Use of aircraft intent data for Performance-based ATM operations

With the advancement of flight deck technologies that improve communication, navigation, and surveillance performance, as well as advancements in ground automation, future National Airspace System (NAS) operations can be based on more accurate aircraft trajectories than are available in today's NAS. The precision that results from trajectory-based operations will improve the efficiency of traffic flow management (TFM) and air traffic control (ATC) operations, as well as the productivity of TFM and ATC service providers. Performance-based air traffic management (P-ATM) is a set of capabilities, validation activities, and an operational concept for the NAS that promotes and takes advantage of flight deck and ground automation advancements. It is a step toward Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) that has been demonstrated in a simulation environment and shows great promise as a scalable solution that is necessary, desirable, and achievable. A key enhancement in the progression towards NextGen is the transmission of aircraft intent information and its use in both air and ground-based systems to support trajectory-based operations. This paper addresses three areas of research and development to support this enhancement in the context of the P-ATM capabilities. These areas are: (1) Development of avionics interface definitions for the provision of target state intent data. (2) Importance of including planned transitions in the aircraft's airspeed as part of its intent information. (3) Mechanisms for efficiently encoding intent information to support its delivery in the P-ATM timeframe.