Future Vision of Globally Harmonized National Airspace System with Concepts of Operations Beyond Year 2020
As laid out in the National Airspace System
(NAS) Operational Evolution Plan (OEP) [1], the
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the
aviation community are planning to make
significant investment in NAS improvements over
the next ten years. These enhancements involve
implementation of Communication, Navigation and
Surveillance (CNS) technologies, and automation of
ground systems in order to improve efficiency,
safety, capacity and security. However, the mode of
operations during this time frame is expected to
continue as it is today. A number of research efforts
are underway to consider significant changes to
NAS operations beyond the OEP.
This paper
presents a vision of future NAS and operational
concepts for year 2020 and beyond based on a
number of new paradigms that will provide globally
harmonized service to conventional aircraft,
uninhabited and space-launch vehicles. The key
paradigms are: 1) a multi-faceted airport structure
of well connected hubs, spoke, satellite and smaller
airports; 2) multi-level CNS architecture for
seamless and secured operations; 3) problem-free
flight planning independent of look ahead times; 4)
flexible sector boundaries based on equitable
workload; and 5) a universal information service
assuring uniformity and security of real time
information to all stakeholders and service provider
Decision Support Systems (DSS).
Potential make
up of future air traffic is discussed including a
significant number of non-scheduled flights such as
on-demand service, charter, travel club, fractional
and short-haul intra-city operations. A concept of
System Wide Information Management (SWIM)
that provides a virtual electronic collaboration space
is described. The operational concepts fully support
self-delivery and self-separation for appropriately
equipped aircraft. New roles for service providers at
National, Regional and Local Air Traffic
Management (ATM) facilities are defined. A set of
performance goals are established considering the
impact of several key operational factors. The
operational concepts presented are intended to
provide accurate real time gate to gate information,
and multiple flight options between departure and
destination airports to the users.
