Follow Us:

The Air Traffic Management Laboratory (ATM), one of the 3 main labs at CAASD, provides a human-in-the-loop simulation environment to run end-to-end simulations with actual flight crews and field air traffic controllers so that they can better understand the impacts to both the pilots in the air and the controllers on the ground.

A constant challenge in aviation research is finding cost-effective, workable solutions before spending billions of dollars on aviation equipment and technology. One of the best ways to find these solutions is through simulation and modeling techniques and evaluations of prototype procedures and decision-support systems. The Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD), a Federally Funded Research and Development Center operated by MITRE for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) specializes in researching and developing aviation solutions.

Urmila Hiremath, the Associate Department Head of Research Computing Capability at MITRE CAASD, discusses her work in developing and running simulations in CAASD's new laboratories and how sponsors and customers use the labs for aviation research and development.

Click picture to open QTVR panorama

Click picture to open QTVR panorama

Click picture to open QTVR panorama Click to load QTVR plug-in

"In June 2001, MITRE CAASD moved into a new facility in the Washington D.C. area," says Hiremath. "One of the most important aspects of the move for me was assisting in the 3-year effort to design and develop the new labs.

"Now that the labs are in use, I'm also involved in promoting them to the FAA and potential international customers," continues Hiremath. "I set up lab demos and coordinate lab tours to show what we can do for our customers and the various capabilities we have developed.

"CAASD's laboratories have had many successes. For example, the labs were instrumental in developing scenarios and procedures to support the Ohio Valley Operational Evaluations. These evaluations are part of the FAA SafeFlight21 program aimed at increasing situational awareness for both pilots and controllers through the use of Global Positioning System data. These laboratory evaluations demonstrated the feasibility of proposed procedures and tools in an integrated simulation involving both the pilots and controllers. In the international arena, CAASD evaluated airport sites in Mexico City, an area with challenging terrain. Using several visual simulation techniques to place the airport in different locations, we examined the terrain issues and visualized how an approach would look to the pilot after the airport was built. Once the research was complete, a team of MITRE staff and I did a visual simulation demo on location for the President of Mexico. The demo and the project report helped Mexico City decide on the new airport's location."

In running the lab simulations, Hiremath uses teams with diverse technical backgrounds to develop operationally acceptable solutions. These teams are made up of human factor engineers, software engineers, pilots (both commercial and general aviation), former air traffic controllers, and systems analysts. Together, they put together feasible simulations and evaluations that result in positive changes in aviation.

"This type of teamwork is one of the things I enjoy most about working at MITRE," adds Hiremath. "I've had many great opportunities to work on a variety of different projects. The project teams usually include MITRE staff and external professionals—everybody brings different skills to the table. The end result is a very solution-oriented team with many distinct inputs and ideas."