A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/905671
Background : The Enterprise Information Display System (E - IDS) project aims to replace all exi sting IDSs in the NAS, providing the Agency with one enterprise solution across facility types. While some customization is necessary and should be available, one system will reduce overall costs for upkeep and training, and resolve the upcoming end - of - lif e issues we have with our current IDSs in the field (IDS - 4, ERIDS, etc.). The project is working towards finalizing requirements by the summer of next year, with a contract scheduled to be awarded in 2019. The E - IDS Team's current focus is ensuring that a ll appropriate requirements are documented by the middle of next year. This requires work with, and input from, the Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) in the field. NATCA National and FAA HQ are in the process of finalizing what that looks like. The E - IDS Site list has also been created and is now being reviewed by NATCA National internally. NATCA Reps have been involved in compiling the list used for final comment and approval. The upcoming holiday schedule (with associated moratoriums and heavy leave usage) will impact the amount of E - IDS activities through January 2018. Activity is expected to increase in the beginning of the New Year. Upcoming activities: Tower and TRACON demo work with SMEs (TBD) En Route focus group and demo work with SMEs (TBD) FL IGHT DATA INPUT OUTPUT (FDIO) Corey Soignet (LFT) is the FDIO Article 114 Representative. Also included in Mr. Soignet's duties is Article 114 representation for the Electronic Flight Strip Transfer System (EF STS). Mr. Soignet forwarded the information below fo r the membership. FDIO The first arti cle testing is still on going. The FDIO Team is dealing with nume rous quality assurance issues. To date all issues are being corrected by BOCA and then the FDIO Team r e - tests the corrected printer. The printer is also in its final stages of its FCC Class B certification and should be certified by end of September. The key site install was slipped back to Janu ary 2018. The plan is to have five key sites consisting of a Tower and TRACON and due to their unique printer dem ands we are also planning on using Honolulu, Alaska , and Puerto Rico. EFSTS There is nothing to update at this time. FIDI There is nothing to update at this time. INTEGRATED DISPL AY SYSTEM REPLACEMENT (IDS - R) Richie Smith (N90) leads NATCA's efforts on the IDS - R project as the Article 114 Representative. Below is Mr. Smith's report. The latest software build, NIDS 3.6.3, was released nationwide during the last week of October. As of Nov. 7 six networks have upgraded with no issues being uncovered yet. The agreed upon support for I90 has expired and no problems were encountered there that were directly associated with NIDS. (Some routers and modems needed attention and were reconfigured by the Harris/FTI group and local Tech Ops). The next software bui ld has been bundled and the vendor is aiming for a delivery date of March 2018, which would make a late June distribution date feasible. These dates are pending successful testing of the software build and barring any emergency builds that might be needed beforehand.