft wake and related meteorological and flight trajectory data in order to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of proposed new aircraft and flight procedures.
Several years ago, the Volpe Center collected and analyzed wake and related data for 250,000 approaches to San Francisco International Airport (SFO). Data were used to obtain approval of the Simultaneous Offset Instrument Approach (SOIA) procedure for improving arrival efficiency at SFO during low-visibility conditions. The Volpe Center then completed a three-year data collection and analysis effort at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport (STL) to evaluate a proposed simultaneous approach/landing procedure to closely spaced parallel runways for situations where previously only a single traffic stream had been permitted. That procedure, approved in 2007, led to subsequent assessments resulting in the approval of similar procedures at airports in Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Seattle during the past year.
During the past two years, the Volpe Center collected departure data at three airports (in St. Louis, Houston, and Frankfort, Germany) to evaluate lessening restrictions on departures behind heavy aircraft (i.e., those with two aisles). Current rules require departing aircraft to wait two minutes after a heavy aircraft departs on the same or parallel runway with centerline separation of less than 2,500 feet. By taking advantage of the wind speed and direction, departing aircraft on a parallel runway upwind of a departing heavy aircraft would not have to wait. The FAA now has an approved program to develop a system called Wake Turbulence Mitigated Departures (WTMD) that will implement this approach.
During 2005-2008, the Volpe Center was part of a Working Group (other members included the FAA, Eurocontrol, and Airbus) to determine the appropriate separation of aircraft following the new jumbo A380 aircraft. The Volpe Center analyzed data collected at several locations in Europe. Findings of the Working Group were accepted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in the summer of 2008 and are now being used worldwide. The Volpe Center currently participates in a Working Group to analyze and recommend aircraft separation requirements for the proposed stretched version of the Boeing 747.
As part of a U.S.-European team, the Volpe Center develops and specifies aircraft wake separation standards. The current wake turbulence categorization system used by FAA involves three broad categories of aircraft (primarily based on aircraft weight), in addition to several special cases of aircraft, which are treated separately. With the advent of several new aircraft types—including Very Light Jets (VLJs) and jumbo commercial transports—and newer controller automation tools, this is an appropriate time to investigate a wake turbulence categorization system that involves more aircraft classes and different criteria for establishing the classes. Initial results from that work are expected in 2010. (Sponsored by DOT/FAA)
National Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Architecture
The term—Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT)—generally refers to a combination of three technologies that enable position determination within a grid, the ability to achieve a new position on that grid though navigational techniques, and the precise knowledge of time in relation to some known standard. In this context, the technologies are generally thought of as space-based. They are fundamental to surveillance and traffic flow management in many modes of transportation.
The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration and the Under Secretary of Transportation for Policy sponsored a National PNT study in response to Department of Defense (DoD) and civil agency recommendations to develop a comprehensive architecture for PNT as a framework for developing future PNT capabilities and supporting infrastructure. The study aimed to provide more effective and efficient PNT capabilities focused on the 2025 timeframe, and an evolutionary path for government-provided systems and services.
The Architecture Development Team was co-chaired by the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) and the National Security Space Office and included representatives from several other Federal stakeholders. The Volpe Center led this effort for RITA as the lead civil agency.
The current PNT Architecture consists of an ad hoc mix of external and autonomous PNT providers, as well as PNT augmentations. These systems provide PNT to a wide array of space, air, land, and maritime users, both civil and military. PNT is enabled by a large number of PNT enabling capabilities and infrastructure, and must be provided in an environment which includes spectrum, weather, fiscal, and geopolitical challenges.
Even with all of the capabilities currently available or planned, there are a number of gaps in PNT capabilities that have been identified from now through 2025. Development of the National PNT Architecture is largely driven by these identified PNT gaps:
- Physically Impeded Environments
- Electromagnetically Impeded Environments
- Higher accuracy with integrity
- Hazardously Misleading Info (Integrity)
- High Altitude/Space Position and Orientation
- Geospatial information - access to improved GIS data (regarding intended path of travel)
- Insufficient modeling capability
The PNT Architecture Development Team identified three architectures: 1) an "As-Is" Architecture describing the current mix of ad hoc capabilities; 2) an Evolved Baseline (EBL) anticipating future capabilities based on current planning, programming documents, and expected technology advances; and 3) a "Should-Be" Architecture addressing projected future needs and capability gaps with a long-term enterprise architecture approach. The PNT Architecture identifies the vision, strategy, vectors, and recommendations that lead to the "Should-Be" architecture capabilities. (Sponsored by DOT/RITA)
Surveillance and Broadcast Services (SBS) Support
The FAA Air Traffic Organization (ATO) created the Surveillance and Broadcast Services (SBS) Office to define and manage agencywide resources in the development and implementation of: (a) Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B) messages transmitted by aircraft to Ground Based Transceivers (GBTs) and other aircraft; (b) Automatic Dependent Surveillance Re-Broadcast (ADS-R) of messages received by GBTs from one data link and re-broadcast onto the other data link; (c) Traffic Information Services – Broadcast (TIS-B) of surveillance information obtained by GBTs from the National Airspace System (NAS) radar network; (d) Flight Information Services – Broadcast (FIS-B), e.g., weather and Special Use Airspace information, also provided by GBTs; and (e) integration of these new services/systems into the NAS.
SBS Office responsibilities include: establishing standards/rules for both aircraft and ground equipment/systems, development/deployment of GBTs, and integration of ground systems with Automation systems (Terminal, En Route and Oceanic). Initial application regions include: Juneau, Alaska, for ADS-B and Wide Area Multilateration (WAM); Western Colorado for ADS-B and WAM, in conjunction with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT); the Gulf of Mexico (GoMex) for ADS-B as well as communication and weather systems; the Louisville area for air-to-air applications; and the Philadelphia area for ADS-B/FIS-B/TIS-B services. Ground systems are supplied, installed, and operated by an FAA contractor team comprised of ITT Corporation and 13 subcontractors.
The SBS Office is led by FAA and staffed by a team of managers, engineers, operational specialists, and program analysts from FAA and the Volpe Center, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers, and for-profit companies. Volpe Center responsibilities include: (1) system engineering for the Continental United States deployment of ADSB/ TIS-B/FIS-B, including monitoring and evaluation of the functional architecture and design, developing a system coverage tool, determination of avionics equipage needs and plans, and support of CODOT W AM system; (2) developers and maintainers of the Midwest prototype ADS-B system being used to reduce the risk of the production system and obtain initial quantitative measures of ADS-B benefits as part of the Airline Based En route Sequencing and Spacing (ABESS) tool; (3) system engineering support for the Juneau/Capstone WAM; (4) deployment and certification of Very High Frequency (VHF) communications and ADS-B in the Gulf of Mexico; (5) investigating the impact of ADSB/ broadcast services on systems now using the 1030/1090 MHz frequencies; (6) Federal lead for deployment of six ground sites by the State of Oregon; (7) field engineering services for the WAM and ADS-B ground infrastructure in Alaska and Colorado; and (8) Information Technology (IT) and Physical Security for the SBS Program. (Sponsored by DOT/FAA)