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Noise Integrated Routing System (NIRS)NIRS Screening Tool (NST)

Airspace Environmental Workshop

September 20, 2007

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Today’s Objectives

• Background & NIRS/NST Overview

• NIRS Screening Tool (NST)– Conceptual Overview– Usability/Demonstration

• NIRS– Conceptual Overview– Usability/Demonstration

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Background – Noise Models and Tools

• Current Noise Models/Tools used by the FAA– Single Airport Focus

• Airport Equivalency Model (AEM) – aircraft noise screening• Heliport Noise Model (HNM) – helicopter noise in the terminal area• Integrated Noise Model (INM) – high resolution aircraft noise

analysis

– Air Traffic Focus• Air Traffic Noise Screening Tool (ATNS) – noise screening for single

aircraft type/single route analysis• NIRS Screening Tool (NST) – noise screening for multiple aircraft

types/routes/airports• Noise Integrated Routing System (NIRS) – high resolution aircraft

noise analysis for regional/multi-airport

• All models/tools share the same noise engine developed by Volpe.

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Principal capabilities

NIRS performs large-scale modeling and analysis of noise impacts associated with current and planned aircraft routings within a regional study area.

Population density and tracks in vicinity of ORD

Noise exposure (DNL)

Noise Integrated Routing System (NIRS)

• Imports and displays track, event, population, and community data.

• Enables user to easily define and track large numbers of airspace design elements.

• Filters data based on user definition of study area and maximum altitude.

• Enables user to specify the altitude profiles flown, including hold-downs, etc.

• Applies several layers of data checking and quality control.

• Provides comparison of noise impacts across alternative airspace designs.

• Identifies and maps all areas of change.

• Quantifies mitigation goals and identifies opportunities.

• Identifies principal causes of change in noise impact.

• Assembles maps, tables, and graphs for report generation.

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NIRS 6.1 Feature Review

• 6.1 Volpe/INM Noise engine has been integrated.– New lateral Attenuation

– New military aircraft

– Noise values are now rounded to the nearest 10th

• FSG Enhancements– Support for profile point aircraft

– Support for runway elevations

– Support for other profile types

• NIRS Enhancements – Added support for C weighted metrics

– Windows compatibility

– New Map Features

• Census TIGER Data

• Display multiple grids simultaneously

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Principal capabilities

NST performs screening of noise impacts associated with current and planned aircraft routings within a small regional study area.

NIRS Screening Tool (NST)

• Based on NIRS 6.1 capabilities:

• NIRS standard and custom profiles

• NIRS/INM noise engine

• Displays GIS data from the US. Census TIGER data.

• Graphic community definition.

• Graphic route definition.

• Compare route changes, fleet changes or day/night changes.

• Import NIRS and SDAT radar data for assistance in baseline route definition

• User defined fidelity.

• Generates noise exposure and noise change graphics by applying FAA criteria.

Route and Community Definition

Noise Change

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NST/NIRS 6.1

• Verification & Validation with INM 6.1• User Documentation updated

– NIRS User Guide– NST User Guide

• Software Distribution– CDs– Secure file transfer site

(https://www.metronaviation.com/nirs)

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NST Conceptual Overview

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NST – Conceptual Overview

• Project Creation• Route Creation

– Baseline & Alternative Routes– Route loading (day/night, aircraft type, number of ops)

• Community Creation– Could be useful during route creation?

• Noise Calculation• Results

– Exposure– Impact– Tables/Reports

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• CMH Scenario– Baseline - Three existing right turn departure procedures off of

runways 28R/L

• Primary route to the north

• Two secondary routes to the northeast and east– Alternative – Same three procedures with a different loading of

operations

• The northeast procedure (040 heading) will now have 15 day operations and 5 night operations.

• The other procedures will remain the same

NST – Sample Case

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NST – Startup Screen

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• Specify a study center/radius/elevation/magnetic declination– CMH – 50 nmi– 815 feet– 05W

• Supporting study data – Airports/Runways (NIRS/INM Database)– Navaids/Fixes (NFDC)

NST – Project Creation

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NST - Project Creation

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NST - Project Creation

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• Point and click route definition– Use supporting background map layers to show existing traffic patterns,

use existing navaids or use another tool and import the routes into NST.• Baseline and Alternative Routes

– One or more baseline and/or alternative routes– Routes can be arrivals, departures, and/or overflights

• Arrivals begin away from the airport and terminate on the desired runway end.

• Departures begin at the start of takeoff runway end and terminate away from the airport

• Overflights can begin and end away from any runways– Standard or Custom profile support– Route operation loading

• General ETMS aircraft categories• Specific aircraft type assignments• Day/Night assignment• Number of operations

NST - Route Creation

Drawing Hints:

Snap to runway ends/navaids/existing routes.override snap by holding down the shift-key

Zoom in and out by using keyboard short cuts “+” zoom in centered on cursor position“-” zoom out centered on cursor position

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• Two basic questions– How are the routes defined today and how do the routes

change? (one or more)

• Latitude/Longitude/Altitude/Heading/Distance• Airports/Runway/Fixes/Navaids• Standard or Custom Profiles

– Level offs for arrivals– Restricted climb for departures

– How are the routes used today and how would they be used in the alternative?

• What type of aircraft?• What time of day did/will the operations be flown.

(day/night split)• How many operations?

NST - Route Creation

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• CMH Scenario– Baseline - Three existing departure routes off of runway 28R/L

• Primary route to the north• Two lighter routes to the northeast and east

– Alternative – Same three routes with new loading of operations

• The northeast route (040 heading) will now have 15 day operations and 5 night operations.

– No climb restrictions

• Baseline operations– 30 day sample of ETMS data– North – average 14 light jets during the day and 2 light jets at

night– Northeast – average 1 light jet during the day– East – average 1 light jet during the day and 2 light jets at night

NST - Route Creation

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NST - Route Creation (Example Radar Tracks)

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NST - Route Creation

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NST - Route Creation (Baseline Routes)

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NST - Route Creation (Alternative Routes)

Note: Alternative routes are on top of baseline routes.

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• Point and click community boundary definition– Use supporting background map layers to define community boundaries with

NST or import community boundaries via csv file.

• Community Type– Identify the community type of each community beneath the proposed change

action according to its residential characteristics. Use one or more of the following four descriptions for each community:

• Quiet Suburb (QS) - mostly single family, detached dwellings on lots larger than l/3 acre; few, if any, commercial or industrial sites.

• Normal Suburb (NS) - mostly single family, detached dwellings on l/4 to l/3 acre lots; scattered commercial areas or apartment buildings.

• Urban (U) - mostly row houses, apartment buildings, or detached dwellings on small lots; extensive commercial areas.

• Noisy Urban (NU) - mostly high-rise apartments and other multifamily dwellings near, or mixed with, large commercial developments or industrial sites, but with a substantial residential population.

• Grid– Grids will be generated over the community. Additionally the user is able to

specify the density of the grid. (Default of .5nmi)

NST - Community Creation

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NST - Community Creation

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__ ___

State County

39 049

NST - Community CreationCensus Bureau Tiger Websitehttp://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/

Census Bureau 2006 Second Edition http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/tiger2006se/tgr2006se.html

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NST – Community Creation

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NST – Community Creation

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NST – Community Creation

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NST – Community Creation

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NST – Noise Calculation

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NST – Noise Results

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NST – Noise Exposure (Baseline)

75dB >

70-75 dB

65-70 dB

60-65 dB

55-60 dB

50-55 dB

45-50 dB

45dB <

Noise Exposure

75dB >

70-75 dB

65-70 dB

60-65 dB

55-60 dB

50-55 dB

45-50 dB

45dB <

Noise Exposure

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NST – Noise Exposure (Alternative)

75dB >

70-75 dB

65-70 dB

60-65 dB

55-60 dB

50-55 dB

45-50 dB

45dB <

Noise Exposure

75dB >

70-75 dB

65-70 dB

60-65 dB

55-60 dB

50-55 dB

45-50 dB

45dB <

Noise Exposure

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NST – Noise Change (Impact)

Noise Reductions

45dB <= Base < 60dB; Alt <= (Base – 5.0dB)

60dB <= Base < 65dB; Alt <= (Base – 3.0dB)

65dB <= Base; Alt <= (Base – 1.5dB)

Noise Increases

65dB <= Alt; Alt >= (Base + 1.5dB)

60dB <= Alt < 65dB; Alt >= (Base + 3.0dB)

45dB <= Alt < 60dB; Alt >= (Base + 5.0dB)

Noise Reductions

45dB <= Base < 60dB; Alt <= (Base – 5.0dB)

60dB <= Base < 65dB; Alt <= (Base – 3.0dB)

65dB <= Base; Alt <= (Base – 1.5dB)

Noise Increases

65dB <= Alt; Alt >= (Base + 1.5dB)

60dB <= Alt < 65dB; Alt >= (Base + 3.0dB)

45dB <= Alt < 60dB; Alt >= (Base + 5.0dB)

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NIRS Conceptual Overview

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Airspace and Airport Environmental Analysis Projects

• Current and Past Airspace Projects New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia

Metropolitan Airspace Redesign Midwest Airspace Plan (STL) Northern Utah Airspace Initiative Omaha Airspace Redesign Anchorage Terminal Area Redesign Midwest AirSpace Enhancement

(MASE) CMAAP/CTAP

PHL Noise Impact

Metron Aviation has been supporting such projects for over 7 years, primarily in the areas of data integration, modeling, QA, and impact analysis.

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National Airspace Redesign Program: Lessons Learned• When multiple facilities are involved there is not always a common view of

the airspace design (i.e., inconsistency between facilities).

• All traffic patterns are not always considered in the design. Operational design leans toward major flows, where as environmental must consider all flows.

• Airspace design tools are not always able to view and analyze large volumes of radar tracks and simulation data which limits their perspective on design issues.

• More technical training on tools like SDAT, TARGETS, NIRS, NST, etc., is needed.

• Difficult to reach closure on design « completion ».

• Personnel turnover is high and structured documentation is difficult to obtain.

• Environmental aspects of design are not an integral part of the design process; performed sequentially, not in parallel.

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NIRS Review

• Understand NIRS capabilities.– Multiple airports, thousands of routes, 100,000 or more noise-

exposure points– Use of 3-D airspace-design information– Quantifying and locating noise impacts between designs– Determining causes of noise impacts– Data quality assurance and error tracing

• Review Technical Background– Noise metrics– Flight segment generation– Altitude control– Dispersion– Fleetmix– Annualization– Scoring rules– Impact graphs and maps– Identifying causes of change

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NIRS Review (Cont’d)

• Review NIRS Inputs– Study area– Population data– Airport and runway data– Traffic data– Supplemental grids– Regional overlays

• Review NIRS Outputs– Noise maps– Impact tables and graphs– Change maps– Change-analysis tables– Route maps– Event summary tables– Population maps– Exposure files

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NIRS Processing Overview

RELEVANTPOPULATIONPOINTS ANDOTHERLOCATIONSOF INTEREST

CONVERTEDSCENARIO DATA

POPULATIONDATA

EXTRACTION

TRAFFICSIMULATION

INPUT DATACONVERSION ANDQUALITY CONTROL

FLIGHT-EVENT RUNWAYS, ROUTES,AND TIMES FOREACH SCENARIO

CORE NOISEEQUATIONS

OUTPUT DATAASSEMBLY AND

SCORING

GRAPHICALUSER

INTERFACE

EXPOSURE ATSPECIFIEDLOCATIONS

SCORINGCRITERIA

DNL DATA

POPULATION, RUNWAY,AND ROUTE DATA

CENSUSDATA

AREA OFCONCERN

SCENARIO DATA:AIRSPACE STRUCTUREAIRFIELD DEFINITIONFLIGHT-RULE SUB-SCENARIOTIME FRAME

INPUTS

OUTPUTS

NET IMPACT MEASURES FOREACH ALTERNATIVE RELATIVE TOBASELINE, PLUSINTER-SCENARIO COMPARISONS

POPULATIONROUTESNOISE EXPOSURECHANGE OF EXPOSURE

MAP DISPLAYS:

FLIGHT SEGMENTGENERATION

AIRCRAFT LOCATIONAND STATE

= EXTERNAL TO NIRS

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NIRS Terminology

• Project– All data and computer-supported analysis associated with a given

airspace-design effort.

• Scenario (or design)– A baseline or alternative airspace design to be evaluated.

• Plan– A specific mode of operation of a given scenario. Usually

associated with weather conditions.

• Traffic– A set (or sub-set) of routes and events to be modelled by NIRS for

a given scenario and plan. Example: ORD daytime arrivals.

• Scenario Year– The year (2000, 2005, etc.) for which traffic levels in a given

scenario have been estimated.

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NIRS Terminology (Cont’d)• Flight Segment Generation

– Integration of AT (route/event) and AEE (noise performance) data to calculate thrust and speed of a specific aircraft following a specific route.

• Noise Modeling– Calculation of noise exposure at population centroids or other

locations.

• Annualization– Combining the noise exposures due to different plans according to

their proportional use throughout the year.

• Impact Analysis– Comparative assessment of net annual noise impacts associated

with two scenarios. Based on AEE-approved rules.

• Change Analysis– Determining the causes of specific impacts associated with two

scenarios

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Flight Segment Generation• Objective is to calculate 3-D location,

thrust, and speed information.

• Information required for noise-model calculations:

– Distance to observer– Thrust along segment– Speed along segment– Orientation with respect to observer (for on-

ground segments)

• Basic Inputs:– Aircraft type– Operation type– Trip Length– Flight Procedures– Altitude controls at specified nodes– Airport temperature– Airport altitude– Runway data

STARTX, Y, Z, V, THR

OBSERVER

ENDX, Y, Z, V, THR

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Flight Segment Generation (Cont’d)• NIRS uses user-specified altitude

control data and flight equations from the SAE 1845:– Take-off– Climb– Accelerate– Cruise/climb– Level– Descend– Land– Decelerate

• Constraints:– Calculations adhere to unmodified

procedures until altitude control-data requires a variation.

– Altitude-control data below 3000 feet AFE is not used.

Aircraft typeOperation typeTrip lengthFlight proceduresAltitude controls at specified nodesAirport temperatureAirport altitudeRunway data

FSG LOGICUSING SAE 1845

EQUATIONS

Aircraft state on each segment

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Altitude Control

• NIRS allows four types of altitude controls at each node on each route.– Be at or above the

specified altitude– Be at the specified altitude– Be at or below the

specified altitude– The altitude can have any

value (no control)

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Track Dispersion• Used to model natural

variation in flight paths.• NIRS aplies 2-D dispersion

using center tracks and offset tracks:– Node-by-node halfwidths

specify offsets to left and right of center tracks.

– Track-by-track weights specify the fraction of traffic assigned to each track.

• User specified data:– Any number of dispersed tracks

on each route; same number to left and right.

– Weight profiles for each route.– Halfwidths at each node (may

be asymmetric)

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

0.30

0.20

0.50

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Scenario Scoring Methodology

• EACH POPULATION CENTROID HAS TWO DNL EXPOSURE VALUES FOR: (1) BASELINE SCENARIO, (2) ALTERNATIVE SCENARIO N.

• CRITERIA TO DETERMINE MINIMUM THRESHOLD OF DNL CHANGE (RELATIVE TO BASELINE DNL):

• SCENARIOS ARE COMPARED IN TERMS OF POPULATION RECEIVING INCREASES OR DECREASES IN EACH EXPOSURE BAND.

Baseline DNL Change in Exposure (Minimum) References

< 45 dB

45 - < 50 dB

50 - < 55 dB

55 - < 60 dB

60 - < 65 dB

> 65 dB

EECP EIS, Air TrafficNoise Screening Procedure,

FICON

FAA Order1050.1Eand FICON

-

5 dB

5 dB

5 dB

3 dB

1.5 dB

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45

50

450

0

BASELINE DNL (dB)

ALTDNL(dB)

40

40

3 dB

3 dB

1.5 dB

1.5 dB

0

55

65

60

50 55 60 65

TOTAL

Above65 dB

DEC INC

70

70

TOTAL ABOVE 65 dB:Baseline =

Alternative =

Change of Exposure Map Categories

YELLOW

ORANGE

RED

PURPLE

BLUE

GREEN

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Impact Table, Impact Graph, and Change Map

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Identifying Causes of Change• Multiple scenarios, multiple

plans, multiple traffic elements.

• For a given zone of change of exposure, what traffic is the primary cause?

• NIRS threads through all appropriate data to quantitatively determin primary causal factors (traffic files).

• In future, NIRS will thread all the way to the level of primary casual routes and events.

Future yearBaseline design

Future yearAlternative-1 design

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Suggestions or Questions??

• Contact informationMetron Aviation Inc.

Mike Graham

Email: graham @ metronaviation.com

Office: 703-234-0764

Mobile: 571-213-6185