Airspace Development, Safety, Security

MITRE's Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD) works with FAA and international aviation authorities to enhance air traffic management around the world.

Overview

For more than 40 years, MITRE has collaborated with aviation officials to improve the safety and efficiency of our nation's air transportation systems. MITRE's Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD), which is sponsored by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), works with FAA and international aviation authorities to enhance air traffic management around the world. Today, CAASD is engaged in more than 15 major projects across 10 countries. This work encompasses enterprise systems engineering and information technology solutions for air traffic and airspace management, airport and network engineering and system integration, and airport capacity planning, design and analysis.

MITRE is also a key player in the FAA's air domain security mission. Our longstanding relationships with the Department of Defense (DoD), commercial airlines, cargo operators, and the aviation community in the U.S. and abroad position us to develop and strengthen relationships among airspace security mission partners. And our work with the Joint Planning and Development Office, a multi-agency effort charged with creating the next generation aviation system, further supports the federal government's long-term aviation security vision.

Some of our work on improvements in the safety and security of civil airspace overlaps with our DoD mission partners as well. This is particularly true in the case of unmanned aerial systems, or UAS. Originally developed for military applications, most unmanned aircraft were built with high-risk applications and environments in mind. Little, if any, consideration was given to making these aircraft suitable for flights in a mature civil aviation system—one controlled and monitored by sophisticated systems and governed by a rigorous regulatory structure.

At the same time, commercial and scientific interests in the unmanned aircraft market are soaring. While the proliferation of unmanned aircraft faces many challenges, the most significant is the lack of routine access to civil airspace. MITRE is working closely with the military services, researchers, Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the aviation community to balance the needs of defending the nation with those of providing access to civil airspace for all users.

Current Work Programs

Our aviation work centers on a wide variety of programs, including efforts to increase the capacity and efficiency of the national airspace, enhance flexibility in the use of aviation system resources, develop broadcast services to improve safety in areas with little radar, and improve the accuracy and efficiency of passenger pre-screening systems. Specific work now underway includes efforts such as:

• Flight Deck-based Merging and Spacing, which improves air traffic management by assisting pilots in tracking the movements of nearby aircraft on cockpit displays
• Universal Access Transceiver (UAT) Beacon Radio, a low-cost, low-powered beacon transmitter that increases the visibility of special-use aircraft, providing a powerful new tool to air traffic controllers
• Research into the development of an affordable, viable system for detecting the presence of airborne viruses and other toxins for aircraft in flight
• Ongoing development of the Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) and the Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) technology to increase pilots’ situational awareness
• Teaching unmanned aerial vehicles of all sizes to “see and avoid” each other and other obstacles in both civil and military airspace
• Implementation of the National Airspace Redesign program

Related Information

Articles and News

• Virtual Contrails: Modeling Air Traffic Control Over the Internet
• JPALS Provides Portable Precision for Pilots
• Sense and Avoid: Flying Small UASs in Civil Airspace
• Aircraft Biosensor Detects Pathogens in Flight
• MITRE Engineer Honored for Achievements in Airborne Collision Avoidance
• MITRE's Agam Sinha Honored by the Air Traffic Control Association
• Teaching the World to Fly More Efficiently and Safely
• Unmanned Aircraft in Civil Airspace: Challenges and Opportunities
• Collision Avoidance for UAS
• A Bright Idea Becomes an FAA Rule
• Planning the Next Generation Air Transportation System
• UAVs Are Likely to Affect Our National Airspace System
• Promoting Airborne Cooperation on a Global Scale

Technical Papers and Presentations

• Results of Human-In-The-Loop Simulation Evaluating an Enhanced Runway Safety System With Ground-Based Direct Pilot Warnings
• Sequential Congestion Management with Weather Forecast Uncertainty
• Unmanned Aircraft Spectrum Analysis Tool
• Lightweight, Low-Cost ADS-B System for UAS Applications
• Improving Terminal Operations—Benefits of RNAV Departure Procedures at Dallas-Fort Worth and Hartsfield-Jackson Atanta International Airports
• Solving Probabilistic Airspace Congestion: Preliminary Benefits Analysis
• Collision Avoidance for Unmanned Aircraft: Proving the Safety Case
• Simulation Modeling in Support of a European Airspace Study
• Analysis of System-wide Investment in the National Airspace: A Portfolio Analytical Framework and an Example
• Developing a Model for Joint Infrastructure Investment

Websites

• MITRE's Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD) FFRDC
• Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD) Website
• The MITRE Aviation Institute

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