GRADE
Graphical Airspace Design Environment – Advanced Air Traffic Visualization Tool
Developed by ATAC, GRADE® – Graphical Airspace Design Environment – is a state-of-the-art, 4-dimensional computer tool for displaying, analyzing, designing, and evaluating air traffic operations. GRADE includes a powerful set of functional modules housed within an easy-to-use, integrated, graphical user interface (GUI).
A GRADE user has:
- Easy, flexible access to data
- Set of functional tools for visual and quantitative analysis of data
- Ability to design data models of current or proposed operations for use in simulations
- Ability to replay radar data and animating simulation results in 2D or 3D
- Airspace redesign capability
- Performance measurement tools for actual or simulated air traffic operations
GRADE has undergone continuous development and enhancement for over a decade, and has proven to be a valuable tool in a wide range of applications, including:
- Airport and airspace design
- Visualization of complex air traffic operations
- Flight path and profile analysis
- Traffic flow and sector loading analysis
- Obstruction analysis
- Environmental impact assessment
- and incident investigation
- Operational performance assessment
- Presentation of existing and proposed air traffic operations to the public
GRADE is a powerful, flexible, multi-function tool for conducting aviation planning, analysis and research efforts. The foundation of GRADE is a database containing a set of data layers that may be displayed and utilized individually or in combination. The data layers that can be loaded to meet the needs of a specific application include:
- En route and terminal radar tracking data (e.g., SAR, ARTS, ETMS)
- Oceanic tracking data (DOTS)
- Airspace boundaries and structures (e.g., Centers, TRACONs, sectors)
- Military Special Use Airspace (e.g., MOAs, Alert Areas, Warning Areas)
- Airport layouts and CAD drawings
- Navigation aids and fixes
- Standard aircraft departure and arrival procedures (e.g., SIDS and STARS)
- Airways and route structures
- TERPS surfaces
- Terrain and obstructions
- Political boundaries and land use maps
- Street maps and census data
- Noise contours
- Controller video maps
- Pilot and controller voice recordings
- Real-time simulator and fast-time simulation results
GRADE provides the capability to conduct, analyze, visualize and replay complex airspace operations. Examples of the benefits of GRADE include:
- Reductions of up to 50% in airspace redesign time
- Supported rapid safety response with quick turnaround provision of incident/accident information and playback
- Improved flight movement and event understanding through the integration display of GIS data, weather, airspace boundaries and flight tracks to provide a complete analysis picture
- Increased operational awareness as a result of the tight integration with the SkyView Reporting System which allows for rapid analytical drill-down capabilities
- Improved, complex operational decision making resulting from powerful computational engine-based rapid, data-driven analysis
