The Surface Management System (SMS) has been developed
under NASA’s Advanced Air Transportation Technologies
(AATT) Project. The Surface Management System (SMS)
increases shared situational awareness of airport
surface operations between the Air Traffic Control
Tower (ATCT), the Ramp Tower, the air carriers that
operate at an airport, and the various airport authorities
and other ATC facilities. SMS provides decision
support capabilities to improve airport surface
movement efficiency and flexibility. SMS supports
improvements in the use of airport capacity by providing
ATCT controllers with more complete and precise
information about departure demand, arrival demand,
predicted pushback times, and runway utilization.
SMS information is conveyed via a graphical user
interface that incorporates at-a-glance traffic
information and decision support advisories to help
ATCT controllers manage surface movement. SMS information
will also be provided to ramp controllers and air
traffic service providers (ATSPs) in air route traffic
control center (ARTCC) and terminal radar approach
control (TRACON) facilities to enhance collaborative
decision-making. By increasing situational awareness
and providing tools for airport surface traffic
management, SMS improves the efficiency and flexibility
of airport surface operations.
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- Increases shared situational
awareness on the airport surface
- Monitors aircraft in real-time
- Generates predicted beneficial advisories
- HITL simulations for surface traffic management
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SMS uses information about the current state of
the surface and the future arrival and departure
demands from several sources, and predicts how the
situation on the airport surface will evolve in
the future. SMS disseminates these predictions (e.g.,
takeoff time for individual flights) as well as
uses this prediction capability to plan and advise
airport traffic management strategies. SMS uses
flight plan, surveillance, and scheduled pushback
data from the Enhanced Traffic Management System
(ETMS) to predict the future arrival and departure
demands. SMS also uses data received from the ASDE-X
surface surveillance system, and information from
airline gate management systems.
The SMS is currently in daily use by FedEx in Memphis
and United Parcel Service (UPS) in Louisville.
Surface Management
System GUI
Download
Overview
