Metron Aviation announced that it has been awarded a contract from NASA to perform advanced research and development to further NextGen airspace management concepts. This is an interesting twist in the NextGen story… Metron Aviation has been recently acquired by Airbus.
Metron Aviation will support NASA’s NextGen Concepts and Technology Development Project (CTD), as it continues to conceptualize and create Dynamic Airspace Configuration (DAC) concepts for allocating airspace capacity during convective weather events. Metron Aviation will develop DAC concepts and algorithms that incorporate uncertainties in weather forecasts, methods for conversion of convective weather activities into airspace capacity and uncertain pilot, airline and Traffic Flow Management (TFM) responses to weather.
“We are extremely pleased to have been awarded this prestigious NASA contract. Working consistently with NASA to dynamically change Airspace Configuration will not only show immediate results towards harmonization and NextGen, but will also impact the National Airspace for years to come,” said Robert Hoffman, PhD., Principal Analyst and Director of the Advanced Research Group at Metron Aviation. “For years, we have been working with NASA on various airspace optimization projects, and are excited to continue our heritage of innovation to create a more efficient, optimized and safer airspace.”
Metron Aviation has a long history of supporting NASA in development of various airspace concepts to provide flexible airspace, by dynamically allocating resources in response to weather events and changes in demand profile. Metron Aviation focuses on the methods of altering the arrangement of sectors and other airspace structures, adding new dynamic structures and using other methods of airspace modification. These projects are continuously supporting actions to provide the National Airspace System (NAS) continuity, by fulfilling NextGen goals and beyond. Metron Aviation’s airspace configuration not only enables users to fly closer to their preferred trajectories, but also reduces operational costs and increases airspace capacity for global aviation stakeholders.
Founded in 1995, Metron Aviation pioneered the advancement of Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM), working with the FAA to develop the industry’s first Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) platform for optimizing system-wide traffic flow. Metron Aviation provides concept engineering, advanced research, software development, traffic flow management, surface operations management, airspace design and environmental analysis solutions to the global aviation industry. Metron Aviation fuses advanced science and mathematics with unparalleled subject-matter expertise to turn groundbreaking Air Traffic Management (ATM) research concepts into next-generation operational capabilities. Metron Harmony, Metron Aviation’s commercial product, provides integrated ATFM and CDM capabilities for the world’s leading Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs), airlines and airports. Metron Aviation customers include the FAA, NAV CANADA, NASA, ATNS, FedEx, Air Canada, Memphis International Airport, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, Airservices Australia and many more.
To learn more about Metron Aviation, click here.