Publications

This report describes accomplishments and insights gathererd during the development of decision support tools as part of the Terminal Flight Data Manager (TFDM) program. This work was performed by MIT Lincoln Laboratory and sponsored by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The TFDM program integrated flight data, aircraft surveillance, information on...

This document provides an overview of MIT Lincoln Laboratory's activities in support of the interim stage of the Initial Investment Decision benefits assessment for the Tower Flight Data Manager. It outlines the rationale for the focus areas, and the background, methodology, and scope in the focus areas of departure metering...

In this paper we seek to characterize traffic in the U.S. air transportation system, and to subsequently develop improved models of traffic demand. We model the air traffic within the U.S. national airspace system as dynamic weighted network. We employ techniques advanced by work in complex networks over the past...

This paper presents two methods of analyzing air traffic controller activity: cognitive workload measurement through the novel comparison of controller-pilot verbal communications, and visual attention quantification through manual eye gaze analysis. These analyses were performed as part of an evaluation of the Tower Flight Data Manager (TFDM) prototype system. Cognitive...

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) utilizes a formal investment analysis process to support the development, procurement and deployment of new air traffic control technologies. It is often unclear how to estimate the impacts of a new technology on aviation safety, both in terms of the probability that incidents and accidents...

Airport surface congestion can be a cause of significant increases in taxi times, fuel burn and emissions at major airports. Various surface congestion management techniques are being developed to help mitigate these issues at different airports, typically by holding aircraft at the gate during times of high congestion to reduce...

Accurate wind information is required to support some of the key applications envisioned for future air traffic concepts. A Wind Information Analysis Framework is described to assess wind information needs for different applications. The framework is applied in a Four-Dimensional Trajectory Based Operations (4D-TBO) application using simplified versions of the...

Improvements to current air traffic management technologies and techniques are required to move toward the next generation air transportation system (NextGen). The Tower Flight Data Manager (TFDM) is a prototype air traffic control system consisting of the: (1) Flight Data Manager (FDM) facilitating interaction with electronic flight data, (2) Tower...

Accurate wind information is of fundamental importance to the delivery of benefits from future air traffic concepts. A Wind Information Analysis Framework is described in this paper and its utility for assessing wind information needs for a four-dimensional trajectory based operations application is demonstrated.

The Tower Flight Data Manager (TFDM) is the next generation air traffic control tower (ATCT) information system that integrates surveillance, flight data, and other sources, which enables advanced decision support tools (DSTs) to improve departure and arrival efficiency and reduce fuel burn at the airport. TFDM was exercised as a...