A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
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SAFETY AND TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT NATCA Safety & Tech Update Week of April 9 , 2018 ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES & OCEANIC PROCEDURES (ATOP) John Lenhart (ZOA) is the Article 114 Representative for Advanced Technologies & Oceanic Procedures (ATOP). Mr. Lennart's report is below: Items worked : ATOP Tech Refresh 2 (TR2) Test ATOP Critical Failure (Short term) Oceanic WX Deviation Issue ASEPS S RM During t he t hird week of March , the ATOP Site Leads, Second Level Engineering and ATOP Program Office met at the FAA Technical Center in New Jersey to test ATOP's TR2. The Site leads had the opportunity to use the newly negotiated physical equipment as well as run several scenarios for the three Oceanic Sites. The Leads and SME's discovered a list of discrepancies including conflict processing, and system syncin g. The physical equipment i.e. m ouse, backlit keyboard , and monitors performed great. Second level engineering will continue to test and work on the discrepancies discovered. While at the FAA Technical Center , the ATOP site l eads participated in a d iscussion in reference to ATOP f ailure; specifically a short - term failure. Contingency plans for ATOP are multi - faceted and very complicated. The scope of this discussing only encompassed a failure and a system reboot within 30 minutes. The s ites gave operational inputs on what would be needed during a short - term failure and discussed the dynamics of the operation during a failure. It was a successful meeting that accomplished more in person than weeks of email/t el e com correspondence. WX Deviations have been the hot topi c for the ATOP Team since February 2016. AJV84 will deliver Con ops next month an d it should begin its testing at the Tech Center. WX Deviations are currently number two in priorities behind ASEPS. The ASEPS SRM was held the last week of March in New Orleans. There is still no separation s tandard or procedures set for the applic ation of space - b ased ADS - B in the o ceanic environme nt which makes it hard to SRM. SASP informed the group that they should have solid numbers in m id - May. Other than the above specific subjects, during the month of March w e spent significant time on FDN s and pr ob lem t ickets which is an ongoing process in the ATOP world as it is it for ERAM. The site l eads are doing a terrific job collaborating with their counterparts and getting things done.