Terminal Area Capacity-Enhancing Concept (TACEC)

Domain: Terminal
Principle Investigator: Raytheon

Raytheon is developing a future air traffic management (ATM) concept focused on the Terminal and Surface domains. Our initial investigations led us to the fact that significantly increased capacity (2x+) in the terminal area can only be gained by;

1. Meeting the wake vortex avoidance requirement by a different approach than in-trail separation.
2. Adding more runways

Our concept achieves these goals by using the "Flight Corridor" approach to wake vortex avoidance combined with very closely spaced parallel approaches in all weather conditions.

Flight Corridors (based on initial work by Vern Rossow of NASA) are spatial regions "behind" wake generating aircraft where the hazardous role inducing vortices are small enough to have minimal effect on a following aircraft. Like all wake vortex spatial predictions however, there is uncertainty in the actual boundaries of these corridors. This uncertainty increases as time (or distance behind the aircraft) grows. The closer two aircraft are together the more certain wake free regions are known. Wake vortex avoidance is achieved in the TACEC solution by flying aircraft closer together, not by in-trail spacing as done today.

This closely spaced parallel flight formation naturally leads to the use of closely spaced parallel approaches. The benefits of closely spaced parallel runways are well documented, and the challenge of safe operation under Instrument Flight Rules conditions well studied. Raytheon believes the technologies needed for closely spaced parallel approach operation in IFR conditions will exist in 2020, and runway spacings of 750 feet can become the norm. This translates into the kind of terminal area capacity increases we need to double the NAS capacity.

TACEC implementation will take advantage of evolving technologies such as Wide Area Augmentation Syste (WAAS) enhanced Global Positioning System (GPS), Differential GPS landing systems and future cockpit visualization technologies. Enhanced flight control solutions driven with up-linked 4D trajectories will provide safe operations through the terminal airspace. The additional runways required will be achieved by greater utilization of today's existing parallel runways or by actually building new runways "between" existing ones.

Back to list of SLIC concepts

About Us | R&D Activities | What's New | Resources | Internal Sites | Contact

Sitemap | Search | Home