Decision support tools for capability-aware Traffic Flow Management

Today's National Airspace System (NAS) is a mixed-capability environment. Aircraft are equipped with a variety of communication, navigation, and surveillance technologies which, combined with certification and crew training, leads to a wide spectrum of performance for NAS flights. However, current NAS automation and decision support tools do not have full visibility into flight capabilities. In the absence of such information, managing a mixed-capability flow tactically is a high-workload activity, leading traffic controllers no choice but to assume the lowest capability level for all flights. The concept of capability-aware Traffic Flow Management (TFM) is introduced to enable successful management of mixed-capability flows by staging the demand strategically and allocating NAS resources to flights based on their capabilities. This enables air traffic controllers to safely and effectively manage mixed-capability traffic, while maximizing throughput and minimizing adverse impact on flight operators. We present a prototype system that integrates flight capability information (such as RNP-AR status) into several stages of the TFM process. The prototype tools were developed to analyze the benefits associated with a number of near-term scenarios so as to help refine and develop the concept of capability-aware TFM. The benefit analysis and concept validation exercises were conducted with participation of traffic management stakeholders from the Air Traffic Control System Command Center (ATCSCC) as well as Terminal Radar Control (TRACON) and Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) facilities. Metrics were then computed based on the output of prototype software to analyze the impact of capability-awareness in TFM on flight delays.