Bio
David Wing is a 35 year principal researcher at NASA, specializing in air traffic management research and development (R&D). He develops and analyzes advanced concepts for future airspace operations with operator autonomy. He has led human-in-the-loop simulations, flight tests, and operational trials, and he has developed and transitioned NASA technology to industry for commercialization. His TASAR (Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew Requests) technology received the 2019 R&D 100 award. He currently leads exploratory research on the potential for a digitally enabled operating mode to complement Visual Flight Rules (VFR) and Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) in shared airspace. David is an instrument rated private pilot and cellist.
Selected Publications
- Wing, D., Lacher, A., Ryan, W., Cotton, W., Stilwell, R., Maris, J., and Vajda, P. (2022). “Digital Flight: A New Cooperative Operating Mode to Complement VFR and IFR,” NASA/TM-20220013225, Hampton, Virginia, September 2022.
- Sharma, V. and Wing, D. (2022). “Dynamic Path Planning Automation Concept for Advanced Air Mobility,” NASA/TM-20220009974, Hampton, Virginia, September 2022.
- Karr, D.A., Wing, D.J., Barney, T.L., Sharma, V., Etherington, T.J., and Sturdy, J.L. (2021). “Initial Design Guidelines for Onboard Automation of Flight Path Management,” AIAA-2021-2326. Proceedings of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Virtual Event, August 2021.
- Wing, David J. and Levitt, Ian M., “New Flight Rules to Enable the Era of Aerial Mobility in the National Airspace System,” NASA/TM-20205008308, Hampton, Virginia, November 2020.
- Wing, D. “The TASAR Project: Launching Aviation on an Optimized Route Toward Aircraft Autonomy.” NASA/TP-2019-220432, Hampton, Virginia, December 2019.
- Wing, D., Burke, K., Ballard, K., Henderson, J., and Woodward, J. “Initial TASAR Operations Onboard Alaska Airlines.” AIAA-2019-3613. Proceedings of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Dallas, Texas, June 2019.
- Wing, D.J. (2015). “Achieving TASAR Operational Readiness,” AIAA-2015-3400, 15th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference, Dallas, Texas, June 2015.
- Wing, D., Prevot, T., Lewis, T., Martin, L., Johnson, S., Cabrall, C., Commo, S., Homola, J., Sheth-Chandra, M., Mercer, J., and Morey, S. (2013). “Pilot and Controller Evaluations of Separation Function Allocation in Air Traffic Management,” Proceedings of the 10th USA/Europe Air Traffic Management Research and Development Seminar (ATM 2013), Chicago, Illinois, June 2013.
- Wing, D.J. and Cotton, W.B. (2011). “For Spacious Skies: Self-Separation with “Autonomous Flight Rules” in US Domestic Airspace,“ AIAA-2011-6865, 11th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations (ATIO) Conference, Virginia Beach, Virginia, September 2011.
- Wing, D.J., Murdoch, J.L., Chamberlain, J.P., Consiglio, M.C., Hoadley, S.T., Hubbs, C.E., and Palmer, M.T. (2010). “Function Allocation with Airborne Self-Separation Evaluated in a Piloted Simulation,” Proceedings of the 27th International Congress of the Aeronautical Sciences, Nice, France, September 2010.
Patents
- Ballin, M. and Wing, D. Method and Apparatus for Generating Flight-Optimizing Trajectories. U.S. Patent 8,977,482, March 10, 2015.
- Burke, K.A., Wing, D.J., Woods, S.E., Ponthieux, J., and Lefebrve, B., “Method and Apparatus for Providing In-Flight Pilot Interface for Trajectory Optimization,” U.S. Patent, 10,102,756, October 16, 2018.
Awards/Honors
2021 – Langley H.J.E. Reid Award, Outstanding Peer-reviewed Publication (sole author)
2019 – R&D 100 Award – TASAR Traffic Aware Planner
2019 – LaRC Transformer of the Year (Partnership) – TASAR Team
2019 – NASA Honor Award – Group Achievement Award, NASA / Alaska Airlines / Industry TASAR Team
2018 – AIAA Associate Fellow
2016 – ARMD Associate Administrator Award for Strategic Partnerships
2016 – Space Act Award – NASA Software of the Year (TAP software)
2016 – NASA Honor Award – Exceptional Technology Achievement Medal
2016 – NASA Honor Award – Group Achievement Award, TASAR Flight Test Team
2014 – NASA Honor Award – Group Achievement Award, TASAR Group
2014 – NASA Honor Award – Group Achievement Award, Separation Assurance Team
2011 – NASA Honor Award – Group Achievement Award, NextGen Separation Assurance Simulation Team