White Paper
(9/14/1999)
The NASA-led National
General Aviation Roadmap establishes the framework for coordinated public and
private sector investments toward the goal to “enable doorstep-to-destination
travel at four times the speed of highways, to 25% of the nation’s suburban,
rural, and remote communities in 10 years and over 90% in 25 years.” The Roadmap provides the framework for
public-private sector partnerships that target investments in strategically
relevant, enabling technologies. To
date, investments have been focused on vehicle and operator training technologies. With completion of these aircraft technology
investments in year 2001, the next logical step on the Roadmap involves
planning for investments in infrastructure technologies. Together, these investments create the basis
for a Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS).
A Small Aircraft
Transportation System (SATS) is defined as an intermodal, rapid transit, air
travel system. The target consumer base
is comprised of the “latent” market, or those consumers for whom the value of
SATS transportation services can be economically or personally warranted. Smaller businesses and upper-middle income
individuals will likely dominate the leader market for SATS. Innovative transportation services business
concepts will make SATS more affordable and practical for increasing market
segments. In addition, the evolution of
economies of scale for SATS aircraft will significantly reduce acquisition and
operating costs over the Roadmap time span for mass markets. Ultimately, the SATS development should be planned
to support a dominant mode share in the future growth of intercity travel.
SATS Systems Engineering
Precursor Studies were initiated to support the development of the NASA-led
National General Aviation Roadmap, the National Research Council (NRC) SATS
Study, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) SATS Mission Needs Statement
development, and the SATS Non Advocate Review (NAR) effort. The studies are designed to define SATS and
provide a body of reference material to help determine whether a SATS
development program should proceed.
The University of Nebraska’s
Aviation Institute is actively participating in the SATS program through its
NASA Nebraska EPSCoR Preparation Grant, which began in May of 1999. The SATS Systems Engineering Precursor Studies/Nebraska
Implementation cluster of this grant is supporting the on-going National SATS
effort by developing a computer-based decision support system/model for SATS
implementation in the State of Nebraska.
The systems engineering requirements and SATS metrics for implementation
in Nebraska are being identified and their inter-relationships
(cause-and-effect relationships) are being investigated. These requirements and metrics include air
travel demand, mobility, accessibility, travel time, travel cost, capacity,
safety, vehicle technology, air traffic control, communications technology,
airport facilities, demographics, social, economic, political, and
environmental factors. Three
alternative forms (verbal, visual, and mathematical) of the model are being
developed. The verbal description is a
mental model of the SATS system expressed in words. The visual description is diagrammatic and shows the
cause-and-effect relationships between many variables in a simple and concise
manner. The visual model, or “causal
diagram,” is being translated into mathematical/computer model. All forms of the model are equivalent, with
any one form merely serving as an aid to understanding for someone who is not
fluent in the other languages. However,
the verbal description does not lend itself to formal analysis. The visual causal diagram can only be
analyzed qualitatively. The
mathematical/computer model is by far the most precise and is the only
representation of the system that permits quantitative analysis and the
evaluation of alternative plans and strategies.
During the development of
this model, it is anticipated that the SATS operational concept and
architecture in Nebraska be defined. It is also anticipated that the reasons
for SATS implementation in Nebraska be identified by a comparative analysis of
the user/non-user and provider benefits in terms of affordability,
accessibility, speed, availability, robustness, capacity, simplicity, safety,
and environmental impacts with the existing transportation modes. The shortfall areas between a fully implemented
SATS end state and current capabilities in the technological, public, business,
and financing domains will also be determined.
It is also anticipated that the roles and responsibilities of
government, industry, academia, and special interest organizations for SATS
development, deployment, and maintenance in Nebraska be identified. The potential locations for SATS near-term
and far-term deployment in Nebraska will be determined, and a schedule for SATS
implementation will be developed.
Finally, the risks of a successful development and deployment of SATS in
Nebraska will be investigated using the computer model.
It is expected that part or
all anticipated outcomes of the “NASA Nebraska EPSCoR Preparation Grant: Year
I” be utilized to conduct this study.
The cooperation and assistance of the NASA-led SATS Systems Engineering
Team, Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiments (AGATE), Volpe, Federal
Aviation Administration, Nebraska Department of Aeronautics, Nebraska
Department of Roads, Mid-America Transportation Center, and Peter Kiewit
Institute is also being sought during the conduct of this study.
Although the model
development/modification and implementation will be an ongoing effort through
SATS lifecycle, it is anticipated that a pilot verbal model be completed by the
end of the first year and a pilot visual model (causal diagram) be completed by
the end of the second year. The pilot
mathematical/computer model will be developed in parallel to verbal and visual
models, and it will be completed after the verbal and visual models are exposed
to criticism and revised/modified. This
sequential and iterative modeling procedure will continue as long as it proves
useful.