aeronautical communications panel (acp) 20th meeting of working group m

Federal AviationAdministration

SUMMARY

This information paper is intended to provide status of on going activities within the FAA for the implementation of the Data Communications Program.

AERONAUTICAL COMMUNICATIONS PANEL (ACP)

20th MEETING OF WORKING GROUP M

Montreal, Canada January 23 - 25, 2013

FAA Data Comm Program

Status

(Presented by: Peter Muraca, FAA)

Agenda Item: 6 (a)

Data Communications Program – StatusICAO ACP WG-M (January 23 – 25, 2013 ) Montreal, Canada

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Agenda• Background• Program Baseline - Scope• Program Lifecycle• Services Roadmap• Data Comm System View (end to end environment)

• Data Comm System Components• Target Equipage• Recent Activities• Program Status – S1P1 Activities• Program S1P1 Milestones


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Ground Delay Savings• Revised Departure Clearance• Airport Information• Flow Initiatives

• Direct Reroutes• Crossing Restrictions• Tailored Arrivals

Aircraft Fuel Savings

• Seamless Uplink of Flow Initiatives / TFM Reroutes – “Go” Button

• Comm Transfer Workload Reduction

Increased Safety – Reduced Operational Errors

Background

En Route Delay Savings and Increased Controller Productivity

• More Efficient Delivery of Clearances• Allows Uplink of More Complex Clearances• En Route Notifications

o Provides two-way data between controllers, automation and flight crewso Safety-of-flight air traffic control (ATC) clearances, instructions, traffic flow

management, flight crew requests and reports o Automation enhancements for ATC message generation and exchange

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Program Baseline - Scope• JRC approved Final Investment Decision for S1P1

(Departure Clearance service) for 41 sites– Data Comm Integrated Services (DCIS) contract – TDLS Departure Clearance (DCL) enhancements – ERAM contract modification supporting DCL service (AFN logon)

– Moving forward with development of En Route services (S1P2)

• Tower Trials– Operational trials of the DCL service in Memphis, Newark, and

Atlanta


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Program lifecycle (IID)InitialInvestmentDecision

Complete Service Level Agreements Complete Safety Assessments Complete Initial Requirement Documents Complete Initial Cost Benefit Analysis Complete JRC 2A, Initial Investment Decision Develop Specifications (Sys Eng)

Human Factors HITLS• Standards Development Develop and Release SIR(s) Receive and Evaluate proposals Finalize Business Case Analyses Contract Award

(IARD)Investment

AnalysisReadiness

Decision

(FID)FinalInvestmentDecision

Tower automation IOC 2016(Seg 1 Phase 1)

En-Route automation IOC 2019(Seg 1 Phase 2)

Segment 2 IOC 2025 (ATN)

Nea

r Ter

m

Act

iviti

es

5

DCIS Contract Award (Planned for Q4 FY12)


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CY 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30

Segment 1 Phase 1

- Tower Service

Segment 1 Phase 2

- En Route Services

Departure Clearances (DCL)Tower IOC

Avionics

En Route IOCInitial En Route

Services

Full En Route Services

Transfer of CommunicationsInitial Check-InAltitudes / Altimeter SettingsGo Button / Airborne Reroutes

Tailored Arrivals Controller Initiated Routes Direct-to-FixCrossing RestrictionsAdvisory MessagesSpeed and Headings Beacon CodesStuck Microphone

Services Roadmap

TFM Data Comm

Data Comm Routine

Communications

Reroutes

Departure

Clearance

Ground SystemFANS

FANS 1/A+ over VDL-2 transitioning to ATN

ATN

Tailored Arrivals

Data Comm Routine

Communications

Segment 2

- Advanced Services4D TrajectoriesD-TAXI


7•National Sites•ZLC and ZTL

Data Comm System View• Ground Infrastructure - FAA

– Tower Data Link Service (TDLS)– En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM)– FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure (FTI)

• Uplink/Downlink Infrastructure - FAA– Data Comm Integrated Services (DCIS/DCNS)

• Aircraft Upgrades – Airlines– FANS 1/A+ over VDL-2, later adding ATN B2

Phase 1

Phase 1 & 2

Phase 2


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Data Comm System Components• Tower Data Link (TDLS) Enhancements

– In-house FAA development through the Inter-Facility Communications Engineering Team (IFCET)

– Departure Clearance (DCL) and Revised DCL service Implementation

• En Route Automation (ERAM) Enhancements– Key functions needed for Tower Service and to enable subsequent En

Route services (AFN, Flight Plan…..)

• Ground-Ground Telecommunications Service– FAA Telecommunications Infrastructure (FTI)

• Data Comm Integrated Service (DCIS) – Contract awarded to Harris Corporation in September 2012– Air/Ground VHF Data Link Mode 2 (VDL-2) Network Service (DCNS)– Engineering Integration Services– Manage Avionics Equipage Initiative


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Target Equipage• Initial service will be deployed with Future Air Navigation System (FANS)

1/A+ avionics– Integrated avionics package functionality supports deployment of all Segment 1 Tower

and En Route services– FANS in operation today

• Ground System deployment plans extend to align with Aeronautical Telecommunications Network (ATN) avionics projected for 2020s timeframe– ATN Baseline 2 will allow advanced NextGen operations such as Trajectory Based

Operations, Conformance Management, etc.– ATN Baseline 2 standards are in the process of being finalized by joint US-European

committee

• Air / Ground network will be VHF Data Link (VDL) Mode 2 – Program investigating accommodating VDL Mode 0 for Tower DCL service– Part of Tower trials is to determine if VDL Mode 0 can meet performance requirements

for DCL


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Recent ActivitiesERAM Enhancements•Completed Critical Design Review (CDR) for Data Comm ERAM software enhancements

•Completed system integration of Data Comm ERAM software enhancements and began Development Test (DT)

TDLS Enhancements•Successfully completed TDLS Preliminary Design Review (PDR)•Conduct Critical Design Review (CDR) in April 2013 ahead of schedule

Tower Trials•Awarded Contract for Data Communications Trial Automation Platform (DTAP)

•Completed functional test of DTAP at FAA Tech Center with NATCA controllers

•Conducted live end-to-end testing of DTAP into the flight deck avionics with United, UPS, Delta, and FedEx at FAA Technical Center

•Installed DTAP equipment (B4.5) and began functional testing at Memphis Tower

•Completed Departure Clearance (DCL) procedures and training development to support trials at Memphis

•Start 24x7 operational DCL trials in Memphis April 2013

Data Comm Integrated Service•Awarded the Data Comm Integrated Services (DCIS) contract to Harris•Procure Data Communication Network Services (DCNS)

Approval & Coordination

•Achieved Final Investment Decision (FID) for Segment 1 Phase 1 (Tower Service) from the Joint Resources Council (JRC)

•Received endorsement for Segment 1 Phase 2 (En Route) services


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Program Status – S1P1 Activities

DCIS Acquisition

Tower Automation

Enhancements

ERAM Enhancements

for Tower Services

Trials

FY 2014FY 2012 FY 2016FY 2013 FY 2015

Proposal Evaluation

DCNS Serviceat Tech Center 9/2013

DCIS Award 9/2012

DCNS Award 8/2013

Preliminary Design Review

10/2012

Specification Development

Software Development

Tower Service IOC 3/2016

TDLS V 12 Initial Test Release

7/2014

DCNS Service Acceptance

7/2014

Critical Design Review 8/2013

Critical Design Review 3/2012

Software and Hardware Development

ERAM R 4.2 Initial Test Release 6/2014

Contract Mod Award

11/2012

Trials Coordination

DTAP Award 4/2012

Operational Trials Begin

4/2013

Tower Trials Report Out

9/2014

Tower Deployment

Integration & Test

Trials Execution

Data Communications Program – StatusAEEC SAI Subcommittee (January 22 – 24, 2013 ) Miami, FLA


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Program S1P1 Milestones Task Name Baseline Date

ERAM Preliminary Design Review (PDR) 9/2011ERAM Critical Design Review (CDR) 3/2012FID: Final Investment Decision for ERAM & TDLS 5/2012DCIS Contract Award* 7/2012TDLS Preliminary Design Review (PDR)** 12/2012TDLS Critical Design Review (CDR) 8/2013ERAM Initial Test Release (ITR) 6/2014Operational Test (OT&E) 11/2015First-Site Initial Operational Capability (IOC) 3/2016In-Service Decision (ISD) 12/2016Operational Readiness Decisions (ORD) 4/2017Last-Site IOC 5/2019

*DCIS contract awarded September 2012

**PDR being held October 23-25


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Segment 1 Initial Tower Service

• Revised Departure Clearances (DCL) including revisions transmitted to the aircraft on the ground– Enables full route clearances and revisions– Exploits Future Air Navigation Systems

(FANS) avionics found in newer aircraft – Will not impact existing pre-departure

clearance (PDC) services

• Will be delivered via FANS 1/A+ over VDL-2– Initiate field trials in 2012

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• Transfer of Communications (TOC) Service and Initial Check-in (IC) Service– Enables controllers to handle traffic more strategically– Capacity increase of 15%-21% depending upon altitude– Basic capability with minimal overrides - use voice for special cases– Enhance later to handle special cases

• Will be delivered via FANS 1/A+ over VDL-2

Segment 1 En Route Services

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Segment 1 En Route Services • “Go Button”

– Leverages Traffic Flow Management (TFM) program for more direct reroutes

– Enables quicker recovery from bad weather or other Traffic Management Advisory situations

– Required for full realization of capabilities and benefits from TFM

• Pilot Initiated Downlink – Request for direct-to-fix – More direct routes quickly and easily

negotiated between controller and pilot– Reduces flight times and distance– Benefit of shortcutting to save fuel – Airlines have indicated this is a

significant operational benefit

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Segment 1 En Route Services • Controller initiated direct-to-fix and controller response

to this pilot request for direct-to-fix– Enables controllers to effectively handle more traffic– More efficient use of the whole controller team

• Crossing Restrictions and Altimeter Setting (AS) Service– Reduces burden of repetitive tasks on

the controller– Cross Fix at Altitude– Cross Fix at Altitude and Speed

• All Data Comm Services increase Safety by reducing Hear-Back/Read-Back errors

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Segment 2 Advanced Services• Trajectory Based Operations in Performance Based Airspace,

providing conflict-free flight with stable aircraft routing• Conformance Management to ensure aircraft compliance with

trajectory• Optimized Profile Descents and time-based metering • NAS Airport status, delays and constraints, hazardous weather

uplinked to the aircrew• Taxi-in / Taxi-out service provides taxi routes for aircraft to follow

from the gate to the runway

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