Small Airport Automation System

The Small Airport Automation System (SAASY) provides cost-effective traffic separation and sequencing advisories for general aviation pilots operating at small airports that do not have air traffic control (ATC) towers. SAASY will enable significant increases in runway and airspace safety, and in the pilot¿s perception of safety. SAASY is an automated airport-based decision support tool that uses aircraft position and velocity to deduce pilot intent, determines safe separation minimums and landing / takeoff sequences, and communicates this information to pilots via data link. Pilots will use the information to set up and control their landing and takeoff paths so that they are both safe and expeditious. SAASY technology may also provide improved capacity at the smaller airports, both for those with and without ATC towers. This technology could also be used to support air carrier operations, ground defense operations in regions without towered runways, commercial rotorcraft operations at vertiports (e.g., at off-shore oil rigs), and special landing strip operations by commercial and government entities such as overnight express package delivery, fire fighting, and drug interdiction. This innovation will assist NASA in achieving its objectives of improving national airport safety and capacity.