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

Abstract

The Airspace Operations Laboratory (AOL) at the NASA Ames Research Center hosts a powerful simulation environment for human-in-the-loop studies of air traffic operations. The primary real-time simulation capabilities are developed by the AOL development team as part of the Multi Aircraft Control System (MACS) and cover a wide range of operational environments from current day operations to future operational concepts like those envisioned for the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). The research focus in the AOL is on examining air traffic control and traffic management operations across multiple air traffic control sectors and Centers in rich air/ground environments that can include oceanic, enroute and terminal airspace. The basic simulation capabilities and earlier research was presented at the AIAA Modeling and Simulation Technologies conference in 2006. Since then, the AOL capabilities have been continuously improved and expanded. Over the past four years the AOL has been extensively utilized to investigate a variety of NextGen concepts for NASA’s NextGen Airspace Program and the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization for Planning, Research and Technology. The primary focus areas under investigation in the AOL are Separation Assurance and the associated Functional Allocation for NextGen, Controller Managed Spacing for nearto mid-term Terminal area operations, flow-based trajectory management and multi-sector planning and dynamic airspace configuration and flexible airspace management. This paper first gives an overview over the most significant capabilities that were added since 2006 and then reviews at a high level the main activities and findings in the different research focus areas.