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