Weather Guidance for Upper Class E Traffic Management

The proposed SBIR develops the first-ever computational-model-based wind turbulence forecasts for ultra-high-altitudes. It applies innovative weather-translation methods to ultra-high weather forecasts to provide an Upper Class E (UCE) Weather Guidance Service (UWGS). UWGS is highly relevant to Subtopic A3.01 because it addresses two key ATM challenges relevant to improving capacity, throughput, and safety of near-future (2025-30) NAS operations in UCE airspace: (1) wind and weather effects in UCE airspace pose significant safety and deconfliction challenges to aviation operations and (2) current weather prediction and translation tools are inadequate to meet these challenges. We address these challenges by first developing an ultra-high-altitude computational wind turbulence forecast model by extending NCARrsquo;s gold-standard GTG Class A airspace wind turbulence prediction model. Then, we develop innovative weather translation methods to improve (1) flight intent predictions in UCE airspace, (2) wind hazard alerting, and (3) aircraft separation envelopes, based on wind and aircraft performance, for use in UCE traffic management cooperative separation services. In Phase II, we expand UWGS to address the broader cooperative separation problem in UCE airspace. UWGS supports crucial weather guidance service needs for the ETM Separation Service simulations planned by NASA ATM-Xrsquo;s Collaborative Traffic Management sub-project. UWGS also provides a digital service for potential integration into NASA ATM-Xrsquo;s DIP-TS sub-projectrsquo;s planned Digital Information Platform. Anticipated results of Phase I are a table-top proof-of-concept demonstration based on a UCE flight intent prediction, wind hazard alerting, and separation envelope guidance for a cooperative separation scenario involving at least two UCE aircraft types, which will be chosen in coordination with NASA, FAA, and ETM operators.