Known as ASTAR, or Airborne Spacing for Terminal Arrival Routes, the software is designed to give pilots specific speed information and guidance so that planes can be more precisely spaced, enabling pilots to fly a "follow the leader" approach to their destination airport.
This type of approach would minimise flight path deviations, allow more efficient use of existing airspace and possibly reduce noise over communities surrounding airports - all of which could lead to reductions in commercial flight delays, researchers said.
"ASTAR represents the first of several inventive technologies NASA's aeronautical innovators are working on that will be tested with the help of the ecoDemonstrator test airplanes," said Jaiwon Shin, associate administrator for NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington.
"We're confident the public will benefit from this valuable partnership between NASA and Boeing," said Shin.
Also Read
Roper then communicates those speed commands to the ecoDemonstrator 787 pilots.
"NASA has tested ASTAR in laboratory simulations, but this flight test on board the ecoDemonstrator 787 gave us the chance to see how well it works in a real-life flight environment," said Will Johnson, a project chief engineer at NASA's Langley Research Centre in Hampton, Virginia.
The NASA team will apply the lessons learned from the flight test programme to improve the software and then begin development of actual flight hardware for further testing and eventual certification for use.
The first involves using active flow control technologies on the aircraft's tail to determine if future tail designs can be altered to reduce drag.
The second will test the effectiveness of coatings applied to the leading edge of a wing section to reduce turbulence-inducing buildup of insect residue.