Developing, implementing, and evaluating a concept of operations - lessons learned from the Route Availability Planning Tool (RAPT)

One of the most difficult tasks associated with developing and fielding weather-aware Air Traffic Management (ATM) decision support tools (DST) is developing a concept of operations (Conops) that is closely coupled to achievable operational benefits. Difficulties can arise when the model for anticipated DST usage is incomplete and the expectations for operational usage do not account for the need for users to develop experience and confidence in using the tool. An impediment that often prevents effective operational use of new DSTs is that traffic managers tend to solve problems by attempting to relate the current situation to prior problem scenarios, using only established decision support information that has been incorporated into existing problem solving approaches, rather than considering new DST information.

The Route Availability Planning Tool (RAPT) is a weather-aware ATM DST that has been designed to help traffic managers better anticipate thunderstorm impacts on jet routes and increase departure route usage efficiency. When originally deployed in New York (NY) in 2002, the RAPT guidance and Conops did not match operational capabilities and were inadequate for significantly reducing NY departure delays. The RAPT weather impact and airspace usage models were subsequently refined and benefits associated with RAPT use increased, but realized benefits continued to fall short of expectations.

Extensive RAPT field evaluations in 2007 and 2008 were instrumental in understanding RAPT algorithm, display, training, and Conops development needs. Simultaneous real time observations of FAA and airline operations facilities during NY Severe Weather Avoidance Programs (SWAP) revealed previously unidentified or under-appreciated aspects of the SWAP decision-making environment that limited RAPT effectiveness. Through these efforts, opportunities for increased RAPT use and benefits were identified, and the RAPT Conops and implementation were refined to better couple RAPT capabilities to the most straightforward and significant departure route management needs. Enhancements to the RAPT display were designed to focus traffic managers on opportunities to reopen closed departure routes more quickly after thunderstorms had cleared – the largest cause of avoidable NY SWAP delay. At the same time, RAPT retained features that enable experienced users to identify opportunities to improve system performance in circumstances where forecast uncertainty or traffic complexity increase departure management difficulties and render simple open-close decisions inadequate.

RAPT Conops and implementation changes were accompanied by the development of a set of metrics that directly relate observed departure traffic to RAPT guidance. These metrics are calculated automatically and made available to users in order to support RAPT training and departure management performance evaluation. In this manner, the RAPT Conops evolves as user experience increases and opportunities for improvement are identified.

This paper presents the results of a third RAPT field evaluation, conducted in summer 2009, focusing on changes in RAPT use and benefits achieved as a result of the refined RAPT Conops and implementation. Efforts to apply the lessons learned from RAPT and to develop evolving Conops models coupled to near-term achievable benefits of proposed Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) weather-ATM DSTs will also be discussed.

*This work was sponsored by the Federal Aviation Administration under Air Force Contract No. FA8721-05-C-0002. Opinions, interpretations, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the authors and are not necessarily endorsed by the United States Government.