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	+ Home Search Aviation Systems		10.29.08 Division Highlights Contents Aviation Safety Program Technical Conference Third Very Closely Spaced Parallel Runway Approaches Simulation Completed AIAA Aerospace Software Engineering Award for 2009 NASA to Collaborate with FAA to Improve an FAA Short-Term Conflict Prediction Tool Aviation Safety Program Technical Conference: The Aviation Safety Program held its annual Technical Conference in Denver from October 21-23, 2008. Participants included researchers from industry, academia, and the government. Each of the four Aviation Safety Program projects held meetings within a separate technical track. The IIFD session hosted presentations by industry members such as Aptima, Inc., and university representatives such as Ohio State University and Georgia Institute of Technology. Researchers from NASA Ames, Langley, and Glenn also presented research on operator state methods, performance modeling, icing, and display design. + Back to Top Third Very Closely Spaced Parallel Runway Approaches Simulation Completed: The third in a series of Very Closely Spaced Parallel Runway Approaches simulation experiments was completed on October 24. The simulations, performed in the Advanced Concepts Flight Simulator, are a joint effort between NASA and the Raytheon Corporation. Workload, situation awareness, and aircraft navigation performance data were collected. The data will be compared with the previous simulation investigating emergency breakout maneuvers for aircraft landing on three parallel runways spaced 750 feet apart. In the previous experiment, three aircraft in an echelon formation attempted landing in low visibility conditions and pilots manually flew an escape maneuver, following a breakout trajectory presented on the cockpit navigation display. In this latest experiment, the aircraft autopilot was modified to provide the aggressive control inputs required to fly the breakout trajectories. Three pilots flew the same emergency scenarios used in the previous experiment, this time with pilots initiating the breakout maneuver, and the autopilot flying the trajectory. Analyses will compare performance between the autopilot and manually flown breakout trajectories. The results will help determine guidelines for information requirements and procedures for off-nominal events during very-closely-spaced parallel approaches. + Back to Top AIAA Aerospace Software Engineering Award for 2009: The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has selected the Future Air Traffic Management Concepts Evaluation Tool (FACET) Software Development Team as the recipient of the 2009 Aerospace Software Engineering Award. The award is presented every two years for an outstanding technical and/or management contributions to aeronautical or astronautical software engineering. The citation for the award reads "For the Future Air Traffic Management Concepts Evaluation Tool (FACET), a significant breakthrough in simulation capability for visualization and analysis of air traffic management concepts and procedures." The award consists of an engraved bronze medal, a certificate of citation, and a rosette pin. The team members are Dr Banavar Sridhar, Dr Kapil Sheth, Dr. Shon Grabbe, Mr. Daniel Mulfinger and Dr Karl Bilimoria from the Aviation Systems Division, and Dr Gano Chatterji from University of California, Santa Cruz. The award will be presented on April 8, 2009 at an awards luncheon to be held with the AIAA Infotech@Aerospace Conference and Exhibit in Seattle, Washington. + Back to Top NASA to Collaborate with FAA to Improve an FAA Short-Term Conflict Prediction Tool: The FAA Terminal Area Work Team visited NASA Ames Research Center on October 22. The purpose of their visit was to discuss collaborating with NASA to improve the FAA Automated Terminal Proximity Alert (ATPA) tool. ATPA is a short-term conflict prediction tool that warns air traffic controllers about potential losses of aircraft separation on final approach. NASA presented overviews of their work in the areas of super dense terminal airspace operations, tactical aircraft conflict prediction and tailored arrival procedures for aircraft. The next steps include the FAA providing NASA with documentation of the ATPA tool that will include its conflict prediction algorithm. NASA will use this information to suggest methods to improve the conflict prediction accuracy of ATPA and to help the FAA identify capabilities that would be suitable for future versions of the tool. + Back to Top
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