Gate-to-Gate OperationsUpdate

Captain Bob Hilb

UPS Advanced Flight Systems April 14, 2008

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Agenda

• Background

• Gate-to-Gate Scheduling and Control

• Merging and Spacing

• Cockpit Display of Traffic Information Assisted Visual Separation

• Surface Area Movement Management

• Benefits

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Implementation Concept

• Gate-to-Gate surveillance, RTA/Flight Deck Merging and Spacing (FDMS), NextGen CDA RNAV/RNP procedures, and Datalink – Enable building and controlling of a total schedule

• Systems approach needed– Optimize to the total system, not sub-optimization of each individual

capability

• FDMS can deliver aircraft to the runway, the critical point of the schedule, within a few seconds– Time based wake turbulence separation can enable all weather

capacity consistency

– Runway stagger technique to further optimize runway usage

– Can be done with minimal FMS and ATC automation changes

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Louisville Technology Demonstration

•Previous– Surface Management System (SMS) – Successful test of Continuous Descent Arrivals

(CDAs)– ADS-B Cockpit Display of Traffic Information (CDTI)

on 107 B-757 and B-767 aircraft – ADS-B “Out” on other aircraft

•Now – Airline Based En-route Sequencing and Spacing

(ABESS) – Five B-757 with ACSS SafeRoute - FDMS, CDTI

Assisted Visual Separation (CAVS) and Surface Area Movement Management (SAMM)

– B-767 Certification and Ops Approval imminent

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SMS – Airport View

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Continuous Descent Arrivals

• Arrival procedure (RNAV/RNP) for idle power descent from cruise to final approach– saves fuel, lowers

noise, lowers emissions

• FAA Center of Excellence for Noise & Emissions sponsored successful trials Oct. 2004 at SDF

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Trial Results

• Continuous Descent Arrivals – October 2004 Trials–30% reduction in noise

(up to 6 dB)

–34% reduction in nitrous oxide (NOx) emissions– Below 3000 feet

–250 to 465 pounds less fuel burn per flight

Reduced Noise ImpactCDA (Sept 14 -18)

)

Baseline (Sep 28-Oct 2)

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Trial Results

• Identified the need for a closed loop spacing system for high traffic density NextGen CDAs

•Needs affordable retrofit to make the concept feasible– Bundled applications in an Electronic Flight Bag

– Merging and Spacing

– Surface Area Movement Management

– ATC datalink and others

– Surveillance Processor alternative to FMS upgrade

– FDMS with RTA

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ABESS

• Based on earlier MITRE and NASA work

• Uses all available surveillance sources to predict aircraft sequence and build schedule for arrival fix (at all runway ends – future) – FAA radars, ACARS, ADS-B, and Rapid Update Cycle

(RUC) winds (SMS for all nearby airports - future)

• Detects conflicts

• Calculates speed changes and RTA to smooth flow

• Uplinks speed to aircraft and M&S info (RTA future)

• Joint FAA, NASA, MITRE, UPS project

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Scheduling Process

•Utilize fused surveillance (with ADS-B accuracies) and SMS to allow scheduling of aircraft inbound to a hub–All aircraft within defined time horizon (1-2

hours?)– All airborne and pre-departure traffic

–SMS predicts when aircraft at close-in airports will be ready for take-off

–Schedule built to maximum capacity for each runway with slots for pre-departure aircraft– Move slots as required

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Controlling the Schedule

• Airborne aircraft are initially given speeds (RTA – future) via datalink to achieve strategic schedule– Datalink - initially ACARS, ultimately ATC datalink– Scheduler - initially ABESS, ultimately in terminal traffic

manager

• Pre-departure aircraft are given take-off times to make their slots– Similar to today’s controlled take-off time process – Slots are easily moved to accommodate unexpected ground

delays

• Within ADS-B range, aircraft are assigned the aircraft to follow and spacing interval via datalink

• Aircraft use FDMS to the runway

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Currently in Revenue Service

VMC or IMCMerging and

Spacing

NextGen ConstantDescent

Arrival (CDA)

CDTI Assisted Visual Separation

(CAVS) / CEFR Approach

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Merging and Spacing – Now

• Redesigned RNAV/RNP arrivals that utilize CDA principles

• AOC strategic scheduling and spacing at Louisville– Airline Operations Center (AOC) utilizes ABESS to provide speed,

spacing, and aircraft-to-follow assignments to flight crew

• ATC responsibilities unchanged– Responsible for separation

– Intervenes, if necessary, to maintain arrival flow

– Maintains awareness of AOC and flight deck spacing operations

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VMC Capacity in IMC Conditions

•CDTI Assisted Visual Separation (CAVS)– Provides the ability to maintain “Visual Approach”

arrival rates in conditions that currently require Instrument Approaches – Advanced ATSA-VSA– Initially allows loss of out the window visual during Visual

Approaches

– Ultimately penetrate cloud layer in basic VMC

Next Steps•Relieve controller of wake turbulence separation responsibility– With extremely consistent delivery of aircraft at

runway using FDMS

•Use FDMS for runway stagger

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SAMM

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Surface Area Movement Management (SAMM)

•Airport surface map and traffic displayed on the EFB provides surface situational awareness – Tracks the movements of own aircraft and other ground and

airborne traffic in the terminal area using ADS-B– ASDE-X based Traffic Information Service-Broadcast (TIS-B)

(next year)– Alerts crews of potential conflicts with traffic (next year) – Alerts crews if incursion is imminent (next year)

•Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) determined moving map with traffic over 95% effective– All other strategies less than 50% effective

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Current Results

•Five 757s equipped with SafeRoute– 1-2 nights weekly, 2-4 aircraft per night

– Limitations - crew training, aircraft availability

– FDMS has worked as advertised

– No problems with SAMM, about 75 airports in database

– CAVS working as advertised, concerns on call sign usage but not needed for CAVS

– Should activate a 757 in Europe shortly

•Expect 767 cert and ops approval shortly– Will activate 3-4 767s immediately thereafter

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Runway Stagger• During simultaneous dependant approaches controllers raised concerns over spacing

• Ability to use FDMS to space off of the aircraft on the parallel runway would greatly enhance capacity in many airports

• It could also allow many airports to make more runways mixed use with even further capacity gains

• Can take advantage of previous Paired Approach application work with runway separations down to 700 feet

2500 ft or less

1.5 mi diagonal

Normal spacing

1.5 mi diagonal

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Merging and Spacing Operations

•Flight deck-based spacing function– Uses CDTI and Speed Guidance– After flying NextGen CDA, CAVS

approach can be flown

•Worldwide implementation– ATC utilizes scheduling tool for all

participants– Aircraft flying NextGen CDA require

M&S functions– Runways can be designated for

M&S operations in a mixed equipment environment for early implementation

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UPS Aircraft Architecture

•ACSS Surveillance (TCAS) 3000•ACSS Transponder upgrade - DO-260A

•Boeing Class III EFB (possibility of using Class II/III or 2 Class II EFBs)–ADS-B Applications –CPDLC (future)–Surface Moving Map–AOC Applications

•Simple speed guidance display

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Benefits•UPS Louisville

– Significant fuel, distance, and time reductions measured but with limited data

– Should have public results soon

•Airspace System– First major step towards aviation modernization

– Affordable retro-fit, ability to standardize across all fleet types allows near term implementation

– Provides guidance for new aircraft implementation

– Bundled applications within in one system create layered, cumulative benefits with good ROI

– Accelerates EUROCONTROL, FAA, and JPDO plans