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Objective Assessment Method for RNAV STAR AdherenceFlight crews and air traffic controllers have reported many safety concerns regarding area navigation standard terminal arrival routes (RNAV STARs). Specifically, optimized profile descents (OPDs). However, our information sources to quantify these issues are limited to subjective reporting and time consuming case-by-case investigations. This work is a preliminary study into the objective performance of instrument procedures and provides a framework to track procedural concepts and assess design specifications. We created a tool and analysis methods for gauging aircraft adherence as it relates to RNAV STARs. This information is vital for comprehensive understanding of how our air traffic behaves. In this study, we mined the performance of 24 major US airports over the preceding three years. Overlaying 4D radar track data onto RNAV STAR routes provided a comparison between aircraft flight paths and the waypoint positions and altitude restrictions. NASA Ames Supercomputing resources were utilized to perform the data mining and processing. We assessed STARs by lateral transition path (full-lateral), vertical restrictions (full-lateral/full-vertical), and skipped waypoints (skips). In addition, we graphed frequencies of aircraft altitudes relative to the altitude restrictions. Full-lateral adherence was always greater than Full-lateral/ full- vertical, as it is a subset, but the difference between the rates was not consistent. Full-lateral/full-vertical adherence medians of the 2016 procedures ranged from 0% in KDEN (Denver) to 21% in KMEM (Memphis). Waypoint skips ranged from 0% to nearly 100% for specific waypoints. Altitudes restrictions were sometimes missed by systematic amounts in 1,000 ft. increments from the restriction, creating multi-modal distributions. Other times, altitude misses looked to be more normally distributed around the restriction. This tool may aid in providing acceptability metrics as well as risk assessment information.
Document ID
20170011114
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Stewart, Michael
(San Jose State Univ. Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Matthews, Bryan
(Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies, Inc. Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
November 14, 2017
Publication Date
September 17, 2017
Subject Category
Air Transportation And Safety
Report/Patent Number
ARC-E-DAA-TN46817-1
Meeting Information
Meeting: IEEE/AIAA Digital Avionics Systems Conference
Location: St. Petersberg, FL
Country: United States
Start Date: September 17, 2017
End Date: September 21, 2017
Sponsors: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX17AE07A
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX14AA60C
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
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