Airspace Concept Evaluation System (ACES)

Simulated U.S. Traffic Demand in 2022 using the Airspace Concept Evaluation System (ACES) modeling and simulation tool under development in the VAMS Project.

The need to examine the costs and benefits of novel air traffic management (ATM) operational paradigms is critical for identifying the most promising concepts. In order to perform this essential evaluation function, one of the objectives of the VAMS Project is to develop a national airspace simulation capability that will enable evaluation of the system-wide effects of proposed air transportation concepts intended to reduce delay, increase capacity, and accommodate the forecasted growth in air traffic.

The Airspace Concept Evaluation System (ACES) is a non-real-time modeling and simulation environment for the National Airspace System (NAS), under development by the Virtual Airspace Simulation Technologies element of the VAMS Project at NASA Ames Research Center. This system will enable comprehensive assessment of the impact of new tools, concepts, and architectures, including those that represent a revolutionary change in current NAS operations. ACES is composed of interoperable models that represent the gate-to-gate actions and highly coupled interactions between key participants within the National Airspace System. To create a flexible and extendable simulation tool capable of supporting system-wide evaluations, the ACES prototype uses an agent-based modeling framework and the distributed simulation approach, called High Level Architecture (HLA). HLA is a set of processes, tools, and middleware software developed by the Department of Defense, to support "plug-and-play" assembly of independently developed models.

The initial application of ACES will be in evaluating a set of operational concepts being developed within the System Level Integrated Concepts (SLIC) sub-project of VAMS. These concepts range from insertion of technologies into specific NAS domains (e.g., automated surface traffic control) to system-wide procedural changes (e.g., shifting to point-to-point travel using regional airports). Evaluations of these concepts will include cost, capacity, and safety metrics.

	Video Feature Visualizing the Future of Civil Aviation (4:45) The Airspace Concept Evaluation System (ACES) is a modeling and simulation environment for testing new ideas and analyzing strategic decisions for the air transportation system. Download video: High (34.1 MB) | Medium (8.3 MB) | Low (1.5 MB) | Transcript
	More Video Features NAS Demand Simulations Using ACES (Courtesy of Seagull Technology) Read More and View Videos			Factsheet ACES Factsheet (PDF 172K) Read Factsheet
				Publications Airspace Concept Evaluation System (ACES) Read More

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