ATCA Annual 63: Session Abstracts by ATCA

Sept. 30 - Oct. 3, 2018 Gaylord National Resort • National Harbor, MD

ATCA Annual Conference Abstracts GENERAL SESSIONS Blue Skies: Beyond NextGen MONDAY, Oct. 1 I 9 - 10:30 a.m. How much will the traditional airspace, aircraft, and airport landscape change in the next seven years, and what does the future of aviation look like in 2025 and beyond? With the prospect of air taxis replacing traditional auto taxi trips, autonomous cars replacing short-haul ﬂights, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) replacing local delivery trucks, it seems that our current view of air transportation is poised to be turned on its head. More than ever before, the traditional lines between surface transportation and aviation are becoming blurred, demanding integrated approaches and solutions to support tomorrow’s travel and distribution choices. Technology no longer appears to be the barrier to this future vision, as advanced sensors, high-speed wireless communications, autonomy, and real-time data analytics are entering the marketplace. With this boom in technology, we need to change how we look at the transformation of operations, all the while leveraging recently implemented technologies to maintain the safest, most secure air transportation system in the world. Regardless of if, or when, funding and FAA organizational changes occur, the aviation and city planning communities are facing a fundamental paradigm shift in the operational, functional, and performance requirements of the global airspace system right now. The challenge will be to establish a conducive environment that will accommodate the increased pace of adoption of new technologies and new operational business models, such as autonomous vehicles and space transportation. Embracing the New Workforce Reality MONDAY, Oct. 1 I 4 - 5:15 p.m. In a time when marketers continue to move away from mass advertising to micro-targeting, and thought leaders emphasize the uniqueness of individuals, we continue to make sweeping (continued)

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generalizations about the next generation of our workforce. Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) comprise over 75 million people. According to Pew Research, this generation became the largest generation in the workplace three years ago and will make up 50 percent of the global workforce by the year 2020. As such, millennials and post-millennials are driving significant change in the workplace. Starting with the Wright Brothers and evolving through the development of the autopilot and the jet engine, aviation was a beacon industry for people looking to work on the leading edge of technology and innovation. Over the past 30 years, we have created the safest airspace system in history and made air travel accessible to the masses around the globe. At an unprecedented level, and to our credit as an industry, people today generally take aviation for granted. For all the good that goes with that progress, that mindset is hindering our ability to attract the best and brightest. To many people outside the industry, aviation has “lost its cool.” For those of us who call aviation home, we know that could not be further from the truth. With the development of unmanned systems and commercial space transportation, the re-emergence of supersonic and (someday) hypersonic transport, and other advancements too numerous to name, the aviation industry remains on the cutting edge of technological innovation. So how do we make aviation exciting for the next generation of people who will need to develop and operate the system? What are these new workers looking for in a career? How do they want/need to be trained? What does our risk-averse, sometimes slow-to-evolve industry need to do to make itself attractive to people who have grown up in the digital age of social connectivity and on-demand access to everything and everyone? This panel will bring together several thought leaders from across a variety of industries to discuss how to interest, incentivize, train, and retain in this new workforce. Cybersecurity: On the Frontiers of Integration, Innovation, and Policy in Air Traffic Management TUESDAY, Oct. 2 I 8 - 9:30 a.m. Let’s face it. Cybersecurity is on everyone’s minds these days, in every organization and every industry, including air traffic control. The question then becomes: what is unique to the cybersecurity issues and solutions in this domain? Over seven years ago, ATCA began dedicating a separate event to aviation cybersecurity in order to address this question. Out of ATCA presents Aviation Cybersecurity 2018 bubbled up

ATCA Annual Conference Guide

Sept. 30 - Oct. 3, 2018 Gaylord National Resort • National Harbor, MD

a few key themes that highlight specific challenges to this industry: 1. Our NAS is part of the US critical infrastructure, and hence protecting it from cyber attacks is of utmost priority. 2. The NAS is a rather complex system of systems – very distributed, asynchronously built, and highly dependent, and yet it still has to work together in a safe and secure fashion. 3. With modernization efforts and the adoption of mainstream technologies in this domain, not to mention the disruptive effects of UAVs, aviation increasingly faces lower barriers to hacker entry and needs to figure out how best to balance the benefits of information sharing with security and safety. Based on the above, there’s an agreement that cybersecurity needs to be looked at as part of a holistic picture, combining policy with technological, procedural, and operational controls. With that in mind, the purpose of this panel is to articulate the cybersecurity issues and solutions as they directly relate to ATC policy. How is addressing cybersecurity different from addressing the safety mandate? When will we have policies that account for security requirements of not just individual systems but the entire ecosystem? How are we planning to leverage innovation to stay ahead of the threats in order to be proactive rather than reactive? Are the right actors engaged in making sure the NAS part of our critical infrastructure is safe and secure today and tomorrow? If You Think Infrastructure is Mundane, You’re Not Paying Attention WEDNESDAY, Oct. 3 I 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. Throughout the history of ATC, there has been a critical, yet unheralded, player working behind the scenes to ensure the system works safely and effectively. The most leading-edge technology doesn’t work without the connectivity it provides, and the most forward-leaning procedural changes won’t fly without reliability. What we’re talking about here is enterprise infrastructure. Not the slick, new, big-name capabilities we’ve spent the past couple decades developing for controllers, pilots, traffic managers, and others to help them do their jobs, (continued)

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but the glue that holds together that massively complex system of systems. Historically, the purpose of such infrastructure was simply to meet the needs of the people and technologies it connects. It’s time to turn that paradigm on its ear and look at how innovations and advancements in enterprise technologies can enable new operational capabilities. What will cloud services allow us to do that we couldn’t have envisioned in the past? Are there new capabilities that can change the way controllers interact with their decision support tools and with one another? Are there mobile capabilities – terrestrial-based or otherwise – that should make us rethink the way we operate, monitor, and control the system? Will advancements in cybersecurity allow the infrastructure to protect the systems it serves instead of vice versa? The purpose of this panel is to discuss the massive leap in networking technologies that the private sector has driven over the past decade and discuss how those technologies could play a role in the future vision for the NAS and its users.

TRACK SESSIONS MONDAY, October 1 Airspace Management in Smart Cities/Airports 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. New technologies and innovations are enabling new transportation business models for the movement of people, goods, and services around the globe. Within the NAS, which we define as airports, aircraft, and airspace, smart airports and city initiatives are integrating tremendous amounts of information to enable new services that improve the customer’s transportation experience once they are off the airplane. New aircraft like UAVs, air taxis, space transports, and, someday, the flying car are offering new air delivery services for moving people and products throughout the airspace. Meanwhile, our airspace segment, which included both airspace and ATC systems, is focused on the traditional carrier services between airports. What are the challenges that have the potential to hold back this revolutionary change? Will societal issues, regulatory constraints, reliance on traditional funding and revenue models, and public acceptance place road blocks to this new transportation paradigm? There are many examples of the hurdles that may arise: • As vehicles leave the roads and enter the airspace, will traditional highway congestion move to the skies? How will the roles of a highway agency’s traffic operations center to manage congestion and detect crashes be replicated, and

ATCA Annual Conference Guide

Sept. 30 - Oct. 3, 2018 Gaylord National Resort • National Harbor, MD

will state and local law enforcement agencies play a part in the response to situations? • Commercial services could replace traditional public services, such as high demand transit routes. How will this disrupt public sector revenue models, and what effect will it have on services offered to disadvantaged populations? • As travelers look increasingly to on-demand mobility services, such as Uber, Lyft, and others, how will airport authorities and municipalities merge the convergence of air- and ground-based traffic while maintaining safety and security? • Will urban land use planning change to accommodate passenger needs for urban air mobility (UAM) pick-up locations, or will autonomous cars drop their owners and head out of town to remote “economy” parking lots? Swim Users Unite! The Information is Out There, Now What? 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. In 2017, the FAA’s PMO Communications, Information & Network Programs (CINP) organization sponsored a new FAA-industry initiative. The SWIM Industry-FAA Team (SWIFT) provides a forum for collecting individual perspectives from aviation industry experts on improving aviation operations through interoperability, systems integration, and automation, and using NAS information in operational decision making. Over the past year, a number of collaborative workshops are exploring how NAS data, shared as SWIM information services, can be leveraged by the airlines and industry to create operational improvements in aviation. The SWIFT is actively working to develop supporting SWIM documentation that puts “NAS data in operational context,” and provides operational use cases for information services available on SWIM today. SWIFT workshops have led to a collaborative engagement between the FAA, airspace users, information technology specialists, and vendors to identify how data creates NAS efficiencies. This panel session will discuss how SWIFT is building a bridge between airline operations analysts and information technologies to employ information services to achieve operational improvements. Additionally, real world examples discussed at SWIFT workshops demonstrate how SWIM is changing the way airspace users engage the NAS to realize NextGen-envisioned improvements. The panel presents an overview of the vision, workshop summaries, initial results, and future direction of the SWIFT.

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Procuring Innovation Requires Innovative Procurement Policy 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Of all the ongoing policy discussions across the aviation industry, there is one that stands out as having a clear consensus across stakeholders. There is a need to expedite the development and implementation of innovative capabilities across our industry. Given the dual role of the government in operating the system and overseeing its safety here in the US, the focus of this panel is on how the government and industry can better work together to implement innovative technologies that do not necessarily fit the mold of classic air traffic system procurement. Previous discussions in this realm have focused on more general impediments, such as how long procurement takes, risk-aversion in decision making, and the roles and responsibilities of the players on the government side. This panel is focused more specifically on an underlying policy question, which remains even if we could snap our fingers and resolve these other issues. How can we balance the public sector mandate for level playing fields (including specificity in requirements and corresponding evaluation criteria to meet that need) against the inherent nature of innovative approaches, i.e., lack of prescription and specificity to promote creativity? Weather Innovation 2 - 3 p.m. The NAS is operating at the highest safety levels with numerous factors driving improved aviation safety: improved aircraft design, pilot operating procedures, ATC enhancements, and heightened industry awareness. In addition, advances in meteorology have also contributed not just to safety, but to more efficient NAS operations. Advances such as increasing accuracy and frequency of weather observations and forecasts, providing enhanced weather in the cockpit, improving turbulence detection, and using advanced weather modeling to anticipate and adjust to weather impacts all have a direct effect on aviation safety and efficiencies. Data mining and machine learning are now also coming to the forefront of aviation weather and combining with NAS simulators to predict next-day weather impacts and possible alternate traffic strategies. Finally, the panel will focus on emerging weather requirements, such as the need for hyperlocal weather in UAS operations and solutions on how to get there. Key topics: • Weather in the cockpit. • Weather on the glass. • Weather at the planning stage/command center. • Weather modeling advances. 24

ATCA Annual Conference Guide

Sept. 30 - Oct. 3, 2018 Gaylord National Resort • National Harbor, MD

TBO 2 - 3 p.m. In 2017, the NextGen Advisory Committee (NAC) reached consensus to move forward with tasking focused on implementing NextGen in the Northeast Corridor (NEC). A key element of this activity is the initial Trajectory-Based Operations (iTBO) underway at the FAA. iTBO will tackle the integration of technologies, operations, culture, and training, as well as integration of aircraft data with ground systems. iTBO is the first step of the FAA TBO vision, combining time-based management and Performance-Based Navigation (PBN), and includes enabling existing and new ground and flight deck capabilities to improve throughput, predictability, flight efficiency, and flexibility. This panel will discuss the plans, capabilities, and challenges facing TBO – with particular focus on the iTBO efforts in the NEC. The perspectives from the FAA, NATCA, airspace users, and industry will showcase the importance of this effort and the integration opportunities and challenges ahead, as well as look forward beyond iTBO to the broader FAA TBO Vision. New Entrants Integration 2 - 3 p.m. Air transportation innovations and associated new business models are advancing at a pace that is difficult for current ANSPs to accommodate. Remotely piloted vehicles, autonomous operations, growing numbers of commercial space launches, supersonic and maybe even hypersonic aircraft, and upper airspace operations will vie for airspace access with existing commercial and state-manned aircraft operations. These new entrants are pushing the envelope and investing in the development of their respective innovations while testing the boundaries of established safety and implementation policies. As new concepts are brought to life and ANSPs are pushed to quickly approve these non-traditional operations, the CAAs also play a key role in the integration process. As a result, ANSPs and CAAs are faced with the perplexing task of integrating new operating models into existing standards, policies, and regulatory frameworks. The panel will explore issues ANSPs and CAAs face as they move to integrate new entrants into their respective airspace systems. The discussion will focus on the opportunities, challenges, and risks facing both, to include experiences and lessons learned from those who are dealing with these (continued)

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issues today. In addition to the CAA and ANSP perspectives, the panel will also consider the challenges and opportunities facing the new entrant manufacture/operator. TUESDAY, October 2 Small UAS Update 10:45 - 11:45 a.m. When the FAA issued its Small UAS Rule, it was criticized for having given lip service to performance-based oversight at the same time as it issued a very prescriptive rule. In numerous circles, the FAA promised to be thoughtfully liberal in granting waivers and exemptions, as it was able to observe the evolution of the industry and collect data that would enable an increasingly performance-based approach to drone oversight. The FAA has been true to its promise. It has made significant progress in streamlining access to controlled airspace as well as creating a very workable process for waivers of other sections of Part 107. It has carved out a significant space for private sector innovation in both vehicles and UAS traffic management. Where is this evolving? What are the implications for larger UAS? Is the agency getting more comfortable with performance-based oversight? What are the lessons for other areas of oversight to be derived from the FAA’s recent activities with small UAS? ADS-B Update: Look Out Mandate, Here We Come 10:45 - 11:45 a.m. We are less than a year and a half from the effective date of the ADS-B Out mandate, and the FAA has made abundantly clear there will be no extensions. Although there will have been very substantial compliance, significant groups of users will remain unequipped when the mandate goes into effect. The FAA stated in its 2009 regulatory evaluation for the mandate: “The FAA is not engaging in this rulemaking simply to meet the level of surveillance that exists in the current infrastructure, or to establish a new surveillance system that would only enable separation performance equivalent to that realized today. ADS-B Out performance is intended to go beyond today’s standards for accuracy and provide a platform for the next generation air transportation system.” As we approach the mandate, where are we in terms of achieving the principal objectives the FAA identified for ADS-B Out (increased and optimized flights over the Gulf of Mexico, reduced separation by controllers through improved conflict probe performance, improved metering through the Traffic Management Advisor, more use of Optimized Profile 26

ATCA Annual Conference Guide

Sept. 30 - Oct. 3, 2018 Gaylord National Resort • National Harbor, MD

Descents, and reduced CO2 emissions)? What unanticipated beneﬁts do we expect? Interagency Panel 10:45 - 11:45 a.m. Following the tragic events from September 11, 2001, the 9/11 Commission cited the need for increased collaboration and information sharing within the intelligence community. Since the National Counterterrorism Center was formed in 2004, it has become an example of how interagency collaboration has led to successful partnerships from the local levels to the national/international level. Not all interagency coordination is established and enforced by executive order, so how can interagency programs in navigation and surveillance be successful? Join a panel of agency leaders to learn more about the current state of interagency collaborations, opportunities for improvement, and best practices.

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