The AGATE Program


The Next Revolution in General Aviation

 

Dr. Bruce J. Holmes, Manager, NASA's General Aviation Program, will be a featured speaker at the NASA Business Forum in Miami Beach on Tuesday, November 2.

"Looking forward 25 years, beyond saturation of the national highway and skyway systems (gridlock and hub-lock), the nation faces new challenges in creating transportation-driven economic growth and wealth," according to Dr. Bruce Holmes, manager of NASA's General Aviation Program at Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA. "For this new economy to reach its full potential," said Holmes, "a new transportation system is required."

The Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiment (AGATE) program is that new system -- a cost-sharing industry, university, and government partnership initiated by NASA to develop the technological basis for revitalization of the U.S. general aviation (GA) industry. AGATE was founded in 1994 to develop affordable new technology, as well as industry standards and certification methods, for airframe, cockpit, flight training systems, and airspace infrastructure for next-generation, single-pilot, near-all-weather light airplanes. The AGATE Consortium has more than 70 members from industry, universities, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and other government agencies.

AGATE is part of NASA's Advanced Subsonic Transport (AST) Program, and is organized into the following technical project areas:

  • Flight Systems -- Develop affordable flight systems that allow near-all-weather flying for light GA airplanes; intuitive cockpit display technologies that provide improved situational awareness, and weather and traffic information to the pilot; and guidelines and certification standards for these technologies.
  • Propulsion Sensors and Controls -- Develop design guidelines and certification standards for electronic engine controls and diagnostics that provide lower direct operating cost, reduce emissions, and lower noise.
  • Ice Protection Systems -- Develop design guidelines and certification standards for new ice protection systems that are compatible with laminar flow wings; and conduct research to improve airframe ice formation prediction models.
  • Integrated Design and Manufacturing -- Work to reduce airframe and propeller cost and weight by using low-cost design and manufacturing methods; non-destructive testing; and composite material properties.
  • AGATE Integration Platforms -- Develop and conduct simulation and flight test tasks with mature projects emerging from the other AGATE project areas.
  • Flight Training Curriculum -- Develop and validate advanced training technologies and techniques that take advantage of integrated cockpits, and single-lever power control.
  • National Airspace Infrastructure -- Develop an air and ground infrastructure for small planes that fits into the FAA's new airspace plans: Flight 2000 and Free Flight.
  • Program Assurance, Systems Assurance, and Program Analysis -- Ensure that technology development, design guidelines, and certification standards work progress within the AGATE project areas.

 

New space-based Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation devices, coupled with new display technologies, will depict intended and actual flight paths for easier navigation. This cockpit design includes a single-lever power control, automobile-like control switches and dials, and a "moving map" navigation display.

NASA, along with the FAA, leads the National General Aviation Roadmap strategy, which guides national investments towards an "InterState Skyway" capability. The Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) program would be a main component of such a system. SATS is an integrated transportation system that relieves the current pressures on existing ground and air systems, land use, and environmental concerns.

The goal of General Aviation is to "enable doorstep-to-destination travel at four times the speed of highways, to 25% of the nation's suburban, rural, and remote communities served by public airports in 10 years, and over 90% of those communities in 25 years." What this means is that every community or county outside of a 50-mile radius of a hub-spoke airport will be served by a SATS-compliant airport with SATS-compliant aircraft available within a 30-mile radius.

The Roadmap also provides the framework for public and private partnerships that target investments in strategically relevant, enabling technologies. So far, investments have been focused on air vehicle and operator training technologies for revitalizing the General Aviation industry. The next step involves planning investments in infrastructure technologies, along with the next phase of vehicle technologies. Together, these investments create the basis for SATS.

During the past five years, AGATE and the General Aviation Propulsion (GAP) NASA-led public-private partnerships have been implemented to support the Roadmap. By 2001, AGATE and GAP programs will complete the development of advancements in the areas of engine, avionics, airframe, and pilot training technologies.

The SATS Concept

According to Holmes, the SATS concept is defined as:

  • An integrated transportation system approach to safety for small aircraft, underutilized airspace, and small landing facilities.
  • Affordable infrastructure for highly accurate instrument approaches to virtually all runway ends and helipads in the nation.
  • Scheduled, as well as on-demand, point-to-point air transportation services among 5,400 public-use landing facilities (current scheduled air carriers serve only about 660 of these facilities).
  • Safe accessibility by air to 90% more destinations throughout the nation.
  • Economic development for suburban, rural, and remote America, enabled by SATS transportation innovations.
  • An exportable transportation innovation of significant economic impact for the nation's balance of trade.
  • An affordable means to close the 21st-century gap between transportation demand and supply.

Studies indicate that highway construction generates more traffic, rather than alleviating traffic, raising congestion levels. Similar conditions are arising in the hub-and-spoke air transportation system. As the nation moves into the first decade of the 21st century, transportation demands are growing. For example, explained Holmes, the hub-and-spoke airport infrastructure will be in its saturation phase -- or in "hub-lock" -- by as early as 2008.

The AGATE aircraft will be easily maneuverable and safely operated into and from many available airfields in the U.S. The general aviation airfields throughout the country will be equipped for all-weather operations, meeting AGATE aircraft performance capabilities.

NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin, in a recent speech to the American Bar Association Forum on Air and Space in Chicago, said that NASA views a full-scale revolution in general aviation as a national priority, and that the agency has "committed to reprogram $500 million of the aviation enterprise's budget over five years" to this purpose. Said Goldin, "If the number of airline passengers doubles over the next 20 years as expected, our current hub-and-spoke aviation system will face hub-lock. Same-day flight will be a thing of the past. Instead, we may have to put our names on waiting lists, like at today's restaurants. One airline has predicted it could happen as early as 2012."

The value of human time and the related issue of quality of life also will become more important. "The new value of time makes doorstep-to-destination speed the premium commodity during this new era," according to Holmes. This desire for transportation innovations "must be satisfied while maintaining safety, affordability, and convenience for the customer," he said. "The public requirements for national airspace capacity, efficiency, cost, and environmental compatibility of operations must be met."

"The ingredients for a significant advancement in transportation are in place," according to Holmes. "Realization of this advancement will require that the nation meet the challenges of making small aircraft and small airports more accessible to greater numbers of the traveling public. Today's small airports represent a grossly underutilized national asset. A current available set of enabling vehicle technologies includes a new generation of engines, avionics, airframe, navigation, communication, and operator training for a new generation of small transportation aircraft."

A goal is to enable the development of small aircraft that are superior to automobiles for intercity trips of 150 to 1,000 miles. In the near-term, this means the creation of a new generation of safe, affordable, quiet, and easy-to-fly transportation light planes; the potential for increased National Airspace System (NAS) capacity by expanding the use of existing, underutilized airports; and expanding the use of existing general aviation aircraft.

Operations and Architecture

The operational concept of the program utilizes small aircraft for personal and business transportation, for point-to-point direct travel between smaller regional, general aviation, and other landing facilities, including heliports. The AGATE aircraft represent the air vehicles of the future that will operate along the airborne version of the current national highway system.

The program architecture contemplates landing facilities that would be upgraded to provide near-all-weather utility. In addition, the facilities would not necessarily require control towers or radar surveillance. More than 18,000 landing facilities serve communities in the US; ultimately, virtually all of these facilities could employ SATS operating capabilities, according to Holmes.

SATS aircraft will be primarily single-engine, single-pilot-operated craft in near-all-weather conditions, with a significant fleet of light, twin-engine aircraft as well. Since the SATS infrastructure requirements for fixed-wing aircraft are compatible with those for rotorcraft, vertical flight configurations also would comprise a portion of the fleet. Said Holmes, the aircraft will incorporate "state-of-the-art advancements in avionics, airframes, engines, and pilot training, and be capable of operating in free flight modes within the evolving National Airspace System. The Free Flight environment allows pilots to choose their own routes, regardless of weather conditions, depending upon their skills, qualifications, and aircraft capabilities.

Major elements that comprise the SATS infrastructure include:

  • Highway in the Sky (HITS) graphical flightpath operating systems, including graphical weather, navigation, traffic, terrain, and airspace depictions that increase safety, utility, and ease of flying. Pilots would have access to HITS in marginal weather for all runway ends and helipads, enabling them to safely determine routes, speeds, and proximity to adverse weather conditions and other aircraft. The HITS systems also include full-featured auto-pilots to relieve pilot workload, enable 4D navigation, and provide backup in times of emergency.
  • Flight Information Services (FIS), broadcast by terrestrial or satellite systems, and Traffic Information Services (TIS), broadcast by aircraft, terrestrial, or satellite systems.
  • Airports with 3,500- to 5,000-foot runways and helipads, with only necessary lighting and marking, and without towers or radar surveillance.
  • Airports within a 15-minute drive of the communities served.
  • Small aircraft operated personally or with hired pilots, serving the personal and business demands of typically between two and three passengers per departure.
  • New, quiet engines that burn unleaded fuel, with simplified controls (single-lever power controls) and intuitive diagnostics; and crashworthy airframes with airbags and, in some vehicles, whole-aircraft parachutes.
  • Cruise altitudes from 6,000 to 25,000 feet; speeds of at least 200 to 300 knots; and full-fuel ranges between 800 and 1,200 nautical miles.
  • Simple and affordable pilot training through technologies such as Internet-based and simulation-enhanced training systems; and training time and cost commensurate with public school implementation of "fliers' education," in addition to drivers' education.

How the Public Benefits

"Through intelligent design, the potential exists to greatly exploit the benefits of a faster, distributed air transportation system for rural communities with minimal impact on the capacity of airspace and airports by large aircraft today," explained Holmes. The anticipated public benefits accrue from "increased mobility for citizens traveling throughout the nation, and accessibility for vastly more of the nation's communities." In addition, benefits in the form of safety, cost, airspace efficiency and environmental effects would be recognized. "The SATS operating capabilities will also benefit and serve the needs of small cargo providers, public service aviation, law enforcement, disaster relief, and emergency medical services," said Holmes.

The benefits of the system for the public are expected in four areas: personal/business, community/airport, regional/state, and national.

  • Personal/Business. These benefits would derive directly from the effects of the reduced cost of air travel, by enabling access to air transportation at about half the cost of current regional carrier prices for people living in remote areas. SATS would increase the individual's range of mobility, improving access to family and business opportunities.
  • Community/Airport. SATS would enhance a community's ability to attract economic development, by providing new, competitively priced travel alternatives. Benefits would be enabled by upgrades to increase the utility of a community's existing airport, drawing new knowledge-based industrial development.
  • Regional/State. In the next seven to ten years, SATS deployment could more than double the number of communities with air transportation, according to Holmes. Regional and state benefits derive from the increased accessibility throughout smaller travel markets that otherwise would be under-served by highways and the hub-and-spoke airport system. SATS also has the ability to increase the effectiveness and affordability of state-provided public services, including disaster relief, emergency services, and law enforcement services.
  • National. In the longer term, SATS may increase tenfold the communities with air transportation. SATS could affect land use and land value by increasing the utility of existing small airport infrastructures.

To obtain these benefits, a significant national public education challenge must be met, said Holmes. "Public comprehension of the potential for personal and societal benefits that accrue from SATS transportation capabilities will accelerate public policy funding to support deployment of SATS infrastructure."

AGATE aircraft and its successors represent the air vehicles of the future that will operate along the airborne version of our current national highway system. Just as safe, but faster and more economical than ground vehicles, the AGATE aircraft will provide travelers with another alternative for personal and business travel.

To gain pubic support, a federal-states partnership could design and deploy SATS transportation system demonstration projects within selected travel markets. The demonstrations would begin with SATS consumer analyses to quantify the market, potential traffic, and technology priorities. These analyses, leading to demonstrations, already have been contemplated in NASA's proposed planning for the SATS program. The information collected would form the basis for public policies addressing issues of airport noise standards, land use, and safety.

What public sector requirements must be satisfied for a SATS system to flourish in the next century? According to Holmes, public sector issues for SATS must follow the path from public education, to public opinion, to public policy, to public laws, to public funding. "Therefore," said Holmes, "the National Research Council is developing a committee to study the SATS concept. This project will evaluate trends and forces that shape 21st-century demand for higher-speed personal air transportation, and provide guidance to NASA and other federal and state government partners for SATS investment and partnership planning."

Administrator Goldin sees the program as a way to revitalize America's general aviation sector. "Imagine what a full-scale revolution in general aviation would do. We might move toward inexpensive fleets of business jets, and when they are retired from executive service, they may be sold to fractional partnerships, then later recycled into fleets of air taxis and jet pooling. The possibilities are endless," said Goldin.

According to Holmes, the SATS concept has the potential to help close the gap between 21st-century transportation demand and supply. "SATS mitigates the restraints to growth imposed by gridlock, hublock, and urban sprawl, while reducing economic disparities imposed by the concentrated transportation systems of the 20th century." Holmes concluded that "SATS increases the radius of action of daily life by tenfold -- the first increase of such magnitude since the cars displaced horses for intercity travel."

For more information on the AGATE program and the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS), contact Bruce Holmes, Program Manager, NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, at b.j.holmes@larc.nasa.gov, or visit the AGATE web site at: http://agate.larc.nasa.gov/. For more information on the NASA Business Forum and Tech East '99, visit www.techeast.net.

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