eDEP Reference GL/FASTI/PMP/1/1.0
13 Aug 2007
eDEP
PVT User Guide
Issue: 1.0
Author: Graffica (Gary Moreton)
Date: 13 Aug 2007
Company: Graffica Ltd
Table Of Contents
1 Introduction 7
1.1 Document Structure 7
2 Running the PVT 8
3 PVT Layout 9
4 Table View 11
4.1 Flights 11
4.1.1 Flight Details 11
4.1.2 Selecting a Flight 11
4.1.3 Flight Context Menu 12
4.1.4 Trajectory Details 12
4.1.5 Exporting a Trajectory 13
4.2 Conflicts 14
4.2.1 Selecting a Conflict 14
4.2.2 Engineering a Conflict 14
4.3 Airspace 14
4.3.1 LOA Points 14
4.3.2 Fixes 15
4.3.3 Sectors 15
4.3.4 Airports 16
4.3.5 Airlanes 16
4.3.6 SIDs 16
4.3.7 STARs 17
4.3.8 Agreements 17
5 Flight Information Panel 18
6 Flight Plan Editor Pane 19
7 PVD 21
7.1 Adjusting the AREA displayed 21
7.2 Finding a Position 21
7.3 Trajectories 21
7.3.1 Single Trajectory 22
7.3.2 Multiple Trajectories 23
7.3.3 Additional Trajectory Information 24
7.4 Conflicts 24
7.5 Fixes 24
7.6 Sectors 25
7.7 Airports 25
7.8 LOA Points 25
7.9 Airlanes 25
7.10 SIDs and STARS 26
7.11 Agreements 26
8 Vertical View 27
8.1 Adjusting the Graph Size 27
8.2 Adjusting the Graph Axes 27
8.3 Trajectories 28
8.3.1 Single Trajectory 28
8.3.2 Multiple Trajectories 28
8.3.3 Additional Trajectory Information 29
8.4 Conflicts 29
8.5 Sectors 29
9 Menu Bar 31
9.1 File Menu 31
9.2 Static Menu 31
9.3 Traffic Menu 31
9.4 Zoom Menu 31
9.4.1 In/Out Sub-Menu 32
9.5 Help Menu 32
10 Resources 33
10.1 PVD.WIDTH 33
10.2 PVD.HEIGHT 33
10.3 PVD.LATITUDE 33
10.4 PVD.LONGITUDE 33
10.5 PVD.SCALE 33
11 Known Problems 34
12 Problem Reporting 35
Appendix A 36
Document Control
Rel. / Author / Date of the release / Description of the release / Modifications (sections affected and relevant information) /
0.1 / Graffica (Moreton) / 20th January 2006 / Created
0.2 / Graffica (Owen) / 12th Mar 2007 / Added ETOT and CTOT to FlightPlan. / Section 5
1.0 / Graffica(Thom) / 13th August 2007 / Version number change to common Graffica standard.
2007 Q2 Release / N/A
Document Distribution /
Recipient / Role /
Darren SMITH / ERIS Technical Manager
Mike VERE / Graffica Design Authority
Mike HUMPHREY / EDEP Developer
Abbreviations
The following abbreviations are used in this document:
ADS-B Automatic Dependent Surveillance - Broadcast
ASAS Airborne Separation Assurance System
BOC Bottom of Climb
BOD Bottom of Descent
CAS Calibrated Air Speed
CFL Cleared Flight Level
COP Coordination Point
CSV Comma Separated Values
DME Distance Measuring Equipment
eDEP Early Demonstration and Evaluation Platform
EOA End of Acceleration
EOD End of Deceleration
EOT End of Turn
ETD Estimated Time of Departure
FL Flight Level
ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization
IFL Initial Flight Level
IFPL Initial Flight Plan
ILS Instrument Landing System
LOA Letter of Agreement
NDB Non-directional Beacon
PCOP Projected Coordination Point
PVD Plan View Display
PVT Profile Validation Tool
RFL Requested Flight Level
ROCD Rate of Climb/Descent
RVSM Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum
SID Standard Instrument Departure
SOA Start of Acceleration
SOD Start of Deceleration
SOT Start of Turn
SSR Secondary Surveillance Radar
STAR Standard Terminal Arrival Route
TACAN Tactical Air Navigation
TAS True Air Speed
TOC Top of Climb
TOD Top of Descent
VOR VHF Omni-directional Range
VORTAC VHF Omni-directional Range/Tactical Air Navigation
References
The following document is referenced:
- eDEP User Guide, D. Smith et al, December 2005.
1 Introduction
The eDEP Profile Validation Tool (PVT) is principally a tool for preparing scenarios. However, this document is a guide for users who wish to use the PVT to analyze trajectories.
This user guide describes the PVT facilities for viewing trajectory information. It does not cover topics such as graphical trajectory editing, conflict engineering and sector load calculations.
1.1 Document Structure
This document has the following structure:
· Section 2 describes how to run the PVT application.
· Section 3 describes the layout of the PVT.
· Sections 4 to 8 describe in detail the various panels of the PVT – the Table View (section 4), the Flight Information Panel (section 5), the Flight Plan Editor Pane (section 6), the PVD (section 7), and the Vertical View (section 8).
· Section 9 describes the menus available from the PVT’s Menu Bar.
· Section 10 details the resources that can be used to configure the PVT.
· Section 11 provides a list of known problems.
· Section 12 outlines the problem reporting procedure.
2 Running the PVT
To be decided – this section will be completed following on-site installation.
3 PVT Layout
When the PVT is first displayed, it appears as shown in Figure 31.
Figure 31 – PVT Layout
The PVT display consists of the following panels:
· the Table View, which displays the scenario’s airspace and flight plan data in tabular form,
· the Flight Information Panel, which displays details about the flight plan currently selected in the Table View,
· the Flight Plan Editor Pane, which allows flight plans to be created, viewed and edited,
· the PVD, which displays airspace and trajectory data in plan view,
· the Vertical View, which can display the vertical profiles of trajectories.
The user can resize the PVD, Vertical View, Flight Editor Pane and Table View by using the mouse to drag the borders between the panels. The PVT is shown is shown in Figure 32 below with the area below the Flight Information Panel divided more equally between the four views.
Figure 32 - Resizing the PVT Panels
4 Table View
The Table View displays lists of flights, conflicts, and airspace entities. Figure 41 below illustrates the Table View.
Figure 41 - The Table View
4.1 Flights
Selecting the left most tab, the Flights tab, on the Table View displays a list of current flights. When displaying flights, the Table View is divided into two panes. The left hand pane shows a list of flights, and will be referred to as the Flights Panel. The right hand pane shows trajectory details of the flight currently selected, and will be referred to as the Trajectory Panel.
4.1.1 Flight Details
Details of each flight are shown in columns in the Flights Panel. The information displayed for each flight is as follows:
Callsign - the flight’s callsign.
Start time - time at which the flight enters the scenario.
Adep - departure airport.
Ades - destination airport.
RFL - requested flight level.
IFL/CFL - initial flight level and cleared flight level.
The list of flights can be sorted on any of these attributes by clicking on the associated column header. For example, to sort the list of flights into alphabetical order based on callsign, the user should click on the Callsign column header.
4.1.2 Selecting a Flight
A flight is selected by clicking on the appropriate row in the Flights Panel. When a flight is selected, its trajectory is displayed in the PVD, and its vertical profile is shown in the Vertical View. Details of the flight’s trajectory are shown in the Trajectory Panel. Details of the selected flight are also displayed in the Flight Information Panel (see section 5).
It is possible to select more than one flight from the Flights Panel. This is done by holding down the CTRL key while clicking on the required rows. (Clicking again on a selected row while the CTRL key is down will deselect that row.) The trajectories of all selected flights are shown in the PVD and Vertical View, but with less information displayed for each trajectory (see sections 7.3.2 and 8.3.2). When more than one flight is selected, no information is displayed in the Flight Information Panel.
4.1.3 Flight Context Menu
Right clicking on a row in the left hand panel displays a context menu for the selected flight. This allows the user to create an Initial Flight Plan (IFPL), to edit, duplicate or delete an existing IFPL., and to export details of the flight’s trajectory. For this document, only the Edit IFPL and Export Trajectory options will be of interest. The edit function is described in section 6, which discusses the Flight Editor Pane, and the export function is described in section 4.1.5.
4.1.4 Trajectory Details
Details of the selected flight’s trajectory are shown in the Trajectory Panel. (If more than one flight is selected, no trajectory details are displayed.) Each row in the list represents a point along the trajectory, and the points are displayed in time order. When a row is selected, the corresponding point is highlighted in the PVD and the Vertical View (see sections 7.3.1 and 8.3.1). Only one row can be selected at a time.
For each trajectory point, the following information is displayed:
Beacon - the name of a fix, or the position in latitude and longitude.
Time - the flight’s time at the point.
FL - the flight’s altitude at the point (flight level, or in feet)
Attributes - the type of point (see section 4.1.4.1).
Constraint - any constraints at the point (see section .4.1.4.2)
Constraint details - more details about the constraints (see section 4.1.4.3).
TAS/CAS/Mach/ROCD - the flight’s speed and rate of climb/descent at the point.
4.1.4.1 Attributes
The attributes that may appear in the Attributes column are listed below. Note that more than one attribute can appear for the same point. The following acronyms are employed:
BOC - bottom of climb.
BOD - bottom of descent.
CROSS - cross abeam the fix named in the Beacon column.
EOA - end of acceleration.
EOD - end of deceleration.
EOT - end of turn.
OVERFLY - over-fly the fix named in the Beacon column.
SOA - start of acceleration.
SOD - start of deceleration.
SOT - start of turn.
TOC - top of climb.
TOD - top of descent.
In addition, for unit and sector crossing points, the Attributes column displays the name of the unit or sector being exited, followed by the name of the unit or sector being entered. For unit crossing points, the name of the associated COP is also displayed. Unit and sector crossing points are also used to mark the start and end of a trajectory. For a crossing point at the start of a trajectory, the Attributes column displays only the name of the unit or sector being entered, and for a point at the end of a trajectory, it shows the name of the unit or sector being exited.
The example in Figure 42 shows a trajectory point where the flight crosses abeam the fix SPRAT, and starts to accelerate and turn.
Figure 42 - Attributes Example
4.1.4.2 Constraints
The Constraints column details any constraints for the point (there can be more than one constraint at a point). The following constraints may appear:
fl = FLn - altitude constraint where n = flight level.
fl = n ft - altitude constraint where n = altitude in feet.
f_fl = FLn - forward altitude constraint where n = flight level.
f_fl = n ft - forward altitude constraint where n = altitude in feet.
spd = Kn - speed constraint where n = speed in tens of knots.
spd = Mn - speed constraint where n = speed in hundredths of unit Mach.
cancel spd - cancel speed constraint.
t = hh:mm:ss - time constraint where hh = hours, mm = minutes, and ss = seconds.
Note that the constraint time is relative to the flight’s start time.
4.1.4.3 Constraint Details
The Constraint Details column provides more details about the constraints at a point. The following details may appear:
AGR - the constraint represents an agreement (the agreement name follows).
BCN - the constraint is a beacon or fix.
COP - the constraint is a COP constraint.
INI - indicates that the constraint is from the IFPL.
PCOP - the constraint is a PCOP constraint.
SID - a constraint created from a SID.
STAR - a constraint created from a STAR.
4.1.5 Exporting a Trajectory
It is possible to export a complete set of trajectory points in CSV format. The trajectory can then be imported into another application, e.g. Microsoft Excel, for further analysis. To export a trajectory in CSV format, the user should invoke the Flight Context Menu (see section 4.1.3) and select the Export Trajectory item. On selecting this item, a CSV file is written to the directory in which the PVT is being run. The name of the file consists of the flight’s callsign, followed by ‘traj’, and has a ‘.csv’ extension, e.g. KLM154traj.csv. An example file is given in Appendix A.
4.2 Conflicts
Selecting the Conflicts tab in the Table View displays a list of all conflicts between flights. The following information is displayed for each conflict:
Id - the unique ID assigned to the conflict
Unit - the name of the unit is which the conflict will occur.
Start Time - the time at which separation is lost.
End Time - the time at which separation is regained.
Flight 1 - the callsign of one of the flights involved in the conflict.
Flight 2 - the callsign of the other flight involved in the conflict.
Min separation - the closest distance within which the aircraft approach (nautical miles).
Min sep time - the time when the aircraft are at their closest.
4.2.1 Selecting a Conflict
A conflict can be selected by clicking on a row in the list of conflicts. The PVD and Vertical View display the trajectories of the two flights involved in the conflict, and a red rectangle containing the conflict’s ID is displayed at the position of closest approach (see section 7.4 for an illustration). Note that only one conflict can be selected at a time.
4.2.2 Engineering a Conflict
Engineering conflicts is beyond the scope of this document.
4.3 Airspace
The remaining tabs on the Table View are for lists of airspace entities read from the Airspace file. The following entities are listed:
· LOA Points,
· Fixes,
· Sectors,
· Airports,
· Airlanes,
· SIDs,
· STARs,
· Agreements.