An Opportunity We Should not Miss!
On 20/01/2012, in The future is now, by steve
I was talking to an old time, well respected colleague the other day discussing his view that instead of forcing the industry to implement yet another expensive capability, full use should be made of what was already there… Once the benefits start to accrue, airspace users would be much more inclined to take the extra steps and accept the costs associated with the extra functionality (assuming of course that there was a business case for it). This discussion was in the context of basic PBN and the addition or not of things like Constant Radius Turns in en-route airspace.
Although I have always preferred a more all-out approach, his pragmatic views make perfect sense and is also something airline bean-counters are likely to accept more readily. Investing in speculative functionality when the existing stuff sits idle most of the time is difficult to justify. Of course focusing mainly on use-what-is-already-there-first will not speed up progress but will make the simpler things happen with a higher degree of probability. Aim for too much, and nothing happens. I hate to admit it, but he is right…
Having given credit where credit is due, my incorrigible drive for wanting the whole thing kept chewing my soul. There was something here that we could turn to our advantage. But what was it exactly?
Then I remembered… The thousands of A320NEOs and Boeing 737MAXs. Airlines have ordered these more fuel efficient versions of the old favorites to basically replace a large part of their fleets almost overnight. Now if only those new babies could come with all kinds of goodies fitted right from the start…
What are we talking about? From an air traffic management perspective, there are three items that I would have on my wish list: air/ground digital link and CPDLC, ADS-B in and out and a full set of PBN capabilities.
I can almost hear opponents shouting: with those new versions not due for another three years or so, what technology should the manufacturers use for ADS-B for instance? Stay with Mode S Extended Squitter or go for something else? But what? Would it not be better to wait until the technology debate settles? We have of course heard this in the past. Waiting is equivalent to doing nothing and missing the boat. We have also seen that in the past… and suffer the consequences in the present day.
No Sire, this time we should be smarter.
Click here to read the full article
Airbus to support FAA Greener Skies Initiative with ATM expertise
On 25/11/2011, in Environment - Without hot air, by steve
Airbus has been selected to provide Air Traffic Management (ATM) and Performance Based Navigation (PBN) expertise for the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Greener Skies Initiative. As part of Boeing’s FAA System Engineering 2020 (SE-2020) team, Airbus will identify procedures which fully utilize aircraft precision navigation capabilities to reduce fuel burn, lower emissions and decrease noise.
The Greener Skies initiative seeks to improve ATM efficiency and to minimize the environmental impact on the ground and in the air through the expanded use of PBN including Required Navigation Performance (RNP), area navigation (RNAV), and Optimized Profile Descents (OPD).
The industry consortium includes Adacel, Airbus, Boeing, Cessna and Honeywell, and is tasked with establishing methods for the full implementation of PBN by utilizing advanced flight deck and Air Traffic Control (ATC) capabilities while analyzing new policies and procedures. Airbus subsidiary Quovadis will provide PBN consultancy and implementation expertise for the initiative. Seattle will be used as a key site to enable these initial advanced operational capabilities to be introduced into the US National Airspace System (NAS). Click here to read the full article
The pessimism of an optimist
On 21/11/2011, in Viewpoint, by cleo
Some readers of Roger-Wilco asked me why we tend to report on problems so often. The answer is simple. Because almost nobody else seems to be doing it.
If you read the official communiqués from various projects, they do tend to project a much brighter picture and if you read only those, you will sleep well. All is fine in the world of ATM. I am not saying that the official sources of information are saying things that are not true. But what they often do is leave out the context or simply ignore certain pertinent facts.
Let me give you a few recent examples.
SESAR has split its plan for implementing things into three packages, IP1 to IP3. Everyone is now raving over IP1 and the super effort going into realizing it. Great. What is rarely added is that the content of IP1 is nothing more than what should have happened under the previous European project, ATM2000+ anyway and some of the elements got delayed by 3+ years because everything stopped while the world was waiting for the SESAR miracle to happen…
A while ago the folks in the FAB Europe Central announced that airlines will be saving millions in fuel due to the more direct routes now formally agreed for night operations. What they did not add was the simple fact that most aircraft have been flying those direct routings at night for many years now on an ad hoc basis and these were now formalized. Sure, being able to plan for the shorter route brings some savings but to claim credit for the millions that were already being saved is not exactly how these things should be communicated.
SESAR has some 300 projects running… When was the last time you read in their official communications how far those projects have come and whether or not they are on schedule?
Click here to read the full article
NextGen and SESAR – is this a race???
On 16/11/2011, in NextGen, by steve
For the past several years news from the US repeatedly mentioned how the FAA was teetering on the brink of running out of money while Congress was debating the so-called FAA reauthorization bill. At one point the Agency actually shut down for a few days while extra funds were made available for them.
Of course this unholy situation was anything but helpful for NextGen, the FAA’s flagship project aiming to modernize the ATM system in the US. However, after all this wrangling, there is light at the end of the tunnel… and it is not the train that is coming!
A bill that would finally settle the funding issue will probably be on the President’s desk by Christmas. This was announced recently on the occasion of the opening of the renovated NextGen Test Bed at the Daytona Beach International Airport in Florida. This airport is famous among others for being the home-base of the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
The bill in question will provide a four-year blueprint for the development of NextGen and will eliminate any reauthorization issues for the FAA during this time. Congressman John Mica, when talking about the bill, highlighted the fact that it includes deadlines, incentives to attract private money into the project and also a streamlining of the FAA processes used to certify new technology.
FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said that “NextGen will be more convenient, more dependable and it will improve safety and efficiency all at the same time.”
More surprisingly, it seems that there is a belief in some US circles that if the US gets NextGen up and running before Europe’s SESAR is ready, the US stands to reap important economic benefits. They believe that whoever sets the protocols and standards will also win he world market. The same people indicated that in their view, the US is ahead of Europe in this “race”.
Click here to read the full article
Outdated Mentality Slows ATM Progress
On 07/11/2011, in Viewpoint, by steve
I am sure Jane’s Airport Review will forgive me for picking the title of one of their articles but it was so stunning, I could not resist the temptation.
It looks like October was a month of bad news from the world of ATM and I am starting to get a terrible feeling of déjà vu… again.
Back in the times of EATCHIP and ATM2000+ meeting after meeting we were banging the tables, telling anyone who would listen that air traffic management modernization was not rocket science, the technology aspect was almost a no-brainer compared to the kind of cultural change that was necessary on the part of all stakeholders but from ANSPs and airlines most of all, if we were to get anywhere.
When EATCHIP was faltering, ATM2000+ came along and this latter was even signed off by the ECAC Ministers of Transport and what happened? Nothing… or anyway very little compared to the lofty aims defined originally. After a few horrible summers, it was 9/11 and the ensuing economic slump that saved the day. The ATM system would have collapsed had the 5 % year on year traffic demand increase actually materialize.
Then NextGen in the US and the Single European Sky and SESAR in Europe came along. This time it was going to be different… We are well into those programs and here is what we have learned in this black October of the year 2011.
As reported in Aviation Week, the FAA’s En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) is turning into a major embarrassment. It is four years late and may in fact slip by another two years while the cost is already 330 million bucks over the original budget and it may go to 500 million… ERAM is an essential step in getting NextGen operational, even if ERAM itself is not a NextGen element as such.
Click here to read the full article
The crystal ball of surface movement analysis
On 19/10/2011, in Life around runways, by steve
We have all heard of the so called airport hot spots… places where extra caution is required to avoid nasty incidents like runway incursions. Until now, hot spots were discovered the hard way. Usually the dangerous places were identified as such following several incidents that made the situation clear: this is where danger lurks, extra caution advised. For the same reason, it is difficult to engineer out hot spots even in green field projects as it is not easy to establish before the start of operations just where things will consistently go wrong.
The Airport Viewer being developed by the FAA and Saab Sensis Corporation will change all that. A system originally developed to collect operational data to be used to judge the effects of various NextGen elements on airport operations is turning out to be a powerful tool to assess otherwise hard to notice operational anomalies which can lead to serious ground movement incidents.
Like in so many other areas, the key to this potential safety improvement is the harvesting and processing of ground movement data that has always been there albeit in a form that did not lend itself to easy interpretation. ASDE-X, the Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model X (which is also a Sensis product) is being deployed across the US at all major airports. It monitors and records live traffic which the FAA can review like data from any other of their surveillance systems.
In the past, the recorded data was reviewed usually only when an incident was being investigated. After the fact as it were. Yet the circumstances that led to many incidents were there also in the past, possibly hiding in the mass of data. Even if things came very near to being an incident, if it did not happen, the almost-event went unnoticed.
Sensis is now creating a few clever algorithms which, let loose on the ASDE-X data, are able to discern movement patterns and behaviors which represent anomalies and which may indicate problem areas. Possible hot spots!
Click here to read the full article
The advantages of not being American
On 17/10/2011, in Viewpoint, by cleo
Remember how we used to say to anyone willing to listen just how wonderful the FAA was and how happy they should be in the US for having just one big ATM organization to contend with?
This was of course before NextGen and the current reshuffle of the FAA to make it better suited to achieving the NextGen goals. We have now learned that David Grizzle, the COO of the Air Traffic Organization, is of the opinion that the FAA-wide changes will go a long way toward making them one FAA as opposed to independent and often feuding activities all housed at 800 Independence Avenue. I also read in Aviation Week with great surprise that two FAA guys will be used as “battering rams” to break down the cultural barriers inside the FAA… All this is of course set in the context of setting up a new Project Management Organization (PMO) within the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization, to look after NextGen and improve the general management of that project.
Wow… we always thought the FAA was better.
Of course this highlights immediately how lucky we are in Europe.
Our world is composed of EC and EUROCONTROL member states, the two sets not being identical. EUROCONTROL has more members but that organization is being made irrelevant albeit its final name (Network Manager) is something even the FAA can be jealous of. Then we have the FABs, composed of ANSPs but no real European organization that would oversee the FABs of which there are far more than anyone would ever need… The ANSPs in the FABs are forming alliances but those alliances do not align with the FABs. Then there is the SESAR Joint Undertaking with ANSP and industry members trying to realize SESAR, something that has never envisaged having to contend with the fragmentation represented by the FABs and the ANSP alliances. On top of all that, we have the European Commission who is actually responsible for the FAB idea in the first place (big mistake) but they are also laboring on what is called the Single European Sky (SES), something that almost died in trying to bring that jigsaw puzzle into a coherent whole… and the jury is still out on what will come of this all, SES or not.
Suppose, somebody somewhere discovers that there is a problem in Europe similar to what the FAA has faced and to which their reply was establishing the PMO. What would we do?
Wrong question. We can never discover a problem like that…
Alternate Position, Navigation and Timing (APNT) – What is this?
On 19/09/2011, in Buzzwords explained, by steve
In any conversation about satellite navigation and the use of enablers like GPS, talk inevitably shifts to the risks and the ease with which GPS for instance can be jammed. It is easy to sketch doomsday scenarios with a full-scale GPS outage once NextGen and SESAR are operational, making the industry essentially dependent on signals from space. The response is alternating between brushing away the risk or suggestions that satellite navigation is perhaps not the best path for the future of air traffic management.
The fact of the matter is, there have been cases where the GPS signal was effectively unusable in certain parts of the US, with the duration of the incidents varying between 1 hour and 72 hours. The incidents were all traceable to temporary adverse conditions but it is only a matter of time before malicious intent will join the list of causes. There is certainly no shortage of cheap but effective jammer devices, some of which fit inside a cigarette box.
Adverse conditions may arise for example as a result of meteorological or space-based phenomena or trucks passing near the location of an antenna situated in a crammed environment. Portable jammers may be activated anywhere…
One of the main attractions of the move to a space based ATM paradigm is the potential cost saving offered by the chance to eliminate the ground navigation infrastructure. The vulnerabilities of the space based system at the same time require that measures be introduced that cost-effectively mitigate the risks posed by those vulnerabilities.
Air navigation service providers the world over are obliged to set up a system that enables them to continue providing the services required even in the case of various contingencies. No-break power supplies, robust, redundant communications lines, contingency control rooms and the ability to transfer control to neighboring centers in case of a full scale failure or natural catastrophe are just a few examples of routine measures in place to soften the impact of contingencies.
In the past, the failure of a VOR/DME serving a busy intersection, failure of an ILS serving a busy runway or total equipment failure on board a single aircraft were serious events and made both controllers and pilots sweat but it was hardly the end of the world.
Click here to read the full article
Air Traffic Control – Your Safety in the Air? Or something more…
On 13/09/2011, in ATC world, by steve
Back in the early 70s I was the vice-president of the Hungarian Air Traffic Controllers’ Association (HATCA) and we were busy searching for a good slogan for the association. In the end, we decided to use an adapted version of the slogan put out by the Canadians: “Air Traffic Control means you will have a safe flight”. The HATCA version became: “Air Traffic Control – Your safety in the air”.
Many many years later, when I was working in the airline Project Coordination Platform supporting the SESAR definition phase I introduced the idea of the “business trajectory”. This term referred to the trajectory defined by an airline, the one they wanted to fly and which best expressed their business intentions in relation to the flight concerned.
While the airlines really liked the idea, there was an immediate outcry from the controllers involved in the definition phase. How could I mention the term “business” in the same sentence with trajectory and air traffic control! ATC was there to ensure safety and business had nothing to do with it.
Recalling my time as HATCA president, I did not blame them. After all, when we were looking for the logo, we too highlighted safety as the aim of ATC and the word “business” did not cross our minds. We did this in spite of the fact that ICAO has been saying right from the start that the aim of air traffic services was to maintain a safe and efficient flow of air traffic.
Of course a lot has changed since then and while the importance of safety has not diminished, the relative importance of efficiency has grown tremendously. It is not an exaggeration to say that safety and efficiency are equally important if this industry is to survive. Concentrating mainly on safety is not enough by far… Our thinking must change so that the terms “safety” and “business” may coexist peacefully in our minds.
While the awareness to maintain safety is generally high in the ATM world, the business aspect still tends to be considered a necessary evil, even an affront to people anointed, after all, to uphold safety.
Click here to read the full article
Metron Aviation Wins NASA Contract for NextGen Airspace Management
On 26/08/2011, in NextGen, by steve
Metron Aviation announced that it has been awarded a contract from NASA to perform advanced research and development to further NextGen airspace management concepts. This is an interesting twist in the NextGen story… Metron Aviation has been recently acquired by Airbus.
Metron Aviation will support NASA’s NextGen Concepts and Technology Development Project (CTD), as it continues to conceptualize and create Dynamic Airspace Configuration (DAC) concepts for allocating airspace capacity during convective weather events. Metron Aviation will develop DAC concepts and algorithms that incorporate uncertainties in weather forecasts, methods for conversion of convective weather activities into airspace capacity and uncertain pilot, airline and Traffic Flow Management (TFM) responses to weather.
“We are extremely pleased to have been awarded this prestigious NASA contract. Working consistently with NASA to dynamically change Airspace Configuration will not only show immediate results towards harmonization and NextGen, but will also impact the National Airspace for years to come,” said Robert Hoffman, PhD., Principal Analyst and Director of the Advanced Research Group at Metron Aviation. “For years, we have been working with NASA on various airspace optimization projects, and are excited to continue our heritage of innovation to create a more efficient, optimized and safer airspace.”
Click here to read the full article
ERAM suffers under FAA shutdown
On 20/08/2011, in NextGen, by steve
En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) is one of the FAA’s flagship projects that was supposed to be fully operational at all of the FAA en-route facilities by the end of last year. Formal acceptance took place in October 2007 and Lockheed Martin, ERAM’s manufacturer could be proud of having delivered the new system on time and within budget. As it turned out, their happiness was a tad premature. The system was running in operational trial mode in Seattle and Salt Lake City and a host of software problems arose resulting in the full-delivery date slipping to 2014. OOOOps!
Last year the US Transportation Department’s Inspector General went so far as to publicly name the problems ERAM was struggling with. These are the interfaces with other ATC facilities, the aircraft data labels on the controller displays and the way handoffs are processed. None of these areas represent revolutionary new ways of working. ATC systems the world over can do such things and one cannot but wonder: what was Lockheed Martin doing wrong so that they do not work well in ERAM? Or were the requirements such that they in fact became a system-designer’s nightmare as they struggled to keep up with the FAA’s requirement creep? Getting things back on track will cost a cool 500 million bucks extra and then we did not consider the extra costs the delay in operational introduction will cause the industry in general.
Click here to read the full article
Airbus Acquires Metron Aviation
On 27/07/2011, in Just to let you know..., by steve
Airbus has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Metron Aviation, a leading provider of advanced Air Traffic Management (ATM) products and services for the global aviation industry. This acquisition strengthens Airbus’ strategy to accelerate and support ATM programs that will dramatically improve global air transportation capacity, efficiency and environmental sustainability.
The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals, and the acquisition is expected to be completed later this year. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Earlier this year, Airbus launched subsidiary Airbus ProSky, dedicated to supporting the FAA’s Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen), Europe’s Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) and other global ATM modernisation programs.
Click here to read the full article
What a way to run a railroad – the FAA is shutting down!
On 25/07/2011, in Just to let you know..., by steve
The writing has been on the wall for some time. Approval of the reauthorization bill (the all important act of Congress that ensures funding to the FAA) has been a convoluted process year after year and there have been a few near misses already. But this time they have done it!
The FAA went into partial shut-down last Friday… incredible but true. 4000 non-essential employees were furloughed and no money for the aviation trust fund can be collected or paid. Air traffic controllers are not affected but all FAA Regional offices will be closed and only essential personnel will come to work.
The impact on the aviation trust fund is a cool 200 million bucks lost revenue per week and in all likelihood the schedule of NextGen will also be adversely affected.
Of course thus may sound like peanuts compared to the very real danger of the US itself defaulting on its debts if no agreement is reached in raising the credit ceiling by 2 August but still…
Meet EDA – The Efficient Descent Advisor
On 21/07/2011, in NextGen, by steve
You will have heard of Tailored Arrivals… they are nice and work well but they often also need to be broken off prematurely when conflicts between aircraft arise. Now here is a tool that pre-empts the conflicts and releases the full power of tailored arrivals. Meet EDA, the Efficient Descent Advisor being developed by NASA.
What is the problem?
As an airplane transitions for landing, today’s air traffic control procedures often force the aircraft to fly inefficient arrival paths involving frequent changes in vectoring, altitude, and speed in order to maintain safe separation from other aircraft. The frequent changes of this stair-step approach are problematic because they often require added engine power, which increases fuel burn, causing detrimental effects to the environment.
What is the solution?
Continuous Descent Approaches (or CDA) is a next generation aviation concept that enables aircraft to “coast” during the final stages of flight, using less engine power. Instead of approaching an airport in a conventional stair-step fashion, CDA allows aircraft to fly a continuous, gliding descent at low engine power, thereby minimizing fuel consumption, environmental emissions, and noise pollution.
What is NASA doing to help?
Click here to read the full article
Enhanced Surveillance of Aircraft and Vehicles – 2011 (ESAV ’11)
On 11/07/2011, in Events, by steve
Island of Capri, Italy 12-14 September 2011
Air Traffic Management (ATM) systems and airport systems are rapidly evolving to meet increased efficiency, safety, security, environmental and business demands. A deep evolution with radical changes of the current Air Traffic Management System is going on both in Europe, with the SESAR program, and in the USA (Nex Gen program). New architectures are needed for modern control and traffic management systems in air and in ground operations, as well as for service vehicles on the airport surface. The related Communications, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS) infrastructures permit enhanced positioning and identification means such as Multilateration (MLAT) and Wide Area MLAT (WAM), automatic dependent surveillance (ADS-B) and automatic vehicles location and management. Radar techniques, including the novel Passive Coherent Location, and Multistatic techniques, still pre-operational or in research phase, permit detection and location of non-cooperating aircraft. Most of these enhanced surveillance means are both spatially and logically distributed.
In this frame, new system architectures and new algorithms for integrity monitoring and for multi-sensor data fusion are required. Security and defense systems use similar algorithms for passive location of targets based on measurements of Time, Doppler frequency, angle/direction.
Following the successful Symposia ESAVS 2007 in Bonn/Germany, ESAV’08 in Capri/Italy and ESAVS 2010 in Berlin/Germany, ESAV’11 is dedicated to provide up-to-date information to researchers, operational experts and decision makers in the world of sensors and systems development, tracking, sensor data fusion, avionics and airport operations as well as of the pertaining air traffic control procedures.
You can find the ESAV web-site here. Click here to get the printable announcement.
Pioneering and progressing: Assessing the progress of SESAR with Florian Guillermet
On 06/07/2011, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
The SESAR programme was launched on 3 June 2009. Now almost two years since its launch, It’s a good time to take stock of the status of the programme’s 300 projects, assess progress in the execution of the first SESAR release and the first project deliverables. In a short interview, Florian Guillermet, SESAR JU Chief Programme Officer, gives his evaluation of the programme and the first release, and looks at some of the challenges facing SESAR in the second half of 2011..
At mid 2011, what is the situation of the SESAR programme in general?
It’s almost time to celebrate the second anniversary of SESAR’s launch, and after two years of hard work we’ve made great progress: the ramp-up phase of the programme is complete and 85% of projects are now in full execution mode; the first concrete deliverables are arriving; all the programme management processes are now in place; and the programme delivery approach through SESAR Releases has been implemented. In addition, we are now fully integrating airspace users into the programme and they will directly participate in the execution of projects. Overall, we are on track…
Click here to read the full article
When Titans speak
On 25/05/2011, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
Mid-March Aviation Week published a double interview in which Canso director general Graham Lake and Air Traffic Control Association president/CEO Peter F. Dumont spoke their minds about air traffic management developments on both sides of the Atlantic.
The interviews were refreshing and revealing. They both spoke about the prospects of SESAR and NextGen frankly and eschewing the usual bluster and we-have-won type of text so frustrating in the “formal” communications.
Mr. Lake tells us that it is not yet clear where the 4 billion euros implementation funding needed by SESAR will come from… With SESAR well into its 8-year life-span and 2.1 billion euros being burned through as you read this, such an uncertainty about the future is cause for concern to say the least.
He also makes the point that the new ATM system will still need people to operate it. He then goes on to say that some 70 % of the typical ANSPs costs are staff related, expressing surprise that parts of the ATM network face disruptions as a result of labor disputes and demands for unsustainable labor agreements. As an industry, we cannot allow this to continue he states. There is a strong message here and one is almost tempted to compare the number of pilots and other airline stuff who lost their jobs because of the economic crisis with the number of ATC staff who had been handed the pink slip for the same reason…
Click here to read the full article
Big brother in the sky
On 18/05/2011, in Satellite Navigation, by steve
Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B) is only now starting to make inroads as a surveillance means more accurate and cost-effective than traditional radar. With the ground infrastructure slowly being built, someone has already come up with a new idea: why not put the ADS-B receivers on satellites and start a surveillance service that covers every nook and cranny of the planet, oceans and the deepest mountain valleys included, and sell the service to Air Navigation Service Providers? Whether as a second layer of surveillance or as the primary one, the satellite based solution promises to be much cheaper in deployment and cost of usage than the already not too expensive ground ADS-B network.
This is a very innovative and absolutely market oriented approach that is of course not without some risk. That surveillance data is essential is not in question. Whether ANSPs will be ready to relinquish their hold on the surveillance infrastructure and go for a more efficient and cheaper solution that is as good as or better than the existing heavy iron is the big question of course.
In any case, Iridium thinks the risk is worth taking. These are the same folks whose first attempt at bringing us satellite telephones was a flop but who have risen from the ashes offering more interesting and viable solutions.
Of course the idea is logical and the timing is good. With both Europe and the USA heading towards all aircraft being equipped with ADS-B, broadcasting their GPS derived position and other information for everyone who cares to listen to hear, a system not limited by geography or topography to pick up and forward the broadcast information makes perfect sense, especially if the cost of its deployment and operation is comparable or less than that of a ground based ADS-B network.
Click here to read the full article
FAA Funds ADS-B for JetBlue
On 04/02/2011, in NextGen, by steve
Low-cost carriers are not known for their willingness to pay for extra equipment that may be required to improve air traffic management. In this respect they are very much similar to their legacy brethren… Even when there is a clear business case, the mad rush to equip is usually conspicuous by its absence. There are exceptions to rule though. Southwest had announced earlier that it will equip all its fleet with RNP capability and the news is out now that US low-cost carrier JetBlue is equipping 35 of its Airbus A-320 aircraft with ADS-B Out capability, including the ACSS SafeRoute suite of applications. The catch? This is a demo project funded by the FAA to the tune of 4.2 million dollars.
Once equipped, JetBlue’s aircraft will be able to fly more precise trajectories under ADS-B surveillance from Boston and New York to Florida and the Caribbean although this latter will have to wait until 2012 as there is no ground ADS-B infrastructure there just yet.
Click here to read the full article
Do you really understand – Trajectory based operations (TBO)?
On 04/02/2011, in Buzzwords explained, by steve
There is a misconception in some air traffic management circles that trajectory based operations is simply business as usual except that the current, notoriously imprecise ground generated trajectories are replaced by more accurate, 4 D trajectories and that is all there is to it. Some will add that parts of this 4D trajectory might be sourced from the FMS or an airspace user ground system… While there is truth in all this, TBO is much more. Much much more and significantly, if the other aspects of TBO are not considered, the potential for benefits inherent in TBO is reduced significantly.
So, what is trajectory based operations?
First and foremost we must look at the basis of the existing operation. Air traffic management has grown historically along an airspace based paradigm. Airspace as such was a given so it stood to reason that early ATM experts set out to define airspace volumes which they thought would best fit the traffic they expected and established air traffic control units to fit the task foreseen in those volumes. When aircraft arrived, they were obliged to fly within the confines of the defined airspace and if their needs differed from that envisaged, the aircraft trajectory was bent to fit the picture. Of course this is a bit of an oversimplification but to this day, ATM is being done on this basis.
The end-to-end trajectory played almost no role in this game. To illustrate the point, juts consider that until recently the Central Flow Management Unit calculated expected sector loads on the basis of a trajectory the vertical dimension of which was famously inaccurate while ground ATC systems generated their own trajectories for their own airspace and these often did not tie up with the trajectory dreamed up by the neighboring unit. All this time however scores of experts everywhere worked furiously on airspace design and organization… Only a blind person could fail to see that this legacy, airspace based paradigm had to go if the volume and efficiency demands of increasing traffic were to be met.
Things were not helped at all by the fact that controllers were handing flights as if they were born just outside their sector boundary and went into the big blue yonder when they exited their sector. In other words, they only ever looked at a small part of the trajectory with little regard to what was or was not happening further downstream. Conflict free handover was the almost the only aim.
Because of the way airspace was used in the past, popular ATM wisdom came up with the notion that airspace was a scarce resource and it had to be organized better to save the day. This notion was a dangerous one because for a long time it did divert attention and effort from looking at the real problem. Trajectories…
Click here to read the full article
ICNS 2011 – May 10-12, Herndon, VA., USA
On 02/02/2011, in Events, by steve
Renovating the Global Air Transportation System
The 2011 Integrated Communications Navigation and Surveillance (ICNS) Conference addresses long term research and development as well as early implementation of integrated CNS technologies needed to enable NextGen and SESAR.
The Conference is focused on providing an understanding of CNS programs, longer term plans, standards development, research, and ICNS technologies. As we launch the second decade of the ICNS Conference, we focus on the renovation of the communications, navigation, surveillance, and information technology infrastructure underpinning the migration to a true next generation global air transportation system.
Each day begins with a plenary session.
Click here to read the full article
ATC Global – Separating the vision from the reality?
On 27/01/2011, in Events, by steve
My apologies but I stole that title from the ATC Global 2011 web site. I did this because I wanted to make sure that their slogan for the year is an error and not what the industry will get dished out at the event itself. Separating the vision from the reality is an ominous thing to say… Is it not so that first you have a vision and then you go through all the kinks and bends so that in the end you realize that vision? SESAR and NextGen both have a vision and I do not think they would want to see a future reality that has been separated from their vision!
When you go to the registration page, things are a bit better: A single global ATM system – The vision and the reality. But this is still a slogan that on first sight suggests that there may be something wrong with the vision…
Why did they not say “From vision to reality?”
With SESAR promising to present details of Release 1 at ATC Global one can only hope that the conference slogans are just an unfortunate mistake and not a heads-up about what is to come…
Trajectory based operations (TBO) – Still not properly understood in SESAR? Take 2.
On 18/01/2011, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
You may recall that a while ago I had written an article with the same title, expressing concern that this all important element in the SESAR Concept of Operations was apparently still not properly understood by some of the “experts” working on the subject.
Recently another paper dealing with trajectory management crossed my desk and on reading it I started to wonder: have these people not read the CONOPS at all? Mind you, the paper comes from a major SESAR partner who should know better… But apparently they do not.
The paper is entitled “Use of the SESAR RBT in ATM Systems”. RBT in case you did not know stands for Reference Business Trajectory and this is the trajectory that “the airspace user agrees to fly and the ANSP agrees to facilitate” to quote the relevant part of the SESAR Concept of Operations (CONOPS).
The purpose of the paper, by its own admission, is to prompt discussion of the trajectory issues within the SESAR program and in particular to ensure that they are addressed by Work Package B. In other words, the paper is arguing that alongside the RBT, the various other types of trajectories that exist in local systems must also be recognized and treated in SESAR. Since the CONOPS already contains references to all those “other” kinds of trajectories, one cannot but wonder: what do the authors of the paper have in mind? Why would SESAR ignore the CONOPS references to those other trajectories? Or have the authors not read the CONOPS and are now thinking that they have discovered a gap in that document?
I will not even attempt to figure out this aspect. There are many other elements in the paper that should make anyone familiar with trajectory based operations want to cry.
Click here to read the full article
Encouraging news from the SWIM front
On 07/01/2011, in SWIM, by steve
System Wide Information Management (SWIM) is one of the mainstays of both SESAR and NextGen. It has been known for some time now that a lot of the shortcomings in air traffic management (ATM) are directly or indirectly related to poor management and limited or non-existent sharing of the sea of information actually available at the various partners. SWIM will enable and encourage information sharing resulting in vastly improved ATM decisions based on a common picture of the ATM environment. You can read more about the SWIM concept here.
In the United States, Boeing and IBM have just finished a small project to demonstrate that it is in fact possible to provide timely and consistent information across organizational boundaries that can help improve decisions that become necessary when unforeseen events occur. They have in fact shown that SWIM type information sharing is feasible and useful.
In crisis situations the sharing of up to the minute flight data (including surveillance data), information on restrictions, weather and facility availability is particularly important if decisions are to be timely and effective.
Click here to read the full article
Airbus now also an air traffic management company
On 05/01/2011, in Shop floor talk, by steve
Several years ago, Boeing was so worried about the sad state of air traffic management in the US and Europe that they actually thought it would adversely impact their customers to the point where they would end up buying fewer aircraft… This was the stated reason for the establishment of Boeing ATM, a new division that was supposed to bring the needed medicine for air traffic management world wide. The initiative was never the success story it could have been, in no small part because of the industry crisis that followed the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Now it seems that Airbus has decided that there was money to be earned in air traffic management and they launched a new subsidiary company, called “Airbus ProSky”, dedicated to the development and support of modern air traffic management (ATM) systems. Airbus ProSky will become the channel through which Airbus will interact and develop ATM programs such as “Single European Sky ATM Research” (SESAR) in Europe, as well as NextGen in the US. In particular, for these two ATM programs, the new company will help accelerate and support the process of their implementation, and link them together by capitalizing on the technological, operational and commercial synergies.
Airbus ProSky will also contribute Airbus’ aviation expertise further afield for other nations by working with their Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs), airworthiness authorities and airlines. This will help them achieve the common goal of transforming their ATM systems with the latest technologies and procedures, to achieve the highest operational efficiencies with more direct routings resulting in around 10 percent less aircraft fuel consumption, and significant reductions in CO2 and noise emissions.
Click here to read the full article
NextGen in trouble?
On 04/01/2011, in NextGen, by steve
Why is it almost a given that new air traffic management programs, big and small, usually end up in trouble, fail to deliver their promised benefits or drag on for years swallowing money like there was no tomorrow? We could count on one hand the number of truly successful ATM projects of any significance.
Doubts are now rising about NextGen, the FAA’s flagship project, and if Calvin L. Scovel III, the Department of Transportation’s Inspector General is to be believed, there is major turbulence ahead.
In a letter sent to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the IG concludes that the FAA’s slow progress in implementing the recommendations of the RTCA NextGen Mid-Term Implementation Task Force and the start-up problems with ERAM (En-route Automation Modernization) make it doubtful whether the agency will in fact be able to meet the mid-term goals of the NextGen implementation program.
Reaction to the letter was swift. “Tighter oversight of the FAA is a must and delay in delivering NextGen benefits is not acceptable” countered John L. Mica, the incoming House Committee Chairman.
Click here to read the full article
Enhanced Surveillance of Aircraft and Vehicles (ESAV’11) – September 12-14, 2011
On 10/12/2010, in Events, by steve
Following the successful Symposia ESAVS 2007 in Bonn/Germany, ESAV’08 in Capri/Italy and ESAVS 2010 in Berlin/Germany, ESAV’11 is dedicated to ing up-to-date information to researchers, operational experts and decision makers in the world of sensors and systems development, tracking, sensor data fusion, avionics and airport operations as well as of the pertaining air traffic control procedures.
There is plenty to discuss about.
Click here to read the full article
FAA video on NextGen
On 08/12/2010, in Picture stories, by steve
If you go to the FAA’s NextGen web-site, a wide banner tells you that this is about “Giving the World New Ways to Fly”. The banner is of course the link to the NextGen 101 Video. I clicked and watched for the next ten minutes or so… At the end of it I could not but wonder: who commissioned this thing and who accepted this product?
Boooooring is the understatement of the century if the term is applied to this “video” which is in fact little more than a rather poorly constructed series of slides with little movement and even less impact. The voice over says all the right things although that too could have been made at least half way exciting… but it wasn’t.
Of course seeing something as low quality as this video, one can start all kinds of mental games. What did they have in mind when they created this video? Who was the target audience? OK, big bosses need simple explanations but this is rather overdoing it…. Kids in kindergarten need more action or they will fall asleep. The population in-between? No, they do not watch this kind of video.
What about the company who made it? Did they get a specification that had called for the most unimaginative presentation in the world? If so, they have succeeded brilliantly. If they did not, did they decide all on their own to propose this horror to the FAA? How did they convince the guys with the money that this was exactly what you needed to promote NextGen?
Did the company not feel obliged to tell whoever was ordering this product that it would need to be something vibrant, fresh, innovative and informative, something different from all that has gone before… but in a positive sense of course.
Luckily this not the only NextGen video and the others are markedly better. Just as well, NextGen deserves better!
Watch the video here.
Trajectory based operations (TBO) – still not properly understood in SESAR?
On 26/11/2010, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
Following Henning’s article about the fate of the original SESAR Concept of Operations (CONOPS), I received a slew of mails basically confirming his point of view and worries. Of particular concern seems to have been a document dealing with trajectory management…
People who had seen this document were of the opinion that it was little more than a reiteration of the legacy way of working with no visible attempt to bring things in line with the spirit, let alone the words, of the CONOPS.
Why am I not surprised?
During the definition phase we had a very hard time getting people to understand why the legacy system, based on managing airspace and massaging individual aircraft left and right had to give way to something else that took a broader view than is the event horizon of a controller working his or her sector.
The concept of trajectory based operations (one of the mainstays of NextGen also) does exactly that. The system is run on the basis of managing trajectories end to end with situational awareness shared by all concerned and hence both strategic and tactical decisions being aligned, safety permitting, with the business intentions of the owners of the trajectories. Airspace is shaped to allow the undistorted inclusion of the trajectories rather than trajectories being bent to fit the airspace.
Click here to read the full article
Equipping for NextGen – where does the cash come from?
On 24/11/2010, in NextGen, by steve
If anything, the LINK2000+ program in Europe has shown what a bit of free cash can achieve. Equipping aircraft for Controller/Pilot Digital Link Communications, the raison d’être of LINK2000+, was proving difficult as in the initial phases those who spent on the required avionics would see few benefits and hence there were no takers. Then, with part of the money coming from EC funds things suddenly took off and some 700 aircraft got promoted to CPDLC-enabled status.
But the funds needed to equip for NextGen (and SESAR for that matter) far exceed the budget of LINK2000+ yet the vicious circle of low initial benefits, reluctance to equip is exactly the same. It now looks that at least for NexGen, a novel solution is being offered for funding avionics upgrades.
Click here to read the full article
Is SESAR doing what the airlines intended?
On 14/10/2010, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
Exclusive interview with Dr. Henning Hartmann
Today we bring you an exclusive interview with Dr. Henning Hartmann, who was, during the SESAR Definition Phase with Lufthansa German Airlines and representing the Airspace Users, he was also the person responsible for the development of the SESAR Concept of Operations (ConOps). He will give us his views on what SESAR is to-day as he sees it and explains why there is cause for some concern.
Henning can you give our readers an impression of what you are feeling today when looking at SESAR and the SESAR Joint Undertaking (SJU) as they are now?
In order to understand my arguments concerning today’s situation, I’ll first have a closer look at the situation as it was during the definition phase.
The SESAR Definition Phase was a multi-stakeholder project consisting of 6 milestones which delivered 6 documents each of which was subject to agreement by the stakeholders. The SESAR Concept of Operations was part of deliverable 3, entitled “The ATM Target System”. It was seen as the driving engine of the future system and consequently to some extent the development process of the concept was THE culmination point of the diverging views of the different stakeholders. Obviously, in the end all stakeholders had to compromise to some extent.
Why did these different views come up?
It makes a huge difference “how” a system is operated and since I was representing the Airspace Users, the Airspace Users operational concept vision did not come up just by accident. It was the result of a structured process reflecting all types of Airspace Users.
Before going to the different views, it is essential to understand how the vision of the Airspace Users was constructed: we looked 15 years ahead, we did analyse different passenger segmentation forecasts and their needs and preferences and how the airlines could respond (in terms of the operational context) to those passenger needs.
Click here to read the full article
Why lower delays are a problem for developments in air traffic management – a diabolical reality
On 08/10/2010, in Airline corner, by steve
Aviation is a cyclical business and it is only recently that airlines are managing, to a certain extent, to smooth the worst of the boom and bust swings. In the past, aircraft were ordered at a prodigious rate when business was booming only to see the additional capacity materialize exactly when business started to go down and capacity reduction was the name of the game.
But another cycle is still in the system and it spells trouble for all ATM projects requiring investments from the airlines.
When delays go through the roof, airlines come together to raise their voice, individually and via their associations, demanding improvements and better service. With the proper persuasion, they might even invest in a bit of new technology that promises to improve the delay situation. This can be a protracted process and there are always those who prefer to wait for someone else to save the situation… In any case, projects started during these black periods will still be ongoing when delays usually drop. This may have a variety of reasons, most not even connected with aviation as such, like the general economic situation in key markets impacting people’s propensity to fly.
Click here to read the full article
Are ATM operational concepts the cause of failure?
On 03/09/2010, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
I have known Jean-Marc Garot, the former director of EUROCONTROL’s Experimental Centre in Paris for a long time. A forward thinker and in many ways a visionary, he retired from EUROCONTROL in 2005. He has now published an interesting article in The Controller magazine with the title “What is an ATM concept?”
I think everyone in Europe and in the US who has ever been involved in the development of operational concepts for air traffic management should read this article. Not because it is so good or so full of revelations from which we can learn but to see just how poorly we have communicated our efforts and how completely things have been misunderstood on various levels of the ATM world and at different ATM organizations.
The article starts off with a nice and even funny summing up of how, it is claimed, experts for concept work are/have been selected. There is indeed some truth in the description and it is also true that there have always been people on the concept groups coming from airlines, ANSPs, industry and what have you who could only think in terms of their own particular activities with little regard for anybody else’s. But those were always a minority. Troublesome yes, but hardly determinant for the final product.
The overwhelming majority of experts in concept work knew what they were about and it was quite common to have airline reps with an ATC background as well as the other way round with ATC folks who were flying on the side.
The article correctly points out that some of the documents produced were indeed overly voluminous… It is a pity that in the very next paragraph 4D Trajectory Management, System Wide Information Management (SWIM) and even air/ground digital link are listed as mere hypotheses, ambiguous descriptions that everyone can agree to and which therefore assume the status of certainties, no longer questioned and on which benefit expectations can be built… without much justification.
Click here to read the full article
Why airlines are reluctant to SWIM
On 20/08/2010, in SWIM, by steve
In the air traffic management context, System Wide Information Management (SWIM) is an accepted concept and in fact SWIM is considered as one of the most important mainstays of both SESAR in Europe and NextGen in the USA. SWIM attained this status through the widespread recognition that the lack of information and the poor management of available information was in fact one of the main causes of inefficiencies in air traffic management.
In the SWIM context aircraft and airline systems are as much part of the net-centric environment as are ATC systems and airports. In other words, information is universal and must be managed as such without artificial barriers separating the partners along legacy divisions based on activity types. It does not mean that everyone may see into everyone else’s kitchen. Commercial and other sensitivities are taken into account but required information is available to whoever needs it, where they need it and when they need it.
Only by going away from the legacy thinking of treating information divided into company domains and replacing it with an information-as-needed type of paradigm can the hunger for information in aviation be quenched. This will certainly cost money but the transition has to be made or the consequences can be dire.
In this light it is certainly cause for worry to read in the July 26 issue of Aviation Week and Space Technology about the debate that took place recently at SITA’s Assembly in Genval, Belgium. There Edward Nicol, Cathay Pacific Airways’ director of information management, while acknowledging the legitimacy of the connected aircraft concept, argued that to date no supplier could provide a business case for such a system. As reported by Aviation Week, he went on to say that the implementation programs being promoted by the manufacturers do not fully recognize the practical difficulties of overhauling an airline’s legacy systems.
Unfortunately the report does not quote the position of airlines in the SESAR and NextGen sphere of influence but I am afraid that their view of the connected aircraft is probably rather similar. And therein lies the lethal trap.
Click here to read the full article
Christophe Hamel in new job with the FAA – Congratulations!
On 13/07/2010, in Just to let you know..., by steve
It is always with pride and great pleasure that we bring news of the successes and achievements of our contributors and experts featured in our articles. This time it is Christophe’s turn. We introduced him recently in the “Interesting People, Unusual Flight Plans” series and now we can bring you the happy news that Christophe has accepted a position with SAIC for the FAA that will be a continuation of his previous contribution to the CNS/ATM world in the EU and the US. He will be working at FAA Headquarters in Washington D.C.
The tasks of the Senior Regulatory Analyst (as his new post is called) include:
Click here to read the full article
FAA NextGen Implementation Plan (NGIP) 2010 available
On 05/07/2010, in NextGen, by steve
The NGIP is a very interesting document, published by the FAA in a new version every year. The latest issue was released in March this year. The purpose of the NGIP is to help inform the public at large about how the Agency plans to implement the Next Generation air traffic management concept over the coming years (2009-2018).
The book describes the FAA’s accomplishments to date and lists the targets it is working to in terms of technology and program milestones. Of particular interest are the sections that describe how achievement of the targets and milestones will be supported.
The 2010 edition of the NGIP is interesting also in that it re-states, in Section 2, the FAA’s response to the RTCA NextGen Mid-term Implementation Task Force report and so you get in a single volume all the most important information relevant to NextGen. Other sections describe the current state of NextGen, FAA’s proposals for development and implementation in the 2009-2018 (mid-term) timeframe, the benefits FAA expects to be realized and finally in Section 5 the challenges and risks are discussed.
Download your copy here.
Learn a new abbreviation: NIEC! – NextGen Integration and Evaluation Capability
On 02/07/2010, in NextGen, by steve
All information seems to suggest that NIEC will play an important role in getting the FAA’s NextGen off the ground. Located at the William J. Hughes Technical Center (WJHTC), Atlantic City International Airport, New Jersey, the mission of the NexGen Integration and Evaluation Capability is to foster the exploration, evaluation and integration of NextGen enabling components within a rapid prototyping environment for concept validation and maturation.
That is quite a mouthful… Let’s see (using the relevant FAA fact sheet) what NIEC is all about.
The NIEC is the FAA’s research platform to explore, integrate, and evaluate NextGen concepts through simulation activities resulting in concept maturation and requirements definition. The NIEC Display Area (NDA) complements the unique NAS facilities and aviation based equipment located at the WJHTC.The NIEC leverages existing NAS operational systems and high fidelity, real-time simulation capabilities to create an integrated, flexible and reconfigurable environment that can be tailored for NextGen research as well as test and evaluation. The NDA can provide a futuristic NextGen gate to gate visualization environment with advanced data collection capabilities to support integration and evaluation of new technologies and concepts. The ability to provide a combined environment of legacy systems with future technologies and capabilities also enable the NIEC to support the transition to NextGen.
Click here to read the full article
Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) for Dummies – IBM eBook 2nd Limited Edition (free download)
On 25/06/2010, in Bookshelf, by steve
If you are following SESAR or NextGen for that matter, you will have come accross the abbreviation SOA (Service Oriented Architecture). A lot of discussion is being generated on the subject in the air traffic management world, not least because SOA has never really been applied in ATM before. If the experts have a problem figuring this out, what about the rest of us? Where can we turn for help?
Service Oriented Architecture is the most important technology initiative facing businesses today. SOA is game changing, and early SOA successes make it clear that SOA is here to stay. This book introduces you to the basics of SOA in context with the real life experiences of seven companies. Seen through the varied business environments depicted in each of the case studies, the authors hope you will recognize that SOA is more than a bunch of new software products strung together to allow technology companies to have something else to sell. SOA represents a dramatic change in the relationship between business and IT. SOA makes technology a true business enabler and empowers business and technology leaders alike.
Download the free IBM eBook here.
To be able to read the eBook, you will need Adobe Digital Editions to be installed on your computer. If it is not yet installed, with your approval the system will install it for you. Adobe Digital Editions is usable for other eBooks also created under the same protocol.
AEEC General Session report for 2010 is now available
On 23/06/2010, in Bookshelf, by steve
The annual AEEC General Session is the most important single event on the AEEC calendar. The General Session marks the culmination of the years’ standards development work, and new ARINC Standards are discussed and approved at this meeting. Furthermore, at the General Session the AEEC initiates the work program for the next year. The AEEC General Session is an ideal opportunity for aviation industry professionals to obtain an overview of the important technical developments in air transport avionics and other aircraft electronics.
The 2010 AEEC General Session report summarizes:
- NextGen and SESAR Readiness
- Airframe perspective NextGen and SESAR Readiness
- Avionics Supplier perspective SFAR 88 Fuel Tank Symposium
- Software Management Symposium
- Security Aspects of Software Data Loading Symposium and
- AEEC Subcommittee and Project reports
It also contains valuable information on AEEC’s actions to adopt new ARINC Standards.
This is a must have publication for all professionals on the avionics side of the business. The report is in two parts with all the briefing material under separate cover.
You can purchase and download your copy here.
Your project delayed? Come join the club!
On 15/06/2010, in NextGen, by steve
It must be horrible to be the project manager of major aircraft programs these days. Look at the Airbus A380, the A400M, the Boeing 787 or the 747-8. They were all delayed by several years and the reasons were often quite pedestrian (like incompatible software or strength calculation errors). It will fall on the Airbus A350 to improve the record but in view of what has almost become the routine now, it would be a miracle of the 350 flew on time.
But air traffic control systems are faring little better. Which was the last really new ATC system in Europe that was delivered and put into operational use on the date originally stipulated? And now, a delay to ERAM is here to set the trend forth.
Under the En-Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) program, the FAA is replacing the computer network for air traffic control facilities that manage traffic in the upper airspace. Modernizing this network is critical to allowing the FAA to continue managing air traffic effectively. It is also an essential component of NextGen , the FAA’s next generation air traffic control system.
Click here to read the full article
