Evaluation of the Terminal Precision Scheduling and Spacing System for Near-Term NAS Application

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has developed a capability for terminal area precision scheduling and spacing (TAPSS) to provide higher capacity and more efficiently manage arrivals during peak demand periods. This advanced technology is NASA's vision for the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) terminal metering capability. A set of human-in-the-loop experiments was conducted to evaluate the performance of the TAPSS system for near-term implementation. The experiments evaluated the TAPSS system under the current terminal routing infrastructure to validate operational feasibility. A second goal of the study was to measure the benefit of the center and terminal radar approach control (TRACON) advisory tools to help prioritize the requirements for controller radar display enhancements. Simulation results indicate that using the TAPSS system provides benefits under current operations, supporting a 10% increase in airport throughput. Enhancements to Center decision support tools had limited impact on improving the efficiency of terminal operations, but did provide more fuel-efficient advisories to achieve scheduling conformance within 20 seconds. The TRACON controller decision support tools were found to provide the most benefit, by improving the precision in schedule conformance to within 20 seconds, reducing the number of arrivals having lateral path deviations by 50% and lowering subjective controller workload. Overall, the TAPSS system was found to successfully develop an achievable terminal arrival metering plan that was sustainable under heavy traffic demand levels and reduce the complexity of terminal operations when coupled with the use of the terminal controller advisory tools.

• Record URL:
  http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20120016862_2012017677.pdf
• 
• Authors:
  • Thipphavong, Jane
  • Martin, Lynne
  • Swenson, Harry
  • Lin, Paul
  • Nguyen, Jimmy
• Conference:
  • 1st International Conference on Human Factors in Transportation 2011
  • Location: San Francisco CA
  • Date: 2011-7-21 to 2011-7-25
• Publication Date: 2012

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 13p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aircraft separation; Approach control; Decision support systems; Routes and routing; Scheduling; Simulation; Terminal air traffic control
• Identifier Terms: National Airspace System; Next Generation Air Transportation System
• Uncontrolled Terms: Human in the loop simulation
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Operations and Traffic Management; I73: Traffic Control;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01482465
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: May 28 2013 9:31AM