Design of Center-TRACON Automation System

A system for the automated management and control of terminal area traffic, referred to as the Center-TRACON Automation System (CTAS), is being developed at NASA Ames Research Center. In a cooperative program, NASA and FAA have efforts underway to install and evaluate the system at the Denver area and Dallas/Ft. Worth area air traffic control facilities. This paper will review CTAS architecture, and automation functions as well as the integration of CTAS into the existing operational system. CTAS consists of three types of integrated tools that provide computer-generated advisories for both en-route and terminal area controllers to guide them in managing and controlling arrival traffic efficiently. One tool, the Traffic Management Advisor (TMA), generates runway assignments, landing sequences and landing times for all arriving aircraft, including those originating from nearby feeder airports. TMA also assists in runway configuration control and flow management. Another tool, the Descent Advisor (DA), generates clearances for the en-route controllers handling arrival flows to metering gates. The DA's clearances ensure fuel-efficient and conflict free descents to the metering gates at specified crossing times. In the terminal area, the Final Approach Spacing Tool (FAST) provides heading and speed advisories that help controllers produce an accurately spaced flow of aircraft on the final approach course. Data bases consisting of several hundred aircraft performance models, airline preferred operational procedures, and a three dimensional wind model support the operation of CTAS. The first component of CTAS, the Traffic Management Advisor, is being evaluated at the Denver TRACON and the Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center. The second component, the Final Approach Spacing Tool, will be evaluated in several stages at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport beginning in October 1993. An initial stage of the Descent Advisor tool is being prepared for testing at the Denver Center in late 1994. Operational evaluations of all three integrated CTAS tools are expected to begin at the two field sites in 1995.