Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are an emerging technology with a large variety of commercial and military applications. In-flight icing occurs during flight in supercooled clouds or freezing precipitation and is a potential hazard to all aircraft. In-flight icing on UAVs imposes a major limitation on the operational envelope. This report describes the unsettled topics related to UAV icing. First, typical UAV applications and the general hazards of icing are described. Second, an overview of the special technical characteristics of icing on autonomous and unmanned aircraft is given. Third, the operational challenges for flight in icing conditions are discussed. Fourth, technologies for ice protection that mitigate the icing hazard are introduced. Fifth, the tools and methods required to understand UAV icing and to develop aircraft with cold-weather capabilities are presented. Finally, an assessment of the current and future regulations regarding icing on UAVs is provided.Icing is a key

Hann, Richard, Johansen, Tor A.

Nonlinear IMM-SUKF Algorithm for Maneuvering Target Tracking with Bearings-Only Measurement

2019-01-600512/30/2019

Abstract In this paper, we present an efficient filtering algorithm to perform accurate estimation in jump Markov nonlinear systems, which we aim to contribute in solving the problem of model-based body motion estimation using bearings-only measurement, the Interacting Multiple Model (IMM) algorithm is specially designed to track accurately maneuvering targets whose state and/or measurement (assumed to be linear) models change during motion transition. However, when these models are nonlinear, the IMM algorithm must be modified in order to guarantee an accurate track. In this paper we propose to avoid the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) because of its limitations and substitute it with the Scaled Unscented Kalman Filter (SUKF) which seems to be more efficient especially according to the simulation results obtained with the Interacting Multiple Model Scaled Unscented Kalman Filter (IMM-SUKF).

Sebbagh, Abdennour, Kechida, Sihem

GE Aviation’s AiRXOS launches new Air Mobility portfolio and management tools purpose built for the urban air mobility market

SAE-MA-0344805/03/2019

The solutions – which have already received nationwide approval from multiple UAM operators – provide scalable and secure end-to-end infrastructure and applications to help organizations and governments manage data and capitalize on the UAM economy.

Kucinski, William

Automated Conflict Resolution for Air Traffic Control (AAC) Versions 1 and 2

TBMG-3362201/01/2019

A conflict resolution algorithm that can provide automated separation assurance for the next-generation air traffic control system has been developed. The algorithm generates resolution trajectories that can be sent to the aircraft from a ground-based system via a data link. With suitable reconfiguration, the algorithm can also be installed onboard aircraft to support airborne separation assurance. It handles the complete spectrum of conflict types encountered in en-route airspace, including ascents to cruise altitude and descents to arrival fixes. The resolution trajectories are patterned after changes to flight plans (route changes), altitude clearances, and speed profiles that controllers customarily issue to pilots in resolving conflicts.

Directory of Databases Part I - Whole Body Anthropometry Surveys

AIR5145A (Current)11/02/2018

This SAE Aerospace Information Report (AIR) lists whole body anthropometric surveys and provides current sources for the survey raw data and summary statistics.

G-45 Human Systems Integration

2018 Create the Future Design Contest: Sustainable Technologies Category Winner

TBMG-3332111/01/2018

Air Traffic Management (ATM) System

TBMG-3311210/01/2018

As the demand for air transportation increases, the capacity of the current U.S. ATM system will eventually be stressed to its limits. New technologies in communication, navigation, and surveillance (CNS), along with new decision-support systems and an evolutionary development of the ATM system architecture, can extend the capacity of the current system for several years. NASA has developed a new method and system, based on Extensible Markup Language (XML), that relates to control of aircraft traffic through specification of trajectory coordinates.

Automated Flight System Software

TBMG-2890205/01/2018

Kittyhawk San Francisco, CA +1 415-598-7757

The MITRE Corporation

TBMG-2831202/01/2018

The MITRE Corporation was chartered in 1958 as a private, not-for-profit organization to provide engineering and technical guidance for the federal government. Today, with locations in McLean, VA and Bedford, MA, MITRE serves a variety of government agencies through the operation of federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs) that assist the United States government with scientific research and analysis, development and acquisition, and systems engineering and integration.

Using Ground Sensors to Defend Aircraft Against Laser Strikes

TBMG-2811901/01/2018

A growing safety concern for pilots and aircraft passengers is laser strikes, or the aiming of high-power laser pointers at aircraft. To address the present lack of effective laser strike mitigation systems, the Laser Technology and Applications and Air Traffic Control Systems Groups at MIT Lincoln Laboratory have teamed up to develop the Laser Aircraft Strike Suppression Optical System (LASSOS). LASSOS is a ground-based sensor system that can accurately identify the probable location of a laser perpetrator.

INTERNET PROTOCOL SUITE (IPS) FOR AERONAUTICAL SAFETY SERVICES ROADMAP DOCUMENT

ARINC658 (Current)12/18/2017

ARINC 658 was prepared to recognize the expanding role of data communication technology and the evolutionary path forward starting from ACARS protocols, to ATN/OSI protocols, and eventually ATN/IPS protocols using highly secure networks. The ATN/IPS network will be implemented onboard an aircraft and in the ground infrastructure to support safety services, including Air Traffic Services (ATS) and Aeronautical Operational Control (AOC). As such it provides a so-called “roadmap” for the development of the aviation standards for ATN/IPS services. ATN/IPS standards will evolve in coming years and be coordinated with other international standards organizations such as ICAO, EUROCAE and RTCA.

Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee

Networked In-Flight Validation Environment for Air Traffic Management Concepts

TBMG-2798312/01/2017

Modernization of the National Airspace System (NAS) will involve future air traffic management (ATM) concepts of operation and technology frameworks that rely on the automated exchange of information between aircraft, and between aircraft and ground-based air traffic control systems. In-flight validation is critical to the acceptance and ultimate implementation of these concepts, so an approach and enabling infrastructure are needed to reduce the costs of flight tests. The approach and infrastructure must also support refinement and validation of interoperability standards for enabling communications and surveillance technologies. The innovation described here is a concept to develop an in-situ test environment for advanced ATM concepts by leveraging existing computing and network infrastructure and existing simulations of future surveillance equipage.

Protective Breathing Equipment for Flight Deck and Cabin Crew Members

AIR825/10A (Current)11/07/2017

This SAE Aerospace Information Report (AIR) provides general information to aircraft engineers, regarding the types of Protective Breathing Equipment (PBE) configurations which are available, the intended functions of such equipment, and the technical approaches which may be used in accomplishing these functions. The term "PBE" or "Protective Breathing Equipment" has been used to refer to various types of equipment, which are used in a variety of applications. This way of using the terminology has been a source of confusion in the aviation industry. One objective of this AIR is to assist the reader in distinguishing between the types of PBE applications. A further objective is to assist in understanding the technical approaches which can be used in each of the major applications. Principles of PBE design are reviewed briefly. However, discussion of specific performance specifications and information regarding the details of manufacture and testing of such equipment is beyond the scope

A-10 Aircraft Oxygen Equipment Committee

Multi-Fidelity Simulator (MFS)

TBMG-2768410/01/2017

Many next-generation air traffic algorithms may be formed by learning algorithms or dynamic programming techniques. These techniques form their solutions through iterative methods where the efficacy of a proposed solution needs to be evaluated for every round of iteration. In complex air traffic scenarios, often the only way to evaluate a proposed solution is to simulate the impact of the solution in an air traffic simulator. Such a simulator has to be fast enough to allow for many rounds of iteration. In addition, the simulator will have to be modular enough to allow modules to be created that simulate a portion of the airspace in detail.

Redundant Transmitting System in Aircraft (RTSA)

TBMG-2699606/01/2017

Redundant Transmitting System in Aircraft (RTSA)

17AERP06_0506/01/2017

In air navigation, a flight transponder (transmitter-responder) is a device that emits an identifying signal in response to an interrogating received signal. Transponders are used as Identification of Friend or Foe (IFF) systems in military aviation, and also in Air Traffic Control (ATC) Secondary Surveillance Radar (beacon radar) systems for general aviation and commercial aviation. Primary radar is limited by terrain and weather, and also detects unwanted objects such as automobiles, hills, and trees. It also cannot estimate the attitude of an aircraft. Secondary Surveillance Radar (SSR) overcomes these limitations, but it de pends on a transponder in the aircraft to respond to interrogations from the ground station in order to make the plane more visible. Depending on the type of interrogation, the transponder sends back a transponder code (or “squawk code”) or altitude information to maintain separation between planes. Mode S (Mode Select) is designed to help avoid over

Automated Behavior and Cohesion Assessment Tools (ABCAT)

TBMG-2636202/01/2017

An important consideration of long-duration spaceflight operations is interpersonal dynamics that affect crew cohesion and performance. Flight surgeons have stated the need for unobtrusive monitoring to help detect if crews are having difficulties coping with long-duration spaceflight environments.

Miles-In-Trail with Passback Restrictions for Use in Air Traffic Management

TBMG-2600212/01/2016

NASA has developed a unique innovation to compute passed back spacing requirements in air traffic management. The air traffic managers of the National Airspace System (NAS) in the United States regularly implement various Traffic Management Initiatives (TMI) to handle traffic in a safe and efficient manner. One such initiative is the Miles-in-Trail restriction. Imposed Miles-in-Trail is the value of spacing required between aircraft flying along a certain path. They help air traffic managers control the flow of aircraft into and out of an air traffic control facility. Miles-in-Trail can be implemented independently or in conjunction with other TMIs (e.g., a severe weather avoidance plan route, or a Playbook route). This model computes passback restrictions given the imposed constraint, the start and end times, the boundaries at where those restrictions need to be passed back, and the amount of maximum ground and airborne delay allowed.

Optimum Strategies for Selecting Descent Flight-Path Angles

TBMG-2569611/01/2016

Efficient and safe arrival operations under challenging traffic conditions are a key objective for air transportation modernization efforts taking place throughout the world. However, trajectory predictability issues often prevent Air Traffic Control (ATC) from allowing continuous descent approaches in congested airspace. An arrival procedure with a specific descent profile, such as a fixed-flight-path angle, provides high trajectory predictability for air-traffic management. Accordingly, it can enable ATC to increase the use of continuous descent approaches, thereby increasing the throughput of arrival operations and reducing fuel burn and other direct operating costs in the process. Moreover, such a procedure is already supported by current avionics in almost all small (regional, business, and light) jets and a fraction of large jets, including Boeing and Airbus.

A Methodology for Collision Prediction and Alert Generation in Airport Environment

2016-01-197609/20/2016

Aviation safety is one of the key focus areas of the aerospace industry as it involves safety of passengers, crew, assets etc. Due to advancements in technology, aviation safety has reached to safest levels compared to last few decades. In spite of declining trends in in-air accident rate, ground accidents are increasing due to ever increasing air traffic and human factors in the airport. Majority of the accidents occur during initial and final phases of the flight. Rapid increase in air traffic would pose challenge in ensuring safety and best utilization of Airports, Airspace and assets. In current scenario multiple systems like Runway Debris Monitoring System, Runway Incursion Detection System, Obstacle avoidance system and Traffic Collision Avoidance System are used for collision prediction and alerting in airport environment. However these approaches are standalone in nature and have limitations in coverage, performance and are dependent on onboard equipment. There is a need to

Thupakula, Kiran, Sivaramasastry, Adishesha, Gampa, Srikanth

Predictive Analytics for Turbulence Avoidance and Aircraft Fatigue Diagnostics

2016-01-202209/20/2016

Turbulence is by far the number one concern of anxious passengers and a cause for airline injuries. Apart from causing discomfort to passengers, it also results in unplanned downtime of aircrafts. Currently the Air Traffic Control (ATC) and the meteorological weather charts aid the pilot in devising flight paths that avoid turbulent regions. Even with such tailored flight paths, pilots report constant encounters with turbulence. The probability of turbulence avoidance can be increased by the use of predictive models on historical and transactional data. This paper proposes the use of predictive analytics on meteorological data over the geographical area where the aircraft is intended to fly. The weather predictions are then relayed to the cloud server which can be accessed by the aircraft planned to fly in the same region. Predictive algorithms that use Time series forecasting models are discussed and their comparative performance is documented. This paper further brings out the

Rao, Ajay, Karan, Vivek, Kumar, Pradeep

Method and Apparatus for Generating Flight-Optimizing Trajectories

TBMG-2497807/01/2016

NASA’s Langley Research Center is developing Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew Requests (TASAR). TASAR features a cockpit automation system that monitors for potential flight trajectory improvements and displays them to the pilot. These wind-optimized flight trajectory changes are pre-cleared of potential conflicts with other known airplane traffic, weather hazards, and airspace restrictions. The TASAR is to improve the process in which pilots request flight path and altitude modifications due to changing flight conditions. Changes may be made to reduce flight time, increase fuel efficiency, or improve some other flight attribute desired by the operator. Currently, pilots make such requests to air traffic control (ATC) with limited awareness of what is happening around them. Consequently, some of these requests will be denied resulting in no flight improvements and an unnecessary workload increase for both pilots and ATC. The TASAR technology provides pilots with recommended flight path

Mariana Text Classification System

TBMG-2457305/01/2016

Support Vector Machines (SVM) can be used as a binary classifier for a wide range of data and problems. For text, it is often used to determine automatically if a document belongs to a given topic category. Automatic and reliable classification of documents can be an invaluable tool for industries that monitor problem reports, accident reports, maintenance logs, and corrective action reports that span different specialties.

Dynamic Weather Routes (DWR)

TBMG-23213

11/01/2015

Convective weather systems, i.e., thunderstorms, are the leading cause of flight delay in U.S. airspace. Airline dispatchers must file their flight plans 1 to 2 hours before takeoff, and are often required to incorporate large buffers to forecast weather. Weather changes as flights progress, and airline dispatchers, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) traffic managers, and air traffic controllers are especially busy during weather events. Workable opportunities for more efficient routes around bad weather are often missed, and automation does not exist to help operators determine when weather avoidance routes have become stale and could be updated to reduce delay.

Automated ATM System Enabling 4DT-Based Operations

2015-01-253909/15/2015

As part of the current initiatives aimed at enhancing safety, efficiency and environmental sustainability of aviation, a significant improvement in the efficiency of aircraft operations is currently pursued. Innovative Communication, Navigation, Surveillance and Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) technologies and operational concepts are being developed to achieve the ambitious goals for efficiency and environmental sustainability set by national and international aviation organizations. These technological and operational innovations will be ultimately enabled by the introduction of novel CNS/ATM and Avionics (CNS+A) systems, featuring higher levels of automation. A core feature of such systems consists in the real-time multi-objective optimization of flight trajectories, incorporating all the operational, economic and environmental aspects of the aircraft mission. This article describes the conceptual design of an innovative ground-based Air Traffic Management (ATM) system featuring

Gardi, Alessandro, Sabatini, Roberto, Ramasamy, Subramanian, Marino, Matthew, Kistan, Trevor

Integration and Performances Analysis of a Data Distribution Service Middleware in Avionics

2015-01-255409/15/2015

The amount of functionalities in modern aircrafts is increasing to satisfy performance, safety and economic benefits. Therefore, the communication needs of avionic systems are growing. Furthermore, the portability and reusability of applications are current challenges of the aerospace industry. The use of the Data Distribution Service (DDS) middleware technology would reduce the complexity of communications and ease the portability and reusability of applications with its standardised interface. Few previous works used a DDS middleware within the aerospace industry and those didn't take into account the impact of this technology on the applications performances. Therefore, this paper presents an impact evaluation of using a DDS middleware on the performances of avionic applications. To do so, a design methodology was proposed to design an automatic flight control system (AFCS) from a high abstraction level representation of a control loop to a low-level implementation on a development

Landry, Kevin, Boland, Jean-François, Bois, Guy

Development of a Safety Assessment Tool for Air Traffic Control System

2015-01-244109/15/2015

This paper outlines an analytical framework to perform a data-driven, risk-based assessment of Air Traffic Control (ATC) facilities. Safety associated with an ATC facility is modeled as an influence network using a set of risk factors. A novel hybrid approach employing Adaptive-Network based Fuzzy Inference Systems is introduced to propagate the model. Statistical analysis of system-wide data for each risk factor is performed to identify outliers and understand underlying distributions. They are then used to define Fuzzy Membership Functions for model variables. Analytical Hierarch Process (AHP) is used to determine rules required by the model's inference engine. Finally, the methodology is applied to a set of ATC facilities using real data.

Oztekin, Ahmet

RETRACTED: Minimizing the Cost of Weather Cells and Persistent Contrail Formation Region Avoidance Using Multi-Objective Trajectory Optimization in Air Traffic Management

2015-01-2392.0109/15/2015

SAE International has retracted the original paper and it has been withdrawn and will not be available online or in print.

Redundant Transmitting System in Aircraft (RTSA)

2015-01-244309/15/2015

Aircrafts use Transponder for transmitting data to Air Traffic Control ground stations. Transponders automatically transmit a unique four-digit code when they receive a radio signal sent by radar. But when Transponder is shut down, and the redundant transponder fails to operate, there is no system within the aircraft which can continue transmitting altitude and important data to ATC ground stations. This has necessitated active research work to fundamentally design better and effective communication systems. At present, there is no evident redundant system to transponder unlike in case of Power-Plants, three-fold reliable, safety cum redundant power supply system are present. The present work introduces a novel design ‘RTSA’ which can be effective in catering safe transmission of emergency signal.

Chanda, Nivedita

Aircraft In Situ Validation of Hydrometeors and Icing Conditions Inferred by Ground-based NEXRAD Polarimetric Radar

2015-01-215206/15/2015

MIT Lincoln Laboratory is tasked by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to investigate the use of the NEXRAD polarimetric radars* for the remote sensing of icing conditions hazardous to aircraft. A critical aspect of the investigation concerns validation that has relied upon commercial airline icing pilot reports and a dedicated campaign of in situ flights in winter storms. During the month of February in 2012 and 2013, the Convair-580 aircraft operated by the National Research Council of Canada was used for in situ validation of snowstorm characteristics under simultaneous observation by NEXRAD radars in Cleveland, Ohio and Buffalo, New York. The most anisotropic and easily distinguished winter targets to dual pol radar are ice crystals. Accordingly, laboratory diffusion chamber measurements in a tightly-controlled parameter space of temperature and humidity provide the linkage between shape and the expectation for the presence/absence of water saturation conditions necessary for

Williams, Earle, Donovan, Michael F., Smalley, David J., Hallowell, Robert G., Griffin, Elaine P., Hood, Kenta T., Bennett, Betty J., Wolde, Mengistu, Korolev, Alexei V.

Sector 33 App

TBMG-22012

05/01/2015

Sector 33 is a mobile app for the Apple and Android mobile platforms that provides a single-user, interactive air traffic control simulator (game) for mobile devices. The main features of the app include an interactive air traffic control simulation with numerous problems for two to five airplanes; introductory videos on air traffic control; scoring for the problems; awards for reaching levels of achievement; integrated solution hints; a short introduction to the simulator; help; and hints for simple proportional reasoning math needed to solve the problems perfectly.

NASA Sensors Detect Aircraft Icing Hazards

TBMG-2214405/01/2015

Atmospheric Icing Sensors Glenn Research Center Cleveland, OH

JavaGenes Data Optimization

TBMG-2179904/01/2015

JavaGenes is a general-purpose software program that implements several different data optimization techniques. The program is intended for problems that have no gradient, comparing genetic algorithms with stochastic hill climbing and simulated annealing to generate optimal design solutions. JavaGenes can create many different data structures, and describe problems in a variety of ways.

ACES ToolSuite

TBMG-21391

02/01/2015

The NASA Langley Aeronautics Systems Analysis Branch (ASAB) is heavily involved in research studies to evaluate new and emerging concepts targeted at improving the National Airspace System (NAS). The primary tool used by ASAB to perform these studies is the Airspace Concept Evaluation System (ACES), a medium-fidelity, NAS-wide simulation environment.

Airspace Concepts Evaluation System

TBMG-20961

11/01/2014

Current trends indicate the significant increase in National Airspace System (NAS) flight congestion and delays. The Airspace Concepts Evaluation System (ACES) provides a NAS modeling and simulation environment capable of assessing the impact of new NAS concepts, technologies, and simulation architecture. ACES fully supports the ability of the modeling and simulation system to incorporate new capabilities required to assess proposed advanced air traffic modeling (ATM) concepts and technologies.

TASAR and TAP: Airborne Trajectory Management Enabled by Traffic-Aware Software

TBMG-19579

05/01/2014

This innovation consists of the Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew Request (TASAR) concept and the associated Traffic Aware Planner (TAP) software. TASAR is intended to enable pilots to discover trajectory improvement opportunities while en route that will result in immediate operational benefits for the airspace user and be approvable by Air Traffic Control (ATC). TAP is a cockpit-based advisory tool that enables the TASAR concept, and it was developed to be hosted on a Class 2 Electronic Flight Bag. This near-term concept provides pilots with a strategic re-planning capability that optimizes fuel burn or flight time; avoids interactions with known traffic, weather, and restricted airspace; and may be used by the pilots to request a trajectory change from ATC with increased likelihood of approval. TAP’s internal architecture and algorithms are derived from the Autonomous Operations Planner (AOP), a flight-deck automation system developed by NASA to support research into aircraft self

Trajectory Specification for High-Capacity Air Traffic Control

TBMG-19583

05/01/2014

The doubling or tripling of airspace capacity that will be needed over the next several decades will require that tactical separation guidance be automated for appropriately equipped aircraft in high-density airspace. Four-dimensional (4D) trajectory assignment (three-dimensional position as a function of time) will facilitate such automation. A standard trajectory specification format based on XML (Extensible Markup Language) is proposed for that purpose.

Safety Analysis of Conflict Prevention Algorithms

TBMG-19581

05/01/2014

Different types of information are used to help aircraft maintain separation standards. At the lowest level, information is needed to indicate if separation standards will be violated in the near future, called a conflict. Once a conflict is detected, then conflict resolution information may be used to create a new path in which there is no conflict. Most future airspace concepts propose using computer algorithms to produce this information. Both conflict detection and resolution algorithms usually work in a pair-wise fashion: the ownership aircraft and one other aircraft. In situations where traffic density is low, this pair-wise assumption does not significantly impact operations. However, when traffic density is high, resolving one conflict may result in new near-term conflicts called secondary conflicts. These secondary conflicts may be nearer (in time) than the original conflict being addressed, so, the safety of the aircraft depends on avoiding these conflicts.

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