Aircraft & Operator Requirements
Summary Description | Background | Operational Capability Description
Timeline | Benefits | Dependencies | FY08 Activities
This solution set defines the commitments for aircraft and operational approval policy and procedures necessary to implement NextGen in the NAS. The milestones within this solution set are interrelated to most of the other solution sets.
Recognizing the scope of the changes in the NAS as we transition to NextGen, maintaining safety of operations is a challenging and pervasive objective. As we shift to aircraft-centric operations, the role and responsibility for the aircraft systems and the operator will evolve. This solution set was developed to provide a means to collate OEP capabilities relating to aircraft and operational approvals. By integrating this information into a common solution set, the FAA can better assure that the required safety activities are being accomplished.
This solution set also provides a means to communicate to the operators, our expectations of their new roles and the aircraft capabilities that will be necessary throughout the transition to NextGen. Since this solution set contains all of the related aspects from the other solution sets, it enables manufacturers and operators to identify related avionics investments and plan a logical migration for their aircraft.
Aircraft and operational approval is the culmination of three generic stages of a project: research, standards and policy development, and implementation. This solution set identifies specific technologies and operations involved in NextGen as well as describing which stage they are in and what the key decision points are. As detailed planning towards NextGen through the JPDO matures, additional technologies and operations will be incorporated into this solution set. This solution set collates the aircraft and operator-related activity from the other OEP solution sets, and identifies unique safety-related technologies that need to be addressed such as updating collision avoidance, terrain awareness and alerting, and data recording to support accident investigation.
Operational Capability Description:
The FAA responsibility for aircraft and operational approvals is to ensure that standards and policy are published to support implementation, that those standards and policy provide an acceptable level of safety, and that manufacturers and operators who apply those standards and policy receive timely and equitable service.
In general, the lifecycle to support this activity involves three stages: initial research, where the operational concepts and key technical issues are resolved; standards development, where detailed concepts and requirements are defined and validated; and implementation, where manufacturers and operators obtain approvals. Implementation may also include rulemaking where required. These stages can occur in parallel where resources are available to support it and the objective warrants the potential for significant re-work on the standards, if the key research does not conclude as expected. Identifying which stage a particular project is in provides insight into that project's maturity.
To facilitate the transformation to NextGen, avionics are migrating from discrete components to multi-function, flexible integrated avionics platforms. With reusable processors and common subfunctions such as determining the aircraft position for both navigation and ADS-B, the traditional avionics categories of communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) are becoming less descriptive. Figure 1 illustrates potential functions that are applicable to a NextGen aircraft:
- Displays: Integrated displays handle all functions that need to present information to the flight crew.
- Controls: Integrated controls provide a means for the flight crew to access and control any of the aircraft functions.
- Positioning: The aircraft must estimate its current position for use in a number of applications (navigation, position reporting, situation awareness of other traffic, weather, etc).
- Aircraft-Based Independent Sensors: Unique sensors that are not easily accommodated into an integrated modular system, such as weather sensors or enhanced vision sensors.
- Communication: The radio that provides a communication link to or from the aircraft, regardless of what data is transmitted over the link or what function it supports. Examples include VHF 25 kHz voice, VHF 25 kHz data link, and 1090 extended squitter (broadcast data).
- Trajectory management: Trajectory management includes any function that affects the aircraft trajectory, such as the trajectory optimization and negotiation with air traffic management, navigation algorithms, delegated aircraft separation applications, trajectory constraints to avoid weather, etc. The integration of these functions is a key attribute that enables a NextGen aircraft.
Figure 1 - Envisioned migration from Avionics components to Avionics Function
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Near term operational improvements are built around capabilities that are in the implementation stage. The following initiatives are significant in the initial deployment of capability toward NextGen:
- Integrated modular avionics
- RNAV Procedures and Routes
- RNP Approaches
- LPV Approaches (down to minima equivalent to CAT I ILS)
- Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs)
For the mid-term, there are a few key capabilities for which the standards need to be completed. Standards for these areas are in development. These include:
- ADS-B for ATC surveillance
- ADS-B for aircraft situational awareness
- Datalink applications
- Flight Information Systems (FIS), including uplinked weather data
- RNP routes and procedures
- TCAS Improvements (V7.1 and AVSA)
- EVS/SVS (Enhanced Vision Systems/Synthetic Vision Systems)
In the long-term, there are standards that need to be completed as well as some initial research. Given the time required to develop and harmonize aircraft and operational standards and policy, it is critical that the research be completed for these applications so that standards can be developed and aircraft have a reasonable amount of time to equip with new capabilities. Example activities for the long-term include:
• Updating TCAS and TAWS to be compatible with the envisaged aircraft density and instrument approach capability
• Identifying repercussions of new technologies on flight data recorders and voice recorders.
• Identify other system modifications driven by outside concerns, such as network security or air/ground Federal Air Marshals (FAMs) communication, that drive new avionics installations. Assess the impact of these or NextGen systems and capabilities.
- Focused research and development resources
- Timely development of policy
- Number of aircraft approved for a given operation
- Cost-effectiveness of technologies (reflecting an appropriate allocation of requirements to the aircraft so that costs are reasonable)
- Timeliness of certification and operational approval
Dependencies:
The activities for aircraft and operator approval are related to the initiatives in the other Solution sets, where there is any new avionics, flight crew procedure or training, or aircraft of operator approval. The following table summarizes which solution sets include activities which can be interdependent to this Solution set, and indicates what types of aircraft functions could be affected.
Table 1. Aircraft Performance Requirement per Solution Sets
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In FY08, the FAA will continue to support implementation of performance-based NAS through the approval of operators to conduct RNP Special Aircraft and Aircrew Authorization Required (SAAAR) approaches and the development of criteria for operation on RNP routes and procedures. The FAA will also continue the implementation of ADS-B, publishing guidance for the installation of equipment to transmit ADS-B data and completing standards for advisory ADS-B-based aircraft applications with RTCA.
Another key activity in FY08 is the development of a detailed avionics roadmap to support operations through the mid-term and into the long-term. This roadmap will be developed in coordination with JPDO and industry.
Key Research:
Air-Ground Information Exchange: Perform research to determine information needs for ATC and flight crew to support Trajectory-based operations
Data Communications Requirements: Define Air-Ground Data Integrity requirements to support automated clearance messaging to the aircraft.
Aircraft Security: Determine correct balance between safety and information security mitigation strategies
Collision Avoidance: Determine TCAS/TAWS effectiveness in the NextGen environment
Other Activities: None
