Integrated Departure Route Planning

This paper describes research on the integrated departure route planning (IDRP) operational concept and supporting functions that will assist traffic flow management (TFM) personnel conducting departure management. IDRP will provide automated support and information to help decision makers evaluate and implement different solutions, taking into account all significant data such as filed flight plans and acceptable alternatives, surface departure queues, predicted convective weather and traffic congestion impacts to routes in the terminal area and nearby en route airspace, and forecast uncertainty. By bringing all of these factors into a single integrated environment, IDRP will reduce the time needed to make departure management decisions and coordinate their implementation, increase the effectiveness of the decisions made, and support efficient revision of departure management plans as weather and traffic situations change. IDRPpsilas background and operational concept are described, followed by an overview of a prototype used to demonstrate and evaluate the concept. Results are presented from a series of interviews with experts having TFM experience; these sessions helped to enhance the operational concept and refine the information requirements for the prototype. Next steps are to implement the IDRP prototype in operational centers for the purpose of obtaining further data about the usage and benefits of the capabilities, and to conduct additional laboratory research exploring more highly automated IDRP functionality and addressing integration issues.