Publications
Redeployment of the New York TDWR - technical analysis of candidate sites and alternative wind shear sensors
Summary
Summary
The John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and LaGuardia Airport (LGA) are protected from wind shear exposure by the New York Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR), which is currently located at Floyd Bennet Field, New York. Because of a September 1999 agreement between the Department of the Interior and the...
Roadmap for weather integration into Traffic Flow Management Modernization (TFM-M)
Summary
Summary
This report provides recommendations for aligning new Collaborative Air Traffic Management Technologies (CATM-T) with evolving aviation weather products to improve NAS efficiency during adverse (especially severe) weather conditions. Key gaps identified include 1. Improving or developing pilot convective storm avoidance models as well as models for route blockage and capacity...
Wind-shear system cost benefit analysis update
Summary
Summary
A series of fatal commercial aviation accidents in the 1970s led to the development of systems and strategies to protect against wind shear. The Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR), Low Level Wind Shear Alert System (LLWAS), Weather Systems Processor (WSP) for Airport Surveillance Radars (ASR-9), pilot training and on-board wind...
Progress of Multifunction Phased Array Radar (MPAR) program
Summary
Summary
This paper will discuss the progress the Multi-function Phased Array Radar (MPAR) research program has made over the last 18 months as well as insight into the program strategy for moving forward. Current research activities include evaluating the impact of MPAR's faster scanning rates to aviation weather algorithms (e.g., how...
Initial studies of an objective model to forecast achievable airspace flow program throughput from current and forecast weather information
Summary
Summary
Airspace capacity constraints caused by adverse weather are a major driver for enhanced Traffic Flow Management (TFM) capabilities. One of the most prominent TFM initiatives introduced in recent years is the Airspace Flow Program (AFP). AFPs are used to plan and manage flights through airspace constrained by severe weather. An...
Comparative analysis of terminal wind-shear detection systems
Summary
Summary
Low-level wind shear, especially a microburst, is very hazardous to aircraft departing or approaching an airport. The danger became especially clear in a series of fatal commercial airliner accidents in the 1970s and 1980s at U.S. airports. In response, the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) developed and deployed three ground-based low-altitude...
The next-generation multimission U.S. surveillance radar network
Summary
Summary
Current U.S. weather and aircraft surveillance radar networks vary in age from 10 to more than 40 years. Ongoing sustainment and upgrade programs can keep these operating in the near to mid-term, but the responsible agencies National Weather Service (NWS), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the Departments of Defense (DoD)...
Air traffic management decision support during convective weather
Summary
Summary
Flight delays caused by thunderstorms are a significant and growing problem for airlines and the flying public. Thunderstorms disrupt the structured, preplanned flight routing and control process that is used to handle dense air traffic streams in congested airspace. Today's coping strategies are developed by traffic flow management (TFM) specialists...
Analysis of operational alternatives to the Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR)
Summary
Summary
Possible alternatives to the Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR) are assessed. We consider both the low altitude wind shear detection service provided by TDWR and its role in reducing weather-related airport delays through its input to the Integrated Terminal Weather System (ITWS). Airborne predictive wind shear (PWS) radars do not...
Multifunction phased array radar: technical synopsis, cost implications, and operational capabilities
Summary
Summary
Current U.S. weather and aircraft surveillance radar networks vary in age from 10 to more than 40 years. Ongoing sustainment and upgrade programs can keep these operating in the near to mid term, but the responsible agencies (FAA, NWS and DoD/DHS) recognize that large-scale replacement activities must begin during the...