Next Generation Air Transportation System

What is NEXT GEN?

The Next Generation Air Transportation System (Next Gen) is a new National Airspace system due for implementation across the United States in stages between 2012 and 2025. Next Gen proposes to transform America’s air traffic control system from a ground-based system to a satellite-based system. GPS technology will be used to shorten routes, save time and fuel, reduce traffic delays, increase capacity, and permit controllers to monitor and manage aircraft with greater safety margins. Planes will be able to fly closer together, take more direct routes and avoid delays caused by airport “stacking” as planes wait for an open runway.

Time Based Flow Management capability

Next Gen is not just about new technology; it is encompasses realignment of facilities and services, airspace redesign, and human factors issues that are affected by air traffic controller staffing, training, fatigue, and technological usability issues.

Next Gen consists of six elements

• Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) ADS-B will use Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite signals to provide air traffic controllers and pilots with much more accurate information that will help to keep aircraft safely separated in the sky and on runways. Aircraft transponders receive GPS signals and use them to determine the aircraft's precise position in the sky. These and other data are then broadcast to other aircraft and air traffic control. Once fully established, both pilots and air traffic controllers will, for the first time, see the same real-time display of air traffic, substantially improving safety.
• Next Generation Data Communications (Data Comm) will enable controllers to send digital instructions and clearances to pilots. Precise visual messages that appear on a cockpit display can interact with an aircraft's flight computer. Offering reduced opportunities for error, Data Comm will supplant voice communications as the primary means of communication between controllers and flight crews.
• Next Generation Network Enabled Weather (NNEW) Seventy percent of National Airspace System delays are attributed to weather every year. The goal of NNEW is to cut weather-related delays at least in half. Tens of thousands of global weather observations and sensor reports from ground-, airborne- and space-based sources will fuse into a single national weather information system, updated in real time. will help reduce weather impact by producing and delivering tailored aviation weather products via SWIM, helping controllers and operators develop reliable flight plans, make better decisions, and improve on-time performance.
• National Airspace System Voice Switch (NVS) will supplant FAA's aging analog voice communication system with state-of-the-art digital technology. NVS will standardize the voice communication infrastructure among FAA facilities, and provide greater flexibility to the air traffic control system. 
• System Wide Information Management (SWIM) is the network structure that will carry Next Gen digital information. SWIM will enable cost-effective, real-time data exchange and sharing among users of the National Airspace System.
• Airport Surface Detection Equipment — Model X (ASDE-X) airports are adopting new technologies that make push back times more predictable. By reducing the taxiing delays prevalent without the new procedures, flight departures are more predictable, and delays disappear. The FAA wanted to analyze what effect the new surface safety system, Airport Surface Detection Equipment — Model X (ASDE-X), would have on overall operations. On the days studied, ASDE-X, along with other factors, helped reduce taxi-out times at Atlanta by 48 percent in the morning departure push and 29 percent during the afternoon departure push.

Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast

Description 

ADS-B is a Surveillance technique that relies on aircraft or airport vehicles broadcasting their identity, position and other information derived from on board systems (GNSS etc.). This signal can be captured for surveillance purposes on the ground (ADS-B Out) or on board other aircraft (ADS-B In). The latter can facilitate airborne traffic situational awareness, spacing, separation and self-separation.

ADS-B is automatic because no external stimulus is required; it is dependent because it relies on on-board systems to provide surveillance information to other parties. Finally, the data is broadcast, the originating source has no knowledge of who receives the data and there is no interrogation or two-way contract.
ADS-B is seen as a key enabler of the future ATM Network, contributing to the achievement of the Single European Sky (SES) performance objectives, including safety, capacity, efficiency and environmental sustainability.
The vision for ground Surveillance foresees in en-route and terminal areas the combination of ADS-B with independent Surveillance, the latter provided by Mono pulse Secondary Surveillance Radar (MSSR), Mode S or Wide Area Multilateration (WAM). It is noted that WAM system receivers generally include ADS-B functionality.
Ground-based traffic separation aided by ADS-B depends on aircraft being equipped with ADS-B Out. Airborne self-separation requires that aircraft be equipped with ADS-B In and a means to effectively display available traffic information to the pilots.
At airports, a locally-optimized mix of available technologies, i.e. airport Multilateration, Surface Movement Radars and ADS-B, will enable A-SMGCS systems and integrated airport operations. This could include the availability of suitable display of surveillance information on a consolidated display in the form of a moving map in flight decks and in surface vehicles.
The introduction of ADS-B in the Surveillance infrastructure provides important features which can be exploited by the ATM Network:

• Full “Network-wide” Surveillance coverage
  • Surveillance “everywhere”, i.e. no gaps from gate-to-gate
  • Air-to-air Surveillance possible, i.e. traffic situational awareness picture available on board
  • The aircraft is integral part of the Network
  • Surveillance data provided directly from on-board systems
• High performance
• Improved safety
• Increased capacity
• Cost-efficiency
  • Reduced cost of the Surveillance infrastructure (ADS-B is cheaper than radar)
  • More efficient flight profiles (in areas where previously surveillance was not cost-effective)
  • Fuel savings etc.
• Environmental sustainability (CO₂ reduction)
• Reduced RF pollution (leading to an increased viability of the 1090 MHz data link)
• Global Interoperability
• Foundation for future SESAR ATC applications (spacing, separation, self-separation)

ADS-B is currently being implemented in Europe and other areas worldwide (Asia, Australia, Canada, USA).

Next Gen Data Communication

Description
Data Communications (Data Comm) will assume an ever increasing role in controller to flight crew communication, contributing significantly to increased efficiency, capacity, and safety of the National Airspace (NAS). The evolution of Data Comm in the operational environment will be based upon the incremental implementation of advanced communication capabilities. Data Comm represents the first phase of the transition from the current analog voice system to an International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) compliant system in which digital communication becomes an alternate and eventually predominant mode of communication.
The Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) permits a crucial operational shift from workload-intensive tactical control to automation-assisted strategic traffic management. Completion of this shift in the air traffic control paradigm by 2025 is necessary to handle the projected increases in traffic over the next two decades. To achieve a major part of this goal, NextGen envisions the introduction of air/ground trajectory automation capabilities. This capability, as well as other components of NextGen, depends on efficient data communications between aircraft and air traffic management. The Data Communication (Data Comm) program is a key element in the implementation of NextGen.

 

Next Generation Network Enabled Weather

Description 

Weather has a considerable impact on aviation operations. Providing the accurate and timely weather information required by aviation decision makers is an element of the Next Generation Air Transportation System. This will increase airspace capacity, improve efficiency, and improve air safety.
NNEW will provide fast access to weather information to all National Airspace System users by the provision of the 4-D Wx Data Cube. The 4-D Wx Data Cube will consist of:

1. a virtual weather network containing data from various existing databases within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the United States Department of Defense (DOD), as well as participating commercial weather data providers
2. the ability to translate between the various standards so that data can be provided in user required units and coordinate systems
3. the ability to support retrieval requests for large data volumes, such as along a flight trajectory

A subset of the data published to the 4-D Wx Data Cube will be designated the Single Authoritative Source (SAS). The SAS is that data that must be consistent (only one answer) to support collaborative (more than one decision maker) air traffic management decisions.
Weather data distribution mechanisms are being developed by the NOAA Research Applications Laboratory (NCAR), NOAA Global Systems Division and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory. Contributions to standards are being made to the Open Geo spatial Consortium. Standards and specifications developed and/or used by NNEW will be layered on top of core services provided by the FAA System Wide Information Management (SWIM) program.

 

National Airspace System Voice Switch

Description

Future air traffic operations as envisioned by the Next Generation (Next Gen) Air Transportation System will require a new flexible networkable voice communications system with flexible networking capabilities. NVS is the key voice communication component for the Next Gen System.
The NAS Voice System (NVS) is a key enabling program for Next Gen. The FAA conducted a study of voice switching which concluded the current switch bases are old with looming supportability problems. Seventeen different switches are used in the National Airspace System and many are already experiencing severe obsolescence issues. Technical refresh can sustain the En route VSCS for the near term but a new switch program should be started soon. A new small "bridge" switch program for TRACON and tower applications should be implemented between the end of the current terminal switching program and the start of NVS. The Next Gen minimum for operating in controlled airspace is a voice capability which supplements data communications for tactical situations and emergencies. One of the key transformations is that air-to-ground voice communication is no longer limited by geographical facility boundaries. This allows greater flexibility for developing and using airspace/traffic assignments in all airspace. Next Gen voice communication paths will be controlled by an intelligent network. Current voice switches are not network enabled and cannot be modified for installation in new facilities resulting from Next Gen. The NVS is currently in a planning phase but is scheduled to be operational by the year 2016.

System Wide Information Management
  
Description

The implementation of the SWIM concept will enable direct ATM business benefits to be generated by assuring the provision of commonly understood quality information delivered to the right people at the right time. Given the transversal nature of SWIM which is to go across all ATM systems, data domains, and business trajectory phases (planning, execution, post-execution) and the wide range of ATM stakeholders, it is not expected that one solution and certainly not one single technology will fit all. Nevertheless it is recognized that global interoperability and standardization are essential and SWIM is expected to be an important driver for new and updated standards. SWIM will be based on Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and open and standard mainstream technologies.
Who needs to share information?

• Pilots – taking off, navigating and landing the aircraft
• Airport Operations Centers –managing departures, surface movements, gates and arrivals
• Airline Operations Centers – building schedules, planning flight routing and fuel uplift, ensuring passenger connections and minimizing the impact of delays
• Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) –organizing and managing the airspace over a country and with Air Traffic Services – managing air traffic passing through their airspace
• Meteorology Service Providers – providing weather reports and forecasts
• Military Operations Centers – planning missions, blocking airspace to conduct training operations, fulfilling national security tasks

What kind of information needs to be shared?

• Aeronautical - Information resulting from the assembly, analysis and formatting of aeronautical data
• Flight trajectory – the detailed route of the aircraft defined in four dimensions (4D), so that the position of the aircraft is also defined with respect to the time component.
• Aerodrome operations – the status of different aspects of the airport, including approaches, runways, taxiways, gate and aircraft turn-around information.
• Meteorological – information on the past, current and future state of earth's atmosphere relevant for air traffic'.
• Air traffic flow – the network management information necessary to understand the overall air traffic and air traffic services situation.
• Surveillance – positioning information from radar, satellite navigation systems, aircraft data links, etc.
• Capacity and demand – information on the airspace users needs of services, access to airspace and airports and the aircraft already using it.

Sharing information today

sharing information tomorrow

Airport Surface Detection Equipment
 
Description
ASDE-X is a traffic management system for the airport surface that provides seamless coverage and aircraft identification to air traffic controllers. The system uses a combination of surface movement radar and transponder multilateration sensors to display aircraft position labeled with flight call-signs on an ATC tower display. The integration of these sensors provides data with an accuracy, update rate and reliability suitable for improving airport safety in all weather conditions. This system also features advanced conflict detection and alerting technology, Safety Logic, which uses complex algorithms to alert controllers of potential aircraft and/or vehicle incursions. Further, the system is architect-ed to support Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast (ADS-B). The FAA has deployed ASDE-X at 35 of the busiest airports in the United States.
In addition to improving safety through runway incursion prevention, the quality of the ASDE-X data resulting from the fusion of multiple surveillance sources enables decision support for:

• Positive correlation of flight plan information with aircraft position on controller displays;
• Seamless surveillance coverage of the airport from arrival through departure;
• Elimination of blind spots and coverage gaps; and
• Highly accurate, high update surveillance enabling:
  • situational awareness even in inclement conditions
  • conflict detection and resolution