NASA awards IAI $1.5 million NEXTGEN contract Technology and Equipment

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), under the SBIR Phase II Select program, has awarded Intelligent Automation, Inc. (IAI) a $1.5 million contract to develop an extensive Metroplex planning system to assist coordinate flights between the enroute and Metroplex domains, and maintain surface traffic, applying Next-Generation Air Transportation System (NEXTGEN) concepts.

Futuristic tools to raise the efficiency of air traffic control systems must handle with the complexity generated by a mixture of numerous aircraft types and business models, increased traffic volume, and differing aircraft performance. To target this need, IAI’s key invention in this effort is the formation of a Metroplex-based arrival, departure, and surface optimization system called MetroSim.

MetroSim will permit airport planners, traffic flow management experts, airline dispatchers, air traffic controllers, and pilots to cut down uncertainty in functional planning, recover quickly from troublesome events, manage high throughput in detrimental weather conditions, and manage uncertainties related with irregular functions. Basic development of the tool will be concentrated on the New York TRACON (N90) environment, covering full adaptation of Metrosim for the John F. Kennedy International Airport, Newark Liberty International, LaGuardia Airport, Teterboro Airport, and the Long Island Mac Arthur Airport.

The MetroSim architecture will include a collection of different tools that will execute analytic computations, physics-based computations, and mathematical optimization calculations, in order to manage the high volume of flights in the New York airspace adequately, and at the same time enhance the arrival stream, departure stream, and surface functions.

The existing NASA and FAA terminal and surface planning tools will also be integrated in MetroSim. These tools will work in conjunction in a scattered computational environment using thin interfaces, with least data shared among the tools, and limited dependence on a consolidated database, thus facilitating coordination of the tools in the scattered environment. he MetroSim architecture will permit NASA researchers to reconfigure or, if desired, to replace, any one of the MetroSim elements in order to experiment with new flight management techniques or new air traffic control concepts.

According to Dr. Vikram Manikonda, President and CEO of IAI - The company is delighted to have an opportunity to build up new metroplex-wide planning and optimization tools for NASA. As demanded by the NASA Phase II Select program, IAI’s effort will consist significant test, demonstration, and analysis activities heading to high readiness levels for NASA utilization.