The Metroplex Simulation Environment

Fast-time simulation can be a highly effective and cost-efficient mechanism for studying air traffic management (ATM) concepts and technologies. Simulation studies are generally less expensive than field experiments and allow a broader range of situations to be explored. However, the up-front cost of building or adapting a simulation to meet the research requirements is often larger than the cost of conducting the field study, motivating projects to skip this important phase of the research. The Metroplex Simulation Environment (MSE) is an evolving platform that provides a framework for rapidly assembling a purpose-built simulation from existing and newly built pieces, without having to reinvent and redevelop the core simulation infrastructure that can be common to any simulation. Common requirements such as data collection, visualization, generating variability and uncertainty, and handling configuration and input data are provided by the platform. Existing models of aircraft, pilot, and control behavior can be assembled to simulate the portion of the system relevant to the researcher, while new models representing the new technology or procedure being studied can be developed and plugged in. Over time, an increasingly large library of previously developed models is available for re-use or modification to satisfy the needs of new projects This organic approach to growth and re-use has resulted in capabilities that would have been difficult to design up front as part of a general-purpose ATM simulation framework. This paper surveys the current modeling capabilities of MSE and describes some future extensions of the framework to support additional use cases.