Utilizing simplified dynamic density for estimating benefits of Nextgen operational concepts

Designing and conducting large-scale NAS simulations to support NextGen benefit analysis is a costly and lengthy process. We have therefore sought to develop a fast-turnaround, simplified simulation and analysis methodology that would be able to produce at least a first-order-of-accuracy benefit estimate for several key proposed NextGen elements. A key consideration in this analysis is how to maximize the utilization of available airspace and which proxy metrics for controller workload to use in airspace capacity studies. Candidate metrics range from simple traffic occupancy (represented by the Monitor Alert Parameter, or MAP, values for thresholds), to dynamic density metrics of various complexity, to workload indicators obtained in the course of real-time human-in-the-loop simulations. We show that using the traditional MAP/occupancy count metric is insufficient to demonstrate benefits of such technologies as Datalink or ADS-B.