NextGen Implementation Plan
Program Reference Sheet for NNEW
NextGen Network Enabled Weather (NNEW)
FAA Strategic Goal: Greater Capacity – Increase capacity to meet projected demand and reduce congestion.
The FAA has identified this program as a “Transformational” program for NextGen. Most direct alignment to NextGen goal is Network Enabled Information Access.
Description of Problem:
Weather causes 70 percent of the delays in the NAS, according to FAA data from OPSNET. The current weather dissemination system is inefficient to operate and maintain. Information gathered by one system is not easily shared with other systems. This leads to redundant and inconsistent information, and in many cases information not being universally available or used leading ultimately to sub-optimal decisions.
Description of Solution:
The NextGen Integrated Plan is establishing a broad framework for the services, technologies, policies, procedures, and methods of operation that must be implemented by 2025 to achieve the plan’s national goals. This vision establishes improved weather capabilities as a key element of the national strategy for supporting air transportation and enhanced operational decision making between now and 2025.
The achievement of improved weather capabilities will occur through the integration of enhanced weather information with other key components of NextGen. No longer will it be necessary to manually gather and integrate diverse weather data to realize a coherent picture of the weather situation. The overall NextGen weather program is tied directly to a set of operational improvements (OI) developed by Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO). This will provide a common situational awareness of the weather, and rapid dissemination of any changes. The NextGen OIs are categorized in 4 functional areas: integration of weather information for decision support tools, improvements in weather sensing capability, improved weather forecast and processing, and the universal and common access of that information by all users.
The NextGen Network Enabled Weather (NNEW) effort is required to support JPDO OI item #4 identified above. It will enable the point-to-multipoint, networked access by all NextGen users, service providers, military planners, security personnel, and the flying public of observational and forecast weather information from the distributed 4-dimensional data cube. A distributed 4-dimensional data cube is a current description of the atmosphere in three dimensions. This includes the vertical plus the two horizontal dimensions, and projected into the future, the fourth dimension. This will be accessible by all NAS stakeholders. The data cube is a virtual database that is connected and accessible by communication networks supported by World Wide Web concepts and technology. The data cube provides weather information to NAS operators (pilots, dispatchers, and ATM) and identifies good airspace (free from hazardous weather) now and into the future. NNEW is responsible for establishing the information management capabilities necessary for the operations of the network enabled 4D data cube. The 4D data cube will be developed to be the authoritative weather data repository and will provide net-centric access by system users to consistent tactical and strategic-level weather information. Changes to weather information will be rapidly disseminated and all weather users will have improved access to timely and accurate flight information at their homes, businesses, airports, and in the air to support improved decision making for increased capacity and enhanced safety. There will be a demonstration effort to resolve key technical questions and reduce implementation risk of a network-enabled weather environment to the FAA and external system users. This will include assurance that NNEW is fully compatible and consistent with the evolved System-Wide Information Management (SWIM) infrastructure. This will also serve to define open standards and requirements necessary for overall NextGen weather dissemination compatibility.
Benefits:
Disseminating weather information utilizing NNEW technologies will improve uniform access to key common weather parameters, in real time, thereby improving utilization of air space and reducing flight delays and fuel costs. Further, to the degree possible, weather information will be automated, reducing the chances for error, improving the quality of controller decisions, and reducing controller workload during bad weather.
