JPDO Presents NextGen at National Institute of Aerospace Workshop

I recently presented the NextGen story to the Virginia NextGen Working Group as part of a full-day workshop at the National Institute of Aerospace.  This group is keenly interested in technologies where the Commonwealth could be an early adaptor and that would have a positive economic impact.  The focus of the presentation was on the technologies that underpin the NextGen vision.  The Working Group is made up of State and local officials and business leaders who have a stake in NextGen.  Bruce Hoogstraten, Chairman of the Governor’s Aerospace Advisory Council, and Randy Burdette, Director of the Virginia Department of Aviation, are key State officials involved in this endeavor. Post workshop activities will include prioritizing a suite of 15 technologies around criteria such as economic impact, implementation readiness, and research opportunities.

Ed Waggoner
JPDO Director, Interagency Architecture and Engineering Division

NASA Systems Engineering Award Competition

NASA conducts an annual competition for a Systems Engineering Award, held in conjunction with the Aero Design® Competition sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE).

The contestants are teams of college students who design and construct radio-controlled model aircraft to vie for awards in three classes of flight competitions. The competition culminates in two three-day flying events: Aero Design West, held this year in Van Nuys, California, and Aero Design East, held in Acworth, Georgia.

Participation in the NASA Systems Engineering Award competition is optional. It gives students participating in the SAE Aero Design competition an opportunity to compete in applying best engineering practices. Winning teams receive a trophy and $750 cash prize.

These practices are a subset of NASA Systems Engineering principles. The competing teams submit two written documents detailing the systematic tracking, control, and integration of the project’s design, construction, and testing.

Yuri Gawdiak and George Price of the JPDO acted for NASA in conducting this competition, including evaluation of Systems Engineering Reports from the 11 teams that chose to enter. Participating teams came from Canada, Brazil, India, and the U.S., including Puerto Rico.

The winner of the West competition was the team from the École de Technologie Supérieure of Montreal, Canada. First place in the East competition was a tie between teams from the University of Cincinnati and the Escola Politecnica Universidade de São Paulo (Brazil), with an Honorable Mention for the Sri Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain College of Engineering (India) team.

George Price represented NASA in conferring the awards at the Aero Design East event on April 5, 2009. The flight competition provided some exciting moments, as aircraft in the payload competition staggered to lift off in the prescribed runway distance, and others barely avoided – or didn’t avoid – collisions with the ground as they flew the required circuits. Perhaps the most interesting aspect was the wide variety of innovative designs created by the student teams, including biplanes, flying wings, and other unconventional concepts. Most gratifying was the enthusiasm, talent, and camaraderie demonstrated by future engineers from all over the world.

Check out pictures from the event here, on the JPDO Facebook page.

New NextGen Gate to Gate Video

The FAA recently posted a new video by the Air Traffic Organization (ATO), which takes viewers through the NextGen concept. As you’ll see, it provides a concise and effective overview of NextGen technology and benefits.

You can view the video here, on the FAA.gov Web site.

David Kerr
JPDO Director, Partnership Development Division

TBO Conference Meeting Summary Available

Just a quick note to say that we posted a meeting summary from the March 24th TBO Conference. This was an informative meeting with good discussion around developing a common understanding of the TBO vision for the far-term, and identifying how the JPDO Working Groups can contribute to that vision.

The Meeting Summary is available here on the JPDO.gov Web site, under the “Knowledge Center” and “Collateral Library.”

David Kerr
JPDO Director, Partnership Development Division

New Details on Upcoming Board Meeting

We had another good discussion around the upcoming JPDO Board Meeting, which takes place on May 5. Board Agenda items are being confirmed as we speak, but–based on yesterday’s meeting–we have a packed schedule, which will include briefings on a variety of subjects, such as: Interagency Initiatives (specifically Net-Centric Operations Coordination and Environmental Challenges), next steps regarding the Space Weather System Interference Issue, Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT), and much more. Board materials are scheduled to go out to Board members at the end of the month. We look forward to a great meeting!

David Kerr
JPDO Director, Partnership Development Division

The JPDO Co-Funds a Task Augmentation with NASA’s Subsonic Fixed Wing Project

The JPDO’s Interagency Portfolio and Systems Analysis Division (IPSA) has co-funded a task augmentation with NASA’s Subsonic Fixed Wing Project titled: Creation of a Strategic Planning & Prioritization Process with Georgia Institute of Technology. To fully evaluate the impacts of the NextGen Enterprise Architecture, IPSA is required to run lifecycle benefit and cost analysis out to the year 2050. This long-range timeframe creates an unprecedented requirement to not only evaluate R&D technology benefits directly affecting Air Traffic Management, but also to evaluate technology transfer benefits from NextGen R&D. In addition, to insure that NextGen will be competitive in its target timeframe, an analysis of future technology trends that are both complementary and competing is required. This task will establish a process for collecting and identifying relevant technology trends that could affect the NextGen implementations, and provide an evaluation and impact framework to assess those consequences.

Yuri Gawdiak
JPDO Director, Interagency Portfolio and Systems Analysis Division

Architecture Discussed at the Working Groups Co-Chairs Meeting

The primary topic of this month’s Working Groups Co-Chairs Meeting was an in-depth discussion on the federated NextGen Architecture by Jay Merkle, the JPDO Chief Architect. The briefing elaborated on the content and structure of the NextGen Enterprise Architecture, as well as examples of its use for technical and business case analysis. New, developing content, such as a library of scenarios, was also introduced, along with the structured change management process. The briefing will be available on the JPDO KSN site later this month. We’ll update this blog with a link to the briefing once it’s ready, so check back soon.

Bob Pearce
JPDO Deputy Director

JPDO Briefs RTCA Task Force 5 Subgroup

The JPDO briefed members of RTCA Task Force 5: Subgroup Evaluation Factors on NextGen Business Case Stakeholder Valuation Metrics. The subgroup’s task is to establish evaluation factors to prioritize potential operational improvements and capabilities. Aviation stakeholders were broadly represented in the discussion. Many expressed interest in working with the JPDO to include other important valuation metrics for the NextGen Business Case and in developing business cases for those stakeholders not included.

Yuri Gawdiak
JPDO Director, Interagency Portfolio and Systems Analysis Division

NASA Issues RFI for Validation and Verification of Flight Critical Systems

Last year, the JPDO ran an architecture-driven, multi-agency gap analysis to better understand how multi-agency investments lined up to NextGen needs as defined by the NextGen Enterprise Architecture (EA) and Integrated Work Plan (IWP). One of the areas that was uncovered as a part of the gap analysis and ranked as a high priority is Verification and Validation of Complex Systems. Given the current complexity of the aviation system and the projected increase in automation and integration as we transition to NextGen, the ability to demonstrate the performance and safety of the system under a broad array of conditions will become increasingly challenging. JPDO requested that NASA take leadership for this gap. As a result, NASA has begun exploration of the issue with an eye to future research in this area.

As a part of this effort, NASA has recently released a request for information (RFI) as follows:

NASA’s Aviation Safety Program is seeking information from the entire aviation community to identify key research needed to help create more effective methods for validation and verification of flight-critical systems.

To this end, earlier this month we released a Request For Information (RFI), available here. This RFI is NOT an initial step in a procurement process, but instead is truly a request for insight from the aviation community, including yourself, and will be used to identify key gaps that research by the NASA Aviation Safety Program can help address.

The response to this RFI is due on April 24 to NASA. We encourage members of the JPDO Community to respond to this important request.

Bob Pearce
JPDO Deputy Director

Configuration Management for Key JPDO Documents

Some of the key foundational documents that have been published by the JPDO over the past year are coming under a structured Configuration Management (CM) process. Once a proposed change or comment to one of the documents has been submitted, it enters the CM process.  The potential change is assigned to a reviewer who determines impact, extent, and issues that would result from the proposed change and proposes an initial resolution to the Change Control Board (CCB).  The CCB then adjudicates the proposed change and decides on a disposition for the proposal. If the disposition results in a change being accepted, the change is implemented and verified, and subsequently published in the next release/update of the document.  Some of the items that are anticipated to be under the new CM process include:

• Any Element in the JPE (ConOps, EA, and IWP)
• Joint Planning Framework (i.e., the metamodel)
• Approved CM Plan and CCB Charter

Other items will be included as appropriate.  For more detailed information on the CM process including the CM Plan and CCB Charter, go here (you’ll need access to KSN) under the Deliverables library.

Edgar G. Waggoner, D.Sc.
JPDO Director, Interagency Architecture and Engineering Division