Publications
CoSPA data product description
November 1, 2021
Project Report
Published in:
MIT Lincoln Laboratory Report ATC-449
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Summary
This document contains a description of Consolidated Storm Prediction for Aviation (CoSPA) data products that are packaged and distributed for external users. As described in Rappa and Troxel, 2013 [1] for Corridor Integrated Weather System (CIWS) data products, CoSPA products are categorized as gridded and non-gridded. Gridded products are typically expressed as rectangular arrays whose elements contain a data value coinciding with uniformly-spaced observations or computed results on a 2-D surface. Gridded data arrays map to the earth's surface through a map projection, for example, Lambert Conformal or Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area. CoSPA generates only gridded products; there are no non-gridded data for CoSPA.
Summary
This document contains a description of Consolidated Storm Prediction for Aviation (CoSPA) data products that are packaged and distributed for external users. As described in Rappa and Troxel, 2013 [1] for Corridor Integrated Weather System (CIWS) data products, CoSPA products are categorized as gridded and non-gridded. Gridded products are typically...
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CoSPA and Traffic Flow Impact Operational Demonstration for the 2017 Convective Season(4.48 MB)
May 7, 2018
Project Report
Published in:
Project Report ATC-441, MIT Lincoln Laboratory
Summary
MIT Lincoln Laboratory personnel conducted field observations of the Consolidated Storm Prediction for Aviation (CoSPA) 8-hr deterministic convective forecast, and the decision support tool, Traffic Flow Impact (TFI), from 6 June to 31 October 2017. Four field observations were performed during the demonstration period.
Summary
MIT Lincoln Laboratory personnel conducted field observations of the Consolidated Storm Prediction for Aviation (CoSPA) 8-hr deterministic convective forecast, and the decision support tool, Traffic Flow Impact (TFI), from 6 June to 31 October 2017. Four field observations were performed during the demonstration period.
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Report on the 2016 CoSPA and Traffic Flow Impact operational demonstration
June 1, 2017
Project Report
Published in:
MIT Lincoln Laboratory Report ATC-433
Summary
This technical report summarizes the operational observations recorded by MIT Lincoln Laboratory (MIT LL) aviation subject matter experts during the period 1 June to 31 October 2016. The MIT LL observation team visited three Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCC) and the Air Traffic Control System Command Center (ATCSCC) on three separate convective events covering four days during the summer of 2016. Five commercial airlines were also involved in the observations. Specifically noted were the utilization of the deterministic convective weather forecasting model, Storm Prediction for Aviation (CoSPA), and a newly developed decision support application, Traffic Flow Impact (TFI). These field evaluations were supported via the FAA AJM-334 program.
Summary
This technical report summarizes the operational observations recorded by MIT Lincoln Laboratory (MIT LL) aviation subject matter experts during the period 1 June to 31 October 2016. The MIT LL observation team visited three Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCC) and the Air Traffic Control System...
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2015 operational observation of CoSPA and traffic flow impact
March 15, 2016
Project Report
Published in:
MIT Lincoln Laboratory Report ATC-429
Summary
This technical report summarizes the operational observations recorded by MIT Lincoln Laboratory (MIT LL) aviation subject matter experts during the period 13 April to 31 October 2015. Three separate field observations were conducted over four convective weather days across the eastern National Airspace System (NAS) with visits to five separate FAA facilities and five different airline operation centers. Observations of strategic management planning and decision making were documented during these visits. Specifically noted were the utilization of the deterministic convective weather forecasting model, CoSPA, and a newly developed decision support application, Traffic Flow Impact (TFI). These field evaluations were supported via the FAA AJM-334 CoSPA program.
Summary
This technical report summarizes the operational observations recorded by MIT Lincoln Laboratory (MIT LL) aviation subject matter experts during the period 13 April to 31 October 2015. Three separate field observations were conducted over four convective weather days across the eastern National Airspace System (NAS) with visits to five separate...
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Making departure management weather impact models airspace-adaptable: adapting the New York Route Availability Planning Tool (RAPT) to Chicago departure airspace
May 26, 2011
Project Report
Published in:
MIT Lincoln Laboratory Report ATC-378
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Summary
The Route Availability Planning Tool (RAPT) operational prototype was deployed to Chicago in the summer of 2010, the first RAPT deployment outside of the New York departure airspace for which it was originally developed. The goal of the deployment was to evaluate the adaptability of RAPT's airspace definition, departure management and weather impact models to different terminal areas throughout the National Airspace System (NAS). This report presents the results of a summer-long evaluation of the Chicago RAPT operational prototype, in which the performance of RAPT algorithms and the effectiveness of the RAPT Concept of Operations were assessed. The evaluation included observations made by researchers simultaneously stationed at O'Hare terminal (ORD), the Chicago TRACON (C90), and the Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZAU) during several days of convective weather impact and post-event analysis of air traffic data from the Enhanced Traffic Management System (ETMS) and RAPT weather impact predictions and departure management guidance. The study found that significant departure delay reduction could be achieved through the use of RAPT in Chicago, and that RAPT effectiveness in "typical" corner post airspaces like Chicago could be further increased with some modifications to the Concept of Operations, user training, and site adaptation.
Summary
The Route Availability Planning Tool (RAPT) operational prototype was deployed to Chicago in the summer of 2010, the first RAPT deployment outside of the New York departure airspace for which it was originally developed. The goal of the deployment was to evaluate the adaptability of RAPT's airspace definition, departure management...
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Description of the Corridor Integrated Weather System (CIWS) weather products
August 1, 2005
Project Report
Published in:
MIT Lincoln Laboratory Report ATC-317
Summary
Improved handling of severe en route and terminal convective weather has been identified by the FAA in both the Operational Evolution Plan (OEP) (FAA, 2002) and the Flight Plan for 2004-2008 (FAA, 2003) as a major thrust over the coming decade for the National Airspace System (NAS) modernization. Achieving such improved capabilities is particularly important in highly congested corridors where there is both a high density of over flights and major terminals. Delay increases during thunderstorm season have been the principal cause of the dramatic delay growth in the US aviation system. When major terminals also underlie the en route airspace, convective weather has even greater adverse impacts, especially if the convective weather occurs frequently. In response to the need to enhance both safety and capacity during adverse weather, the FAA is exploring the concept of a Corridor Integrated Weather System (CIWS). CIWS is designed to improve convective weather decision support for congested en route airspace (and the terminals that lie under that airspace) by automatically generating graphical depictions of the current severe weather situation and providing frequently updated forecasts of the future weather locations for forecast times from zero to two hours. An operational demonstration of the CIWS was conducted during the summer of 2003. This document provides a detailed description of each CIWS weather information product as it was demonstrated in 2003, including a general description of the product, what data sources are used by the product, how the product is generated from the input data, and what caveats in the technical performance apply. A discussion of how the products might be used to enhance safety and support decision-making for traffic management is also included. Detailed information on the operational benefits of the CIWS products demonstrated in 2003 is provided in a companion report (Robinson et al., 2004). Improvements made to the products for the 2004 and 2005 CIWS operational demonstrations are briefly discussed in the final chapter.
Summary
Improved handling of severe en route and terminal convective weather has been identified by the FAA in both the Operational Evolution Plan (OEP) (FAA, 2002) and the Flight Plan for 2004-2008 (FAA, 2003) as a major thrust over the coming decade for the National Airspace System (NAS) modernization. Achieving such...
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Corridor integrated weather system operation benefits 2002-2003 : initial estimates of convective weather delay reduction : executive summary
May 19, 2004
Project Report
Published in:
MIT Lincoln Laboratory Report ATC-313-1
Summary
The Corridor Integrated Weather System (CIWS) seeks to improve safety and reduce delay by providing accurate, automated, rapidly updated information on storm locations and echo tops along with two-hour high-resolution animated growth and decay convective storm forecasts. An operational benefits assessment was conducted using on-site observations of CIWS usage at major en route control centers in the Northeast and Great Lakes corridors and the Air Traffic Control Systems Command Center (ATCSCC) during six multi-day periods in 2003. (Not complete).
Summary
The Corridor Integrated Weather System (CIWS) seeks to improve safety and reduce delay by providing accurate, automated, rapidly updated information on storm locations and echo tops along with two-hour high-resolution animated growth and decay convective storm forecasts. An operational benefits assessment was conducted using on-site observations of CIWS usage at...
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Corridor Integrated Weather System operation benefits 2002-2003 : initial estimates of convective weather delay reduction
April 9, 2004
Project Report
Published in:
MIT Lincoln Laboratory Report ATC-313
Summary
The Corridor Integrated Weather System (CIWS) seeks to improve safety and reduce delay by providing accurate, automated, rapidly updated information on storm locations and echo tops along with two-hour high-resolution animated growth and decay convective storm forecasts. An operational benefits assessment was conducted using on-site observations of CIWS usage at major en route control centers in the Northeast and Great Lakes corridors and the Air Traffic Control Systems Command Center (ATCSCC) during six multi-day periods in 2003. This first phase of the benefit assessment characterizes major safety and delay reduction benefits and quantifies the delay reduction benefits for two key Traffic Flow Management (TFM) user benefits: "keeping air routes open longer/reopening closed routes soon" and "proactive, efficient reroutes of traffic around storm cells." The overall CIWS delay reduction for these two benefits is 40,000 to 69,000 hours annually with an equivalent monetary value ot $127M to $26M annually. Convective weather delays at most of the major airports in the test domain, normalized by thunderstorm frequency, decreased after new CIWS echo tops and forecast products were introduced. Recommendations are made for near-term, low-cost improvements to the CIWS demonstration system to further increase the operational benefits.
Summary
The Corridor Integrated Weather System (CIWS) seeks to improve safety and reduce delay by providing accurate, automated, rapidly updated information on storm locations and echo tops along with two-hour high-resolution animated growth and decay convective storm forecasts. An operational benefits assessment was conducted using on-site observations of CIWS usage at...
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Reducing severe weather delays in congested airspace with weather decision support for tactical air traffic management
June 23, 2003
Conference Paper
Published in:
5th Eurocontrol/DAA ATM R&D Seminar, 23-27 June 2003.
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Summary
Reducing congested airspace delays due to thunderstorms has become a major objective of the FAA due to the recent growth in convective delays. In 2000 and 2001 the key new initiative for reducing these convective weather delays was "strategic" traffic flow management (TFM) at time scales between 2 and 6 hours in advance using collaborative weather forecasts and routing strategy development. This "strategic" approach experienced difficulties in a large fraction of the weather events because it was not possible to forecast convective storm impacts on routes and capacities accurately enough to accomplish effective traffic flow management. Hence, we proposed in 2001 that there needed to be much greater emphasis on tactical air traffic management at time scales where it would be possible to generate much more accurate convective weather forecasts. In this paper, we describe initial operational results in the very highly congested Great Lakes and Northeast Corridors using weather products from the ongoing Corridor Integrated Weather System (CIWS) concept exploration. Key new capabilities provided by this system include very high update rates (to support tactical air traffic control), much improved echo-tops information, and fully automatic 2-hour convective forecasts using the latest "scale separation" storm tracking technologies. Displays were provided at major terminal areas, en route centers in the corridors, and the FAA Command Center. Substantial reduction in delays has been achieved mostly through weather product usage at the shorter time scales. Quantifying the achieved benefits for this class of products have raised major questions about the conceptual framework for traffic flow management in these congested corridors that must be addressed in the development of air traffic management systems to utilize the weather products.
Summary
Reducing congested airspace delays due to thunderstorms has become a major objective of the FAA due to the recent growth in convective delays. In 2000 and 2001 the key new initiative for reducing these convective weather delays was "strategic" traffic flow management (TFM) at time scales between 2 and 6...
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The Corridor Integrated Weather System (CIWS)
May 13, 2002
Conference Paper
Published in:
10th Conf. on Aviation, Range, and Aerospace Meteorology, 13-16 May 2002, pp. 210-215.
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Summary
The FAA Operational Evolution Plan (OEP) identified en route severe weather as one of the four problems that must be addressed if the US. air transportation system is to alleviate the growing gap between the demand for air transportation and the ability of the system to meet that demand. Convective weather in highly congested airspace is of particular concern because many of the delays arise from these corridors. For example, rerouting aircraft around areas of actual or predicted weather can be very difficult when one must be concerned about controller overload in the weather free sectors. When major terminals also underlie the en route airspace, convective weather has even greater adverse impacts. The principal thrust to date in addressing this problem has been "strategic" collaborative routing as exemplified by the "Spring 2000" and "Spring 2001" initiatives. However, success of the strategic approach embodied in these initiatives depends on the ability to accurately forecast convective weather impacts two or more hours in advance. Limitations in the forecast accuracy necessitate development of a companion "tactical" convective weather capability. In this paper, we describe a major new FAA initiative, the Corridor Integrated Weather System (CIWS). The objective of this project, which is currently in the concept exploration phase, is to improve tactical convective weather decision support for congested en route airspace. A real time operational demonstration, which was begun in July 2001 in the Great Lakes corridor, will be extended to the Northeast corridor in 2002. In the sections that follow, we describe the operational needs that motivated the ClWS initiative, the technology under investigation, the concept exploration test bed and summer 2001 operational experience, and the near term plans for the CIWS concept exploration.
Summary
The FAA Operational Evolution Plan (OEP) identified en route severe weather as one of the four problems that must be addressed if the US. air transportation system is to alleviate the growing gap between the demand for air transportation and the ability of the system to meet that demand. Convective...
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