A systems engineering methodology was used to study the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) concept as a feasible mode of transportation. The proposed approach employs a multistep intercity transportation planning process executed inside a Systems Dynamics model. Doing so permits a better understanding of SATS impacts to society over time. The approach is viewed as an extension to traditional intercity transport models through the introduction of explicit demand-supply causal links of the proposed SATS over the complete life cycle of the program. The modeling framework discussed is currently being used by the Virginia SATS Alliance to quantify possible impacts of the SATS program for NASA's Langley Research Center. There is discussion of some of the modeling efforts carried out so far and of some of the transportation modeling challenges facing the SATS program ahead.
Samenvatting