Exploratory Research on Engineering the Transport Industries (ETI): Air-Traffic Management and Control Issues in the Terminal Area and in the Enroute National Airspace

该奖项是在运输业工程探索性研究(ETI)项目征集下颁发的。研究工作将涉及战术和战略规划决策支持系统，以帮助空中交通管制(ATC)人员管理终点区和途中国家空域(NAS)的空中交通，并帮助决策者规划未来方向和制定各种操作指南。与航线空域相关的是，将探索一种全面的空域规划模型(APM)，以便在联邦航空局和航空公司之间的协作决策框架中为一组航班选择替代飞行计划。该模型将考虑与安全和碰撞避免、部门工作量、燃料和延误成本以及相关航空公司之间的公平性有关的各种问题。关于枢纽机场的航站区，将探索一个名为机场地面控制咨询系统(AGCAS)的综合决策支持系统，以协助解决与飞机排序和跑道操作以及滑行道和机场地面网络操作有关的地面控制问题。这项研究的目的是制定地面和航线空中交通管制总体框架的愿景，描述现有能力，并确定改进和协调的需要和机会。为了实现这一目标，将提出新的模式，以帮助战术决策以及制定有关机场航站楼区域和航线空域的政策。将与美国联邦航空局和美国宇航局合作，探索将这些模型与现有先进的空中交通管制自动化工具相结合的框架，以加强空中交通管理能力。预计这项研究工作的长期影响将是改善空域和机场的处理能力，并通过更有效率和有效地控制和管理资源和业务，减少延误和拥堵影响。

This award is made under the Exploratory Research on Engineering the Transport Industry (ETI) program solicitation. The research effort will address tactical and strategic planning decision support systems to aid Air Traffic Control (ATC) personnel manage the air traffic in the terminal area and in the enroute National Airspace (NAS), as well as to aid policy makers in planning future directions and in formulating various operational guidelines. Related to the enroute airspace, a comprehensive Airspace Planning Model (APM) will be explored to select among alternative flight-plans for a set of flights in a collaborative decision making framework between FAA and airline carriers. The model will consider various issues concerned with safety and collision avoidance, sector workload, fuel and delay costs, and equity among the involved airlines. Related to the terminal area at hub airports, a comprehensive decision support system called the Airport Ground Control Advisory System (AGCAS) will be explored to aid in ground control issues pertaining to aircraft sequencing and runway operations, and pertaining to taxiway and airport ground network operations. The intent of this research is to develop a vision for an overall framework for ground and enroute air-traffic control, describing existing capabilities, and identifying needs and opportunities for improvements and coordination. To achieve this, new models will be proposed to aid in tactical decision making as well as in policy formulations regarding the airport terminal area and the enroute airspace. A framework for integrating these models with existing advanced ATC automation tools will be explored in collaboration with FAA and NASA in order to enhance air traffic management capabilities. The long-term impact expected from this research effort will be to improve airspace and airport handling capacities and to reduce delays and congestion effects through a more efficient and effective control and management of resources and operations.