Airspace Concept Evaluation System (ACES), Concept Simulations using Communication, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS) System Models

摘要

With the current FAA, Operational Evolution Plan and the US Department of Transportation, Integrated National Plan for the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NGATS) currently focused on the need to ensure that the U.S. NAS meets safety, security, mobility, efficiency and capacity needs of the future, the continued development of improved resources for the study of new NAS concepts to support this initiative are required. These resources take on many forms, but as primary tools for evaluating new concepts to meet these objectives, simulation tools for NAS concept operations continue to play a key role. These tools, if properly designed and progressively upgraded to provide improved real-world capabilities are essential to this effort. One such tool, NASA's Airspace Concept Evaluation System (ACES), is an example of a simulation environment that has proven very effective for these concept studies, and which has continued to undergo improvements to enhance its capabilities. One recent improvement that ACES has adopted, is the inclusion of CNS system modeling capabilities. These systems, legacy systems currently used in the NAS and newer technology systems that are under consideration, are in a state considerable evolution and evaluation for their ability to support NAS and CNS architectures that will support the functional reality of future airspace operations. With the addition of CNS system models in ACES, CNS systems performance can be evaluated in large-scale simulations and for simulations directed at specific details of NAS operations. Also with this system simulations and analysis can be done that addresses the performance of the CNS systems themselves to support future NAS operations.