Aviation Safety and
Air Traffic Management Analysis

The Center for Transportation Analysis does specialty research and development in Aviation Safety and Air Traffic Management Analysis. Improving both aviation safety and air traffic management (ATM) techniques is important to all air travelers in the National Airspace System (NAS).

Several initiatives are supported including the Global Aviation and Information Network (GAIN) and the Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) program. GAIN promotes and facilitates the voluntary collection and sharing of safety information by and among users in the international aviation community to improve aviation safety. CDM is a joint government/industry initiative to improve air traffic management through increased information exchange among the various parties in the aviation community and improved automated decision support tools.

Visualization and analysis of diverse data sources including flight track, weather, airport, aircraft, ATM elements and geographic data supports aviation safety initiatives such as the Runway Safety Program. Specialized studies are performed to review traffic management policies and NAS concept exploration. Other work includes design of decision support tools, improved data management and integration techniques, and data visualization work for the CDM Program and the Free Flight Program Office. Our customers include the FAA, NASA, DOT and industry partners involved in aviation and other transportation systems.

Primary Contact:

Focus Areas:

  • Aviation Safety Analysis
  • Air Traffic Management Analysis

Recent Work:

  • Development of a Data Viewer Tool for 3-D Flight Track Visualization and Analysis of Multiple Aviation Data Sources for Runway Safety, Airborne/Surface Interactions, and ATM Operations
  • Visualization and Analysis of Radar Flight Tracks for the LAX Region for Aviation Safety and Operation Analysis
  • Developing Requirements for an Aviation Safety Lessons Learned and Corrective Action Sharing System
  • Resource Location and Allocation Optimization Analysis Using GIS
  • Aviation Safety Risk Assessment Modeling of Runway Incursions
  • Event Sequence Coding of Incidents to Identify Factors to Improve Aviation Safety
  • Evaluation of Airport Capacity Enhancements through Land and Hold Short Operations (LAHSO)
  • Benefits Assessment of Airline Influenced Arrival Sequencing
  • Airline Arrival Ripple Delay and Its Mitigation

Selected Presentations

Highlights

New version of Freight Analysis Framework released
The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) released its new version of the Freight Analysis Framework, the most comprehensive publicly available data set of freight movement. This tool is developed for FHWA by CTA.

Vehicle Technologies Program Fact of the Week
The Vehicle Technologies Program Fact of the Week provides statistical information on vehicle sales, fuel economy and transportation trends.

2011 Annual Fuel Economy Guide is released
DOE and EPA released the 2011 Fuel Economy Guide, providing consumers with information about estimated mileage and fuel costs for model year 2011 vehicles.

Transportation Energy Data Book: Edition 30 . . .
One of ORNL's most requested documents, this data book details transportation-related energy use in the U.S.