Close

David Hughes
Managing air traffic through 4-D trajectories (4-DT) is a cornerstone of airspace system modernization, but exactly how the concept will be implemented is still
being defined.

4-DTs - based on the three spatial dimensions plus time - are part of both the FAA's NextGen ATC upgrade effort and Europe's SESAR (Single European Sky
ATM Research) project. They allow pilots and controllers to negotiate a flight path that optimizes efficiency using precise timing and highly accurate position
data.

Until recently, civil air navigation has typically been managed without knowing precisely where an aircraft is or when it will reach its next en route waypoint or
even a runway. This is done by providing generous spacing between aircraft to keep them safe-an inefficient procedure that relies on radar surveillance.

However, in today's era of extremely accurate GPS navigation and surveillance, an aircraft can transmit a precise description of its intended flight path from its
current position to touchdown. Or controllers on the ground can send a 4-D trajectory to the cockpit to be automatically uploaded into the flight management
computer.

With 4-DTs, a new type of air traffic management (ATM) system will be able to provide users with their preferred flight path (based on how an airline wants to
operate) and with continuous-descent approaches to cut fuel burn, emissions and noise.

Now Boeing, Airbus, Eurocontrol, the FAA and many airlines are working to refine exactly what they want 4-DT to do. Some of the players are seeking benefits
in the next few years, rather than waiting for more mature concepts to be fulfilled in 2020, when 4-DT will be more capable.

As usual, the devil is in the details: It's not a simple matter to manage traffic just by exchanging 4-D trajectories. Today's clearances are issued primarily by
controllers over voice radio and confirmed by pilots in the same way-a process that opens the door to human error. In the future with 4-DT, planners envision a
series of digital exchanges to define a flight path with a stream of data. It will be a case of flight-deck computers talking to computers on the ground, with pilots
and controllers confirming the resulting trajectories.

"With voice, you are limited to the degree of freedom you have in specifying a future path. Today you have to
keep close to known fixes; otherwise controllers can't provide a new trajectory via voice," notes Steve Bradford,
the FAA's chief scientist for the architecture of the NextGen program.

How these tasks will be executed on both sides of the Atlantic has not yet been worked out, but Bradford says
he's "fairly comfortable that we [the FAA] are not far apart in our approach [compared with Sesar]. But [the Credit: BOEING

1 von 4 11.04.2011 16:14

 Europeans] use different terminology." For example, in Europe, the term "business trajectory" indicates what path an aircraft operator (such as an airline) would
prefer to fly. This "matches up quite well" with the FAA concept, he says, but constraints in Europe might mean controllers there wouldn't allow some types of
trajectories that the U.S. would be able to offer, and vice versa. "We may let our pilots fly trajectories and renegotiate them under different circumstances than
[the Europeans] do," he says. While the "procedures might be different, the exchange of data needs to be the same," he adds.

A standards-setting team-including the Washington-based RTCA and the European Organization for Civil Aviation Equipment (EUROCAE)-is trying to define
both 4-DT and the required data link. Paul Mettus of Lockheed Martin and Jose Roca of Eurocontrol are co-chairmen of the joint working group comprising
RTCA Special Committee 214 and Eurocae WG78.

At the moment, the U.S. and Europe have a "slightly different perspective" on 4-DT, says Roca. While everyone accepts the importance of 4-DT for SESAR and
NextGen, "the problem is that there are different flavors [of 4-DT] and people interpret the concept in different ways," he notes.

One thorny area concerns the standards for a new data link. Europe wants to move ahead in three phases: from a limited capability to an intermediate one and,
finally, to a data link that can support "full trajectory management." In contrast, the U.S. has two segments (or phases) in mind, and it's not clear how those
match up with the European objectives, says Roca. As U.S. and European government and industry officials work together in the SC214/WG78 standards-setting
body, they will try to resolve these and other differences to harmonize their approaches.

Not surprisingly, the near-term objectives are more mature and well understood. But Roca says NextGen and Sesar managers are talking about a data link
beyond 2020 that would be much more complex and able to fully handle 4D trajectories. "That's still in a research stage, and we don't know exactly what form it
will take when it arrives," he notes.

The SC214/WG78 team is working now on standards that would govern initial operations, with trajectory-based ATM starting in 2013. These guidelines should
be completed by the end of 2009, says Roca. The links to be used include the VHF Digital Link 2 communications system. VDL2 operates at 31.5 Kbps - much
faster than the 2.4 Kbps provided by the current ACARS (aircraft communications addressing and reporting system). Roca says Europe may even move to a data
link with an Internet Protocol.

To enable 4-D operations, flight management systems also will have to be upgraded so that 4-DTs can be extracted and sent to the ground, while data from the
ground can be loaded automatically into the FMS. This way, a pilot doesn't have to reenter the message manually-a time-consuming process.

GE Aviation has already modified its FMS to do this on Scandinavian Airlines' Boeing 737s during 4-DT demonstrations at Stockholm Arlanda Airport. Avtech,
the air navigation consultancy and 4-DT expert, helped SAS accomplish these flights using a required time of arrival (RTA) over the threshold. By having the
737's FMS send a 4-DT to controllers 1 hr. before arrival, Sweden's air navigation service provider has seen the 737s arrive over the runway at ±7 sec. of the
RTA. The aircraft were also able to fly "green" approaches-that is, continuous descents at near-idle power from cruise altitude to close to touchdown. Each green
approach saves roughly 150 kg (330 lb.) of fuel.

Now SAS is starting arrival trials with an RTA for the terminal airspace boundary at Arlanda. And Avtech plans to help Qantas and Airservices Australia use
4-DT at Brisbane Airport in conjunction with Required Navigation Performance approaches. Thus, the positioning precision of RNP in 3-D will be combined
with the fourth dimension - timing precision.

2 von 4 11.04.2011 16:14

 "It's really important that people begin to understand how essential the fourth dimension is," says Avtech
President Lars Lindberg. Roca adds that his standards group will try to develop guidelines to allow a variety of
4-DT operations.

In contrast with SAS's strategy, Boeing is developing tailored-arrival procedures. Roca says this method is useful
in congested airspace where constraints are imposed by other traffic. He points out that the green approach
constitutes more of an ideal flight path provided with few constraints. However, "the standards we are
developing should support both of these types of operation," he says.

Boeing is currently flying tailored arrivals at three airports-San Francisco, Miami and Melbourne, Australia - and An SAS 737NG flying from Paris Charles
the company plans to resume demos at Amsterdam this winter. The first flights began in Australia in 2004 in de Gaulle to Stockholm Arlanda Airport
cooperation with Airbus, Qantas and Airservices Australia. exchanged 4D trajectories with ATC. The
data from Avtech show how the targeted
Boeing defines a tailored arrival as "the most beneficial flight path available from the integration of all known air time of arrival can be adjusted. Credit:
traffic, airspace, meteorological, obstacle-clearance and environmental constraints expected to be encountered AVTECH OF STOCKHOLM
during an arrival." The scheme uses a data link to send a 4-DT from ATC to the flight deck when an aircraft is
about 140 nm from its destination. The flightcrew can activate the tailored arrival path in the FMS with a simple keystroke.

At San Francisco International, one-third of the aircraft participating in the trials are doing full tailored arrivals for the entire approach when the airport is
experiencing moderate to heavy traffic. The other two-thirds of participating aircraft use a tailored arrival down to 8,000-10,000 ft., and then break off and fly a
conventional approach with ATC guidance. But even the aircraft that divert early save fuel, notes Rob Mead, Boeing Advanced ATM lead engineer for
air/ground communications.

Air New Zealand, United Airlines and Japan Airlines are participating in the tests at San Francisco with Future Air Navigation System (FANS) avionics as the
data link. Mead says fuel savings on a full tailored arrival are 1,300 lb. for a Boeing 777; a partial tailored arrival saves 400 lb. Savings for a 747-400 are 2,300
lb. for a full approach and 1,100 lb. for a partial one.

However, not everyone agrees that all 4-DT efforts now underway are on the right track.

Ian A. B. Wilson of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Center for Applied ATM Research asserts that some people "are trying to apply 3-D rules to the 4-D
concept." In an Oct. 21, 2007, technical paper he states: "The major concern is that the three-dimensional thought is now carrying over into future systems
design, where problems of the current systems are 'solved' in the future system by operational concepts and procedures that are unnecessary or even deleterious
in a fully four-dimensional system."

Wilson notes that "the NextGen system will either be 4-DT-based or 3-D-based; it cannot be both." Once an aircraft fails to follow its 4-D trajectory, he says, it
loses the efficiencies provided by allowing an aircraft to follow a "user-preferred" route that should be safer, more efficient and more environmentally friendly.
In other words, it discards the advantages of 4-DT. Wilson hopes some of these issues will be demonstrated in the Integrated Airport Project at Daytona Beach,
Fla. AW&ST

3 von 4 11.04.2011 16:14

 (This article first appeared in the Aug. 11, 2008 issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology)

Copyright © 2011 Aviation Week, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies.

All rights reserved. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy

4 von 4 11.04.2011 16:14