Enabling Performance- Based Naviga6on Arrivals: Development and Simula6on Results of the Terminal Sequencing and Spacing System John E. Robinson III and Jane Thipphavong NASA Ames Research Center MoffeI Field, California William C. Johnson NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, Virginia 11 th USA/Europe Air Traffic Management Research and Development Seminar Lisbon, Portugal 23 26 June 2015
Performance- Based Naviga6on Performance- based naviga6on (PBN) procedures are a founda6onal element of NextGen and SESAR. PBN benefits include: improved fuel efficiency and reduced environmental impact shorter, more direct flight paths repeatable, more predictable flight paths PBN equipage rates for air carriers are high PBN procedures con6nue to be developed world- wide 2
Mo6va6on PBN arrival procedures not used during busy periods when maximum throughput is desired. Light Traffic Condi6ons Busy Traffic Condi6ons 25 nautical miles" 25 nautical miles" 3
Background Advanced arrival management tools are not provided to terminal air traffic controllers. Terminal opera6ons managed by repeated turn, speed, and al6tude instruc6ons In the United States, numerous reports have iden6fied the need for terminal spacing tools (RTCA Task Force 5, 2009; RTCA NextGen Advisory CommiIee 2013, 2014) Non- trajectory- based tools have not achieved the desired performance 4
Related Work NextGen and SESAR include advanced 6me- based metering technologies and procedures. FAA is deploying interval management tools that provide efficient speeds to en route controllers Time- based separa6on has demonstrated improved throughput at London Heathrow (Morris, 2013) Simula6ons of 6me- based metering in the terminal area showed feasibility of extending the FAA s en route capabili6es (Swenson, 2011) 5
Outline Opera6onal Concept for PBN Arrivals Simula6on Descrip6on Simula6on Results for Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport Implementa6on Status Concluding Remarks 6
OPERATIONAL CONCEPT 7
Opera6onal Scenario 2 Time- based scheduling provides runway arrival 6mes and fix crossing 6mes for arriving aircrai. En Route Area 250+ NM 3 En route speed and path assignments correctly space aircrai for descents along RNAV/RNP OPDs to their assigned runways. 4 Aircrai are delivered to terminal area according to schedule, but with small spacing errors that need to be reduced to maximize throughput and avoid downstream interrup6ons of the efficient descents. Meter Fix 1 Most flight crews use their Flight Management Systems to fly RNAV/RNP Op6mized Profile Descent (OPD) procedures without interven6on. Terminal Area Meter Point ~50 NM Meter Fix 5 Terminal controllers correct remaining spacing errors and cope with disturbances and off- nominal events using tools and display enhancements based on 4- D trajectories. 8
Air Traffic Management Technology Demonstra6on #1 (ATD- 1) FIM! Flight Deck Interval Management" for Arrival Operations" CMS! Controller-Managed Spacing" in Terminal Airspace" TMA-TM! TBFM! Traffic Management Advisor" with Traffic Terminal Management Metering" Advisor (TMA) with Terminal Metering" 9
Terminal Sequencing and Spacing (TSS) FIM! Flight Deck TSS Interval Management" for Arrival Operations" CMS! Controller-Managed Spacing" in Terminal Airspace" TMA-TM! TBFM! Traffic Management Advisor" with Traffic Terminal Management Metering" Advisor (TMA) with Terminal Metering" 10
Display Aids for Terminal Air Traffic Controllers T SWAP PHX25L Timeline Runway Assignment Landing Sequence SWA2197 AWE251 AWE24 SWA1825 AWE273 AWE221 AWE209 SWA1011 SWA2053 DAL1921 35 30 AWE24 SWA1825 AWE273 AWE221 AWE209 SWA1011 SWA2053 DAL1921 Es6mated Airspeed Slot Marker Z 20 AWE209 25L 5 090 B738 180 210 Speed Advisory AWE652 ETA 0 PHX25L AWE652 STA Slot Marker Speed NOTE: TSS Prototype look- and- feel is shown. FAA will finalize the opera6onal look- and- feel prior to deployment. 11
SIMULATION DESCRIPTION 12
Simula6on Overview Sixteen large- scale, human- in- the- loop simula6ons En6re arrival opera6on Mul6ple airports and configura6ons Mixed equipage Realis6c wind condi6ons and errors Realis6c traffic demand Experienced controllers Simula6on Designa6ons CMS for ATD- 1: CA- 1, CA- 2, CA- 3, CA- 4, CA- 4.1, CA- 5.1, CA- 5.2, and CA- 5.3 Full Integrated ATD- 1 Test: FIAT- 1, FIAT- 2, FIAT- 3, FIAT- 4, and FIAT- 5 Joint NASA/FAA SimulaDons: REACT, TSS- 1, TSS- 2, and OIA (post- publica6on) Four phases: systems integra6on, concept refinement, performance evalua6on, and opera6onal integra6on FAA and MITRE independently conducted five addi6onal TSS simula6ons 13
Simula6on Condi6ons Baseline Current arrival scheduling None Improved arrival scheduling (i.e., terminal metering) Limited Improved arrival scheduling Runway assignment, landing sequence, and slot marker Full Improved arrival scheduling All controller- managed spacing display aids 14
SIMULATION RESULTS - PHOENIX SKY HARBOR AIRPORT (PHX) - 7 SIMULATIONS 15
Modeled PBN Arrival Procedures PHX West Flow Opera6ons PHX East Flow Opera6ons 16
Simulated Wind Condi6ons Twenty wind scenarios based upon Phoenix area wind paierns Simulated aircrai subjected to truth winds and automa6on tools used predicted winds Wind forecasts were temporally offset to match empirical wind errors Wind magnitude errors were approximately 10 knots rms (Tandale, 2013) 17
Measures of Performance Six measures of performance evaluated for each simula6on PBN success rate Inter- arrival spacing error Controller acceptability Controller workload Excess in- trail separa6on Number of controller- to- pilot instruc6ons Two key performance parameters compared across simula6ons PBN success rate Inter- arrival spacing error 18
Descrip6on of PBN Success Rate The PBN success rate indicates how oien aircrai remain on assigned PBN arrival routes. Some aircrai are excluded: Unequipped aircrai Equipped aircrai to alternate runways The following criteria must be sa6sfied: No vectoring before end of PBN arrival procedure Intercept of final approach course near planned loca6on The performance goal is 80% 19
PBN Success Rate Determina6on MAIER EAGUL PHX 26 PHX 25L GEELA KOOLY Green flight paths are uninterrupted PBN arrival procedures Red flight paths are interrupted PBN arrival procedures Black flight paths are excluded opera6ons crossovers and unequipped aircrai 20
PBN Success Rate Results Mean%PBN%Success%Rate% 1.0# 0.9# 0.8# 0.7# 0.6# 0.5# 0.4# 0.3# 0.2# 0.1# 0.0# Baseline# None# Limited# Full# 95% Confidence Interval Number of Simula6on Runs +26% +24% 18# 4# 6# 3# 3# 6# 19# 18# 31# 18# CA/5.1# FIAT/2# TSS/2# FIAT/2# FIAT/2# TSS/2# FIAT/3# CA/5.2# FIAT/4# CA/5.3# Goal 21
Descrip6on of Inter- Arrival Spacing Error The inter- arrival spacing error indicates the spacing conformance at the final approach fix. Undelayed aircrai are excluded The following approach is used: Difference between the scheduled and actual final approach fix spacing is calculated for every aircrai pair The 2.5% trimmed range of the spacing conformance is calculated for each simula6on run The performance goal is 24 seconds (i.e., 95% of flights within 12 seconds) 22
Inter- Arrival Spacing Error Determina6on 1" 0.9" 0.8" Results are shown for en6re FIAT- 4 simula6on 0.7" 0.6" 0.5" 0.4" 0.3" Dashed box indicates 2.5% trimmed range 0.2" 0.1" 0" -60" -50" -40" -30" -20" -10" 0" 10" 20" 30" 40" 50" 60" Inter&Arrival,Spacing,Error,(seconds), 23
Inter- Arrival Spacing Error Results Mean%Inter)Arrival%Spacing%Error%(seconds)% 60" 50" 40" 30" 20" 10" 0" Baseline" None" Limited" Full" - 17 s - 10 s - 5 s - 9 s 16" 4" 6" 3" 3" 6" 19" 18" 31" 18" CA+5.1" FIAT+2" TSS+2" FIAT+2" FIAT+2" TSS+2" FIAT+3" CA+5.2" FIAT+4" CA+5.3" Goal 24
IMPLEMENTATION STATUS 25
Technology Transfer Achievements TSS achieved Technology Readiness Level 6. TSS prototype implemented in actual FAA systems TBFM arrival management system STARS ELITE terminal automa6on plauorm Opera6onal Integra6on Assessment at FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center in May 2015 Formal tech transfer packages delivered to the FAA Technical documenta6on Soiware source code Training materials NASA con6nues to provide subject- maier exper6se to FAA 26
Opera6onal Deployment FAA is implemen6ng TSS as part of NextGen. FAA TBFM Program Work Package 3 final investment decision passed in April 2015 Nine airports selected for ini6al deployment PHX, IAH, LAX, ATL, SEA, DEN, SFO, CLT, and LAS Deployment of TSS planned to start in early 2019 27
Concluding Remarks Terminal Sequencing and Spacing (TSS) includes improved scheduling and display aids for terminal controllers to improve PBN u6liza6on TSS was tested in sixteen high- fidelity simula6ons PBN Success Rate improved to 92% with improved scheduling and display aids Inter- Arrival Spacing Error improved 5 17 seconds with improved scheduling and display aids TSS will be deployed to nine major U.S. airports star6ng in 2019 28
For more informa6on, please visit our website: hnp://dnyurl.com/nasa- ATD1 hnp://www.aviadonsystemsdivision.arc.nasa.gov/research/tacdcal/atd1.shtml