Big Iron
Almira Williams and Stephane Mondoloni
CSSI, Inc.
Washington D.C.
Diana Liang, Steve Bradford, and Richard Jehlen
FAA
Washington D.C.
Outline
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The Big Iron Concept
Future Airspace Operations
Big Iron Pro’s and Con’s
Description of Research
– Simulation Model
– Financial Model
• Summary
June, 2003
NEXTOR/FAA Conference
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The Big Iron Concept
• Ground based decision support for:
– Aircraft Operators (indirectly for unequipped)
– Air Traffic Service Providers
– Airline Operation Centers
• Centralized information assembly and processing
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June, 2003
Surveillance
Weather
NAS Status
Other Advisories
NEXTOR/FAA Conference
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Future Airspace Operations
• Shift authority for separation and trajectory alterations to
appropriately equipped aircraft and their crews
– Free Flight
– Distributed Air-Ground Traffic Management (DAG-TM)
– Delegated Responsibilities
• Key Players: ATSP, Equipped aircraft, Non-equipped
aircraft, and AOCs
• Automated and on-demand decision support
• Common information
June, 2003
NEXTOR/FAA Conference
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Future Airspace Operations:
Information Flow & DS
National
Weather
Service
Equipped
Aircraft
Negotiation
DSDL
FIS
TIS
ADS-B
CPC
Aircraft
AOC DL
Equipped
SWIM & DS
Air Traffic
Service
Provider
June, 2003
Operations, Maintenance
ADS-B
DSDL?
CPDL
CPC
Automet
Airborne Weather Observation
Position/Intent
Planning
Data
Voice
Airline
Operations
Center
Non-Eq.
Aircraft
NEXTOR/FAA Conference
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Big Iron: Pro’s and Con’s
• Expected advantages:
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Homogeneous aeronautical information
Versatility and access to new applications and resources
Enhanced predictability of trajectories of other users
Potential cost-effectiveness
• Expected disadvantages:
– Additional strain on communication links
– System-preferred as opposed to the user-preferred
trajectory re-planning solution
June, 2003
NEXTOR/FAA Conference
6
Big Iron Research
• Air/Ground Communications Simulation Model
– Discrete event
– Controller/Pilot and DS message flow
– Data link
• Financial Model
– Compares costs of equipping fleet with on-board (distributed)
vs. centralized decision support
– Aircraft, Airline and NAS-level analysis
June, 2003
NEXTOR/FAA Conference
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Air/Ground Communications
Simulation Model
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Morning rush operations forecasted for 2015
Three centers: ZID, ZAU, and ZOB
Fleet equipage levels (%): 20, 40, 60, 80, & 100
Decision support message sizes (Kb): 0 (DS messages
not implemented), 25, 50, 75, 100, & 125
• Probability of DS message request upon sector entry: 25%
• CPDL and DSDL via VDL Mode 3
• Other supporting services fully operational (TIS, FIS, etc.)
June, 2003
NEXTOR/FAA Conference
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VDL Mode 3
• Supports time critical A/G data link applications and
digital voice
• Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) technology
• Four virtual channels per single 25 KHz frequency
assignment
• Effective data rate 19.2 kbps per channel
• Simultaneous transmission of voice and data to/from
multiple aircraft
June, 2003
NEXTOR/FAA Conference
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Simulation Results
ZOB: CPDL Messages
Lrg. Msg: 50Kb
Avg. ETET
Lrg. Msg: 75Kb
Max ETET
Avg. Max ETET
Lrg. Msg: 100Kb
Lrg. Msg: 125Kb
0.6
Delay (sec)
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
20
40
60
80
100
20
40
60
80
100
20
40
60
80
100
20
40
60
80
100
Equippage Rate
June, 2003
NEXTOR/FAA Conference
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Simulation Results
Avg. ETET
ZAU: DST Messages
Lrg. Msg: 50Kb
Lrg. Msg: 75Kb
Max ETET
Avg. Max ETET
Lrg. Msg: 100Kb
Lrg. Msg: 125Kb
2.75
2.50
2.25
Delay (sec)
2.00
1.75
1.50
1.25
1.00
0.75
0.50
0.25
0.00
20
40
60
80
100
20
40
60
80
100
20
40
60
80
100
20
40
60
80
100
Equippage Rate
June, 2003
NEXTOR/FAA Conference
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Simulation Results
Avg. ETET
ZID: DST Messages
Lrg. Msg: 50Kb
Lrg. Msg: 75Kb
Max ETET
Avg. Max ETET
Lrg. Msg: 100Kb
Lrg. Msg: 125Kb
1.2
Delay (sec)
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
20
40
60
80
100
20
40
60
80
100
20
40
60
80
100
20
40
60
80
100
Equippage Rate
June, 2003
NEXTOR/FAA Conference
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Simulation Results
Large DS Messages:
Max End-to-End Time
Lrg. Msg: 50Kb
ZOB
Lrg. Msg: 75Kb
ZAU
Lrg. Msg: 100Kb
ZID
Lrg. Msg: 125Kb
40.0
Delay (sec)
35.0
30.0
25.0
20.0
15.0
10.0
5.0
0.0
20
40
60
80
100
20
40
60
80
100
20
40
60
80
100
20
40
60
80
100
Equippage Rate
June, 2003
NEXTOR/FAA Conference
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Potential Cost Effectiveness
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Installation, maintenance, certification and upgrade
Many airborne vs. few ground based DST
Major airline investments vs. FAA investments
Introduction of new applications/resources
June, 2003
NEXTOR/FAA Conference
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Financial Model
• Determine the number of years that would be necessary
for benefits to outweigh the investment
• Aircraft retro-fitting vs. forward-fitting costs (typical)
• Cost data based on historical data from recent FAA and
airline investments (host replacement, ERAM, FMS,
TCAS, etc.)
• Typical, best and worst case
June, 2003
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Financial Model Results:
Payoff Period
Best Case Typical Case Worst Case
Single Aircraft
1 vs. 1
1 vs. 4
2 vs. >30
NAS-wide
2 vs. 3
4 vs. 7
7 vs. >30
* Ground based centralized DST vs. on-board decentralized DST (year)
June, 2003
NEXTOR/FAA Conference
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Summary
• Big Iron assures uniformity of aeronautical information
• Increased A/G message traffic can be accommodated and
would not decrease the quality of air/ground
communications
• Airlines would likely recover their required investment
within the first year of operations
June, 2003
NEXTOR/FAA Conference
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Contact Info
Almira Williams
awilliams@cssiinc.com
CSSI, Inc.
http://www.cssiinc.com
June, 2003
NEXTOR/FAA Conference
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