We’ve all been there: You’re at the end of a long flight, anxious to reach your destination and be on your way, when – Nooo! – instead of landing, you begin circling in the air. Meanwhile, someone at the airport is waiting for your plane to arrive, so they can finally board. Sigh.
No one is happy in this situation, but things may soon change for the better. Working with the Federal Aviation Administration, NASA researchers at Ames Research Center, in California’s Silicon Valley, and Langley Research Center, in Hampton, Virginia, have developed tools that automate aspects of managing aircraft arrivals at the airport. The latest of these technologies has just been passed on to the FAA to be put into use around the country. These three software solutions, which are part of a project called Air Traffic Management Technology Demonstration-1, or ATD-1, could change the way commercial flights are directed in to the airport. And that could help change the whole experience of flying.
Merging Air Traffic
What’s probably going on when you’re circling above an airport is that many flights are converging on the same destination at once. Maybe they were scheduled to arrive perfectly spaced, but intervening weather, delays on takeoff or a detour due to turbulence threw off the schedule by a few minutes. It's the job of air traffic controllers to ensure all these moving pieces remain safely spaced out. To do this, they’re often required to send pilots on less direct routes as they near the airport, buying time to get all arriving aircraft in a safe sequence to land.
Right now, this approach is necessary, because air traffic management operations have remained largely unchanged since the early days of commercial aviation. Controllers rely on simple visual indicators – and a lot of skill and judgment – to give multiple pilots turn-by-turn instructions via radio to manually merge all incoming aircraft. Imagine this process during high-traffic periods around the busiest metropolitan airports! The congestion will only get worse as air traffic is expected to increase over the next two decades, and that’s not the only consequence. These inefficient flight paths lead to greater noise and air pollution, more fuel use, lost productivity and the delays we’ve all experienced.
A Coordinated, Automated Solution
ATD-1 brings together three NASA technologies that handle different parts of the process of bringing planes in for landing. Used together, they are able to coordinate the activities of multiple groups involved in aircraft arrivals, coming into play just before the planes begin their descent and continuing down to the runway.
The air traffic management tools developed by ATD-1’s researchers are:
NASA-enhanced Time-Based Flow Management (TBFM)
This prototype software determines an arrival schedule for incoming aircraft – all the way to the runway – that takes advantage of more direct routes. Researchers in the Aviation Systems Division at Ames modified the FAA’s existing tool by developing and adding new software to it. This enhanced version results in a safe, orderly, and efficient flow of traffic in the terminal area.
Controller Managed Spacing (CMS)
This set of tools provides air traffic controllers with information needed to more precisely space out aircraft to meet schedules at the airport terminal. It was also developed at Ames.
Flight Deck Interval Management (FIM)
The tools of ATD-1 are also used aboard the aircraft. This one allows pilots and their crew to precisely distance their aircraft from others to achieve ideal spacing. This technology was developed at Langley.
In a nutshell, the ATD-1 technologies allow for higher precision in regulating air traffic as it approaches its destination. This means that extra space introduced by air traffic controllers as a buffer can be smaller than before. Aircraft can safely fly closer together on more fuel-efficient routes into the airport, increasing capacity while reducing passengers' delay, fuel burn, noise and greenhouse gas emissions.
Under this new system, pilots and controllers also receive more accurate and timely information. This will reduce the need for extensive coordination and negotiation between them to achieve more efficient operations and lighten controllers’ heavy workload, at the same time.
Creating the Future of Air Travel
The United States’ national airspace is undergoing a complete transformation, through close cooperation between NASA, the FAA and industry partners. With research and development contributed by projects like ATD-1, future systems will manage air traffic better than ever, while keeping up with growing demand and increasing economic progress. Tomorrow’s aviation will be safer, more reliable and more efficient, with less impact on the environment. But you won’t have much time to think about it as your flight lands.