11-20 of 20 results

  • GA Airport funding strategies

    PI Massoud Bazargan

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the current financial environment of publicly owned and operated general aviation airports, and to develop an outlook for future potential.

    The study focused on basic airport demographic data and the views of airport managers of GA airports regarding their facility's current financial situation, access to finding resources, state, local, and private sector, current fuel handling activity, T-hangar vacancies, other concepts for enhancing revenue, and attitudes toward attaining financial self-sufficiency.

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • Integration of Small Aircraft Transportation Systems (SATS) into General Aviation

    PI Massoud Bazargan

    Conducted operational and simulation approaches to identify potential bottlenecks and examine future expansion strategies for airports by integrating SATS with GA.

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • LAX Tow Tugs Feasibility Study

    PI Massoud Bazargan

    Currently, United Airlines does not have any tow tugs at LAX and uses only tractors with pull bars.

    These are not suited for the lengthy tows. Due to high cost of these tow tugs a study is needed to identify economic viability of purchasing these tow tugs. In particular, the airline would like to identify metrics such NPV, payback, and IRR determined for a period of 5 years after buying these tow tugs.

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • Manpower Planning for Maintenance Crew at SFO

    PI Massoud Bazargan

    The objective of this project is to optimize the use of maintenance manpower at San Francisco International Airport for efficient use of available resources and reduce flight delays.

    The project uses simulation for one full day of an airline's operations. The simulation model developed can identify the number of delays as well as the total time of delays that may occur throughout the system due to shortage of maintenance workforce

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • NextGen Task G 4D FMS TBO Demonstration Benefits Analyses

    PI Massoud Bazargan

    The goal of the project was to leverage existing technology and Flight Management System (FMS) capabilities as a starting point to define standards and requirements for trajectory exchange, time of arrival control, and other building blocks.

    The analyses focuses on benefits of these standards and requirements.

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • Statistical Analysis for General Aviation Accidents

    PI Massoud Bazargan

    The identification of causal factors for problems within a complex system present a variety of challenges to the investigator.

    This project will proceed by considering existing data on GA accidents, applying data mining methods to highlight patterns, applying mathematical and statistical methods to model relationships, and finally to employ simulation to test, refine and verify results.

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • Tow Tug Simulation Feasibility Study

    PI Massoud Bazargan

    In this study we conduct a feasibility study using simulation for AirTran Airways at their hub in Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL). This study pertains to using super-tug to transport aircraft to and from the airline's maintenance facility.

    The purchasing price for these super-tugs is around a quarter of a million dollars. This study attempts to investigate the possibility of reducing costs through saving jet fuel. This study adopts simulation to analyze the annual savings by studying the numbers needed, as well as the utilization and operation cost for these super-tugs. The results are very interesting, enabling the airline to clearly evaluate the cost and benefits of purchasing new super-tugs.

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • NextGen Task J: Implementation of NextGen Air Traffic Management system. Integrated Airport Initiative. Benefit-Cost Analysis of Aircraft Arrival Management Systems (AAMS)

    PI Vitaly Guzhva

    CO-I Ahmed Abdelghany

    The main task was to evaluate AAMS implemented at CLT (with US Airways) and MSP (with Delta Airlines) and quantify its costs and benefits.

    We collected six months of data before AAMS implementation and 6 months of data after the implementation, conducted statistical analysis and delivered the cost benefit analysis to the FAA.

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • Space Operations in the NAS: Analysis of Impacts to the Aviation Industry

    The basic goal of the research is to understand impacts to aviation stakeholders of the National Airspace System (NAS) due to space launch activities.  The focus of the research is to study impacts to general aviation (GA), particularly with respect to airports and airport users, near and around Cape Canaveral, FL. Further, several avenues will be assessed to determine what aspects of GA are impacted, where, when, how, and why. Data will be collected and analyzed in alternate methods other than the originally-proposed simulation and modeling. As an aside, per FAA input and following review of extant literature, impacts to GA have not been adequately researched. Until recently, the industry and the FAA have largely focused on impacts to airlines (Tinoco, Eudy, Cannon 2020). As a result, we believe this effort will lead to interesting outcomes and fill a much-needed gap in the literature.  

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

  • Integration of the Emerging Space Ecosystem into the National Airspace System (NAS): Simulation and Analysis of Impacts and Solutions, NASA Florida Space Grant Consortium

    CO-I Maxwell Cannon

    CO-I Noah Eudy

    Currently, there is limited, but ongoing, simulation research on the integration of space operations into the NAS that focuses on impacts to other constituents and in finding solutions (cf, Tinoco, et al., 2019; Colvin & Alonso, 2015). Particularly, academic research based on modeling and simulation is quite minimal.  Thus, the first objective of this research was to continue our current efforts and develop additional simulation models to analyze the potential impacts of launch and re-entry activities on key NAS stakeholder operations, particularly those of airlines, but also general aviation. NASA KSC/Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) clearly play a critical role in both the state of Florida and in our nation’s space ecosystem. As such, our area of interest was defined as Cape Canaveral, Florida.  We built on our previous simulation research that centered on horizonal take-off and landing of Concept Z reusable launch vehicles (RLV) at Cecil Air and Space Port in Jacksonville, FL (cf, Tinoco et al (2019); Tinoco et al, pending) and our understanding of air traffic routes on the heavily traveled Eastern Seaboard. 



    Particularly in the United States (U.S.), the number of spaceports is growing as both public and private entities are examining commercialized space transportation as a means of revenue and economic growth. Conversely, stakeholders that lie outside the space industry, such as those in our nation’s aviation sector, view space transportation with caution, concerned about the negative effects on their own operations as space launch and return activities become the norm rather than the exception. These non-space stakeholders will directly and indirectly impact the pace and development of the U.S. space economy. Thus, safe, equitable, efficient and effective integration of space activities into the NAS is critical to all stakeholders, influencing the realized economic and non-economic benefits that these stakeholders aspire. Clearly, the new space economy will ultimately profit us all as a nation. However, this new path of growth must be examined through multiple lenses in order to achieve maximum benefit for everyone. As such, our target audience includes all stakeholders that are impacted by or can impact airspace closures due to space activities whether they be the launch providers, airlines, NASA, the US Air Force, the FAA, general aviation, policy makers, communities, and general public.

    Currently, there is limited, but ongoing, simulation research on the integration of space operations into the NAS that focuses on impacts to other constituents and in finding solutions (cf, Tinoco, et al., 2019; Colvin & Alonso, 2015). Particularly, academic research based on modeling and simulation is quite minimal.  Thus, the first objective of this research was to continue our current efforts and develop additional simulation models to analyze the potential impacts of launch and re-entry activities on key NAS stakeholder operations, particularly those of airlines, but also general aviation. NASA KSC/Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) clearly play a critical role in both the state of Florida and in our nation’s space ecosystem. As such, our area of interest was defined as Cape Canaveral, Florida.  We built on our previous simulation research that centered on horizonal take-off and landing of Concept Z reusable launch vehicles (RLV) at Cecil Air and Space Port in Jacksonville, FL (cf, Tinoco et al (2019); Tinoco et al, pending) and our understanding of air traffic routes on the heavily traveled Eastern Seaboard.

    In order to meet the first objective, the student researchers specifically targeted the following questions with respect to Cape Canaveral space activities:

    1) What are the most common airspace closures

    2) What times are they closed and for how long?

    3) What number of planes fly through this airspace during the time and space of closure?

    4) What type of air traffic is impacted (commercial, general aviation)?

    The second objective was to work on finding solutions that are generalizable across the NAS, irrespective of spaceport location. For this objective, the researchers asked:

    1) What are the rerouting options? 

    2) What are the impacts if we vary time of day and size of closure window?

    3) What other solutions are available?

    For this research effort, we focused on vertical launches using Falcon 9 airspace closure data from 2019, as well as horizontal landings of the Space Shuttle at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF)[1] using historical shuttle airspace closure data.  For the latter, we chose to examine horizontal arrival operations as the LLF prepares to accept landings of the Sierra Nevada Dream Chaser, following proper site operator licensing for Space Florida. We also considered the landing of the X-37B.

    For our simulation software, we used NASA Future Air Traffic Management (ATM) Concepts Evaluation Tool (FACET) version 19.0 with NAS (National Airspace System) Constraint Evaluation and Notification Tool (NASCENT) version 19.03.  The first phase included understanding the baseline model, representing the existing NAS conditions without space launch/landing operations at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Our database was that of real air traffic on March 30, 2016 (a “no launch” date) provided by NASA AMES for use with FACET. In the second phase, closed airspace, defined by historic NOTAMs, allowed us to identify how many and what type of air traffic would be impacted by the temporary flight restrictions (TFRs) in terms of time and space during launch/landing activities.

    [1] Also referred to as the Launch Landing Facility (LLF), operated and managed by Space Florida.

    Categories: Faculty-Staff

11-20 of 20 results