Design Challenges for a Shadow Mode Assessment Tool for Air Traffic Management (Invited)

Traditionally, the rate of acceptance of advanced concepts and technologies (C&T) for air traffic management in the National Airspace System (NAS) has been slow, primarily hampered by the inability to show compatibility with other C&T or with existing systems, processes, and procedures. NASA is developing a Shadow Mode Assessment using Realistic Technologies for the NAS (SMART NAS) technology that will allow for development, testing, and demonstration of novel C&T at the live, virtual, and constructive levels. SMART NAS will support a broad user base and may eventually become a community resource. We discuss challenges associated with development of a SMART NAS technology and describe a component-based architecture to address those challenges.