3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) Boeing’s test plane simulates digital taxiing at Moffett Field at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. NASA/Brandon Torres NavarreteNew technology tested by an industry partner at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley could improve how commercial planes taxi to and from gates to runways, making operations safer and more efficient on the surfaces of airports.
Airport taxiways are busy. Planes come and go while support vehicles provide maintenance, carry fuel, transport luggage, and more. Pilots must listen carefully to air traffic control when getting directions to the runway – and garbled communications and heavy workloads can cause issues that could lead to runway incursions or collisions.
Researchers at Boeing are working to address these issues by digitizing taxiway information and automating aircraft taxi functions. The team traveled to NASA Ames to collaborate with researchers while testing their technology at the Moffett Federal Airfield and NASA’s FutureFlight Central, an air traffic control simulation facility.
Doug Christensen, test engineer for Air Traffic Management eXploration (ATM-X) at NASA Ames, and Mike Klein, autonomy technical leader in product development at Boeing discuss the digital taxi test in Ames’s FutureFlight Central facility.NASA/Brandon Torres NavarreteTo test these new technologies, Boeing brought a custom single-engine test plane to the airfield. Working from FutureFlight Central, their researchers developed simulated taxiway instructions and deployed them to the test pilot’s digital tablet and the autonomous system.
Typically, taxiing requires verbal communication between an air traffic controller and a pilot. Boeing’s digital taxi release system displays visual turn-by-turn routes and directions directly on the pilot’s digital tablet.
“This project with Boeing lends credibility to the research being done across Ames,” said Adam Yingling, autonomy researcher for the Air Traffic Management-eXploration (ATM-X) program at NASA Ames. “We have a unique capability with our proximity to Moffett and the work Ames researchers are doing to advance air traffic capabilities and technologies to support the future of our national airspace that opens the door to work alongside commercial operators like Boeing.”
The team’s autonomous taxiing tests allowed its aircraft to follow the air traffic control’s digital instructions to transit to the runway without additional pilot inputs.
Estela Buchmann, David Shapiro, and Maxim Mounier, members of the NASA Ames ATM-X project team, analyze results of Boeing’s digital taxi test at Ames’s FutureFlight Central facility.NASA/Brandon Torres NavarreteAs commercial air travel increases and airspace gets busier, pilots and air traffic controllers have to manage heavier workloads. NASA is working with commercial partners to address those challenges through initiatives like its Air Traffic Management-eXploration project, which aims to transform air traffic management to accommodate new vehicles and air transportation options.
“In order to increase the safety and efficiency of our airspace operations, NASA research in collaboration with industry can demonstrate how specific functions can be automated to chart the course for enhancing traffic management on the airport surface,” said Shivanjli Sharma, ATM-X project manager at Ames.
Share
Details
Last Updated May 22, 2025Related Terms
Ames Research CenterAeronauticsAeronautics Research Mission DirectorateAir Traffic Control LabsAir Traffic Management – ExplorationAir Traffic SolutionsDrones & YouFutureFlight CentralExplore More
3 min readWinners Announced in NASA’s 2025 Gateways to Blue Skies Competition
Article 53 mins ago 5 min readNASA X-59’s Latest Testing Milestone: Simulating Flight from the Ground
Article 6 days ago 5 min readNASA Satellite Images Could Provide Early Volcano Warnings
Article 7 days ago Keep ExploringDiscover More Topics From NASA
Missions
Humans in Space
Climate Change
Solar System
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( NASA’s Moffett Federal Airfield Hosts Boeing Digital Taxi Tests )
Also on site :