Editor’s note: This project has concluded. This content is being kept online for historical purposes, but is no longer being updated.
The Shadow Mode Assessment Using Realistic Technologies for the National Airspace System (SMART-NAS) Project will develop an air traffic management simulation capability to explore the NAS integration of alternative concepts, technologies and architectures.
To accelerate the transformation of the entire NAS, proposed functions must be integrated and fully validated. A shadow-mode NAS will be developed that will examine, in real-time, the robustness, stability and reliability of new approaches to the entire system or parts thereof. Simulations will take actual operational input from the NAS – such factors as weather conditions, flight plans, airports’ arrival rates and system constraints – to ensure safe and seamless operations.
To achieve these capabilities, SMART-NAS will employ advanced prognostics, data mining, and data analytics for enhanced decision-making and system assessments. The project will reduce the time to test concepts, technologies, and their interactions, interoperability and integration. It will be capable of real/live, virtual, constructive and hybrid-mode operations to simultaneously operate in real and virtual traffic. SMART-NAS will enable assessments to demonstrate feasibility and benefits to support a variety of NAS modernization decisions.
This research primarily aligns with the Real-Time System-Wide Safety Assurance strategic thrust area.
