JPDO Holds Quarterly Meeting with NASA

The latest quarterly meeting was held with NASA on June 12 at NASA headquarters.  Charlie Leader and Jaiwon Shin chaired the session.  A very full agenda included a discussion by NASA on programmatic changes for the FY10 budget, including the addition of the new Integrated Systems Research program and a restructuring of the Airspace Systems Program.  A brief write-up of these changes can be found here.   A status report of the Research Transition Teams was briefed, with a major focus on the transition plans that the RTTs will produce in September.

The JPDO reported on the results of the updated gap analysis, with some emphasis on the continuing importance of coming to grips with verification and validation (V&V) of complex systems.  NASA is developing research plans for V&V, but further definition of the need by JPDO is clearly needed, as well as a review of relevant efforts across the federal government.  An initial brief out of an “R&D Policy Impacts” analysis that is in the works by the JPDO was discussed.  The analysis is examining the linkages between policy assumptions and research requirements to help identify and prioritize where explicit policy assumptions are needed to support relevant technical research.  The analysis is also doing an initial assessment of post-research transition activities.  Finally, the progress toward a full NextGen Business Case was discussed.

Bob Pearce
JPDO Deputy Director

JPDO Updates Work Plan

JPDO has updated its annual Work Plan based on our June monthly review meeting.  A number of changes were made to the intermediate and completion dates for this year’s JPDO products to better reflect the dependencies between the products and changes in requirements, and to recognize extended timeframes for review and vetting in some cases.  The dates for some key meetings have been updated to reflect the latest estimates for scheduling. The latest update can be downloaded here.

Bob Pearce
JPDO Deputy Director

JPDO Holds June Working Group Co-Chairs Meeting

The June meeting of the Working Group Co-Chairs was held last week.  Yuri Gawdiak, JPDO’s Interagency Portfolio and System Analysis (IPSA) Division Director, presented an overview of IPSA’s approach to business case modeling and their plan for scenarios (combination of  aircraft, system capabilities, policies, and business models) that will be modeled in the next round of analysis.  Yuri solicited input from the Working Groups for comments on the planned scenario runs, or input on other scenario runs that would be useful to one or more Working Groups.  Also discussed at the meeting was the Global Harmonization Strategic Plan that is out to the Working Groups for initial review.  Angela Harris and Mike Marsili (both from the Global Harmonization Working Group) discussed the purpose, structure, and main points from the document and the schedule for finalization.

JPDO Chief Architect Jay Merkle discussed the plan for updating the Concept of Operations in 2009.  This year’s activity will mainly be incorporating the NextGen capability framework, editorial clean-ups, and improved graphics.  Jay indicated that based on the many studies and efforts underway this year (far-term ICNS study; far-term UAS capabilities for NextGen integration definition; AOC/FOC concept development; etc.), next year will likely see updates to content.  JPDO Working Group Integration Manager Maureen Keegan reviewed the approach and schedule for developing FY10/11 Working Group Plans, with a major workshop coming up on July 15.  Finally, Col, Doug Wreath discussed the management of work between the Net-Centric Operations Division and Working Groups.  For those with KSN access, presentations can be found here, under “20090610 Meeting.”

Bob Pearce
JPDO Deputy Director

Presentations from NASA Workshop Posted

Last month, we told you about NASA’s second workshop on the “Integration of Advanced Concepts and Vehicles into NextGen NRA.” In this workshop, the Sensis and Raytheon teams described their vehicle design efforts, business case developments, airspace integration analyses, and safety analyses.

If you have access to the JPDO KSN, you can download all of the presentations from the workshop here.

Bob Pearce
JPDO Deputy Director

Aligning NextGen Operational Improvements

In support of an overall effort to coordinate agency plans with the JPDO’s NextGen architecture, the JPDO and the FAA have completed an effort to align mid-term and far-term Operational Improvements (OIs).  Fifty-one Integrated Work Plan (IWP) OIs were addressed during this effort.  At the completion of the activity, we agreed on common definitions for the IWP and FAA’s National Airspace System (NAS) architecture for 49 of the 51 OIs. Work will continue to resolve the differences for the remaining two OIs. This alignment will be reflected in the next version of the IWP scheduled to be released October 1, 2009.

The next step in the process between the FAA and JPDO will be to address the IWP Enabler elements that have the FAA as the Suggested Office of Primary Responsibility.  A similar approach will be used for this activity. Fundamentally, that involves bringing together the relevant subject matter experts from the FAA and the JPDO’s Working Groups to address and resolve identified differences among the Enabler elements.

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

JPE Adds Customized Google Search

The Joint Planning Environment (JPE) can now automatically link you to relevant Web-based information on all NextGen Operational Improvements.  The JPE uses Google Custom Search and Google Scholar capabilities with carefully designed key words associated with each Operational Improvement, to give JPE users a “one-step” literature search capability.  This capability can be accessed on each Operational Improvement page in the JPE.  Just look below the “Attributes” table on any Operational Improvement page to find the clickable “Google References” and “Google Scholar References” buttons.

Bob Pearce
JPDO Deputy Director