The test subject of Airspace Technology Demonstration 2 is “Integrated Arrivals Departures Scheduling,” a software tool that coordinates schedules between the ramp, tower, terminal and center control facilities, allowing air traffic controllers to better predict where and when to send aircraft in order to reduce congestion.

An example of collaboration between NASA and the FAA, at NASA’s air traffic management laboratory near the Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport in Texas, researchers Al Capps (seated) and Paul Borchers demonstrate tools that air traffic managers have been successfully testing since 2017 at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina to more efficiently direct departing traffic.

Data from the American Airlines ramp tower at Charlotte airport is among the information to be coordinated as part of ATD-2.

American Airlines aircraft in the gate area at Charlotte Douglas International Airport where ATD-2 began in 2017.

On June 12, 2018, NASA’s remotely-piloted Ikhana aircraft, lifted off from Edwards Air Force Base for its first mission in the National Airspace System without a safety chase aircraft. The June 12 flight successfully demonstrated the first remotely-piloted aircraft to use airborne detect and avoid technology to meet the intent of the FAA’s “see and avoid” rules.

On June 12, 2018, NASA’s remotely-piloted Ikhana aircraft, based at the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, lifted off for its first mission in the National Airspace System without a safety chase aircraft. The June 12 flight successfully demonstrated the first remotely-piloted aircraft to use airborne detect and avoid technology to meet the intent of the FAA’s “see and avoid” rules.