Development and Application of an Integrated Approach toward NASA Airspace Systems Research

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Airspace Systems Program is contributing air traffic management research in support of the 2025 Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). Contributions support research and development needs provided by the interagency Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO). These needs call for integrated technical solutions to complex system-level problems. Solutions must achieve system-level performance targets and work effectively across multiple domains and planning time horizons. In response, the Airspace Systems Program is pursuing an integrated research approach and has adapted systems engineering best practices for application in a research environment. Systems engineering methods aim to enable researchers to methodically compare different technical approaches, consider systemlevel performance, and develop compatible solutions. Systems engineering activities are performed iteratively as the research matures. Products of this approach include a demand and needs analysis, system-level descriptions focusing on NASA research contributions, system benefit assessments and design studies, and common system-level metrics, scenarios, and assumptions. Results from the first systems engineering iteration include a preliminary demand and needs analysis; a functional modeling tool; and initial system-level metrics, scenario characteristics, and assumptions. Demand and needs analysis results suggest that several advanced concepts can mitigate demand/capacity imbalances for NextGen, but fall short of enabling three-times current-day capacity at the nation’s busiest airports and airspace. Current activities are focusing on standardizing metrics, scenarios, and assumptions, conducting system-level performance assessments of integrated research solutions, and exploring key system design interfaces.