NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Follow this link to skip to the main content
+ Visit NASA.gov
+ Contact NASA
ABOUT NASA LATEST NEWS MULTIMEDIA MISSIONS MY NASA WORK FOR NASA

+ Home
Aviation Systems
ABOUT US
ATM RESEARCH
FACILITIES AND CAPABILITIES
LATEST NEWS
PUBLICATIONS
RESOURCES
MULTIMEDIA
Search Aviation Systems
Go



HIGHLIGHTS ARCHIVE
Division Highlights


NASA Technology Transfer of the Precision Departure Release Capability
August 14, 2013

Pam Whiteley, Jaiwon Shin, and David Grizzle hold up the PDRC handoff certificate.
The PDRC software is transferred to the FAA. (l to r) Pam Whitley, FAA; Jaiwon Shin, NASA; David Grizzle, FAA. (Image Credit: NASA / Maria Werries)

On August 6, 2013, NASA formally handed off the Precision Departure Release Capability (PDRC) to the Federal Aviation Administration in a ceremony at FAA Headquarters in Washington, DC. PDRC enables surface decision support systems to be connected to the Traffic Management Advisor (TMA) in order to provide more accurate OFF-time predictions and improve the efficiency of departures as they merge into en-route streams to internal airports and adjacent Centers. The NASA North Texas Research Station (NTX) led this research and development effort and demonstrated the ability to improve off-time compliance to 83% (from current-day levels of 54%). PDRC also has the potential to improve metering schedules for over 20% of arriving aircraft at today's TMA-metered airports. NASA was represented at the Washington handoff ceremony by Shawn Engelland (chief engineer for PDRC), William Chan (System Modeling and Simulation Branch Chief) and Tom Davis (Aviation Systems Division Chief) as well as NASA Ames Research Center's Deputy Director, Mr. Lew Braxton, and Associate Administrator for Aeronautics, Dr. Jaiwon Shin. The FAA was represented by Mr. David Grizzle, the FAA's Chief Operating Officer and Ms. Pam Whitley, the FAA's Assistant Administrator for NextGen (acting). (POC: Tom Davis)

Photo of 6 members of the PDRC development team.
A few of the members from the NASA/FAA Research Transition Team who worked on PDRC and who were able to be at the transfer meeting. (Image Credit: NASA / Maria Werries)

Please see the following links for more info:

NASA Administrator Bolden's keynote address at the AIAA Aviation Conference
Text: http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/bolden_aiaa_aviation.pdf
Video: http://livestre.am/4zSGv

NASA Press Release
http://www.nasa.gov/aero/pdrc_transfer.html#.UgvIZT_pw8U

FAA Press Release
http://www.faa.gov/news/updates/?newsId=73374&cid=TW179

Aviation Today Article
http://www.aviationtoday.com/av/topstories/FAA-to-Launch-NASAs-Delay-Reducing-Air-Traffic-Software_79956.html#.UhO3dBbGwqY

GCN Article
http://gcn.com/Articles/2013/08/19/NASA-FAA-software-reduce-flight-delays.aspx


+ Back to Top
FirstGov - Your First Click to the US Government
+ Freedom of Information Act
+ Budgets, Strategic Plans and Accountability Reports
+ NASA Web Privacy Policy
and Important Notices

+ Accessibility
NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Curator:
NASA Official:
Last Updated: November 7, 2018

+ Contact Us
+ About This Site