The Post Operations Evaluation Tool (POET) is an operational analysis system developed with Metron and AMT Systems Engineering under the FAA's CDM program with a focus on supporting analysis of collaborative routing problems. These include identifying areas of NAS congestion or inefficiency. It allows users to explore how the NAS functions using a variety of performance metrics including departure, en route, and arrival delays and filed versus actually flown flight tracks.

The POET server is currently installed at the ATCSCC with access to archived ETMS data that is updated on a daily basis. This server maintains a rolling 37-day data set spanning the entire NAS for ready analysis using POET. With POET, users can easily access, filter, and visualize the flight information contained in the ETMS data archive using a variety of interactive charts, tables, and geographic displays. Analysis results can be aggregated into a variety of bins including grouping by departure and/or arrival airports, filed arrival fixes, departure/arrival times, NRP/non-NRP, departure and/or arrival centers, user class, and many more.

Additionally, POET has built-in a collection of powerful data mining tools to assist the user in recognizing patterns and trends within the data. Some of the patterns currently recognized include circular airborne holding, arrival fix swaps, and flown routes that differ significantly from the routes filed. POET has the further capability to integrate FAA data with airline provided flight data (such as predicted vs. actual fuel consumption), when available, to give a more complete picture of what is happening in the NAS.

Research Findings |

Smith, P. J., Klopfenstein, M., Jezerinac, J., Spencer, A., (In Press). Distributed Work in the National Airspace System: Providing Feedback Loops Using the Post-Operations Evaluation Tool (POET). In B. Kirwan, M. Rodgers and D. Schaefer (eds.), Human Factors Impacts in Air Traffic Management. Ashgate.