Contact Information
Bill K. Buck
Aerospace Engineer
Crew Systems and Aviation Operations Branch (D318)
NASA Langley Research Center
24 West Taylor St.
Mail Stop 152
Hampton, VA 23681
Work: (757) 864-3542
Email: bill.k.buck@nasa.gov
Bio
Bill Buck is a Research Aerospace Engineer with the Crew Systems and Aviation Operations Branch at NASA Langley Research Center with more than 29 years of project design and engineering experience in diverse government and industry environments supporting innovative component and product technologies. In addition to being a team lead within the branch, Bill is currently chief architect and designer of the ROAM (Remote Operations for Autonomous Missions) UAS Operations Center at NASA Langley. The ROAM UAS Operations Center directly supports training, simulation research, and flight operations research in subprojects like High Density Vertiplex (HDV), Autonomous Systems – Human Autonomy Teaming (HAT), Scalable Traffic Management for Emergency Response Operations (STEReO), and Multi-aircraft Remote Emergency Response Assessment (MaRERA).
Since October 2018, Bill has supported the testing and checkout of the Traffic Aware Planner (TAP) software under the Airspace Technology Demonstration (ATD-3) Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew Requests (TASAR) subproject, the Increasing Diverse Operations (IDO) subproject in the development of an automation process to create Trajectory-Based Operations aircraft scenarios from FAA SWIM recorded data, and served as a Subtopic Manager for the A3.01: Advanced Air Traffic Management Systems Concepts subtopic within for the NASA SBIR (Small Business Innovative Research) Program.
Bill also has extensive experience in aircraft flight data analysis, atmospheric turbulence detection and mitigation technologies, and wake vortex encounters research. Prior to joining NASA, Bill supported the development of a turbulence auto-pilot reporting system, the enhanced turbulence radar hazard table development and certification for industry, and the development of a wake vortex hazard metric identification and its characterization. Bill also led the engineering development and application of a wake vortex data screening utility that has been successfully integrated within a third-party airline flight data processor to analyze autonomously more than 380,000 full flights for multiple commercial aircraft types.
Bill holds a master’s degree in aerospace engineering in flight dynamics and control from Old Dominion University.
Selected Publications
- Unverricht, J. R., Chancey, E. T., Petty, B. J., Buck, B. K., Politowicz, M. S., and Glaab, L. J., “Simulated Vertiport Management and Ground Control Station Operations: Continued Human Factors Assessment of Vertiport Operations,” accepted, AIAA SciTech 2024, Orlando, FL, 2024.
- Buck, B. K., Politowicz, M. S., Chancey, E. T., and Underwood, M. C., “Role-Based Ontology for Designing a Remote Vehicle Operations Center,” accepted for review in Ergonomics in Design: The Quarterly of Human Factors Applications, 2023.
- Buck, B. K., Chancey, E. T., Politowicz, M. S., and Unverricht, J., “A Remote Vehicle Operations Center’s Role in Collecting Human Factors Data,” AIAA-2023-2526, AIAA SciTech 2023, National Harbor, MD, 2023.
- Chancey, E. T., Politowicz, M. S., Buck, B. K., Ballard, K. M., Unverricht, J., Houston, V. E., Chandarana, M., and Le Vie, L. R. “Human-Autonomy Teaming Research and Development in Scalable Remotely Operated Unmanned Aerial System Operations: Initial Work and Approach,” AIAA-2023-1066, AIAA SciTech 2023, National Harbor, MD, 2023.
- Politowicz, M. S., Chancey, E. T., and Buck, B. K., “Measuring Performance for Autonomy Teaming with Humans (MPATH) Ground Control Station: Design Approach and Initial Usability Results,” AIAA-2023-2525, AIAA SciTech 2023, National Harbor, MD, 2023.
- Unverricht, J., Politowicz, M. S., Chancey, E. T., and Buck, B. K., Geuther, S. C., Ballard, K. M., and McSwain, R. G. “Where is the Human-in-the-Loop? Human Factors Analysis of Extended Visual Line of Sight Unmanned Aerial System Operations within a Remote Operations Environment,” AIAA-2023-2656, AIAA SciTech 2023, National Harbor, MD, 2023.
- Unverricht, J., Chancey, E. T., Politowicz, M. S., Buck, B. K., and Geuther, S. C., “Eye Glance Behaviors of Ground Control Station Operators in a Simulated Urban Air Mobility Environment,” 41st Digital Avionics Systems Conference, Portsmouth, VA, 2022.
- Buck, B. K. and Underwood, M. C. “Using Recorded Airspace Traffic Data to Create Simulation Scenarios for Trajectory-Based Operations,” AIAA-2021-3009 in 21st AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference, Washington D.C., 2021.
- Buck, B. K., Barney, T. L., Underwood, M. C., and Chartrand, R. C., “Design and Implementation of a Scenario Development Process for a 2040 Trajectory-Based Operations Simulation,” NASA/TM-2020-5006526, Hampton, VA, 2020.
- Barney T. L., Ballard, K. M., Buck, B. K., Underwood, M. C., and Chartrand, R. C., “Simulation of a Representative Future Trajectory-Based Operations Environment,” NASA/TM–2020-5006885, Hampton, VA, 2020.
- Barney, T. L., Underwood, M. C., and Buck, B. K., “Simulation and Flight Testing Environments for the TASAR Traffic Aware Planner,” AIAA 2019-3614 in 19th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference, Dallas, TX, 2019.
- Bowles, R. L. and Buck, B. K., “A Methodology for Determining Statistical Performance Compliance for Airborne Doppler Radar with Forward-Looking Turbulence Detection Capability,” NASA Contractor Report Series, NASA/CR-2009-215769/Corrected Copy, Hampton, VA, 2009.
- Prince, J. B., Buck, B. K., Robinson, P. A., and Ryan, T., “In-Service Evaluation of the Turbulence Auto-PIREP System and Enhanced Turbulence Radar Technologies,” NASA Contractor Report Series, NASA/CR-2007-214887, Hampton, VA, 2007.
- Krozel, J., Robinson, P. A., Buck, B. K., and Wang, D., “Modeling and Feedback of Turbulence Hazards Based on Automated Real-Time Pilot Reports,” AIAA-2009-6066 in AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control conference, Chicago, IL, 2009.
- Buck, B. K. and Newman, B. A., “Aircraft Acceleration Prediction Due to Atmospheric Disturbances with Flight Data Validation,” AIAA Journal of Aircraft, Volume 43, No. 1, 2006.
- Buck, B. K., Bowles, R. L., and Newman, B. A., “Aircraft Acceleration Prediction with Flight Data Validation Due to Atmospheric Disturbances,” 43rd AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, AIAA-2005-0232, Reno, NV, 2005.
- Buck, B. K. and Velotas, S. G., “Development of an Aircraft Approach & Departure Atmospheric Profile Generation Algorithm,” NASA Contractor Report Series, NASA/CR-2004-213236, Hampton, VA, 2004.
- Buck, B. K., Bowles, R. L., and Newman, B. A., “Aircraft Acceleration Prediction Due to Atmospheric Disturbances with Flight Data Validation,” AIAA-2004-4826, AIAA Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Conference and Exhibit, Providence, RI, 2004.
- Buck, B. K., Prediction of Rigid Body Aircraft Acceleration Response Due to Atmospheric Disturbances, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, 2004.
- Robinson, P. A. and Buck, B. K., “Optimization of the NCAR In Situ Turbulence Measurement Algorithm,” AIAA-2000-0492, 38th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, Reno, NV, 2000.
Awards and Honors
2023 – NASA Group Achievement Award – High Density Vertiplex AOA Flight Test Team
2023 – NASA Langley Research Center Superior Achievement Award – For Outstanding Leadership and Creativity Developing the ROAM UAS Operations Center
2022 – NASA Associate Administrator Award 2021 – Technology and Innovation for ROAM/MPATH Development
2019 – NASA Group Achievement Award – Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew Requests (TASAR) NASA / Alaska Airlines / Industry Team
2019 – NASA Langley Transformer of the Year, Partnership Category – Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew Requests (TASAR) Team