NATCA Bookshelf

MONDAY, MARCH 2, 2015 NATCA DAILY DISPATCH 8 The FAA is leveraging this new technology to enhance surveillance, safety, and efficiency. Aircraft flying in the NAS are mandated to equip with automatic dependent surveillance–broadcast (ADS-B), and as aircraft equipage increases, so will benefits. The ADS-B Rule requires all users flying in Class A, B, C, and E (with some exceptions) to be equipped by Jan. 1, 2020, resulting in a gradual but significant shift in capability between now and then for controllers and users alike. Several ERAM sites have begun operations with ADS-B in non-radar airspace including Indianapolis Center, Jacksonville Center, Los Angeles Center, and Houston Center - Domestic. Meanwhile, key site testing for STARS and CARTS has begun at New Orleans and Southern California TRACONs. Other sites are expected to quickly follow. ADS-B coverage has been proven to enhance surveillance in all facilities, and many facilities are anxiously anticipating this capability. Controllers will soon have ADS-B surveillance coverage in areas where they have never had radar coverage. Twenty-two en route (ERAM and MEARTS) and 63 Terminal (STARS and CARTS) sites have reached ADS-B Initial Operational Capability (IOC), allowing them to use this new surveillance source for separation. As for equipage, approximately 9,600 aircraft were equipped with ADS-B as of February 2015, the majority being general aviation. Data Communications (DataComm) is right around the corner. The ability to send fully loadable revisions directly to the Flight Management System is coming over the next few months. The Tower Data Link Services (TDLS) version 12, which has the capability to send revisions to the flight deck and receive pilot responses, will be deployed to Salt Lake City, Houston Intercontinental, and Houston Hobby this summer. The Departure Clearance Application (DCL) that currently contains Pre-Departure Clearance will receive an improved Computer Human Interface (CHI) and the new Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC) functionality. These key sites will help test and validate the system and assist in an In Service Decision (ISD) from the FAA in December 2015. When an ISD is received, deployment to the remaining TDLS sites will begin in January of 2016. In the en route environment, a final investment decision was reached last December that funded CPDLC functionality for "initial" services in the en route centers. Requirements and coding are currently ongoing and deployment will begin in the 2018-2019 timeframe. Last year, controllers from the National User Team, ERAM Chicago Team, and the DataComm Team ran scenarios utilizing CPDLC functionality. Controllers are looking forward to using the capability in the en route domain. The implementation of En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) in 20 FAA en route centers is in its final stages. ERAM will be the platform with which all future NextGen projects must be compatible as the much-needed and anticipated modernization of our nation's airspace system continues. There are four remaining facilities that have yet to declare ERAM operational readiness demonstration (ORD), which is the final stage of acceptance of ERAM as the facilities' operating platform. These four facilities, Washington Center, Jacksonville Center, New York Center, and Atlanta Center have been conducting numerous operational tests, and in some cases have declared continuous operations on ERAM. Through the many months and years of NATCA involvement in this program, there have been too many NATCA members involved than could possibly be fully recognized here. It is through their hard work, and the work of the controllers back at their home facilities during their absences, that have made this program successful – so successful that the processes that have been collaboratively developed by the ERAM team are being used in many other projects. Barring any unknown factors, NATCA is confident the four remaining facilities will declare ERAM ORD prior to March 31, 2015. It's an exciting time for the Optimization of Airspace & Procedures in the Metroplex (OAPM) program, along with Time Based Flow Management (TBFM), Performance Based Navigation (PBN), and Area Navigation (RNAV). Successful implementations in Houston and North Texas in 2014, followed by further collaboration between NATCA, the FAA, and other aviation stakeholders, were key to the success of airspace improvements in the Washington, D.C., Metroplex to improve travel for the holidays. The Washington, D.C., Metroplex was the nation's first to have three, satellite-based highways in the sky running side by side by side, each dedicated to one of the three major airports in the region: Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Dulles International Airport, and Washington National Airport. The D.C. Metroplex Team was the first to implement. They created the Metroplex implementation 'playbook,' and it has been continuously improved in other locations. Work on Metroplex projects is now continuing in these locations: Phoenix, Atlanta, Southern California, Northern California, Charlotte, Cleveland/Detroit, and Florida. The NAS Voice System (NVS) can accommodate all legacy resources, but at its core, this is a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) system. The system does not rely on direct connections with neighboring facilities. Instead users will be able to call whomever they need to, whenever they need to place the call. Designed to support tower, TRACON, and en route facilities, NVS brings some of best features of these legacy voice-switching systems to all options. NVS is currently on schedule to be fielded at three key sites – Seattle, Seattle TRACON, and Seattle Center – in fiscal year (F Y) 2018. The air traffic user group for NVS looked at all available aspects of the system, including the Graphical User Interface, functionality, and the workstation. The second Air Traffic Early User Involvement Event is tentatively scheduled for the second quarter of F Y16. The key NVS NextGen functionality is asset sharing. Resources become available through the cloud, allowing a much faster response in operational contingency planning (OCP), business continuity planning (BCP), and scenarios (measured in minutes, not days/weeks). ADS-B ERAM OAPM NVS DATA COMM Over the course of the last several years, NATCA has worked collaboratively with the FAA and industry to enhance the safety and efficiency of the NAS through safety initiatives and NextGen technologies. This special section of the Daily Dispatch takes a closer look at some of these dynamic technologies and how they will change the NAS for the better. NextGen is NOW!

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