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HIGHLIGHTS ARCHIVE
05.10.12
Division Highlights

Contents
NASA and FAA begin field evaluation of the Precision Departure Release Capability
May 10, 2012

Photos of the inside of the DFW air traffic control tower and the en route control facility.
PDRC studies at DFW tower and Fort Worth en route control facility (Click image to enlarge)

Beginning May 7, 2012, NASA and the FAA launched the Spring 2012 field evaluation of the Precision Departure Release Capability (PDRC). PDRC will aid in improving tactical departure operations by enabling the automated exchange of surface scheduling information to en route tactical departure scheduling systems. Objectives for this field evaluation are to assess system performance and quantify the various contributors to scheduling uncertainty. These objectives will be accomplished as FAA Traffic Management Coordinators (TMCs) from Fort Worth En route Center and Dallas/Fort Worth TRACON and Towers use PDRC to schedule at least 100 actual departures subject to traffic management restrictions. This is believed to be the first time that schedules with accuracy at the seconds level are used for coordination in real-world, tactical departure scheduling. During the first week of evaluation, NASA researchers worked with the FAA TMCs to conduct practice runs of PDRC scheduling and to finalize the test configuration and procedures. Additionally, TMCs have developed innovative uses of PDRC technology that will lead to updates to the Concept of Operations. (POC: Shawn Engelland)


NASA & FAA Collaborate to Improve TMA
May 10, 2012

In the latest update to NASA's collaboration with the FAA to improve the accuracy and robustness of the Traffic Management Advisor (TMA), NASA presented to the FAA a report identifying the key sources of—and some potential mitigation measures for—trajectory prediction error. Such measures are expected to help mitigate occasional instability in TMA advisories. In the next phase of the work, NASA will be providing the FAA with software recommendations to enhance the interoperability of this legacy system in order to accommodate integration with NextGen tools such as the Efficient Descent Advisor (EDA), among others. (POC: Karen Cate)


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