Airspace Operations Lab @ NASA Ames

NASA Ames researchers are developing a near- to mid-term concept called Integrated Demand Management (IDM). The objective of IDM is to improve National Airspace System (NAS) performance when the capacity of major high-volume resources is insufficient for the expected demand, using procedural coordination of different NextGen traffic management capabilities. An arrival capacity problem involving Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) served as a use case for concept development. Under IDM, Traffic Flow Management System (TFMS) tools are used to pre-condition traffic into the Time-Based Flow Management (TBFM) system, enabling TBFM to better manage delivery to the capacity-constrained destination. The proposed solution leverages three capabilities: (1) the Collaborative Trajectory Options Program (CTOP) tools within TFMS to condition arrival demand into TBFM, (2) required-time-of-arrival (RTA) flight deck capabilities to support conformance to CTOP-planned TBFM entry times, and (3) TBFM metering to manage delivery to the capacity-constrained airport. The solution was refined through a series of human-in-the-loop (HITL) simulation studies and demonstrations with input from the FAA, airline stakeholders and subject matter experts. This paper describes the concept and results from an early proof-of-concept HITL experiment that focused on the EWR traffic problem.