ATM and FIS data link services

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) currently has under development data link services for Air Traffic Management (ATM), Flight Information Service (FIS), and communications, navigation, and surveillance (CNS). These services will be provided over the Aeronautical Telecommunications Network (ATN), a worldwide data network intended to provide data communications connectivity among mobile aircraft, airlines, and civil aviation authorities. The ATM and FIS services currently under development are part of an evolutionary process that will begin, for the most part, with duplication of voice services. In the future, services will facilitate a common source of data for pilots, controllers, and flight planners, as well as computer-to-computer communications between ground based and airborne automation systems. These future services will provide benefits such as the use of optimum aircraft tracks and flight profiles     

Free flight is in the future: large-scale controller pilot data link communications emulation testbed

NASA's Glenn Research Center (GRC) is responsible for the Advanced Communications for Air Traffic Management (AC/ATM) Project, a sub-element task of the Advanced Air Transportation Technologies (AATT) Project of the NASA Airspace Systems Program. The AC/ATM Project is developing new communications technologies and tools that will enable Free Flight, an operating mode in which pilots will have the freedom to select their path and speed in real-time. The goal of the AC/ATM Project is to enable a communications infrastructure providing the capacity, efficiency, and flexibility necessary to realize benefits arising from the future mature Free Flight environment. A key infrastructure element is the Aeronautical Telecommunications Network (ATN) that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is in the process of fielding.     

Civil unmanned aircraft system operation in national airspace: A survey from Air Navigation Service Provider perspective

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs) have advanced technologically and surged exponentially over recent years. Currently, due to safety concerns, most civil operations of UAS are conducted in low-level uncontrolled area or in segregated controlled airspace. As the industry progresses, both operational and technological capabilities have matured to the point where UASs are expected to gain greater freedom of access to both controlled and uncontrolled airspace. Extensive technical and regulatory surveys have been conducted to enable the expanded operations. However, most surveys are derived from the perspective of UAS own operating mechanism and barely consider interactions of their non-segregated activities with the Air Traffic Management (ATM) system. Hence, to fill the gap, this paper presents a survey conducted from the perspective of Air Navigation Service Provider (ANSP), which serves to accommodate these new entrants to the overall national airspace while continuing flight safety and efficiency. The primary objectives of this paper are to: (A) describe what typical ANSP-supplied UAS Traffic Management (UTM) architecture is required to facilitate all types of civil UAS operations; (B) identify three major ANSP considerations on how UAS can be accommodated safely in civil airspace; (C) outline future directions and challenges related with UAS operations for the ANSP.     

The future functionalities of the flight management system

The availability of new Communication, Navigation and Surveillance technologies provides the basis to move towards advanced Air Traffic Management (ATM) concepts. Some of these concepts will impact the airborne Flight Management System (FMS) by introducing new functions with different flight time horizons. In this discussion, two main flight time horizon are defined:The tactical flight time horizon is between 30s and 10mn ahead of the aircraft current position. Airborne separation from traffic, terrain and adverse weather will be introduced in this time horizon as a tactical function.The strategic flight time horizon is more than 10mn ahead of the aircraft current position. Weather datafusion, enroute inflight replanning assistance and air-ground trajectory negotiation will be introduced in this time horizon as strategic functions.The organisation of the associated future flight management system can be synthesised in the scheme (figure 1). The data to be displayed to the pilot for his flight awareness are functions of the flight phase, the type of airspace and of the type of situation encountered.Globally these data can be shared as functions of their flight time horizons, and their topic, as it is described in the table below. In the cells are indicated the flight objects that these data address.SEXTANT as a major avionics manufacturer is leading research and development activities in the area of ATM related airborne flight management functions. Their existing or expected findings are described in this article.     

Application of Ground/Air Data Link to General Aviation Operations

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is currently upgrading secondary surveillance radars with systems which will have an integral data link capability, the Mode Select (Mode S) beacon system. These new systems will allow two-way data communications between ground systems (e.g., weather databases and Air Traffic Control (ATC) systems) and aircraft that are equipped with data link compatible Mode S transponders and suitable display and input devices. Initial data link services include both weather information and ATC advisories. The MITRE Corporation* is developing an in-house capability to perform end-to-end operational evaluation of data link services. Initially, a low-cost, portable pilot position man-machine interface is being developed for use in general aviation operations. The objective is to explore operational issues in laboratory and limited flight test environments, and to demonstrate these services on a data link I/O device, a laptop portable personal computer (PC) with touch panel. A group of pilots will bench test the interface design, and the results will be incorporated into the design used in flight testing. This paper describes the project's objectives and results to date, including implementation details and pilot test results.     

Iridium(R) aeronautical satellite communications

The ever-increasing demand to stay in touch, to be able to communicate anywhere and anytime, has created a market for low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications services such as the Iridium system. The Iridium satellite communications network is being developed to support the needs of the passenger, the cabin crew and the flight crew for: aeronautical public correspondence (APC); aeronautical administrative communications (AAC); aeronautical operational control (AOC); and air traffic services (ATS)     

航空数据库适航审定政策研究

航空数据库（Aeronautical Database）作为实现航空器导航、避障和指引功能的重要部分，其数据结 构遵循特定格式的标准。航空数据库的质量将直接影响到航空器的运行安全。当前民航适航体系针对原始数据 及后续处理过程的质量体系的审定缺乏实际经验，给机载设备和飞机运行的适航性带了挑战。本文首先介绍当 前世界范围内航空数据库适航管理的办法及技术标准，再结合当前国内航空数据库的审定的现状，提出一种可 行的中国航空数据库适航审定的政策建议，供国内各类航空数据库的研制单位及审查方参考。     

EMERTA - Emerging Technologies and Opportunities for ATM

EMERTA is concerned with the implications of two emerging technologies and associated concepts for aeronautical use, Next Generation Satellite Systems (NGSS) and Airborne Separation Assurance Systems (ASAS). Concerned with first steps in the use of both technologies, EMERTA establishes the feasibility of using NGSS services ‘as they are’ to meet Air Traffic Service and Airline Operation Centre requirements and assesses the practical feasibility of the early introduction of ASAS applications in Europe.     

ATM: general description of the processes and influencing factors

The purpose of this article is to provide the reader with a broad understanding of the Air Traffic Management system and of the various interconnecting issues involved. Such understanding of what is the ATM system, its purpose, processes and influencing factors is, indeed, essential if we want to analyse the problems of today and the type of solutions that will need to be developed and implemented today and in the future to meet the challenges of a safe and efficient handling of air traffic in the European sky.     

The royal aeronautical society

Founded in 1866 for ‘the general advancement of aeronautical art, science and engineering’, the Royal Aeronautical Society is the oldest aeronautical society in the world. Its original purpose was to promote heavier than air flight - an achievement realised some 37 years after the its formation. Since then, the Society has been a focus of aerospace activity and has evolved as a global focal point for the aerospace community with 18000 members in over 100 countries.     

Air traffic implementation in the Asia-Pacific region

With the 21st century just around the corner, demands for air transport in the Asia and Pacific regions will increase further. Taking into account the opening of new airports and expansion of existing ones, such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Shangai and Kimpo, it is estimated that the North Pacific traffic volumes will be 1.7 times greater by the year 2000 compared to that of 1992, and 2.9 times greater by the year 2010. In dealing with such traffic in that region use of the new Communications Navigation Surveillance Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) through Multi-Function Transport Satellite (MTSAT) system is indispensable     

Realising the concept: more autonomous - aircraft in the future ATM system

The More Autonomous - Aircraft In the future Air Traffic Management System aims to realise key elements of the new Air Traffic Management concept as a critical step towards increasing the capacity of European airspace and reducing air transport delays.     

Air traffic management

This year, a considerable part of the Aeronautics Days conference programme was devoted to air transportation, which is reflected in these Proceedings through the sections on Safety, Environmental Impact and Air Traffic Management. Cooperative work on the problems of air traffic management is a crucial component of research effort in Europe and in particular is a key element of the research strategy at the Eurocontrol Experimental Centre. The research papers in this section of the Proceedings, introduced below, give some ideas of the issues facing ATM research in Europe.     

Is the need for a new ATM operational concept a strategic necessity?

We must face the fact that conventional methods of air traffic management (ATM) that have served us well cannot continue to cope indefinitely. We need-therefore, to decide what the new operational concept should be and agree on the transition path. Air traffic management is the term we apply today to the totality of the activities involved in the handling of air traffic. The quest for a new concept led to what was first called "free flight," an idea that has, in the meantime, acquired some notoriety and is today more commonly referred to in Europe as "air/ground cooperative ATS." Simply put, the original free flight concept, stipulated that given the right on-board equipment (display of traffic information, conflict detection, and resolution tools) aircraft could navigate and avoid each other completely on their own, without the need for ATC. That a new ATM operational concept will be needed to take the industry further by the time traditional methods run out of potential is difficult to question. Equally clear is that the only new concept available is free flight a.k.a. air/ground cooperative ATS.     

Stable two-sided matching of slot allocation in airport collaborative decision making by top trading cycles mechanism

The problem of capacity shortage in some airports needs to be dealt with sustainable solutions including a more efficient use of the existing runway slots at the airports. The Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) is an important approach applied to Air Traffic Management (ATM) to achieve this efficient use of the slots allocation. Using the Matching approach for two-sided markets of Game theory, the Top Trading Cycle CDM (TTC-CDM) algorithm developed in this research is an extension of the CDM approach aggregating the Ground Delay Program (GDP) of the air sector. The paper compared the developed TTC-CDM model to the existing models such as the conventional Compression algorithm in CDM, the Trade Cycle algorithm and the Deferred Acceptance CDM (DA-CDM) model to evaluate the performance of the proposed model. Through a case study, the results show the effective application of TTC-CDM model to slot allocation in ATM and also presents the advantage of considering the preferences of airport managers beside ATC controllers and airlines in the decision processing.     

ADS数据的处理和显示

基于航空卫星通信的飞行监视,即自动相关监视（ADS）,是航空卫星移动业务（AMSS）通信应用新领域,是建立在航空卫星通信基础上的一种新的飞行监视技术。该文介绍了基本ADS报告信息电文的组成及各部分的含义,着重阐述将所收到的ADS数据进行处理,并以直观易懂的表格及图象形式显示出来,便于确切地知道飞机的四维位置（纬度、经度、高度和时间）。     

国际上航空气象科研新成就和新技术综述——纪念1989年世界气象日

国际民用航空事业的飞速发展,对航空气象服务提出了越来越高的要求。为了保证飞行安全和提高机场利用率,许多技术先进国家研制和使用了新的航空气象观测、预报和情报传输技术和设备。一些科学发达国家还给主要机场配备了综合自动化气象观测系统、自动化天气预报设施和自动化气象服务系统。他们研制了航空天气情报的自动传输系统,加强了自动制作航线天气预报和短时预报与航站预报的科研工作。由于计算机技术、通信条件和遥感技术的发展,这些国家的航空气象保障能力已经得到了极大的提高。     

基于时空数据模型的障碍物数据集数据查询与应用研究

障碍物数据集是国际民航组织在航空情报管理（AIM）体系下提出的一种基于航空信息交换模型（AIXM）规范的航空情报数据集，该数据集中障碍物的查询将直接影响机场净空评估与飞行程序设计。在分析障碍物数据集的时间与空间属性基础上，利用时空数据模型与航空信息交换模型规范，提出一种基于时间点和空间位置的障碍物数据集查询方法， 用于解决障碍物数据集的查询问题；构建障碍物查询与可视化系统，并通过设计随机实验和实例应用对该方法的可行性和可靠性进行验证。结果表明：该障碍物数据集查询方法能够提取出对机场净空与飞行程序设计有影响的障碍物，增强了飞行程序设计人员对机场障碍物分布的情景意识。     

航天测控站运管系统设计

针对航天测控站管理域内测控、通信、气象、勤务等专业设备需要垂直管理,但节点分散、设备运行状况无法实时获取的现状,设计开发了测站运管系统。该系统涵盖测站管理域内测控设备协议转换、气象设备运行管理、勤务设备运行管理、测控信息检查与测试、综合信息管理以及综合态势展示等功能,实现了各专业设备运行状态采集、信息传输、专业管理、数据处理、信息展现及故障报警的层次化管理模型,建立了标准化的测站管理体系,规范了测站跟踪流程,实现了从准备开始、设备标校、捕获跟踪到数据质量分析的全过程管理,提高了测站管理域的管理质量和自动化运行效率。     

马尔科夫链模型在空管自动化系统可靠性分析中的应用

空中交通管理的主要任务是保证航空器间隔,确保空中交通的安全高效运行。空管系统与旅客生命及航空公司的经济利益息息相关这种特殊性决定了系统必须有相当高的保障,须做到及早发现及早处理问题。目前,国内主要考虑软件对空管自动化系统的影响,采用模糊数学、灰色系统理论、加权算法等对其软件可靠性进行评估。为了做到及早发现及早处理问题,提出采用马尔科夫链模型对空管自动化系统软件s1,s2,s3三个状态进行预测和验证,取得了较好的结果。