EXPANDING THE USE OF TIME-BASED METERING:
MULTI-CENTER TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT ADVISOR

Steven J. Landry, Todd Farley, and Ty Hoang


Abstract


Time-based metering is an efficient air traffic
management alternative to the more common practice
of distance-based metering (or "miles-in-trail
spacing"). Despite having demonstrated significant
operational benefit to airspace users and service
providers, time-based metering is used in the United
States for arrivals to just nine airports and is not used
at all for non-arrival traffic flows. The Multi-Center
Traffic Management Advisor promises to bring timebased
metering into the mainstream of air traffic
management techniques. Not constrained to operate
solely on arrival traffic, Multi-Center Traffic
Management Advisor is flexible enough to work in
highly congested or heavily partitioned airspace for
any and all traffic flows in a region. This broader and
more general application of time-based metering is
expected to bring the operational benefits of timebased
metering to a much wider pool of beneficiaries
than is possible with existing technology. It also
promises to facilitate more collaborative traffic
management on a regional basis. This paper focuses
on the operational concept of the Multi-Center
Traffic Management Advisor, touching also on its
system architecture, and prospects for near-term
deployment to the United States' National Airspace
System.