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Ames Research CenterAmes Research CenterParimal Kopardekar, June 2005 Managing Sector Congestion Using Airspace Restriction Planner

Managing Sector Congestion Using Managing Sector Congestion Using Airspace Restriction Planner (ARP)Airspace Restriction Planner (ARP)

Parimal Kopardekar, Ph.D. and Steve Green

NASA Ames Research CenterMoffett Field, CA 94035

USA/Europe Air Traffic Management 2005 R&D SeminarUSA/Europe Air Traffic Management 2005 R&D SeminarBaltimore, MarylandBaltimore, Maryland

June 28, 2005June 28, 2005

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Ames Research CenterAmes Research CenterParimal Kopardekar, June 2005 Managing Sector Congestion Using Airspace Restriction Planner

OutlineOutline

• Acknowledgment• Introduction• Current sector congestion management practice• Limitations of current practice• Airspace Restriction Planner objective • Airspace Restriction Planner functionality• Airspace Restriction Planner development and validation

process• Human-in-the-loop Simulation• Results and discussions• Next steps and conclusions

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Ames Research CenterAmes Research CenterParimal Kopardekar, June 2005 Managing Sector Congestion Using Airspace Restriction Planner

AcknowledgmentAcknowledgment

• NASA’s Advanced Air Transportation Technologies Project for funding the research and development activity

• Metron Aviation– Steve Lent, Chuck Brinkman, Andrew Laroy

• University of California (Santa Cruz)– Michael Jastrabzski and Jennifer Lock

• Federal Aviation Administration– Participation and access

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Ames Research CenterAmes Research CenterParimal Kopardekar, June 2005 Managing Sector Congestion Using Airspace Restriction Planner

IntroductionIntroduction• Traffic Flow Management’s (TFM’s) function is to balance demand

and capacity• One of the roles of Traffic Management Coordinators (TMCs) is to

detect and prevent potential airspace congestion/overload– Avoid excessive workload situations– Each sector has an established limit for sector count, called

the Monitor Alert Parameter (MAP)• Once an airspace congestion situation is predicted, a TMC creates

restrictions to reduce the expected density below the MAP• Observations and discussions with TMCs indicate that current

capabilities are not efficient, effective, and accurate in generating and evaluating flow restrictions for sector congestion management – Particularly in the presence of metering

• Purpose of this presentation to show a decision support capability for efficient and effective sector congestion management

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Ames Research CenterAmes Research CenterParimal Kopardekar, June 2005 Managing Sector Congestion Using Airspace Restriction Planner

Current Sector Congestion Current Sector Congestion ManagementManagement

• Identify congested sectors using predicted sector count and MAP• Examine incoming traffic composition by creating aircraft lists

– Does not offer quick grouping, manual/cognitive process• Decide group(s) of aircraft that need to be placed under restriction

– Usually select a large group of aircraft rather than multiple smaller groups, manual/cognitive process

• Identify what restriction to put in place (e.g., miles-in-trail/metering, departure delays, altitude capping/tunneling, and rerouting)– Subjective process and varies from TMC to TMC– Impact of restrictions is not always clear

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Ames Research CenterAmes Research CenterParimal Kopardekar, June 2005 Managing Sector Congestion Using Airspace Restriction Planner

Limitations of Current OperationsLimitations of Current Operations• Field observations and discussions indicate that

– Based on intuition, history, mental calculations, skill, and experience

– Lack feedback on the effectiveness of planned restrictions– Result in over or under-restricting the sector

• May cause unnecessary delays or may not protect the sector and could cause higher workload

– Difficult to objectively assess impact of combined effect of multiple restrictions on a resource (e.g., sector) that is being protected

– TMCs are forced to use expedient solutions that often impact busy flows from/to a major airports

– Effect of restrictions on adjacent sectors is not easily identifiable (i.e., collateral damage)

• These methods may be historically acceptable, but their effectiveness is not known

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Ames Research CenterAmes Research CenterParimal Kopardekar, June 2005 Managing Sector Congestion Using Airspace Restriction Planner

Airspace Restriction Planner (ARP)Airspace Restriction Planner (ARP): : Objective and GoalsObjective and Goals

• TMCs manage sector congestion problems using mental calculations, educated “guess work”, and historically validated solutions

• ARP is a decision support capability•• Objective:Objective:

– Improve TMC productivity in managing sector congestion problems, particularly in the presence of metering

•• Goals:Goals:– Provide ability to analyze incoming traffic composition for a

congested airspace– Provide ability to create multiple TFM restrictions easily– Provide ability to examine the effect of planned restrictions– Provide ability to compare multiple restrictions and choose

one based on certain performance metrics – Provide ability to create and implement restrictions that are

“just-in-time, and just enough” with minimal collateral damage

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Ames Research CenterAmes Research CenterParimal Kopardekar, June 2005 Managing Sector Congestion Using Airspace Restriction Planner

ARP FunctionalityARP Functionality

• Traffic Analyzer– Visualize the traffic composition in order to identify

flights/streams that contribute to the congestion problem• Restriction Planner

– Develop one or more restrictions that may alleviate congestion– Allows for various degrees of freedom

• Altitude Capping and Tunneling• Metering or Miles-in-trail• Departure delays • Rerouting

• Restriction Analyzer– Examine the impact on the “airspace of interest” and

surrounding sectors to minimize collateral damage• Multiple Restriction Evaluator

– Compare multiple plans

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Ames Research CenterAmes Research CenterParimal Kopardekar, June 2005 Managing Sector Congestion Using Airspace Restriction Planner

Traffic AnalyzerTraffic Analyzer

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Ames Research CenterAmes Research CenterParimal Kopardekar, June 2005 Managing Sector Congestion Using Airspace Restriction Planner

RestrRestriction Planneriction Planner

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Ames Research CenterAmes Research CenterParimal Kopardekar, June 2005 Managing Sector Congestion Using Airspace Restriction Planner

Restriction AnalyRestriction Analyzerzer

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Ames Research CenterAmes Research CenterParimal Kopardekar, June 2005 Managing Sector Congestion Using Airspace Restriction Planner

ARP Development and ValiARP Development and Validation dation ProcessProcess

• Used Future ATM Concept Evaluation Tool (FACET) as a platform

• Site visits to understand current practices and problems• SMEs were throughout the development process (e.g.,

storyboarding, prototyping, walkthrough, and simulation)• Conducted human-in-the-loop simulation, purpose was to

– Demonstrate proof of concept– Evaluate ARP capability– Conduct human factors assessment

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Ames Research CenterAmes Research CenterParimal Kopardekar, June 2005 Managing Sector Congestion Using Airspace Restriction Planner

ARP ARP HITL SimulationHITL Simulation

• Conditions: Baseline (without ARP) and experimental (with ARP)

• Sector 48 (Ravenna) from ZOB (MAP = 14, FL 240 to 290)– Original data set from Sept 10, 01 between 1800-2300Z– We created several demand-capacity imbalance

conditions (e.g., MAP = 12, 10)• Same color coding as that of ETMS (red and yellow if

predicted to exceed MAP)• Eight current TMCs from ZOB• Data: verbal protocols and debriefing

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Ames Research CenterAmes Research CenterParimal Kopardekar, June 2005 Managing Sector Congestion Using Airspace Restriction Planner

DTW

PIT

CLE

BWI

PHL

DCAIAD

TOL

MFD

YNG

IAG

DAY

CVG LUK

CMH

BUF

ZOB Sector 48 ZOB Sector 48 -- Traffic CharacteristicsTraffic Characteristics

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Ames Research CenterAmes Research CenterParimal Kopardekar, June 2005 Managing Sector Congestion Using Airspace Restriction Planner

Results and DiscussionResults and Discussion

• Demonstrate Proof of Concept– All participants indicated that ARP (and all functionalities) was

a useful capability that allows to plan and evaluate restrictions much more efficiently

– They would use ARP if made available– Restriction Planner was very useful due to feedback

• Evaluate ARP Capability– Under baseline condition, all TMCs had under/over-protected

the sector– Various TMCs approached the same problem differently in

terms of choice of flows/streams and degrees of freedom– First, they chose restrictions on the aircraft that were not

departed– Indicated that creating restrictions with the ARP is much

easier than current operations• Human Factors Assessment

– Color, font (type and size), display, organization of data, and ease of creating restrictions

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Ames Research CenterAmes Research CenterParimal Kopardekar, June 2005 Managing Sector Congestion Using Airspace Restriction Planner

Next Steps and ConclusionsNext Steps and Conclusions

• Conduct another simulation based on feedback and improve interfaces and functionality

• Integrate with Multi-Center Traffic Management Advisor functionality and/or other TFM DSTs

• Overall, useful capability

Questions?Contact information: pkopardekar@mail.arc.nasa.gov