Research Transition Team Progress

For the past two years, to support the implementation of the Integrated Work Plan (IWP), FAA, NASA and the JPDO have been planning for the transition of research results from NASA’s Airspace Systems Program to the FAA for eventual implementation in the National Airspace System (NAS).  Dubbed Research Transition Teams (RTTs), four specific teams were formed and are now finalizing their plans for approval next month.  The four teams are:  Efficient Flow Into Congested Airspace (EFICA), Integrated Arrival/Departure/Surface (IADS), Multi-Sector Planner (MSP), and Dynamic Airspace Configuration (DAC).

Each team supports NextGen capability needs as defined in the NextGen Concept of Operations (ConOps), Enterprise Architecture, and IWP as follows:  EFICA and IADS support Trajectory Management; MSP supports Flow Contingency Management; and DAC supports Capacity Management.  As the plans are approved, the details can be added to the JPE to provide further definition to the research to implementation pathways.  Further description of the RTTs can be found on the JPDO.gov Web site, here and here.

Bob Pearce
JPDO Deputy Director

JPDO Holds Quarterly Meeting with NASA

The latest quarterly meeting was held with NASA on June 12 at NASA headquarters.  Charlie Leader and Jaiwon Shin chaired the session.  A very full agenda included a discussion by NASA on programmatic changes for the FY10 budget, including the addition of the new Integrated Systems Research program and a restructuring of the Airspace Systems Program.  A brief write-up of these changes can be found here.   A status report of the Research Transition Teams was briefed, with a major focus on the transition plans that the RTTs will produce in September.

The JPDO reported on the results of the updated gap analysis, with some emphasis on the continuing importance of coming to grips with verification and validation (V&V) of complex systems.  NASA is developing research plans for V&V, but further definition of the need by JPDO is clearly needed, as well as a review of relevant efforts across the federal government.  An initial brief out of an “R&D Policy Impacts” analysis that is in the works by the JPDO was discussed.  The analysis is examining the linkages between policy assumptions and research requirements to help identify and prioritize where explicit policy assumptions are needed to support relevant technical research.  The analysis is also doing an initial assessment of post-research transition activities.  Finally, the progress toward a full NextGen Business Case was discussed.

Bob Pearce
JPDO Deputy Director