Outcome 4.1: Air Transportation

Develop innovative solutions and advanced technologies through a balanced research portfolio to improve current and future air transportation.

Other Information:

By 2025, air traffic within American airspace is projected to at least double its current rate. Future needs will exceed the limited solutions that aviation currently offers, requiring improvements in capacity, environmental compatibility, robustness, and freedom of mobility throughout the airspace while maintaining or increasing safety. From foundational research to integrated system capabilities, a broad portfolio is required to meet this challenge. Our fundamental research programs take an integrated approach to address the critical long-term challenges of NextGen. These programs ensure a long-term focus on both traditional aeronautical disciplines and relevant emerging fields for integration into multidisciplinary system-level capabilities for broad application. This approach will enable revolutionary changes to both the airspace system and the aircraft that fly within it. We continually seek to improve technology that can be integrated into today's state-of-the-art aircraft while enabling game-changing concepts for future generations of aircraft. Technologies for significant reductions in drag (thus improving fuel efficiency) and reduced fuel consumption compared to today's aircraft are key areas of research. We also are addressing the challenges to enable new rotorcraft and supersonic aircraft and conducting foundational research to realize sustained hypersonic flight. Research in the disciplines of materials and structures, propulsion systems, and airframe systems contribute to reducing fuel consumption, noise, and emissions for subsonic fixed wing aircraft and contribute to the development of revolutionary vehicle concepts and tools. Another key research goal is to characterize and understand the effects of synthetic and biological fuel alternatives on conventional jet aircraft systems using petroleum-based fuels and to develop technologies to enable fuel-flexible jet engines of tomorrow. Our safety research spans aircraft operations, air traffic procedures, and environmental hazards. We aim to ensure that aircraft and operational procedures maintain the high level of safety that the American public has come to count on. The full realization of NextGen requires research to meet additional safety goals such as the capability for automated detection, diagnosis, and correction of adverse events that occur in flight and that crew workload and situational awareness are both safely optimized and adapted to the NextGen operational environment. In the area of airspace systems, we conduct research in air traffic management concepts and technologies covering gate-to-gate operations on the airport surface, on runways, in the dense terminal area, and in the many en route sectors of the national airspace. As an example of its benefit, systems analysis results indicate that nearly 400 million gallons of fuel could be saved each year if aircraft could climb to and descend from their cruising altitude without interruption. To achieve this improvement, safe and efficient flight operation procedures first must be developed, validated, and certified for operational use. Our work will improve efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of aviation. To stimulate new and innovative research in each of these areas and to ensure effective knowledge transfer from our work, we pursue strong teaming arrangements with other Federal agencies, large companies, small businesses, and universities.

Stakeholder(s):

• Federal Agencies


• Large Companies


• Small Businesses


• Universities

Indicator(s):

Indicator:1

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