If you fly in and out of major airports such as Philadelphia, Dallas-Ft. Worth, or Las Vegas regularly, you may have noticed better on-time performance over the past few years. MITRE's Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD) helped improve the on-time performance by working with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other stakeholders to design more efficient and predictable paths for airplanes to fly.

CAASD is involved in the design of area navigation (RNAV) routes throughout the country that allow aircraft to fly point-to-point rather than being restricted to flying over ground navigation aids. To improve the design process, a CAASD team created a design tool called TARGETS, which is now being used across the United States to design new arrival and departure routes and procedures. The visualization features of TARGETS and its ready access to design data enable rapid and accurate procedure development. In addition to better on-time performance, the tool helps airlines improve flight predictability and fuel savings.

Using TARGETS (which stands for Terminal Area Route Generation, Evaluation, and Traffic Simulation), designers can capture requirements and quickly assess compliance with complex constraints. (See sidebar.) The simulation capability is used to assess operational impact and to familiarize the air traffic controllers on the new arrival and departure procedures. It is also used to examine mixed equipage issues since not all aircraft are RNAV-equipped.

"TARGETS improves design efficiency by orders of magnitude," says CAASD's Tom Becher. "In three years, we've come from designing with paper and pencil to interactively designing procedures with stakeholders in real-time."

TARGETS consists of several capabilities needed to achieve a robust design. These include route definition and checking whether the route is flyable based upon aircraft performance. The tool also checks to see if the route meets FAA rules and is properly coded for aircraft navigation computers.

TARGETS uses a tailored Geographic Information System to pull together all the information needed to design RNAV routes and test them through simulations. TARGETS supports the use of multiple navigation databases that contain information on the National Airspace System, which includes airports, runways, fixes, navigational aids and Special Use Airspace data.

The simulation capability uses the data so that users can visualize interactions between RNAV and conventional operations. It allows users to build and test various scenarios and see what the results would be. Desktop flight trainers can use TARGETS to provide valuable feedback from the perspective of pilots. A plug-in architecture enforces software modularity and avoids user interface complexity. Users are not distracted by unnecessary menu choices because they can tailor TARGETS to include only the plug-in capabilities they need.

In the design of route procedures near airports, designers use topographic maps or aerial photographs so they can see what the terrain looks like. They look at streets and waterways to get an idea of possible constraints on the ground. "Because of environmental reasons or for safety reasons, for example, you don't want the aircraft to fly over schools or hospitals," explains Becher. "Designers work within the constraints to come up with the desired paths for the aircraft."

Procedure developers can import topographical map data including waterways, highways, pipelines, power lines, railways and state and county borders. Because a lot of different data is brought together for visualization, TARGETS can manipulate the displayed data through layering, color customization, line styles, and transparency. The tool also supports filters based upon altitude for airspace, radar tracks, obstacles, and simulation profiles.

A nice feature of TARGETS is its distribution package that eliminates recording errors by automatically collecting data from designers and inserting it into the required regulatory forms. TARGETS provides seamless data exchange while tracking procedure data as it moves from design to public charting.

TARGETS allows users to combine routes, runway transitions, en route transitions, and common routes to create new procedures.

In addition, TARGETS enables stakeholders to collaborate in examining the many constraints that apply to implementing a new procedure. Along with the airlines, stakeholders include the FAA, the chart makers, the Air Transport Association lead carrier, Aviation Systems Standard's organization, Terminal Radar Approach Control facilities, unions, and other agencies. By sharing data and collaborating in real-time, the stakeholders are able to make decisions and reach agreement much faster than by using a serial process. Many constraints that before could not be addressed until late in the development process can now be checked much earlier, in a fraction of the time, reducing the amount of rework significantly.

TARGETS can be applied to terminal RNAV procedures, the en route environment, and other airspace development projects. CAASD continues to improve the tool and is involved in training users around the country through the MITRE Aviation Institute.

Any airline that supports procedure development projects outlined in the FAA's Operational Evolution Plan (OEP) can use TARGETS on a no-fee license from CAASD. The OEP is an ongoing 10-year plan developed by the FAA to increase the capacity and efficiency of the National Airspace System and enhance its safety and security.

—by David Van Cleave

Related Information

Articles and News

• Terminal Area Route Generation, Evaluation and Traffic Simulation

Websites

• Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD)

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