Fact sheets on SWIM
On 21/12/2011, in SWIM, by steve
One of the ways SESAR communicates with the world is the so-called fact-sheets. These are compact descriptions of certain aspects of the work-packages and as such provide a fairly useful source of quick reference.
System Wide Information Management (SWIM) has its own set of fact-sheets, well worth a look.
Check them out here.
BluSky Services and Holland Aviation Consultancy & Engineering (HACE) team up to develop advanced e-training courses
On 13/06/2011, in Training world, by steve
The importance of training in aviation cannot be over emphasized. This has been amply demonstrated by recent events, including the Air France A330 crash and the A380 taxi incident, in both of which pilot training issues have been identified as important contributory factors.
But the need for quality training extends way beyond pilots and air traffic controllers. People working on all levels and in all aviation disciplines must be able to supplement their basic training and skills with new knowledge constantly being generated in this fast moving industry.
Training is an expensive affair. The courses themselves tend to have a steep price and having people travel to the course location incurs additional expenses. Temporary absence from the workplace must also be accounted for. With company budgets under stress everywhere, managers are often forced to axe all but essential training. Of course the line between essential and nice to have is not always easy to identify and missing out on important new knowledge happens before we know it.
However, modern technology is here to help. Enter the Advanced E-training Courses being offered in air traffic management by the HACE/BluSky Services partnership. These two companies bring together several years’ worth of expertise in air traffic management and e-learning to offer a wide range of courses at a very reasonable price.
Whether you are an individual wishing to expand your horizons or a company with a need to bring its personnel up to speed on certain subjects, e-learning provides a cost-effective and convenient way to acquire the knowledge you seek. In all cases, the total cost is a fraction of what an equivalent classroom course would require in terms of time and money.
Click here to read the full article
SWIM – One size does not fit all?
On 24/03/2011, in SWIM, by steve
Whatever the context, this is a very true statement. And I hate it from the bottom of my heart.
Why?
Because in the area closest to my heart, air traffic management, it has been used over the years as the (rather lame) excuse for not harmonizing things, be it implementation dates, system functionality or the working position user interface. The results were inevitably increased costs, missed project deadlines, unachieved goals or goals achieved that were different from what the ATM community needed.
When the concept of a Single European Sky first surfaced, even its name was refreshing as it suggested a departure from the old buzzword and a bright new future where things would finally work to the same gauge everywhere. What a naïve thought…
At the ATM Global conference in Amsterdam recently, the top guy of DSNA, the French air navigation service provider, talking about the Functional Airspace Blocks (FAB), informed his audience that no single FAB would fit all and that FABs were bringing European diversity to SESAR.
It was rather disappointing to hear him use this well worn excuse for Europe’s inability once again to set up a truly single sky! One would have hoped for a more modern (digital?) excuse but that was probably expecting too much…
I got another jolt last night when the SWIM thread on LinkedIn directed my attention to new information on SWIM posted on the SESAR web site. There I found another echo of this hated claim.
Click here to read the full article
SWIM in SESAR
On 07/03/2011, in SWIM, by steve
The importance of System Wide Information Management for the future ATM system is undisputed now and luckily it seems that the voices wanting to eliminate the venerable abbreviation SWIM have also lost power.
Within the SESAR Program, 2 work-packages are entrusted with the development of SWIM, WP8 (“Information Management”) and WP14 (SWIM Technical Architecture”), with involvement from EUROCONTROL in both. SWIM is one of the core technical developments in the SESAR Program. It enables data sharing between ATM services across the whole European ATM system. The goal is to improve collaborative decision making and common situational awareness through the provision of quality information to the right people at the right time.
It is foreseen that SWIM will put in place several elements facilitating this improved exchange of information. The first of which -the ATM Information Reference Model (AIRM)- is to be released soon. The dedicated SWIM web pages will provide more details on this and future developments. Furthermore the SWIM LinkedIn Subgroup provides a discussion-forum for all stakeholders who wish to get involved and share their ideas.
Of course this does not mean that SWIM development and implementation will now be smooth sailing. For one, there are still different interpretations of the concept and its scope and some experts even worry that the available network technologies will not be up to the requirements that will be imposed by full scale SWIM implementation. Sadly it is rather quiet on the SWIM Linkedin Subgroup but this does not mean that there is that little to discuss. If nothing else, just read Roger-Wilco’s many articles about SWIM and I am sure you will have plenty to talk about.
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
SWIM and WikiLeaks – do we need to worry?
On 05/01/2011, in SWIM, by steve
For all those who are even a little familiar with the System Wide Information Management (SWIM) concept the recent publication of thousands of classified diplomatic documents must have come as a shock. If secret diplomatic correspondence can be hijacked and made public with such ease, what hope do we have of keeping the commercially or otherwise sensitive data that will be shared in the air traffic management environment confidential? Will anyone still be willing to share their sensitive data?
To give an answer to this question, we have to examine how those secret, electronically stored documents got into the wrong hands in the first place.
For many years the United States government was being lambasted from all sides for being a dinosaur in the information age. Adoption of electronic government functions, long commonplace in countries of far lesser sophistication, were being introduced at a painfully slow rate, if at all. Significantly, the 9/11 commission report charged that computers in the various government departments could not share information and that this contributed to the terrorists being able to conduct their preparations unnoticed.
In other words, Uncle Sam was badly in need of a healthy dose of SWIM. As we know, System Wide Information Management ensures that everyone has the data they need in a timely manner and in the quality that meets their requirements. SWIM also ensures that the confidentiality of information passing through it is rigorously protected.
Click here to read the full article
FF-ICE – Flight and Flow Information for a Collaborative Environment
On 05/11/2010, in SWIM, by steve
A great document from unexpected quarters
Before anyone misunderstands, I would like to stress that receiving a great document from the Air Traffic Management and Performance Panel (ATMRPP) is not what is unexpected. It is more the scope of the document that was surprising, given its relatively humble beginnings. That the document is also visionary and uses the correct terminology throughout is just icing on the cake.
So what is this doc that has moved this arch-critic of the more common, poorly structured, inconsistent products using poor terminology to such words of praise?
When I was sent a copy of “Flight and Flow Information for a Collaborative Environment – A Concept”, produced by the ATMRPP, my interest was picked immediately. A few years ago when this document was in its infancy, I had the honor of being able to advise EUROCONTROL on how to interpret the advanced flight planning vision we wrote into the SESAR Concept of Operations. I recalled clearly how different experts had different views on the subject and it looked like achieving consensus would be all but impossible. So, if for nothing else, I was curious to see what the result was in the end.
Why did I say that the document, in spite of its lofty title, had humble beginnings? Well, the work that culminated in this beauty had set out originally to create a new ICAO flight plan to replace the current, hopelessly outdated product. In the end, a two step approach was agreed with a new, updated flight plan coming in the near future (read more about that here) to take care of the immediate needs. After this first step, the second aims to implement what they called the FF-ICE, covering the time frame up to 2025. FF-ICE stands for Flight and Flow Information for a Collaborative Environment and the document is in fact the description of the FF-ICE concept.
Setting out to remedy the pretty bad scene around the existing flight plan and its contents, the experts could not fail to realize that a solution that addressed only the flight plan as such would not bring about the much needed improvement. Only a wholesale revamping of the information management environment of which flight plans and their content are a part would ensure that the well-known problems disappear and the whole thing become future proof.
The ATMPRPP created a concept that aligns well with System Wide Information Management (SWIM) as being planned in Europe and the US and it also covers the new ideas on how flight planning should work as described in the SESAR Concept of Operations.
Click here to read the full article
SESAR and SWIM – things are slowly becoming reality
On 03/11/2010, in SESAR's Palace, SWIM, by steve
Good news at long last
Not so long ago, I was asked to make a presentation about System Wide Information Management (SWIM) to the participants of a project we are involved in. While most of the audience noted what I said and asked a few relevant questions, there was also a small minority who expressed the opinion that SWIM as I described it will never happen. This reminded me of arguments I have had years earlier with someone who went so far as even wanting to banish the name “SWIM” for reasons I could never really understand (you can read more about how this name was born here).
It also struck me as strange that if you ask the average person involved in or near SESAR about what is going on in the project in the context of information management generally and SWIM in particular, you are likely to get a list of work packages and companies involved in working on them but little else.
I at Roger-Wilco have written a lot about SWIM but most of the time I was trying to describe the why with an indication of possible “how” options but that was also not the information we crave so much: what is going on with SWIM?
Into this void came finally information from recently published papers (e.g. from the Stakeholder Consultation Group SCG) that describes not only the why and how of SESAR but also the status as it is now with important details about the work that is ongoing.
Having been involved with SWIM right from the day it was born (hell I can claim part of the fatherhood for this baby), I am now especially pleased to see that the terminology being used to describe the SWIM concept and its practicalities is exactly as we have always intended it to be. This is important because over the years there were several attempts to water down the concept, to change its focus or main principles and there was a very real danger that it would end up like so many good initiatives before it, dead before it had a chance to prove itself. But apparently this danger is now past and those involved in the work to-day are developing SWIM along the correct lines.
I will not bore you with a repeated description of what SWIM is. You can read more about that here. Instead, I will focus on the ongoing activities and their significance.
As you will see, there is plenty to talk about.
Click here to read the full article
Aircraft guy saving Ford. The key? Shared information!
On 07/10/2010, in SWIM, by steve
I remember clearly how surprised I was to read a while back that Boeing’s Alan Mulally, after 37 years with the aircraft maker, went to head up the Ford Motor Company in Detroit. While still with Boeing, Alan gave the impression that he was an aircraft guy through and through and in fact he kept Boeing straight and level by innovative management techniques and by embracing all kinds of new production solutions that improved quality and efficiency across the board.
Come to think of it, it makes sense for Ford to want him. As Alan recently put it in an interview with Time magazine: What does it take for America to compete in the global marketplace? He also gave the answer: you start by making the best products in the world.
Well, coming from Boeing he can certainly claim to know a thing or two about making the best aircraft in the world.
One of the things he did at Ford was to dismantle the old structures that had successfully prevented much needed reform in the past. This did not go without a fight and a lot of old hands were complaining bitterly but by insisting on full and accurate information from all corners of the enterprise and sharing this information across the management matrix he had created, he essentially neutralized those power centers that assumed their power from hoarding information and withholding it from other parts of the company. This way the local fiefdoms were no longer the holders of real power, it went to where it belongs, the top of the company.
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
Three short questions on the SESAR Concept of Operations answered
On 19/07/2010, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
Over the past year we have published several posts dealing with SESAR in general and the SESAR concept of operations in particular. Some of those posts voiced concerns and uncertainties. In an exclusive interview with Michael Standar, SJU Chief Air Traffic Management, published here in May 2010, we attempted to answer the concerns… to some extent anyway. In SESAR Magazine Issue 3, published in July 2010, Michael now answers three short questions on the Concept of Operations. We bring you the full text as it appeared in SESAR Magazine in the hope of making the ConOps picture a bit clearer.
Michael, where are we today with the SESAR Concept of
Operations (ConOps)?
The first thing to remember is that the SESAR ConOps was set out in the SESAR Definition Phase. In the SJU ConOps storyboard it was structured into three steps to realize the paradigm shift necessary to modernize the European ATM system. In step 1, we move from the current day to time-based operations, focused on better use of existing technology and optimizing communication between ground and airborne equipment. Step 2 introduces trajectory based operations through the 4D trajectory. As new technology is involved, international standardization bodies and ICAO will be engaged. The third and final step will be a fully integrated performance based ATM System supported by System Wide Information Management, SWIM – the intranet of the air. These three steps are not sequential but start in parallel, aiming at gaining early benefits for the air transport sector.
Click here to read the full article
Who owns the radar blip?
On 09/06/2010, in SWIM, by steve
I am sure many of you had read about the proposed slot swap between Delta Airlines and US Airways, giving the former substantially more presence at La Guardia while the latter would gain strength at Reagan National in Washington D.C. When the airlines applied for approval, the FAA set conditions that would have nixed most of the benefits expected by the carriers. They are now going to the courts, arguing that the FAA is charged with making sure airspace is used safely and efficiently and not with assessing impacts on competition. The issue of who owns slots has been on the table before but so far, no real answers have been given by the federal authorities. With this latest round and the involvement of the courts, there is hope that a judge will come up with something that can at least be chewed further if it is not to the liking of any of the parties involved.
But slots are an almost physical commodity compared to the nature and ownership issues that are looming in respect of system wide information management (SWIM). So who owns data?
Right at the start we must differentiate between ownership in a purely data management sense and ownership in terms of the value represented by a piece of data. The data management aspect is relatively easy and setting the right rules will ensure that the data owners are always properly identified, their rights (e.g. to change the data) and obligations (e.g. to provide the data) correctly assigned and acknowledged and access by others limited as appropriate.
It is when we start to consider ownership in terms of the value of data that things start to get complicated. Let’s take a concrete example that has in the past already generated some discussion… and little agreement.
Who is the owner of aircraft position information obtained by ground surveillance?
Click here to read the full article
SWIM-SUIT final User Forum – 24-25 June 2010, Rome, Italy
On 01/06/2010, in Events, by steve
System Wide Information Management (SWIM) is one of the mainstays of both SESAR and NextGen. SWIM is the set of institutional arrangements, rules, roles and responsibilities, applications and networks that enable information sharing and the common situational awareness, among others things, that are essential for developing the future net-centric air traffic management system.
SWIM-SUIT, an EU 6th Framework Project, developed a SWIM prototype that provides a basis for assessing the technological solutions used. Although the idea of developing a SWIM prototype may suggest that this was a technology driven project, SWIM-SUIT also addressed the legal and financial aspects of SWIM implementation. Since SWIM is less of a problem from the technological point of view, with most obstacles expected in the institutional area, this latter contribution of SWIM-SUIT will be especially valuable.
SWIM-SUIT will hold its final User Forum in Rome, Italy, on 24-25 June 2010.
You can register here. Registration closes on 4 June!
SWIM – proper terminology at last?
On 25/03/2010, in SWIM, by steve
During the SESAR definition phase we had to spend a lot of time explaining to the various authors that talking about System Wide Information Management (SWIM) using the old terminology is counter productive and will only make the documents more difficult to understand (and easier to misunderstand). Let me explain.
For some reason, most people thought that down-linking data from an aircraft was the thing to do and they used this term also in the SWIM context not realizing that down-linking is an action you undertake to achieve something and in concept level descriptions you need to specify first what you want to achieve and then talk about the “how” later. An aircraft in the air will publish its information so that those interested will learn about it and those looking for it can find it. Users who need the information will subscribe to it and hence will also get it. By using the term down-linking instead of publishing, writers did manage to create the impression that aircraft will be sending down loads of data to every imaginable destination… This is not the SWIM way of working and shows clearly why proper terminology is important if we want to see the correct picture.
Click here to read the full article
SWIM – How much information should we be sharing?
I would like to propose a simple rule: anybody asking how much information we should be sharing in air traffic management should have their Christmas bonus cancelled… Here is why.
System Wide Information Management (SWIM) is the concept and set of rules, procedures and other needed elements that underpin the net-centric approach of the new air traffic management environment being built by SESAR in Europe and NextGen in the USA.
In a nutshell, the SWIM concept stipulates that the traditional and cumbersome point to point connections be replaced by a solution where those with data to share (i.e. data useful to the ATM community) publish the fact that they have this data (as well as any updates to it of course) and those who need that data simply go search for it or subscribe to it to avoid having to search. This arrangement assumes a kind of directory service not unlike that used on the internet and which helps you find your favorite movie title as it were. Don’t be offended by the comparison, in the world of networking, a movie title or a flight plan are not that different, they are both data. The difference is how we protect and handle the data but that is another story.
You will have noticed the fundamental difference between to-day’s approach to data dissemination and the one being proposed by SWIM.
Click here to read the full article
Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) – History and current practice
On 09/02/2010, in CDM, by steve
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
The concept of Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) was originally defined in the United States by a group of airlines, led by US Air, in response to what the airlines perceived as inadequate co-operation between airports, the FAA and the airlines themselves. They formed the so called CDM Group, members of which visited several airports with traffic flow problems and analysed the reasons.
Significantly, they discovered that in many cases the reasons were in fact quite trivial. In one case, a missing telephone connection between the FAA tower and the Delta ramp controller was found to be at the root of major departure delays; in another case the “secret” nature of cancelled flights was found to be the cause of unused slots at an otherwise seriously congested airport.
The CDM Group in its original reports had actually established three of the most basic rules of CDM which remain valid to this day even if, unfortunately, in some cases they are being ignored. The three rules are:
• Most problems have simple causes with simple solutions
• Better information sharing eliminates a very large proportion of the problems
• CDM can only be successful if trust is established between the partners as the first step
Although the CDM Group did at first address problems at airports (Atlanta and Philadelphia) when the FAA embraced the concept, they focused on applying it in the en-route environment. This was a natural consequence of the US scene where capacity constraints were present en-route while airports were almost all free flow at the time. Nevertheless, US airports got involved in CDM early as a result of the FAA’s ground-delay concept. The value of information sharing was shown right from the start. Just by being better informed, airlines were able to respond to the restrictions in a much more efficient manner. The initiative in the early 1990s called FAA/Airline Data Exchange (FADE), supported among others by Northwest Airlines, can be seen as the direct forerunner of what evolved into the US CDM project of to-day.
Click here to read the full article
The transition from AIS through AIM to IM – What is this?
On 26/01/2010, in Buzzwords explained, by steve
A global congress with this title will make even the aficionados of abbreviations shiver… AIS, AIM, IM… What is next? UR? Well, the funny thing is, the title is perfectly correct and abbreviations or not, it reflects one of the most profound changes ever in the way information is collected, promulgated and used in international aviation.
Let’s have a look at what is meant by those abbreviations and what their significance really is.
What is AIS?
AIS is of course the abbreviation of Aeronautical Information Service. This is the traditional, product based service concept that brings you vital information in the form of Notices to Airmen (NOTAM), the Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP), Aeronautical Information Circulars (AIC), the AIRAC system of information publication and of course the loads of standards and practices that come with them.
Over the years, AIS has grown into a worldwide system of aeronautical information provision that is both indispensable and for a long time was also a hindrance to progress in aeronautical information management.
How come? Well, let’s state right here and now that AIS is a wonder of global cooperation. It went global and worked well decades before the term “globalization” was invented (albeit in a different context). So, as far is it went, AIS was and still is in many respects an example to be followed. The problems came as a result of its product based nature. Raw data is collected, checked and collated, then published in “products” that represent a best-guess of what users of aeronautical information want most. In the simpler world of yesteryear, those guesses were not even so bad.
In to-day’s much more complex environment an AIS that serves everyone does not in fact fully satisfy anyone. OK, there are some really simple operations that are exceptions but they are really a minority.
Why was AIS a hindrance to change? As you can imagine, global AIS was not built overnight and they had had their share of troubles. Also, being State monopolies, AIS offices were not exactly reared to embrace change, even necessary change. So, even when the need for change was staring everyone in the face, AIS in some parts of the world pretended that everything was just fine. Change this well balanced system and face the consequences, they seemed to suggest…
Enter AIM…
Click here to read the full article
NOTAM goes digital
On 06/01/2010, in SWIM, by steve
What is a NOTAM?
A NOTAM...
There are a few things in aviation that have survived over the years with so little change as the NOTAM, in spite of its numerous, known shortcomings. NOTAM is a quasi-acronym for Notice to Airmen, a system of providing aeronautical information introduced well over 60 years ago.
NOTAMs… we have all seen them, worked with them and think we know them. But do we really?
...and the cranes it refers to!
A NOTAM is a text message, constructed using a code defined by ICAO and distributed via the Aeronautical Fixed Telecommunications Network (AFTN). It informs the recipients of immediate or temporary changes to the air navigation infrastructure, both airport and en-route. As an example, if a runway or part of a runway is temporarily closed, this will be announced in a NOTAM. There are several types of NOTAM but their essence and purpose is the same: provide vital information to airmen in a timely manner. In fact, the NOTAM is the middle part of the layered legacy system of information provision: the AIP (Aeronautical Information Publication) describes the big picture and the permanent situation; NOTAMs bring information about sudden/immediate changes and temporary changes that will exist for a short time only; and the operational radio, including broadcasts like the ATIS (Automatic Terminal Information Service), that announce sudden changes and continue to do so at least until the information is also available in a NOTAM.
The NOTAM offices of the world’s States are a legendary bunch of very independent minded experts, who know very well how important their job is and who tend to be slow with changes, however useful, lest the carefully thought out system fail in its purpose. Frustrating on occasion, it is hard to blame them for being careful.
Click here to read the full article
EUROCONTROL winter feature – the digital SNOWTAM trial
On 07/12/2009, in SWIM, by steve
Winter is coming…
After the earlier digital NOTAM trials organized by EUROCONTROL and the FAA, it is now time for trials with the digital SNOWTAM. The trials will run until March 2010 with the participation of several airports, airlines, NOTAM offices and the European AIS Data Base (EAD).
Click here to read the full article
SITA selected to provide PENS – but SWIM is more than just ANSPs!
On 24/11/2009, in SWIM, by steve
Those of our readers who have looked at the various postings on System Wide Information Management (SWIM) will be familiar with the abbreviation PENS which stands for “Pan European Network Service”. PENS will allow air navigation service providers from 38 countries to exchange operational data communications across a common network for the first time.
Following an intensive competitive tendering exercise, SITA was selected as the provider of this managed IP based regional communications backbone service.
PENS will enable the 38 ANSPs of the EUROCONTROL Member States to exchange operational ATC data communications in a seamless and integrated manner; it will provide an alternative to the ad-hoc bi-lateral communications that are largely in place today between the ANSPs, resulting in improved service levels and reduced overall costs.
Click here to read the full article
Trajectory Based Operations (TBO) – what is this?
On 16/11/2009, in Buzzwords explained, by steve
We have all grown up with the idea that airspace was the most important single thing aircraft needed. While it is true that aircraft need both air (in which the wings can generate lift) and space (the room to move around in) but airspace? This word has grown over the years and held us hostage to an air traffic management (ATM) paradigm that is one of the main causes of inefficiencies and scarce ATM capacity to-day.
If we look around, we will see plenty of instances where the term “airspace” is used in ways that mask much more essential things, things that need to be considered first and foremost before we think about the space in which those “things” exist.
States have their sovereign airspace, airspace management is an element of the global ICAO ATM operational concept, EUROCONTROL has an Airspace and Navigation Team, and there is the concept of flexible use of airspace… Even the quarterly publication of CANSO, the Civil Air Navigation Services Organization is called “Airspace”. Air traffic control centers have their airspace… Airspace is the magic term we all grew up with and think we understand.
We also tried to solve ATM problems by “improving” airspace. When those efforts did not quite work out the way we had hoped, we pronounced airspace to be a scarce resource almost saying that it was airspace that actually put a limit on how many aircraft there may fly around at any given moment.
In fact, airspace is an almost limitless resort. It appears to be limited only because of the way we use it.
Click here to read the full article
Passengers are not the only ones who need good communications – pilots do too!
On 14/11/2009, in Viewpoint, by steve
Few parts of aircraft have evolved as little as the communications capability. OK, we no longer use tubes in the radios but other than that, the VHF AM system is as legacy as they come. To add insult to injury, when the shortage of frequencies in the aviation band finally forced the industry to do something, instead of going for a modern and future proof solution, the channel spacing was split from 25 to 8.33 kHz. While partially solving the frequency problem, this solution did little more then perpetuating the shortcomings of the legacy voice system for decades to come. Who wants to think about yet another upgrade when the industry has just recently invested in 8.33? This sad picture in the voice communications arena is matched by an even bigger problem in air/ground data communications.
While the world has moved to high-speed comms en-masse, aviation is still stuck with ACARS (slow) SATCOM (slow and expensive) and VDL Mode 2 which offers the most, at least in continental airspace.
In the meantime, more and more airlines and aircraft types are offering truly cutting edge technology to enable passengers to send
email, browse the internet, watch television and (brrrr!) even use their cell phones in flight. Earlier attempts, like Connexion by Boeing were not a huge success but this has not discouraged airlines like Lufthansa from signing up with new contenders. True, these now offer much more efficient and reliable service, so the added value is there. In fact, there are several new offerings on the market, all competing to get on board somebody’s aircraft. Clearly, passengers’ thirst for maintaining their connectivity while airborne is an irresistible force for airlines and providers alike.
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Single Sky Committee unanimously supports Aeronautical Data and Information Quality (ADQ) Implementing Rule
On 04/11/2009, in SWIM, by steve
The drive is on to transform Aeronautical Information Services (AIS) into Aeronautical Information Management (AIM). This is needed to set the scene for the introduction of System Wide Information Management (SWIM), the ultimate goal of the activity.
The change from AIS to AIM is primarily the morphing of the traditional, package based aeronautical information system into a data-based one, where users are provided with data to feed their particular applications in the way they need it rather than being fed with pre-cooked packages that do not really satisfy anyone while also being extremely difficult to change when new requirements turn up.
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System Wide Information Management (SWIM) – Here and now
On 18/10/2009, in SWIM, by steve
That in ATM we are only now taking the first tentative steps to set the scene for the implementation of System Wide Information Management (SWIM) is not due in any way to SWIM being so complicated, it needing rocket science or yet to be invented technologies. Many an “expert” would make you believe this to be the case but it is not. We lost more than ten years due to ignorance and obfuscation but never mind, it is more important to look towards the future and it looks good for SWIM.
True, the SESAR target dates for SWIM are not as ambitious as they should and could be, but OK, one step at a time… At least officially SWIM is not in question any more.
In the meantime, if you want to have a first hand demonstration of SWIM at work in the aviation context, do the following.
Click here to read the full article
SWIM – Institutional aspects first and foremost
On 11/10/2009, in SWIM, by steve
Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine has recently published a very interesting article with the title “Integration Nightmares”. It is about the problems planners and engineers are facing in integrating the battlefield “system of systems”. As the author reports, high level military planners do not like to pay to solve complexity… Researchers have to weave through political, technological and financial obstacle courses to figure out how to create that “system of systems”.
You may shrug this news off and ask what relevance does this have to air traffic management’s SWIM? After all, we have SESAR and it will take care of such detail.
Sure, SESAR will help in bringing the partners together and in coordinating things but the obstacle course will still remain and needs to be negotiated. OK but why single out SWIM?
For most people, System Wide Information Management (SWIM) is a physical network, some standards and protocols and a few applications with some kind of network management thrown in, but little else.
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New directions for Airport Collaborative Decision Making (CDM)
On 07/10/2009, in CDM, by steve
What exactly is CDM?
Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) is not a new concept. It is being practiced to a certain degree both in the US and in Europe, focus being on en-route in the former and airports in the latter. Mature as the concept may be, surprisingly we still see experts who seem to believe that CDM is little more than a few wise men sitting together and deciding things for the benefit of the community… Little wonder that they see a role for CDM that is strictly limited to the strategic planning phases. They seem to hang on to this view even in the face of actual CDM implementations at some airports (e.g. Munich) which are anything but limited to the strategic phase. So, what is CDM?
The concept of CDM is very simple. Decisions on all levels must be made not in isolation but based on a shared, common view of the state of the ATM network with full awareness of the consequences of the decisions on every aspect of the operation. Collaborative in this context does not necessarily imply people sitting together or working together remotely. A single person can also make a collaborative decision if the decision is based on the shared information provided by the partners and if it takes into account the impact of the decision on those partners and the ATM network as a whole.
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SWIM, the external enabler – now read the book!
On 28/09/2009, in SWIM, by steve
Towards the end of the SESAR definition phase the airspace users in Europe presented a paper, arguing that System Wide Information Management (SWIM) was in fact external to air traffic management and as such, its implementation could and should happen at its own rate matched to the need to ensure mximised, early benefits.
The reasoning behind this argument was that SWIM could generate major efficiency benefits by improving situational awareness and decision making even in a basically legacy system and hence its implementation should not be tied to more advanced air traffic management developments slated for later years only.
Although the document has not been updated in the past year and parts of it have now been possibly superceeded, it still contains valuable information for those engaged in the definition and scoping of SWIM. The document as such is not an official position from the airspace users even if the content had originally been thoroughly discussed with their representatives. SInce it had been presented in an open meeting, it should now be considered as being in the public domain and we are pleased to share it with our readers for the benefit of the SWIM community.
Click on SWIM DOC to download your copy.
System Wide Information Management (SWIM) – the pretty picture
On 25/09/2009, in SWIM, by steve
System Wide Information Management (SWIM) is the cornerstone of the future air traffic management system. While the underlying concept of SWIM is not overly complicated, it does require a shift in thinking something that tends to result in different interpretations, some closer to the real thing than others. In the following we present an understanding of SWIM that we think is a basically correct reflection of the main features of the idea. This is being done in the hope that many who are interested in SWIM will be able to grasp some details that were hitherto less well understood. When SWIM is actually implemented, some elements might have different names but the elements will be more all less the same. What follows is not a SWIM architecture in the strict sense of the word. It is an illustration of the concept and its elements.
I am sure many of our readers will have questions or concerns, some may even find errors in this write up. Use the comment option or send is mail.
Let’s work on getting a common understanding of SWIM!
Click here to read the full article
(Before) all else fails… read the Concept! Part 3.
On 24/09/2009, in Buzzwords explained, by steve
What is TMR?
The abbreviation of Trajectory Management Requirements and an item that has been misunderstood in several ways (some quite surprising). Obviously, the CONOPS did not do a very good job of explaining this simplest of elements (mea culpa…). An aircraft flying its 4 dimensional trajectory will do so with an agreed precision and the trajectory to be flown will not deviate from the one agreed by more than prescribed limits. The aircraft system does not need to re-publish its trajectory as long as any deviation that may occur remains within those limits.
TMR is nothing more than an automated instruction to the aircraft containing the applicable limits. In other words all TMR does is set the triggers for re-publishing the trajectory. An aircraft may be given different limits as it flies, depending on the changing requirements along its trajectory, resulting in several TMR messages.
Restricting the number of instances of trajectory publishing to that actually required saves bandwidth and processing resources.
Click here to read the full article
(Before) all else fails… read the Concept! Part 2.
On 23/09/2009, in Buzzwords explained, by steve
What is a net-centric system?
Net-centric, in its most common definition, refers to “participation as a part of a continuously evolving, complex community of people, devices, information and services interconnected by a communications network to optimise resource management and provide superior information on events and conditions needed to empower decision makers.” It will be clear from the definition that “net-centric” does not refer to a network as such. It is a term that covers all elements constituting the environment referred to as “net-centric”.
Exchanges between members of the community are based not on cumbersome individual interfaces and point to point connections but a flexible network paradigm that is never a hindrance to the evolution of the net-centric community. Net-centricity promotes a “many-to-many” exchange of data, enabling a multiplicity of users and applications to make use of the same data which in itself extends way beyond the traditional, predefined and package oriented data set while still being standardized sufficiently to ensure global interoperability. The aim of a net-centric system is to make all data visible, available and usable, when needed and where needed, to accelerate and improve the decision making process.
Click here to read the full article
SWIM in the USA
On 17/09/2009, in SWIM, by ahmad and lesley FAA
System Wide Information Management (SWIM) is an advanced technology program designed to facilitate greater sharing of Air Traffic Management (ATM) system information such as airport operational status, weather information, flight data, status of special use airspace, and National Air Space 
(NAS) restrictions. SWIM will support current and future NAS programs by providing flexible and secure information management architecture for sharing NAS information. SWIM will use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and software to support a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) that will facilitate the addition of new systems and data exchanges, and increase common situational awareness.
How did SWIM originate?
EUROCONTROL initially presented the SWIM concept to the FAA in 1997, where it has been under development ever since. In 2005, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Global Air Traffic Management (ATM) Operational Concept adopted the SWIM concept to promote information-based ATM integration. SWIM is now part of development projects in both the United States (NextGen) and the European Union (Single European Sky ATM Research – SESAR).
Click here to read the full article
Trajectory ownership: dogfight or guiding principle?
On 13/09/2009, in Buzzwords explained, by steve
Few elements of the SESAR Concept of Operations (CONOPS) have generated more controversy than the idea of trajectory ownership did. Regrettably, the controversy still boils. Some experts dismiss the whole thing as a “political dogfight”, others conduct lengthy debates on how trajectory ownership will work (or not work) in daily operations. They are both on the wrong track, revealing a fundamental misunderstanding of what the CONOPS is trying to say. It is time we put the matter out of its misery and recognize trajectory ownership for what it was always meant to be: a strategic guiding principle with a fundamental impact on future air traffic management.
First and foremost, we must realize that, except for the smallest and lightest aircraft, almost all flying machines are in fact business tools of differing sophistication. From rented aircraft to the most modern airliners, they fulfill a mission and are meant to generate revenue for their operators. The Sunday leisure flyers apart, this is true of business jets, crop sprayers, airline transports and even the military.
Click here to read the full article
At the cradle of SWIM
SWIM, well the name that is, was born in the early morning on a misty February day in a hotel room in Luxemburg. It was 1998.The abbreviation of System Wide Information Management, SWIM has now become an integral element of both SESAR and NextGen, the air traffic management development projects in Europe and the USA, respectively. Getting here was not easy.
Following the publication of the first issues of the European ATM Operational Concept Document (OCD) and the ATM Strategy for 2000+ it was felt that the wide-ranging and informal discussions that can take place at a workshop would generate valuable additional information to feed subsequent editions of those documents. The workshop took place in February 1998 in Luxemburg.
The air was pregnant with the need to do something about the horribly inefficient manner the sea of information generated by and consumed in air traffic management was being handled.
Click here to read the full article
Net-centric air traffic management system explained
On 11/08/2009, in Buzzwords explained, by steve
Net-centric, in its most common definition, refers to “participation as a part of a continuously evolving, complex community of people, devices, information and services interconnected by a communications network to optimise resource management and provide superior information on events and conditions needed to empower decision makers.” It will be clear from the definition that “net-centric” does not refer to a network as such. It is a term that covers all elements constituting the environment referred to as “net-centric”.
Exchanges between members of the community are based not on cumbersome individual interfaces and point to point connections but a flexible network paradigm that is never a hindrance to the evolution of the net-centric community. Net-centricity promotes a “many-to-many” exchange of data, enabling a multiplicity of users and applications to make use of the same data which in itself extends way beyond the traditional, predefined and package oriented data set while still being standardised sufficiently to ensure global interoperability. The aim of a net-centric system is to make all data visible, available and usable, when needed and where needed, to accelerate and improve the decision making process.
Click here to read the full article
SESAR’s Palace
On 02/08/2009, in SESAR's Palace, by steve
No, there is no spelling mistake in the title… we are not talking about that famous (or infamous) institution in Las Vegas. The title of this section of the blog and the first article in it comes from the name affectionately given to the rather somber office building in Blagnac outside Toulouse which used to house the SESAR crew during the definition phase.
Do you know SESAR?
SESAR is now under the management of a dedicated joint undertaking with the direct and indirect involvement of some 70 companies. But what exactly is SESAR all about? When this question is asked, people involved in ATM will usually respond by quoting the official line which describes the essence of the thing: a program that will have a huge impact on ATM related R&D in Europe and on ATM itself as new services and operational procedures are implemented in the 2012 to 2020 time-frame.
Details? This is where all too often the question is met with hesitation or a blank stare…
Click here to read the full article
Why we must learn to SWIM?
On 26/07/2009, in SWIM, by steve
The power of information is in sharing it…
A document discussing future air traffic management functions passed through my desk the other day. The time frame was 2020 and the context, one can safely assume, SESAR, the big European air traffic management development program.
Reading the document, I came upon several instances where the authors described how certain functions will need to be limited or might not even work since the system will not be aware of this or that piece of vital information.
There was also no mention of important, hitherto under-utilised, new sources of information, like the Airline Operations Centre (AOC). Can’t use that thing once the aircraft is airborne, was the reason given.
I am not saying the document was bad. It had all the right things and the right words in it. What it failed to do was show how to-day’s constraints arising from the dearth of information would become requirements to be satisfied by System Wide Information Management (SWIM).
A system built along the lines described in the document would have the same limitations built into it that make to-day’s set up struggle to keep up with demand.
Click here to read the full article
