Weather Scenario Generator for ATM Simulation and Testing Systems

We design and prove the technical feasibility of a weather scenario generator (WSG) to provide an interoperable weather service that could support testing, development, and demonstration of advanced Concepts and Technologies (C&T) for Air Traffic Management (ATM) through modeling and simulation. Many recent advances in weather accountability for NAS simulation in support of C&T development are only able to manage one or two static weather scenarios, often limited to historical events which may be rare, and lack the ability to vary these scenarios to consider forecast accuracy variability and/or alternative impacts. The proposed WSG would address this shortfall by enabling creation of adjustable and meteorologically realistic scenarios comprised of observed (�actual�) weather and associated forecast uncertainty for relevant NAS impacting weather phenomena. We design the WSG to work with NASA�s SMART NAS to further its mission of delivering an evaluation capability that allows NextGen and beyond-NextGen C&T to be assessed and developed under realistic live/virtual/constructive weather conditions. Finally, this research provides guidance to NASA researchers or other users of testbeds, such as SMART NAS, on how to tailor weather scenarios for maximal effectiveness in experiments and demonstrations.

The core application of this work furthers NASA�s goal to deliver an evaluation capability, critical to the ATM community, allowing full NextGen and beyond concepts to be assessed and developed. If successful, we envision this will provide the primary mechanism by which users of SMART NAS will inject weather and weather forecasts into their experiments and demonstrations. Our product would serve the same purpose for other NASA simulators such as Airspace Concept Evaluation System (ACES), and Future ATM Concepts Evaluation Tool (FACET).

Applications outside of NASA include the FAA who likewise has the need to inject controlled weather conditions and forecasts into NAS simulators in support of research on TBO and other ATM concepts and technologies. These simulation and experimental needs are shared by other non-NASA organizations, especially those who possess or are developing large-scale air transportation simulators, such as Embry Riddle University, MITRE-CAASD, Volpe, EUROCONTROL, SESAR, and the Ecole Polytechnique.

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