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Aeronautics: NASA's Digital Information Platform Planning and Field Test Team Receives NASA Honor Award

May 22, 2024

NASA's Digital Information Platform (DIP) planning and field test team received a prestigious NASA Honor Award (Group Achievement) for their outstanding accomplishments in planning, developing and field-testing air traffic management technologies in the Dallas area that are addressing the impacts of aviation to climate change by improving fuel efficiency of current airline operations. The efficient departure technology developed by the DIP team depends on aircraft trajectory predictions which are improved using machine learning. Machine learning is also used to increase the speed of deployment by automating the creation of airport surface maps used to compute the aircraft departure trajectory predictions. The team met an ambitious schedule, staying within budget, and was in the field improving airline operations in about a year. Today, field testing continues with American Airlines and Southwest Airlines in the Dallas area, and the fuel-efficient departure technology has already saved those airlines combined approximately 24,000 pounds of fuel and 77,000 pounds of CO2 in 2022 and over 55,000 pounds of fuel and 169,000 pounds of CO2 in FY23. DIP's comprehensive data collection system and fuel and emissions savings database is shared with the airlines on a regular basis, allowing the airlines to see the benefits of the DIP technology. As a result of their success, the DIP team has secured Space Act Agreements with five major U.S. airlines and the support of the FAA to continue the development and field testing of the technologies at an additional airport in Houston, Texas. The DIP team continues to demonstrate, with airline and FAA partners, new technology to enable NASA and FAA goals to modernize the United States air traffic system. Their collaborations, accomplishments, and capabilities are key features of NASA's Sustainable Flight National Partnership.

NAMS team members included in this award are Alexandre A. Amblard (USRA), Xiaoliang Chen (MTI), Jinn-Hwei Cheng (USRA), Cynthia J. Freedman (USRA), Jody R. Null (USRA), Mohamad S. Refai (Crown), Keenan D. Roach (USRA), and Sarah A. Youlton (USRA).

2023 NASA Honor Award Group Achievement Award presented to the DIP Planning and Field Test Team, accepted by team member Gilbert Wu, center, by Center Director Eugene Tu, right, and Deputy Center Director David Korsmeyer, left, in the N201 Auditorium.
2023 NASA Honor Award Group Achievement Award presented to the DIP Planning and Field Test Team, accepted by team member Gilbert Wu, center, by Center Director Eugene Tu, right, and Deputy Center Director David Korsmeyer, left, in the N201 Auditorium. (NASA/Brandon Torres)