Cockpit Data Fusion with Fixed-Base Simulation Validation for Free-Flight Guidance

State of Texas Advanced Technology Program, Austin, TX
1 January 2000 – 31 December 2001
Co-P.I. John H. Painter
Total award $208,061

This research aims to solve a fundamental technical problem associated with civil aviation moving operationally into Free Flight, the new air traffic management paradigm intended to make the nation’s air traffic control system safer and more efficient. Presently, air traffic is managed through ground tracking, ground computing, and verbal negotiations between ground controller and pilot. Conceptually, Free Flight allows a pilot significant latitude to optimize a flight trajectory, as it is being flown. An important ramification, especially for General Aviation, is that responsibility for aircraft separation will rest increasingly with the pilot. The entire Free Flight scheme relies on greatly increased digital data flow between pilot, ground controller, and between all aircraft in the immediate airspace. Onboard computing then uses this collected data to optimize individual aircraft guidance.

Technically, the research problems are those of cockpit data fusion onboard the aircraft, and of computational and visual aids for pilot and ground controller. Our approach is to extend our previous work in independent flight software agents, to the development of a single high dimensional “Arbitrator” agent. The Arbitrator will resolve conflicts between the guidance vectors produced by several independent agents. Data fusion software elements will be developed and implemented into flight software, and a real-time, fixed-base flight simulator will be used for validation.

The present research is based on five years of prior research in this area funded by NASA Langley Research Center, the State of Texas, and Rockwell/Collins. Some of the pilot decision aiding capabilities created and developed were an Independent Approach Monitor and an Independent Weather Agent. Many of the prior results will also be incorporated, including a new pilot decision aid based on Fuzzy Logic (patent applied for), and an integrated cockpit computation and display system, employing expert systems, for aiding the pilot in instrument flying, known as the General Aviation Pilot Advisor and Training System (GAPATS).

Specific tasks and research objectives:

• Resolve trajectory guidance conflict resolution by implementing a suitable guidance software architecture and requisite algorithms, with validation by fixed-base flight simulation, under Free Flight conditions. This is the key technology item for enabling individual aircraft to compute and fly trajectories while simultaneously maintaining separation from other data-linked aircraft, from weather, and from terrain. Achievement of this objective is greatly aided by the existing fixed-base flight simulator, having the augmentable cockpit software system produced under the previous NASA Langley GAPATS project.
• Simulator validation of the conflict resolution guidance software, specifically with regard to handling traffic restrictions for scenarios with multiple aircraft. This entails generating the multiple traffic trajectories that are to be digitally communicated to the aircraft, according to the Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) format and scenarios.
• Simulator validation of the weather restrictions guidance software, for the conditions of squall line weather. Simulated radar intensity data for a moving line of thunderstorms will be generated, and this intensity data will be integrated into the existing moving map display, and into the existing simulator weather graphic, as seen from the cockpit.

Working with me on this program are Graduate Research Assistants:

• C. Cale Stephens
• Surya U. Shandy
• Jie Rong
• Sangeeta Bokadia
• Dallas Hopper

and Undergraduate Research Assistants:

• Kristi Ferber
• Heather Ransom
• Theresa Spaeth
• Nicole Norstrud