Research Transition Team Progress

For the past two years, to support the implementation of the Integrated Work Plan (IWP), FAA, NASA and the JPDO have been planning for the transition of research results from NASA’s Airspace Systems Program to the FAA for eventual implementation in the National Airspace System (NAS).  Dubbed Research Transition Teams (RTTs), four specific teams were formed and are now finalizing their plans for approval next month.  The four teams are:  Efficient Flow Into Congested Airspace (EFICA), Integrated Arrival/Departure/Surface (IADS), Multi-Sector Planner (MSP), and Dynamic Airspace Configuration (DAC).

Each team supports NextGen capability needs as defined in the NextGen Concept of Operations (ConOps), Enterprise Architecture, and IWP as follows:  EFICA and IADS support Trajectory Management; MSP supports Flow Contingency Management; and DAC supports Capacity Management.  As the plans are approved, the details can be added to the JPE to provide further definition to the research to implementation pathways.  Further description of the RTTs can be found on the JPDO.gov Web site, here and here.

Bob Pearce
JPDO Deputy Director

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

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

NASA NRA Scenario Walk-Throughs

Through a NASA Research Announcement (NRA), the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate is sponsoring research efforts to help understand the issues associated with integration of advanced concepts and vehicles into NextGen.  The goal of these efforts is to help inform future research related to NextGen by NASA and the broad aeronautics community.  However, specific research objectives address issues that are applicable to the JPDO mission.  These include understanding how advanced vehicles will operate within NextGen and the tradeoffs involved for both vehicles and the ATM system.  Two efforts were funded under the NRA; one effort led by Raytheon and the other effort led by Sensis Corporation. 

The Raytheon team is taking an approach that relies heavily on the JPDO developed NextGen Enterprise Architecture (EA).  Part of the approach that each team is addressing includes developing procedures describing the operation of these vehicles within the NextGen ConOps. The Raytheon led team has developed various “use case” scenarios for the vehicles they are addressing 4 vehicle types:

•  Super Heavy Commercial Transport
• Supersonic Business Jet
• Very Light Jet (owner/operator and commercially operated)
• Lightweight, Un-crewed Aircraft System

Each scenario was set in the NextGen future environment and included a description of the specific mission, an identification of nodes (actors in the system) and associated roles, a set of preconditions and underlying assumptions, and a detailed description of the flow of activities and communications that will occur to meet the mission.

The Raytheon team and subject matter experts from the JPDO met on February 10 at the JPDO to walk through the use-case scenarios.  This involved stepping through the various missions, activity-by-activity, and performing analyses of completeness, feasibility and compatibility with the NextGen concept and architecture.

Over 25 participants were involved and the output from the walk-throughs will provide valuable information to update the use-case scenarios and ultimately to map to the NextGen architecture initially as OV-6s (an EA artifact).  Next steps include analysis of the Enablers and OI’s from the IWP to provide a detailed assessment of the impact of these advanced vehicles on NextGen.