Human-In-the-Loop Evaluation of NextGen Concepts in the Airspace Operations Laboratory

Prevôt, Thomas; Lee, Paul; Callantine, Todd J.; Mercer, Joey; Homola, Jeffrey; Smith, Nancy; Palmer, Everett

doi:10.2514/6.2010-7609

Cited by 54 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 28 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Overview A prototype system for ground-based automated separation assurance was implemented in the Multi Aircraft Control System (MACS). MACS is developed by the AOL for human-in-the-loop simulations and rapid prototyping of advanced air traffic concepts and operations [11,12]. While many functions had to be realized within MACS, the following functional components will be described in more detail: …”

Section: Prototype Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of High Density Air Traffic Operations with Automation for Separation Assurance, Weather Avoidance and Schedule Conformance

Prevôt

Mercer

Martin

et al. 2011

11th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations (ATIO) Conference

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this paper we discuss the development and evaluation of our prototype technologies and procedures for far-term air traffic control operations with automation for separation assurance, weather avoidance and schedule conformance. Controller-in-the-loop simulations in the Airspace Operations Laboratory at the NASA Ames Research Center in 2010 have shown very promising results. We found the operations to provide high airspace throughput, excellent efficiency and schedule conformance. The simulation also highlighted areas for improvements: Short-term conflict situations sometimes resulted in separation violations, particularly for transitioning aircraft in complex traffic flows. The combination of heavy metering and growing weather resulted in an increased number of aircraft penetrating convective weather cells. To address these shortcomings technologies and procedures have been improved and the operations are being re-evaluated with the same scenarios. In this paper we will first describe the concept and technologies for automating separation assurance, weather avoidance, and schedule conformance. Second, the results from the 2010 simulation will be reviewed. We report human-systems integration aspects, safety and efficiency results as well as airspace throughput, workload, and operational acceptability. Next, improvements will be discussed that were made to address identified shortcomings. We conclude that, with further refinements, air traffic control operations with ground-based automated separation assurance can routinely provide currently unachievable levels of traffic throughput in the en route airspace. Nomenclature

show abstract

Section: Prototype Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of High Density Air Traffic Operations with Automation for Separation Assurance, Weather Avoidance and Schedule Conformance

Prevôt

Mercer

Martin

et al. 2011

11th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations (ATIO) Conference

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A user may, for example, load data from (uncontrolled) MACS aircraft 10 into TRAC and examine how the traffic would appear if certain adjustments were applied. This capability has proved useful in developing traffic scenarios for human-in-theloop simulation studies (e.g., Refs 3 and 4).…”

Section: Adjusting Traffic Scenariosmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling Off-Nominal Recovery in NextGen Terminal-Area Operations

Callantine

2011

AIAA Modeling and Simulation Technologies Conference

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Robust schedule-based arrival management requires efficient recovery from off-nominal situations. This paper presents research on modeling off-nominal situations and plans for recovering from them using TRAC, a route/airspace design, fast-time simulation, and analysis tool for studying NextGen trajectory-based operations. The paper provides an overview of a schedule-based arrival-management concept and supporting controller tools, then describes TRAC implementations of methods for constructing off-nominal scenarios, generating trajectory options to meet scheduling constraints, and automatically producing recovery plans.

show abstract

“…To partly address this issue, a HITL simulation was conducted in the Airspace Operations Laboratory at the NASA Ames Research Center [14] that explored control room operations in a far-term environment. This exploration consisted of four, three-hour simulation runs that tested the limits of airspace capacity and complexity.…”

Section: Hitl Simulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Allocation of functions in a far-term air traffic control environment

Homola

Martin

Mercer

et al. 2011

2011 IEEE/AIAA 30th Digital Avionics Systems Conference

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A human-in-the-loop exploration of a groundbased automated separation assurance concept was conducted that involved the allocation of certain functions between humans and automation. This exploration included operations that were sustained for prolonged periods of time with high levels of traffic in the presence of convective weather and scheduling constraints. In this environment, the automation was allocated the functions of detecting separation conflicts, resolving strategic and tactical conflicts, providing trajectory trial planning assistance, and alerting the controller to urgent problems. The controller was responsible for supervising the automation, resolving conflicts deferred by the automation, resolving convective weather conflicts, monitoring and maintaining schedule compliance, and placing free track aircraft back onto their trajectory. An investigation into the acceptability of these roles and performance of tasks was conducted where it was found that the participants rated the concept and allocation of functions with a high level of acceptability. However, issues were encountered with the automation related to the detection of and response to tactical conflicts. Lower ratings were given on account of these concerns, and it was found that a key contributor to the underlying problems was transitioning aircraft and the uncertainty of their trajectories. Stemming from those results, participants responded that they would rather have direct control over aircraft transitions as well as more control over the tactical conflict resolution automation. In contrast, participants responded that they would rather have the automation place aircraft back on trajectory, and perform weather avoidance and scheduling tasks.

show abstract

Human-In-the-Loop Evaluation of NextGen Concepts in the Airspace Operations Laboratory

Cited by 54 publications

References 28 publications

Evaluation of High Density Air Traffic Operations with Automation for Separation Assurance, Weather Avoidance and Schedule Conformance

Evaluation of High Density Air Traffic Operations with Automation for Separation Assurance, Weather Avoidance and Schedule Conformance

Modeling Off-Nominal Recovery in NextGen Terminal-Area Operations

Allocation of functions in a far-term air traffic control environment

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About