Advanced Airspace Modeling, Characterization, and Planning

The primary goal of proposed Phase II effort is to develop a versatile and powerful Software Tool for Efficient Airspace Management (STEAM) that can be used by airspace managers and policy makers for reviewing, analyzing, and assessing the utilization ofspecial use airspace over time and for designing strategies for optimal long-term utilization.During Phase I, KBSI successfully demonstrated the ability to leverage radar track data to display the utilization patterns with respect to various factors such as altitude range, time interval, area and compare the difference between scheduled and actualairspace utilization. In Phase II, we will refine and extend the methodology and tool functionality to analyze and forecast airspace utilization by quantitative methods and to facilitate investigation of occurrence of unusual usage patterns and eventsthrough simulation of aircraft flight paths.The proposed pre-production prototype STEAM will support:Accurate comparison and quantification of difference between scheduled and actual airspace utilization,2-D and 3-D simulation of aircraft flight paths,Identifying and displaying utilization patterns,Identifying altitude ranges and time intervals of low and high aircraft activity,Wide range of queries about airspace utilization,Extraction of essential knowledge from voluminous radar data,Forecasting airspace utilization using historical data,Mishap investigation.