An Assessment of Terminal Air Traffic Control (ATC) System Performance with and without Basic Metering and Spacing Automation.

Abstract

Basic Arrival Metering and Spacing (M and S) is being developed as an ARTS (Automated Radar Terminal System) III enhancement designed to aid the terminal air traffic controller in the functions of metering arrival aircraft prior to their acceptance in terminal airspace, sequencing them according to their estimated time at the runway, scheduling each aircraft at fix points along the arrival path to the runway arrival gate and providing control commands to assure precise and proper spacing for aircraft on final approach to the runway. This report details the objectives, methodology, and results of recent National Aviation Facilities Experimental Center (NAFEC) simulation testing analysis of the performance of the basic arrival M and S program performed by Sterling Systems, Inc. under contract to the Federal Aviation Administration. The analysis indicated that the distribution of error about the required separation between aircraft operating under metering and spacing was such that significant runway capacity increases could be attained while limiting aircraft separation violations on final to an acceptable level. (Author)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1979
Accession Number
ADA073548

Entities

People

  • Donald Meyer
  • H. C. Wintermoyer
  • William Pailen

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Air Traffic
  • Air Traffic Control Systems
  • Aircrafts
  • Automation
  • Computer Programs
  • Control Systems
  • Data Acquisition
  • Databases
  • Ground Speed
  • Information Processing
  • Information Science
  • Normal Distribution
  • Performance Tests
  • Probability
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Test Facilities

Readers

  • Aerospace Test and Evaluation
  • Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of Proposed Air Force Base Actions.
  • Statistical inference.

Technology Areas

  • Space