A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/823383
SAFETY AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT AIRSPACE TE CHNICAL DEMONSTRATION 2 (ATD - 2) Pete Slattery (CLT) represents the membership as the Articl e 114 Representative for ATD - 2. His report for is below. On March 29th, NASA held a Freeze event for ATD - 2 at CLT. The freeze marks the end of the ATD - 2 system requirements development for Phase I of ATD - 2. The NASA engineering team will now assess the readiness of the ATD - 2 system for shadow eval uation by operational personnel at CLT. These Engineering Shadow Evaluations (ESEs) will begin at the end of May and last until September when the system goes live. During the first two weeks of April, all ATD - 2 equipment was successfully installed at CLT tower and the connections have been tested and appear to be working correctly. Since the software is still undergoing testing and hardening, the equipment will be kept powered off except for brief periods for testing. On April 19 - 20 NASA engineers provid ed CLT TMCs, and interested tower controllers, with some informal hands - on familiarization training of the ATD - 2 system. Also, NATCA TFDM Rep, Matt Baugh (IAH) was at CLT helping install and train CLT controllers on the Advanced Electronic Flight Strip sys tem (AEFS), so he was able to get a first - hand demo of ATD - 2. All ATD - 2 technology will be tech - transferred to the FAA over the next three years for possible inclusion into the TFDM system, so this was a fortunate coincidence of good timing for Matt. May 9 - 12 an SRM for ATD - 2 will be conducted at CLT. In addition to CLT personnel, NATCA will also be represented by TBFM Rep Eric Owens (I90), NATCA NextGen Rep Kevin McLaughlin (SCT), and SCDM Rep Kyle Andrews (ORD). Finally, Charlotte ATCT has been advised that there will be a VIP visit to observe ATD - 2 at CLT on May 31st. We have been informed that FAA COO Teri Bristol and Assistant Admin for NextGen Jim Eck will be attending along with several airline executives. More on this as details firm up. ENROUTE A U TOMATION MODERNIZATION (ERAM) Julio Henriques (ZNY) le ads the ERAM efforts for NATCA. This update is provided by Dan Mullen (ZID). The uncertainty surrounding the Continuing Resolution caused most of our travel to be cancelled for the last several weeks. We did as much work as we could by phone and we're rescheduling the activities that were postponed. The installation of ERAM release EAD600 has finally moved along, with most ARTCCs planning to have it running by the end of May. Some additional fixes wer e built into a Field Fix, EAD603, which should be avai lable to the sites on May 11th. Adjustment to the Visual Communication Indicator (VCI) and newly formatted data block has typically taken just a few days. The Facility Tech Reps (FTRs) have been trackin g suggested changes, like independent brightness control and more flexible keyboard entries, and will work those requests through their process.