OEP Plan Reference Sheet NVS
NAS Voice Switch (NVS)
Flight Plan Goal #2 – Greater Capacity
Objective #1 – Increase capacity to meet projected demand
Objective #2 – Increase or improve aviation capacity in the eight major metropolitan areas and corridors that most affect total system delay
Objective #3 – Increase on-time performance of scheduled carriers
The NAS Voice Switch is a key component in enabling the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). NVS will provide the bridge between the current voice communications infrastructure to the new NextGen vision of voice communications being flexible and agile.
The FAA has identified this program as a “Transformational” program for NextGen ATS. Most direct alignment to NextGen ATS goal is Aircraft Trajectory Based Operations.
Background / Need:
The NAS Voice Switch (NVS) is a forward looking program to replace 20+ year old NAS voice switches with a new technology switching system capable of meeting future requirements. The Technical Operations Voice Switching and Recording group has led a study of FAA voice switches with participation from En Route, Terminal, Operations Planning and other organizations. The study was based on an assumption that the current architecture can be maintained until 2020 when the FAA will need to begin replacing its then 40-year-old infrastructure with a new system. The study considered traditional switch capabilities and FAA future architecture such as the NextGen vision.
The switches today are very static, and our ability to adjust the airspace for contingencies is limited. Under the current system it is very difficult and time consuming to coordinate and redesign the airspace. In the future, the impacts of bad weather could be responded to in real-time, thereby minimizing its disruptions to air traffic. Today there are 17 different baselines of voice switches in the NAS with some of them in the inventory more than 20 years. The NAS Voice Switch (NVS) will replace these switches and provide the foundation for all air/ground and ground/ground voice communications in the future air traffic control environment and support a dynamic flow of traffic. Voice communications capabilities and network flexibility provided by the NAS are essential to the FAA’s ability to implement new NextGen services that are necessary to increase efficiency and improve performance.
The NextGen and other visions under consideration all require a networked switching solution which enables air traffic managers to redistribute communications assets among facilities in a more dynamic and cost effective manner yet still maintain the critical voice switching service. NVS will meet these requirements and also plans to reduce the number of switches through a common architecture based on a modular and scalable switching platform. The NVS program needs to proceed with an Investment Analysis.
Voice communications is a fundamental part of providing ATC services. Both A/G and G/G communications are essential for the en route, flight service, and terminal domains to support the safe, orderly, and efficient flow of air traffic. The FAA’s voice-switching and control equipment provides ATC personnel with connection to and control of communications resources.
Solution(s):
The NAS Voice Switch will support current and future Air Traffic Control (ATC) operations as envisioned by government and industry forecasters. Much of this focus has been on reducing the duplication of functions and costs currently existing among the many systems providing ATC communications; this being driven by the demand to reduce operating, maintenance, and technology refresh costs. In conjunction with current technologies, a common architecture platform is currently being analyzed to resolve these issues.
In FY2007 an Investment Analysis was initiated to start the program.
For FY2008, resources are requested for continuation of the Investment Analysis and to support engineering studies for:
- Traffic study on the current usage of operational phone/communications lines connecting ATC facilities.
- Engineering study to look at digital voice protocols (Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), Time Division Multiplexing (TDM), etc.) as transported over a network in relation to Air Traffic control communications. The study would look at latency, message formatting, implementation, migration and other areas.
- Switching study looking at signaling and network layers.
For FY2009, resources are requested to complete the Investment Analysis leading to a Final Investment Decision (FID/JRC2B):
- Network analysis study based on the completed traffic study and requirements to determine candidate network topologies
- Vendor demonstrations of capabilities at the WJHTC
- System testing for new Terminal switching solutions
Operational Benefits:
The NAS Voice Switch program will allow the FAA ATC to achieve voice switching modernization objectives such as a network-based infrastructure as well as evolve toward a flexible communications routing architecture that supports dynamic re-sectorization, resource reallocation, airspace redesign and the NextGen vision (e.g., improving flow capacity).
Acting on the mission need will result in many benefits, including moving toward a common scalable architecture designed to meet the FAA’s needs. NVS will:
- Allow the FAA to achieve voice-switching modernization objectives set forth by the FAA strategic documents. Some of the benefits include:
- Network-based infrastructure;
- Solutions that apply open systems based on widely accepted standards and/or COTS equipment; and
- Evolution of ATC toward a flexible communications routing that supports future NAS operations.
- Reduce the projected operating costs by:
- Reducing the number of equipment components needing to be inventoried, by reducing the number of switch types;
- Reducing acquisition, training, and maintenance costs by reducing the number of voice-switch designs;
- Improving equipment availability and related inventory issues by reducing obsolete equipment; and
- Reducing costs to users from air traffic delays due to projected outages of the existing systems and increased user demand.
Additional operational benefits would accrue from the following capabilities:
- Efficient access to and the control of radio equipment and ground circuits;
- Flexible reallocation of access to communications resources to meet both strategic operational needs and tactical demands;
- Flexibility to define user access profiles and reassign them to meet both strategic operational needs and tactical demands;
- Ability to expand and reconfigure equipment to support facility growth without changing the system or application software (i.e., scalability);
- Comprehensive internal maintenance support, including secure remote monitoring;
- Fault-tolerant, self-diagnosing, and self-correcting design; and
- Operational availability requirements for NAS-critical services.
- From a planning perspective, implementing this MNS would:
- Resolve pending obsolescence of the en route VSCS, and the impact of the depletion of depot inventories for that switch on en route ATC services;
- Provide a vehicle for resolving the end of the Terminal domain’s voice-switching equipment service contracts after 2010; and
- Provide a vehicle for replacing the voice switch in the Flight Service domain.