Assessing the Research and Development Plan for the Next Generation Air Transportation System: Summary of a Workshop (ASEB)

Released 07.31.08 

The Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) was established by Congress in 2003 to meet the technical challenges of the expected growth in air traffic in the United States over the next two decades.  The responsibility for implanting NextGen rests with the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO).  In 2007, JPDO asked the NRC to organize a workshop to assess the R&D plan for NextGen.  The workshop allowed JPDO to present this plan to a broad audience and solicit its reactions to the plan.  This report gives a description of NextGen and JPDO, presents a number of key issues, and provides some specific observations and research questions that emerged from the workshop presentations and discussions.

Final Report of the Committee for the Review of Proposals to the 2008 Engineering Research and Commercialization Program of the Ohio Third Frontier Program (ASEB)

Released 07.26.08

The State of Ohio’s Department of Development’s 2008 Engineering Research and Commercialization Program of the Ohio Frontier Project is intended to help capitalize on new scientific and technological discoveries to enhance job growth and create new industries.  To implement the project, the State issued a request for proposals that covered two broad areas: engineering and physical science and biosciences.  To assist the State in this effort, the NRC was asked to conduct an independent review of the submitted proposals.  This letter report focuses on the first area.  For that area, four focus areas were identified by the State: advanced materials; information technology; instruments, controls, and electronics; and power and propulsion.  A total of 32 proposals were considered by the NRC, and this report presents the findings of that review.  A separate report will be issued covering proposals submitted in the biosciences area. 

NASA Aeronautics Research: An Assessment (ASEB)

Released 04.07.08 

In 2006, the NRC published a Decadal Survey of Civil Aeronautics: Foundation for the Future, which set out six strategic objectives for the next decade of civil aeronautics research and technology. To determine how NASA is implementing the decadal survey, Congress mandated in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Act of 2005 that the NRC carry out a review of those efforts. Among other things, this report presents an assessment of how well NASA’s research portfolio is addressing the recommendations and high priority R&T challenges identified in the Decadal Survey; how well NASA’s aeronautic research portfolio is addressing the aeronautics research requirements; and whether the nation will have the skilled workforce and research facilities to meet the first two items.

Wake Turbulence, An Obstacle to Increased Air Traffic Capacity (ASEB)

Released 01.10.08

Without major changes, the current air transportation system will be unable to accommodate the expected increase in demand by 2025.  One proposal to address this problem is to use the Global Positioning System to enable aircraft to fly more closely spaced.  This approach, however, might be limited by the wake turbulence problem, which can be a safety hazard when smaller aircraft follow relatively larger aircraft too closely.  To examine how this potential hazard might be reduced, Congress in 2005 directed NASA to request a study from the NRC to assess the federal wake turbulence R&D program.  This report provides a description of the problem, an assessment of the organizational challenges to addressing wake turbulence, an analysis of the technical challenges in wake turbulence, and a proposal for a wake turbulence program plan.  A series of recommendations for addressing the wake turbulence challenge are also given.