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

摘要

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)