Evaluation of the terminal area precision scheduling and spacing system for performance-based navigation arrivals

In 2012, NASA and FAA jointly conducted a human-in-the-loop air traffic simulation to evaluate the utility of the Terminal Area Precision Scheduling and Spacing (TAPSS) system for supporting Performance-Based Navigation arrival operations during periods of congestion at a mid-sized airport. The TAPSS system is a trajectory-based strategic planning and tactical control tool that was developed to efficiently manage arrivals. For this study, the TAPSS system was enhanced to handle Required Navigation Performance arrivals. A baseline case, where none of the TAPSS system's advisories were provided, was run along with two different configurations of the TAPSS system with differing sets of controller advisory tools. The engineering data indicate that the TAPSS system has a potential to enable efficient Performance-Based Navigation arrival operations. The participating controllers found the TAPSS system's advisories useful. When controllers were given the full set of TAPSS advisory tools, 90% of Required Navigation Performance arrivals stayed on-path as compared to 87% in the baseline case, the average extra track distance of Area Navigation arrivals decreased by 36%, and the average number of controller voice communications decreased by 13%.