About NEAR

The NEAR (Next generation ERAU Advanced Research) lab is a for hire research facility based at the Daytona Beach campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Committed to maintaining its high quality consulting services, NEAR carries out research for customers in areas of aviation such as: air traffic management (ATM), the avionics industry, aircraft manufacturers, communications providers, commercial airlines, and governmental agencies such as NASA and the FAA.

NEAR consists of internationally recognized specialists in ATM research and is supported by graduate and undergraduate students from various university departments including Space Physics, Computer Science, Meteorology, Human Factors, and Business Administration.

NEAR conducts research through studies, technical evaluations, fast time and real time simulations - as well as links to external simulators and aircraft, providing independent evaluation and research results to our customers. NEAR's resources allow its researchers and students to use sophisticated software to simulate airspace and airport systems, as well as solve problems related to runway incursions, airport capacity, and efficiency. In addition, NEAR is able to provide solutions to reduce in-flight fuel costs and streamline ground operations.

NEAR performs independent research into all aspects of air traffic management and novel air traffic management systems on behalf of government and industry:

  • Complementing and supplementing the teaching mission of ERAU.
  • Generating corporate and government funding support for faculty research and student scholarships.
  • Enhancing the prestige and reputation of ERAU as the leading applied practical aviation research university in the country.

To achieve this, NEAR has developed and is currently enhancing its applied research facility that is capable of investigating, analyzing and proposing solutions to national airspace (NAS) problems in areas of safety, control, capacity, and efficiency. This is done by:

  • Development and use of applied research software.
  • Storage, statistical analyses, and dissemination of aviation related data.
  • Fast time simulations using TAAM and Simmod PRO.
  • Construction and use of a Real-Time Distributed Air Traffic Management simulator encompassing all facets of aviation and operations.
  • Research into and development of advanced metrics for system and human performance measurement.

These NEAR developed facilities allow:

  • Concept development and validation.
  • Cost benefit analyses of components of the current and of proposed ATM systems on a world wide scale.
  • Human factors assessments of all aspects of an Air Traffic Management concept, as well as those of other industries.