22 | LINKSMART | AIRCRAFT IT OPERATIONS | SUMMER 2011
A recommended roadmap
Decades of experience within the international Data Link scenario have lead us to develop a consistent and fully integrated long term roadmap for airlines wishing to fully realize the potential of their Data Link programs. Such a roadmap should be driven by two main objectives: • To achieve full AOC Data Link cost effectiveness; • To comply with relevant ATS Data Link mandates, based upon the airline’s individual requirements and possibilities. In order to address the above requirements as part of a fully consistent, integrated and long term compliant approach, we suggest a combination of higher management decisions and staff training initiatives, both targeting the following main elements of Data Link efficiency. • Data generation ownership. As aircraft should not be treated as living machines with the authority to determine which data should be transferred and when, it is the airline’s responsibility to configure their aircraft in accordance with their individual requirements of real time access to aircraft data. • Full service coverage, within the terms of operational procedures: intermittent service means no service at all. • Message processing proficiency, as an aircraft generates raw data which need to be converted into meaningful information for end user consumption. • End user engagement, which may only be achieved by means of staff training. A with all technologies, Data Link’s true value may only be materialized at end user level. • Compliance with relevant ATS Data Link mandates, as an airline’s profitability may be highly impacted by its ability to efficiently approach regulatory requirements whilst remaining fully consistent with its individual operational needs.
the air traffic control model. All this was aggravated by a gradual deregulation of air transport activity, which would make it less tolerant to airlines’ business inefficiency. In response to this growing concern, in 1983, ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) created the FANS Committee (Future Air Navigation System) working group, charged with developing new concepts and technologies to support air transport activity, based on which a new air traffic management model could be devised to cope with anticipated future traffic demands. That was the basis of what would be defined in 1993 as the CNS/ ATM (Communications, Navigation, Surveillance / Air Traffic Management) a new air traffic control environment, specifically designed to accommodate future traffic volume. This new environment assumed the use of Data Link as a more efficient alternative than voice for routine communication between pilots and air traffic controllers, and the adoption of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) satellite positioning, the best known of which was GPS (Global Positioning System), as the one system used by aircraft to determine their position within the airspace. Two new Air Traffic Control procedures were devised, as the basis for the new airspace management model: CPDLC (Controller-Pilot Data Link Communication): Clearances issued by Air Traffic Controllers by means of data communications (Data Link) ADS (Automatic Dependent Surveillance): Automated transmission (via Data Link) of aircraft position reports (obtained through GNSS) to air traffic control centers. Additionally, the CNS/ATM concept assumed the development of a huge air-ground, ground-ground, high performance, bit oriented telecommunications network, the ATN (aeronautical telecommunications network), as the communications platform
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ISSUE 2 • SUMMER 2011
Aircraft Data Special
• Getting the right data transmission • Data as a global business asset
Fuel savings from EFB implementation Pre-flight information supports service IT tools to minimise EU ETS compliance costs White Papers: LinkSMART • Aviintel • Tasc4Aviation Case Studies: Lufthansa Cityline • Thai Airways Aircraft IT Operations V1.2 June-July
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