Terminal-Area Traffic Management with Airborne Spacing

A Distributed Air Ground Traffic Management (DAG-TM) simulation of terminal-area arrival operations conducted at NASA Ames Research Center evaluated the feasibility and potential benefits of using pilot and controller decision support tools to support time-based airborne spacing and merging. Simulated aircraft were equipped with Flight Management Systems (FMSs) and ADS-B and entered the terminal area on charted FMS routes. Traffic scenarios began with a traffic flow that was well coordinated for merging and spacing and ended with an uncoordinated flow. In airborne spacing conditions, seventy-five percent of aircraft assigned to the primary landing runway were equipped to self-space. The results indicate that airborne spacing improves spacing accuracy and is feasible for FMS operations and mixed spacing equipage. Airborne spacing capabilities and flow coordination affect clearance selection. Controllers and pilots can manage spacing clearances that contain two callsigns without difficulty. For best effect, both decision support tools and spacing guidance should exhibit consistently predictable performance. This paper compares the experimental conditions and results with those from related airborne spacing research.