Summary Description:
This solution set covers strategic and tactical flow management, including interactions with operators to mitigate situations when the desired use of capacity can not be accommodated. Collaborative Air Traffic Management (CATM) solution set includes flow programs and collaboration on procedures that will shift demand to alternate resources (e.g. routings, altitudes, and times). CATM also includes the foundational information elements for managing National Airspace System (NAS) flights. These elements include development and management of aeronautical information, management of airspace reservation, and management of flight information from pre-flight to post-analysis.Background:
Current tools for managing Air Traffic Management system demand and capacity imbalances are relatively coarse. Optimal solutions would minimize the extent to which flights are either over or under constrained. Flight restrictions unnecessarily interfere with operator objectives and the cost of travel. Situations where constraints are less than optimal similarly generate excess costs. Restrictions also inhibit operators from specifying a preferred alternative and restrain their involvement in resolving imbalance issues.
The overall philosophy driving the delivery of CATM services in the NextGen is to accommodate flight operator preferences to the maximum extent possible. Restrictions should be imposed only when a real operational need exists, such as meeting capacity, safety, security, or environmental constraints. CATM proposes to adjust airspace and other assets to satisfy forecast demand, rather than constraining demand to match available assets. If restrictions are required, the goal is to maximize the opportunity for an airspace operator to resolve them, based on enlightened historical information.
Operational Capability Description:
When the NextGen goal is achieved, all airspace operators will be able to collaborate on Air Traffic Management (ATM) decisions. Collaborative ATM intends for the exchange of information to create a mutual understanding among participants resulting in stakeholder influence on overall objectives and decision-making. This information exchange will include current large-scale flight operations centers with complete CATM automation tools to individual pilots with hand-held, personal computers. Individual pilots (personal users) will have appropriately scaled CATM collaboration access.Stakeholder decisions will be supported through access to a rich information exchange environment. A transformed collaborative decision-making (CDM) process will provide wider access to information by all parties (whether airborne or ground), while maintaining privacy and security. Information will be timely, relevant, accurate, and quality-assured. Decision-makers will have the ability to request information when needed, publish information as appropriate, and automatically receive desired information through subscription services. This improved information environment will enable timely information access and increased situational awareness, while providing information consistency among decision-makers.
The CATM process recognizes that expertise, data, and processing capabilities necessary to balance NAS constraints and multiple operator objectives are cross-organizational (including Air Navigation Service Providers [ANSP], flight operators, and other stakeholders). This cross-organizational involvement applies to situation assessment, plan generation, execution, contingency management, and adaptation. To the maximum extent possible, decisions will be made at the local level, with an awareness of system-wide NextGen implications. This will include, to a greater extent than ever before, an increased level of decision-making by the flight crew and/or flight operations centers.
Within this projected CATM environment, flight operators will have a range of flight planning capabilities that optimize flights based on individual mission objectives, available aircraft, security and airspace constraints, and forecasted weather. Operators will also have access to an authoritative source of weather information that provides forecasts and current conditions. Flight planning automation will use weather information and system constraint data in planning individual flights or groups of flights.
CATM will be the means by which operator objectives and constraints are balanced with overall NAS performance objectives. To ensure that locally developed solutions do not conflict with overall goals or other implemented strategies, decision-makers will be guided by NAS-wide objectives and test solutions to identify interference and conflicts with other initiatives. Decision-making will revert to higher authority only when a constraint cannot be resolved. A prioritization scheme will need to be established for solutions to mitigate constraints. Adjustments may be required of congestion management policies.
Flight planning is iterative and interactive. For some operators, flight plans represented as 4D trajectories are planned months in advance. Trajectory and other information associated with the flight are stored in the flight object. As more information becomes available about conditions affecting a flight, operators are automatically informed, and in turn, make adjustments to provide “best known” information via a 4D trajectory. The level of uncertainty will decrease as the time to actual flight departure decreases. Operators also have multiple options for indicating contingency plans associated with a given flight. For example, a filed flight may include alternative 4D trajectories that represent the operator’s preferences. The operator also may provide some contingency criteria to the ANSP to provide guidance for ANSP-generated changes to the 4D trajectory. Operators maintain the ability to negotiate changes to a 4D trajectory and may initiate a 4D trajectory proposal in anticipation of a planned constraint.
Flight planners (or an operator’s flight-planning automation) interact with a common flow strategy and trajectory analysis service, available to all NAS stakeholders. This service provides common situational awareness of current and projected NAS status and constraints. In addition to having common services for understanding the potential effects on a trajectory (or the effects of a flow strategy), operators and the ANSP can collaborate on the selection of both capacity management and flow contingency management strategies. This allows balance of NAS performance objectives with Flight operator goals. National goals and desired NAS performance objectives are common knowledge to all parties. Transparent strategies are established for achieving overall performance objectives, including airspace management (to maximize capacity when demand is high) and, as required, flow management initiatives (to ensure safe levels of traffic are not exceeded when capacity limits are reached).Commitments:
- Airspace Flow Program: En route congestion due to weather will be reduced by equitable management of departure times (e.g. ground delay to an airspace volume).
- Integrated Surface Data: (ATL, ORD, and JFK) Better surface flight event knowledge will be integrated into decision-support tools, to improve accuracy of down-stream demand estimation and improve the use of flow management tools.
- Reroute Impact Assessment and Resolution: Automation will be provided to support identification of flight-specific reroutes for weather related congestion and assessing the impact of those planned reroutes in resolving the congestion problem.
- Execution of Flow Strategies: Exchange of Aircraft-specific reroutes (required to resolve en route congestion) between TFM and ATC automation.
Near-Term Demonstrations:
International Flight Object Demonstration: This demonstration is part of the development of the US flight object and collaboration on an international standard. It will show how, in a SWIM environment, subscribing to the flight object can provide continually updated status and be a vehicle for negotiation for ANSPs, AOCs, airports, and others.
Mid-Term Capabilites (2012 - 2018):
- Continuous Flight Day Evaluation: Performance analysis where throughput is constrained will be the basis for strategic operations planning. Continuous (real-time) constraints will be provided to ANSP traffic management decision support tools and National Airspace System (NAS) users. Evaluation of NAS performance will be both a real-time activity feedback tool and a post-event analysis process. Flight day evaluation metrics will be complementary and consistent with collateral sets of metrics for airspace, airport, and flight operations.
- Traffic Management Initiatives with Flight Specific Trajectories (Go Button): Individual flight specific trajectory changes resulting from Traffic Management Initiatives (TMIs) will be disseminated to the appropriate ANSPs air traffic control (ATC) automation for tactical approval and execution. This capability will increase the agility of the NAS to adjust and respond to dynamically changing conditions such as bad weather, congestion, and system outages.
- Improved Management of Airspace for Special Use: Airspace for special use assignments, schedules, coordination, and status changes will be conducted automation-to-automation. Changes to status of airspace for special use will be readily available for operators and ANSPs. Status changes will be transmitted to the flight deck via voice or data communications. Flight trajectory planning will be managed dynamically, based on real-time use of airspace.
- Trajectory Flight Data Management: Trajectory Flight Data Management will improve the operational efficiency by increasing the use of available capacity. Advanced flight data coordination between facilities will maintain access to airports by facilitating reroutes, and supporting more flexible use of controller/capacity assets. By managing data based on volumes of interest, airspace/routings can be redefined to accommodate change. Trajectory Flight Data Management will also maintain continuous monitoring of the status of all flights, quickly alerting the system to unexpected termination of a flight and rapid identification of last known position.
- Provide Full Flight Plan Constraint Evaluation with Feedback: Timely and accurate NAS information will enable users to plan and fly routings that meet their objectives. Constraint information that will impact proposed flight routes will be incorporated into ANSP automation, and available to users for their pre-departure flight planning. Examples of constraint information include special use airspace status, Significant Meteorological Information (SIGMET), infrastructure outages, and significant congestion events.
- On-Demand NAS Information: NAS and aeronautical information will be available to users on demand. NAS and aeronautical information will be consistent across applications and locations, and available to authorized subscribers and equipped aircraft. Proprietary and security sensitive information will not be shared with unauthorized agencies/individuals.
Timeline:
Improved Collaborative Air Traffic Management Timeline (PDF)
Benefits:
Key benefits from the collaborative environment in the NextGen will include the following:- Airspace operators benefit from improved collaborative decision-support tools, which will more efficiently assess the potential impact of decisions, reducing the likelihood of unintended consequences. Better decision support will also increase the ability to maintain capacity in the presence of uncertainty. Less-conservative operational decisions will be made because decision-support capabilities will be better able to integrate large amounts of data over multiple time horizons.
- A larger percentage of operators will participate in the collaboration process than do currently. Today’s process is characterized by poor information distribution capabilities and is limited by verbal negotiations. Flight operators will obtain benefits in efficiency, access, and overall performance, in addition to other national needs which will be accommodated effectively.
- Because decision-makers will have more information about relevant issues, and improved automation tools, decisions will be made more quickly, required lead times for implementation will be reduced, responses will be more specific, and solutions will be more flexible to change.
- Information exchange will be more clearly targeted to the appropriate decision-makers, reducing workload and unnecessary actions by those not affected. Machine-to-machine negotiation will replace labor-intensive, voice, or text-based processes.
- Management of airspace security will be integrated into overall collaboration and decision-making.
- Participants will be assured of data privacy and protection, so that sensitive or proprietary information is shared in a way that helps to achieve objectives while improving overall ATM performance.
- Improved strategic capability will be based on dynamic information flows as opposed to static processes.
Dependencies:
Achieving Collaborative ATM is dependent on ADS-B transmit (out), SWIM, Data Communications, Safety Management System processes, training, procedures, airspace redesign, ERAM, TFM-M, and flight object.CATM also benefits from the integration of weather into to the decision support tools found in the Reduced Weather Impact solution set
FY09 Key Enabling Activities:
All activities are contingent on pending budget decision.Flow Contingency Management
- Integration Execution of Flow Strategies into Controller tools. Develop procedures, guidance and training package for the sector teams implementation of the “go” button
- Enhancing the Strategic Flow Program. Develop enhancements for the Airborne Flow Program which manages strategic flow in cases of en route thunderstorm and congestion
- Departure Trajectory Flow Management. Build algorithms and requirements for a strategic departure flow capability to improve the integration of departures into overhead and arrival streams. Reduce departure delays
Flight and State Data Management
- Common Status and Structure Data. Develop common methodology for inclusion of flight constraint data: SUAs, LOAs, runway configurations, NOTAMs, FCAs, TMIs into decision support, and flight data management tool. Increase flight efficiency and reduce support costs
NextGen Transformational Program
System-Wide Information Management (SWIM): The System-Wide Information Management (SWIM) Program will be an information management and data sharing system for the NextGen. SWIM will provide policies and standards to support data management, and the formats needed to enter data to NAS systems, retrieve it, secure its integrity, and control its access and use.
The initial set of SWIM standards will be made available to internal users and external users such as U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and airline operations centers to govern FAA traffic flow and flight management data access.
Additional details for the SWIM program can be found in the reference sheet.FY09 Key Research:
New ATM Requirement: Optimizing capacity to balance demand by strategic and tactical interactions with air traffic managers and flight operators will require shared data communication among pilots, dispatchers, and controllers and decision-support tools for both air and ground applications. This will include developing a software assurance standard for integrating the air/ground applications safely. In 2009, approaches/methodologies for software assurance of complex air/ground systems will be analyzed and produced. Coordination of airborne and ground software assurance standard to support air/ground operational integrity will begin.Air Traffic Control/Technical Operations Human Factors- Controller Efficiency: This program will accelerate and expand research addressing human performance issues in NextGen concepts. It will involve developing initial collaborative ATM requirements and ensuring information and communication flows support common situational awareness for future NAS controllers, and pilots.
Mid-Term Capability (2012 - 2018) Details:
The following are the capability details for collaborative air traffic management:
Continuous Flight Day Evaluation
Needs/Shortfall: Traffic-flow managers currently assess their performance after each day and use this information in future operations. This activity is not routine during the day, nor are consistent performance measures used among traffic flow managers. A robust suite of decision-support tools is required in continuous real-time. These tools will be used to monitor, evaluate, and adjust traffic flow management initiatives (TMIs). The intended purpose will be based on a commonly agreed upon set of system performance measures. The measures should, impose minimum constraints on airport, terminal airspace, and en route airspace capacity.
Operational Concept: ANSPs and users collaboratively and continuously assess (monitor and evaluate) constraints (e.g., airport, airspace, hazardous weather, sector workload, Navigational Aid (NAVAID) outages, security) and associated TMI mitigation strategies. Users and ANSP dynamically adjust both pre-departure and airborne trajectories in response to anticipated and real-time constraints.
ANSP, in collaboration with users, develops mitigation strategies that consider the potential constraints. A pre-defined set of alternatives is developed that maximizes airspace and airport capacity and throughput. ANSP and users use (real-time) constraint information and these mitigation strategies to increase operational predictability and throughput.
ANSP automation traffic management decision-support tools perform a post-operational assessment of NAS performance. This capability includes ANSP automation to collect and support the analysis of airspace, airport, and flight day operational data as part of a comprehensive post-flight day analysis capability applicable to multiple domains and for multiple purposes. Flight day metrics are compared with performance metrics from each element of the system (e.g., aircraft, pilot, controller, airspace). NAS and operational resources are aligned to meet anticipated demand. This improves the ANSP pre-defined shared plans.
Long-term planning functions will improve due to continuous flight day evaluation. NAS performance will be improved and decision-makers will be able to predict and plan operations based on a validated tool.
Aircraft & Operator: There are no aircraft or operator requirements associated with this capability. Operators choosing to participate in this capability must interface their flight operations center with ANSP automation.
Design/Architecture: The TFMS infrastructure will serve as the focal point for continuous flight day evaluation capability. The performance monitoring and evaluation tool suite will be integrated with other TFM decision-support capabilities being developed to facilitate the identification of TFM problems, the generation and assessment of potential resolution strategies, and automation based execution of TMIs. These other capabilities will include support for such features as: Reroute impact assessment; miles-in-trail impact assessment; integrated TMIs (this can include combinations of altitude, speed, and rerouting maneuvers), progressive planning (the use of multiple TMIs applied progressively to a particular traffic flow); future traffic display; and congestion prediction.
Key Enabling Programs:
- En Route Automation Modernization Release 3 (2011-2012)
- Key Decision #43 En Route Automation Modernization Release 3 Package Contents (2009)
- Aeronautical Information Management Modernization Segment 1 (2010-2014)
- Traffic Flow Management System Work Package 2 (2011-2016)
- System Wide Information Management Segment 2 (2012-2016)
Dependencies:
- Flow Contingency Management Developmental Activity - Enhancing the Strategic Flow Program.
- Flow Contingency Management Developmental Activity - Departure Trajectory Flow Management.
Benefits:
- Improved efficiency
- Improved operational capability analysis
- Increased capacity
- Reduced fuel-burn and engine emissions
First Initial Operational Capability: 2012–2018
Champions:
FAA: ATO Chief Operating Officer and the Senior VP for NextGen
External User: RTCA ATMAC Requirements and Planning Work Group
Traffic Management Initiatives with Flight-Specific Trajectories
(Go Button)
Individual flight-specific trajectory changes resulting from Traffic Management Initiatives (TMIs) will be disseminated to the appropriate Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP) automation for tactical approval and execution. This capability will increase the agility of the NAS to adjust and respond to dynamically changing conditions such as bad weather, congestion, and system outages.
Needs/Shortfall: The current automation does not support the assignment of flight-specific trajectories. The ANSP needs to incrementally perform more surgical flight-specific TMIs that will be less disruptive to the system.
Operational Concept: Traffic Flow Management (TFM) automation prepares TMIs appropriate to the situation at the flight-specific level. After ANSP approval, changes/amendments are electronically delivered to the controller for in-flight operations.
Aircraft & Operator: There are no aircraft or operator requirements associated with this capability.
Design/Architecture: Traffic managers and applications within the TFMS infrastructure will interact with air traffic controllers and En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) to implement this capability. TFMS automation will support identification of flights that are subject to TMIs. The TFMS automation will then communicate the requested flight plan adjustments to ATC automation for tactical evaluation, approval, and execution of those flights subject to TMIs, to bring them into conformance with the TMIs.
Key Enabling Programs:
- En Route Automation Modernization Release 2 (2010-2011)
- En Route Automation Modernization Release 3 (2011-2012)
- Key Decision #43 En Route Automation Modernization Release 3 Package Contents (2009)
- Traffic Flow Management System Work Package 2 (2011-2016)
Dependencies: Flow Contingency Management Developmental Activity - Integration of Execution of Flow Strategies into Controller tools.
Benefits:
- Improved efficiency
- Increased capacity
- Improved predictability
- Reduced fuel-burn and aircraft emissions
First Initial Operational Capability: 2014–2015
Champions:
FAA: ATO Chief Operating Officer and the Senior VP for NextGen
External User: RTCA ATMAC Requirements and Planning Work Group
Improved Management of Airspace for Special Use
Airspace for special use assignments, schedules, coordination, and status changes are conducted automation-to-automation. Changes to status of airspace for special use are readily available for operators and Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSP). Status changes are transmitted to the flight deck via voice or data communications. Flight trajectory planning is managed dynamically based on real-time use of airspace.
Needs/Shortfall: Both National Airspace System (NAS) service providers and NAS users need a common, accurate, and timely understanding of the status of airspace for special use (also referred to as Special Use Airspace [SUA]) so that their collaborative planning and decision-making can be done both efficiently and effectively. Currently, although most daily SUA status information is readily available in electronic form for immediate use by en route and/or traffic flow management (TFM) automation via the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s) Special Use Airspace Management System (SAMS), there has been no integration of this information across FAA systems. Automated computer–to-computer communications, with acknowledgements, is needed between the Department of Defense scheduling agencies and SAMS.
Operational Concept: Airspace use is optimized and managed in real-time, based on actual flight profiles and real-time operational use parameters. Airspace reservations for military operations, unmanned aircraft system flights, space flight and re-entry, restricted or warning areas, and flight training areas are managed on an as-needed basis. Enhanced automation-to-automation communications and collaboration enables decision-makers to dynamically manage airspace for special use, increasing real-time access and use of unused airspace.
This will enable ANSP decision-support tools, integrated with automation-to-automation flight planning, to have increased access and improved coordination of airspace use.
Flight deck automation is enhanced to include data communications capabilities and to recognize SUA-encoded data. The SUA status is available via uplink to the cockpit in graphical and automation-readable form, supporting pre-flight and in-flight planning.
Aircraft & Operator: There are no aircraft or operator requirements associated with this capability. Operators can choose the degree to which they use the SUA scheduling information in their flight planning. Operators choosing to participate in this capability must interface their flight operations center with SWIM. Aircraft equipped with Flight Information Service-Broadcast (FIS-B) can receive SUA status in the cockpit.
Design/Architecture: The source of information regarding the definition and status of SUAs is likely to be SAMS. This information will be shared among NAS stakeholders during flight planning, supported by the SWIM infrastructure. The Surveillance Broadcast Services (SBS) will distribute this information to the aircraft.
Key Enabling Programs: Aeronautical Information Management Modernization Segment 1 (2010-2014)
Dependencies: Flight and State Data Developmental Activities (Trajectory- based Operations) - Common Status and Structure Data
Benefits:
- Improved efficiency
- Increased access
- Reduced fuel-burn and engine emissions
First Initial Operational Capability: 2012-2014
Champions:
FAA: ATO Chief Operating Officer and the Senior VP for NextGen
External User: RTCA ATMAC Requirements and Planning Work Group
Trajectory Flight Data Management
Needs/Shortfall: The current flight data management systems are a related set of functionalities that are not complementary, limiting the ability of various Air Traffic Management (ATM) processes to link decisions. The current system has limited capacity, which forces a reliance on Official Airline Guide (OAG) for future schedules and the use of historical routings in the strategic flow planning. Computational efficiencies required by legacy computer systems inhibit the ability to distribute and share flight progressive information and coordination leading to limitations on clearance management. Further, there is a fundamental need to facilitate trajectory negotiation and update in a collaborative manner if both the traffic flow objectives of ANSPs and NAS airspace users’ flight preferences are to be met. Currently, ANSPs use a variety of traffic management initiatives (TMIs), scheduling tools, and trajectory-based operations agreements. These achieve the traffic flow management (TFM) goal of balancing air traffic demand with system capacity to ensure the safe, orderly, and expeditious flow of air traffic while minimizing delays. At the same time, airspace users need approved flight plans that match, as closely as possible, their operational needs.
Operational Concept: In trajectory flight data management, there will be complete end-to-end management of the flight from pre-flight to post analysis. Flight planning and filing will be supported up to flight departure. This will replace reliance on OAG for future schedules and historical routing to identify potential flight profiles and will provide information commensurate with development of longer-term strategic flow initiatives. Further, by filing early, the user will receive updates until departure date, identifying changes in constraint status, and permitting early reevaluation and replanning of the flight. This will include restrictions for special events or planned NAS outages.
The flight plan management system will use “volumes of interest” to determine the relationship of the projected trajectory and the interest of service providers. This will supports the separation assurance and the advisory services through more flexible distribution of flight data, the automatic generation of point-outs and the coordination functions for control of aircraft. This move to volumes will also mean that the flight data management system can support user preference from runway-to-runway without requiring any fixed-routing segments for processing.
The flight data processing system will increasingly incorporates flight data information provided by the flight deck into the trajectory and conformance modeling, improving the support to service-provider and decision-support tools.
Finally there will be a change in the “ownership” of the active profile. Changes to flight profiles beyond the window of the tactical service providers will be negotiated with a strategic planner and updated without requiring tactical service-provider involvement. This will reduce the workload on the tactical-provider while placing responsibility in the hands of strategic-flow, ensuring change will be consistent with current flow objectives.
Aircraft & Operator:
Design/Architecture: This integrated advancement will leverage new capabilities in TFM and En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM), as well as allow for expanded opportunities by the flight object to move to a full trajectory flight data management. This will be made possible by the implementation of System-Wide Information Management (SWIM). This implementation will also require the NAS to move to a common information grid structure.
Key Enabling Programs:
- En Route Automation Modernization Release 3 (2011-2012)
- Key Decision #43 En Route Automation Modernization Release 3 Package Contents (2009)
- Aeronautical Information Management Modernization Segment 1 (2010-2014)
- Traffic Flow Management System Work Package 2 (2011-2016)
Dependencies:
- Flight and State Data Developmental Activities (Trajectory-based Operations) - Flight Object
- Flight and State Data Developmental Activities (Trajectory-based Operations) - Flight Object Common Status and Structure Data
Benefits:
- Enhanced Safety
- Improved efficiency
- Improved flexibility
- Reduced fuel-burn and engine emissions
First Initial Operational Capability: 2011–2018
Champions:
FAA: ATO Chief Operating Officer and the Senior VP for NextGen
External User: RTCA ATMAC Requirements and Planning Work Group
Provide Full Flight Plan Constraint Evaluation with Feedback
Timely and accurate NAS information allows users to plan and fly routings that meet their objectives. Constraint information that impacts proposed flight routes is incorporated into Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP) automation, and is available to users for their pre-departure flight planning. Examples of constraint information include special use airspace status, significant meteorological information (SIGMET), infrastructure outages, and significant congestion events.
Needs/Shortfall: Aircraft operators must plan flights to best meet business objectives; concurrently, traffic-flow managers need to understand the impact of future aircraft operator demand on system capacity. The current system does not provide feedback on any advisories or constraints that affect the flight plan. Currently, the resolution of traffic-flow management (TFM) issues are often done without specific input concerning user flight preferences, or with limited understanding of operator impact of actual or planned NAS constraints on preferred route of flight.
Operational Concept: Constraint information is both temporal and volumetric. Constraint volumes can be “hard constraints” (no access to this volume for this time period), “conditional constraints” (flights are subject to access control), and “advisory constraints” (service reduction or significant weather). Flight trajectories are built from the filed flight plan and the trajectory is evaluated against the constraint volumes. Feedback is provided to the filer (not the flight deck) on the computed trajectory with a listing of constraints, the time period for the constraints, and the nature of access.
A user can adjust the flight plan based on available information, and refile as additional information is received, or can wait for a later time to make adjustments. Up to NAS departure time, as constraints change, expire, or are newly initiated, currently filed flight plans are retested. Update notifications are provided to filers if conditions along the trajectory change. In addition, the user can submit alternative flight plans.
Aircraft & Operator: There are no aircraft or operator requirements associated with this capability. Operators choosing to participate in this capability must interface their flight operations center with the ANSP automation or access it via Flight Service Stations.
Design/Architecture: It is likely that the TFM System (TFMS) infrastructure will serve as the focal point for full flight plan constraint-evaluation and feedback capability prior to activation of the flight. TFMS, as one of its many services, will: Accept aircraft operator trial plans; evaluate those plans for how they would be impacted by NAS system constraints; provide the operator with timely, accurate, and complete feedback on relevant system constraints; accept early intent and filed flight plans; and forward such flight plans to the TFMS for trajectory-modeling and resource-demand prediction.
Key Enabling Programs:
- Aeronautical Information Management Modernization Segment 1 (2010-2014)
- Traffic Flow Management System Work Package 2 (2011-2016)
- System Wide Information Management Segment 2 (2012-2016)
- En Route Automation Modernization midterm work package (2013-2017)
Dependencies:
- Flight and State Data Developmental Activities (Trajectory-Based Operations) - Flight Object
- Flight and State Data Developmental Activities (Trajectory-Based Operations) - Common Status and Structure Data
Benefits:
- Improved efficiency
- Increased user-preferred routing
- Improved predictability
- Reduced fuel-burn and engine emission
First Initial Operational Capability: 2013–2018
Champions:
FAA: ATO Chief Operating Officer and the Senior VP for NextGen
External User: RTCA ATMAC Requirements and Planning Work Group
On-Demand NAS Information
National Airspace System (NAS) and aeronautical information will be available to users on demand. NAS and aeronautical information is consistent across applications and locations, and available to authorized subscribers and equipped aircraft. Proprietary and security sensitive information is not shared with unauthorized agencies/individuals.
Needs/Shortfall: Aircraft operators depend on the timely distribution of information on the status of NAS assets and aeronautical information to plan and conduct safe flights. Currently, the distribution of NAS information is sporadic, at times incomplete, and implemented with a variety of communication methods. Many aviation accidents have been traced to incomplete or untimely reception of NAS information.
Operational Concept: Information is collected from both ground systems and airborne users (via ground support services), aggregated, and provided via a system-wide information environment, data communications, or other means. Information and updates are obtained in near real-time and distributed in a user- friendly digital or graphic format. The data is machine-readable and supports automated data processing. Flight Service Stations will be able to provide improved information for flight planning and in-flight advisories.
Aircraft & Operator: Operators can choose between an assortment of information services to access the NAS data. Equipment to receive Flight Information Services-Broadcast (FIS-B) will provide access to Special-Use Airspace status and Notice-to-Airmen (NOTAM)-related data over the Universal Access Transceiver (UAT) link. Data communications will provide access to Digital Automated Terminal Information System (ATIS) data. For flight planning, any user can access the NAS information through System-Wide Information Management (SWIM).
Design/Architecture: The SWIM program office will coordinate Communities of Interest (COI) to define producer and consumer requirements for the improved distribution of NAS information. Using standards and technology approved by the SWIM Program Office, COI producers employ approved standards and technologies to develop the services required to publish necessary NAS information. Such information can then be made available quickly and easily, using standard uniform interfaces to COI consumers. In parallel, COI consumers will develop interfaces to subscribe to provider services that can provide information tailored to user-specified information needs. Due to the loosely-coupled nature of SWIM technology the On-Demand NAS information capability will evolve as each producer and consumer completes their individual developments.
For those equipped with UAT FIS-B, special use airspace status and NOTAM data will be available. For those equipped with data communications, digital ATIS information will be available.
Key Enabling Programs:
- En Route Automation Modernization Release 3 (2011-2012)
- Key Decision #43 En Route Automation Modernization Release 3 Package Contents (2009)
- System Wide Information Management Segment 2 (2012-2016)
- Aeronautical Information Management Modernization Segment 2 (2015-2017)
Dependencies:
- Flight and State Data Developmental Activities (Trajectory-based Operations) - Common Status and Structure Data
- Implementation of the Aeronautical Information Management (AIM) Program; SWIM connectivity.
Benefits:
- Enhanced safety
- Improved efficiency
- Improved information distribution and access
First Initial Operational Capability: 2013–2018
Champions:
FAA: ATO Chief Operating Officer and the Senior VP for NextGen
External User: RTCA ATMAC Requirements and Planning Work Group
