Session Abstracts

Fireside Chat

Exciting new opportunities are emerging in aviation and aerospace. Significant investments are advancing the research and development of autonomous vehicles, environmentally-friendly electric aircraft, high-speed and long-endurance solar-powered aircraft flying in the airspace above conventional fixed-wing aircraft, and new types of space vehicles. Success with these new technologies and vehicle types will introduce new ways to transport people and goods for large and small communities and also expand aviation’s role beyond transportation. The future NAS must accommodate the resulting changes in operations. Charting Aviation’s Future: Operations in an Info-Centric NAS is the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) vision for the future of the NAS. It describes how the FAA will build on the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) and trajectory-based operations foundations. It illustrates operations serving both the traditional air traffic management community and the extensible traffic management community in a safe, seamless, efficient, and equitable manner, leading to a more agile and flexible NAS. The vision builds on the Next Generation Air Transportation System foundation in three pillars: operations, supporting infrastructure, and integrated safety management. This vision provides the grounds for full dialogue with all parts of the aviation community on assumptions, opportunities, and timelines to meet those opportunities. The need for dialogue is evident in the multitude of new technologies, operations, and aviation community partners that have arrived since the beginning of NextGen’s implementation in 2008.

Info-Centric NAS Panel

The Federal Aviation Administration’s future vision, Charting Aviation Future: Operations in an Info-Centric National Airspace System, describes an outcome where operations will serve both the traditional air traffic management community

A Special Thank You to the ATCA Technical Programming Advisory Committee

Ivan Bekkers, Veracity Engineering, LLC

Michael J. Borden, SAIC®

Corinne Grimaldi, Evans Consulting

Dan Hanlon, Booz | Allen | Hamilton

Carol Huegel, L3Harris Technologies

Robert (Bob) Humbertson, MBO Partners

Yvette Jardin, Federal Aviation Administration

James (JJ) Johnson, Raytheon

Robert V. Jones, PReSafe Technologies

Paul Kelch, Guidehouse

Ellesse Krall, Evans Consulting

Brian Lewis, IBM

Jen Lin, Federal Aviation Administration

Mike Littier, LS Technologies, LLC

Mamie W. Mallory, Mallory & Associates, LLC

Edward Marciano, Federal Aviation Administration

Tiffany Mitchell, Federal Aviation Administration

Allison Nicholls, Evans Consulting

Paula Nouragas, Federal Aviation Administration

Paul Planzer, OST, Inc.

Jim Ries, General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT)

Jessica Sager, L3Harris Technologies

Jon Schleifer, Federal Aviation Administration

Rachel Seibert, Veracity Engineering, LLC

Lisa Smith, Federal Aviation Administration

Emily Stelzer, MITRE

Barry Sullivan, NASA

Fred Wieland, Mosaic ATM

Clarence Butcher, ATCA and the extensible traffic management community safely, seamlessly, equitably, and efficiently. This session will highlight cross-stakeholder research progress in maturing the three pillars of the vision: Operations, Supporting Infrastructure, and Integrated Safety Management and identify emerging priorities for discussion.

Cybersecurity Presentation

Cybersecurity threats are increasing in scale, scope, and complexity both domestically and internationally. Every industry is a target. This includes a critical industry like aviation. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the lead federal agency for investigating cyber attacks and intrusions. The FBI brings together a unique mix of authorities, capabilities, and partnerships to impose consequences against cyber adversaries wherever they may be. This session will provide a closer look at the FBI’s mission, the cyber threat landscape for aviation, effective cyber threat mitigation strategies, the FBI’s cybersecurity resources for events such as incident response, opportunities for ongoing cybersecurity collaboration with the FBI, and more.

Industry Cybersecurity Panel

Cybersecurity threats are real and constant, and the aviation industry is an opportunity rich target. Other industries face many of the same threats and challenges within their own technology ecosystems. Technology innovations advance at a rapid pace from concept to full adoption/use while cybersecurity and industry leaders are faced with committing significant resources to maintain the confidentiality, availability and integrity of their networks, applications and data. Technology at the edge, IoT, bring your own device (BYOD), telework, and hybrid work arrangements present additional challenges for industry and the government alike. This panel provides a look at the cybersecurity implications and challenges from an industry perspective. This panel will discuss cybersecurity trends and solutions in the industry–both government and commercial viewpoints, strategies for harnessing huge volumes of data to enrich discovery, the role of AI/ML and automation, risk management, and future trends.

Automation Evolution Strategy Panel

At ATCA Global, we were introduced to Automation Evolution as an enterprise-level initiative that adopts a services-based architectural approach to introduce efficiencies in developing, modernizing, and sustaining National Airspace System (NAS) automation systems. Modernizing legacy systems to evolve to future capabilities requires an agile approach to guarantee complete harmonization along with sustainment of the system with zero down time. Evolving to a services-based architecture is a key enabler, which includes decomposing legacy systems to develop, deliver and manage new software capabilities as services. This panel continues that conversation and will dive into industry’s perspective on the approach to services and the impact it may have on system development and delivery processes, implications to people and contracting. This panel leverages industry-led innovations, such as the application programmable interfaces (APIs) revolution, microservices and zero trust architecture. AES is the heart of the new evolution of the NAS and requires complete engagement from industry. This panel identifies the partnership between government and industry required to ensure a seamless transition that guarantees safety of our National Airspace System while on this modernization journey.

Integrated Safety Management Panel

In the FAA’s “Charting Aviation’s Future: Operations in an Info-Centric National Airspace System” the Info-Centric “NAS will continue to rely on a layered approach to safety controls with a greater reliance on data and emphasis on risks introduced by the integration of distributed and diverse systems. The FAA is accountable for establishing the performance expectations and operating rules for how separation and navigation services are designed and delivered by the xTM in each airspace class.” Key elements will include tailored safety processes, interoperability and in-time safety assurance. This panel will discuss the technical safety issues and challenges to enable safe operations in the future.

Aviation Sustainability Panel

With the release of the United States 2021 Aviation Climate Action Plan in 2021, the federal government is working with the aviation industry to find ways of reducing the impact of aviation pollutants to the general public and reduce its environmental impact. The goal is to reach near-zero emissions by 2050. Recognizing that this is a very ambitious goal, this panel will discuss the technical issues and challenges that need to be worked in order to achieve this goal. Included in the discussion will be the impact of Noise on environment which is an added focus of FAA under sustainability”.

Airbus SV Panel: The Power of Simulation for the Future Enablement of AAM

Simulation and the development of digital twin technologies are becoming increasingly important in the development of unmanned traffic management (UTM) systems to enable the future - and scalability - of advanced air mobility. By adopting these technologies, industry leaders, UAM manufacturers and governmental agencies can validate and verify vehicle and operations contingencies in a safe and sustainable manner.

With tremendous advancements in simulation technology, these tools are transforming the way innovators problem-solve Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS), strategic deconfliction and operational fairness. Join The Power of Simulation for the Future Enablement of AAM panel to learn how simulation is paving the way for a safe, fair and efficient future airspace.

6 - 7:30 P.M.

TUESDAY, APRIL 25