NASA SBIR 2012 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Mosaic ATM, Inc.
801 Sycolin Road, Suite 306
Leesburg, VA 20175 - 5685
(800) 405-8576

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Kevin Day
kday@mosaicatm.com
13800 FAA Blvd.
Fort Worth, TX 76155 - 2104
(817) 797-7505

CORPORATE/BUSINESS OFFICIAL (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Chris Stevenson
stevenson@mosaicatm.com
801 Sycolin Road, Suite 306
Leesburg, VA 20175 - 5685
(540) 454-7458

Estimated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) at beginning and end of contract:
Begin: 2
End: 3

Technology Available (TAV) Subtopics
Air Traffic Management Research and Development is a Technology Available (TAV) subtopic that includes NASA Intellectual Property (IP). Do you plan to use the NASA IP under the award?
No

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
Tactical Departure Scheduling (TDS) is a common activity in Air Traffic Control (ATC) in the National Airspace System (NAS) that requires significant coordination for individual flights and that has the potential to impose delay on impacted flights. Some of the delay that is imposed through the TDS process is necessary, but some of the delay may be unnecessary. The current TDS process is implemented through the Call for Release (CFR) process, which is also referred to as the Approval Request (APREQ) process. In this process, the Traffic Management Unit (TMU) informs the Air Traffic Control Tower (ATCT) that a specific group of flights cannot be cleared by the ATCT to take off until the departure release is approved by the TMU on an individual flight basis. When such CFR programs are in place, an ATC Specialist (ATCS) in the ATCT must contact the TMU via a voice line to request approval for a flight to depart. Once the TMU provides a release time window for the flight, the ATCS in the ATCT must then maneuver the flight to make sure that it takes off within the release time window, or else a new release time must be requested.
The purpose of this proposal is to address research and development on the TDS by Exception process, or TDS-E. The TDS-E concept includes a computer automation system that monitors traffic demand in the en route streams of traffic, as well as demand of flights that will depart from airports under the en route stream and climb into the overhead stream. Instead of requiring all such departures to receive individual approval before they take off, under the TDS-E concept, the computer automation system will provide advisories to the TMU and to the ATCT to indicate when CFR procedures are required, and specifically which flights should be subject to CFR. Additional features of the TDS-E capability may provide guidance indicating that some of the normal CFR restrictions can be relaxed.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
As this innovative concept is directly related to the air transportation system, the most appropriate application of the TDS-E concept and prototype will be further research on ATM operational improvements. NASA currently operates the NTX research station at the Ft. Worth FAA ARTCC facility. The TDS-E concept is well positioned for continued evaluation within NASA's Airspace Systems Program. Mosaic ATM has provided significant support on numerous projects in the successful transfer of NASA research into the operational inventory of the FAA. Our approach to this technology transfer is to provide support for the transfer process, but to remain within the direction of NASA and the FAA at all times. Using this approach, the research is properly recognized as NASA technology, and the FAA receives in-depth support from an organization that already knows the details of the technology.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
The TDS-E concept can provide valuable information for airlines and other flight operators about the potential constraints and congestion that flights will experience in the NAS. The ability of TDS-E to predict when a CFR program is needed can be used by flight operators to know which of their flights may be subject to additional ground delays within a CFR program. Flight operators can then use this information to make operational decisions such as flight prioritization, crew and resource scheduling, and passenger notification and accommodation.
Additional areas of potential use of the prediction and scheduling capabilities of the TDS-E concept include the management of complex coordination processes in the presence of uncertainty. Such operations may include the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in civilian airspace in the near future.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING (NASA's technology taxonomy has been developed by the SBIR-STTR program to disseminate awareness of proposed and awarded R/R&D in the agency. It is a listing of over 100 technologies, sorted into broad categories, of interest to NASA.)

Air Transportation & Safety Sequencing & Scheduling Simulation & Modeling