RADIOCOM, Inc. - News - 11th International Air Navigation Conference



En español	September 22, 2003 - Montreal, Canada 11th International Air Navigation Conference From September 22^nd to October 2^nd 2003, Radiocom Inc had the opportunity of participating at ICAO's 11th International Air Navigation Conference, in Montreal, Canada. Radiocom Inc. was invited as advisory member to a state and to exhibit its AMHS (ATS Message Handling System) solutions to civil aviation authorities attending the meeting. In order to understand the importance of this conference, we need to remember that the previous conference, the 10^th Air Navigation Conference took place 12 years ago in 1991. Delegates of Radiocom Inc Stand of Radiocom, Inc. Stand of Radiocom, Inc. The conference ICAO structure, methodology and the conference We decided to include a little summary about how ICAO operates and the different bodies that make up its structure in order to understand the conference. The constitution of ICAO is the Convention on International Civil Aviation, drawn up by a conference in Chicago in November and December 1944, and to which each ICAO Contracting State is a party. According to the terms of the Convention, the Organization is made up of an Assembly, a Council of limited membership with various subordinate bodies and a Secretariat. The chief officers are the President of the Council and the Secretary General. The Assembly It is composed of representatives from all Contracting States, is the sovereign body of ICAO. It meets every three years, reviewing in detail the work of the Organization and setting policy for the coming years. It also votes a triennial budget. The Council Is the governing body which is elected by the Assembly for a three-year term, it is composed of 36 States. The Assembly chooses the Council Member States under three headings: States of chief importance in air transport, States which make the largest contribution to the provision of facilities for air navigation, and States whose designation will ensure that all major areas of the world are represented. Even though the States are granted these three different categories, when they vote, all States count as one vote each. As the governing body, the Council gives continuing direction to the work of ICAO. It is in the Council that Standards and Recommended Practices are adopted and incorporated as Annexes to the Convention on International Civil Aviation. The Council is assisted by the Air Navigation Commission (technical matters), the Air Transport Committee (economic matters), the Committee on Joint Support of Air Navigation Services and the Finance Committee. ICAO's Assembly Meeting Room The Conference The conference is convened by ICAO in order to discuss specific topics according to a predetermined Agenda. It is a meeting that gathers when it is deemed necessary to advance certain aspects of Civil Aviation and where all members States participate in order to agree on proposals and recommendations to the planning board. In this case Air Navigation was the objective of the agenda. The delegates meet in order to consider working (WP) or information (IP) papers. Working papers are presented by the Secretariat or member States, they tend to expose and give arguments to sustain a given stand, while Information papers present a given experience of a member without taking a stand. In most cases the main proposal is presented by the secretary's office and WP by member states follow stating the position or attitude of each country regarding the proposal. Conference decisions, reports and recommendations are reached by consensus. A view of one session of ANConf/11, Commitee A The Commissions Regarding the development of Standards, the Council is assisted by the Air Navigation Commission in technical matters, the Air Transport Committee in economic matters and the Committee on Unlawful Interference in aviation security matters. The main body charged with development of technical Standards and other provisions is the Air Navigation Commission. Its primary role is to advise the Council of ICAO on air navigation issues. It is composed of fifteen experts with appropriate qualifications and experience in various fields of aviation. Its members are nominated by Contracting States and are appointed by the Council. They are expected to function as independent experts and not as representatives of their States. The Air Navigation Commission is assisted in its work by the technical personnel of the Air Navigation Bureau, which is a part of the Secretariat. Meeting Room of the Air Navigation Commission The Secretariat Is headed by the Secretary General, is divided into five main divisions: the Air Navigation Bureau, the Air Transport Bureau, the Technical Co-operation Bureau, the Legal Bureau, and the Bureau of Administration and Services. Each bureau is divided into Sections, which - in the case of the Air Navigation Bureau - correspond each to an area of responsibility in one or more related fields. The Air Navigation Bureau It develops technical studies for the Air Navigation Commission as well as recommendations for Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) relating to safety, regularity and efficiency of international air navigation for the Council. Sixteen out of eighteen Annexes to the Convention are of a technical nature and therefore fall within the responsibilities of the Air Navigation Bureau and its sections. Therefore, the Air Navigation Bureau is very much involved in maintaining the ICAO Standards current. The Air Navigation Bureau plans, prepares, convenes and conducts regional air navigation meetings in co-operation with the regional offices and Regional Affairs Office (RAO). THE FINAL REPORT OF THE 11^th AIR NAVIGATION CONFERENCE In order to provide visitors to our website with information regarding what was concluded at the conference, we have included here what were (in our opinion) noteworthy conclusions for Agenda Items 1 to 4. For complete conclusions, please refer to ICAO web page, using the following link: http://www.icao.int/icao/en/anb/meetings/anconf11/index.html Committee A: Committee A examined Agenda Items 1 to 4 mainly about global strategies: Agenda Item 1: Global operational concept for Air Traffic Management At the meeting the ATM global operational concept was examined (a global concept of unified and cooperative decision making was analyzed as the future ATM management). Following was concluded: The limitations imposed by country sovereignty must be considered. The planning horizon is the year 2025 and the notion of worldwide ATM is fundamental. A worldwide management and exchange of information philosophy was recommended, based on the evolution towards a holistic cooperative and collaborative environment when ATM actions are required. Service providers, including airport operators, require capacity to work in a rich information environment, with real-time data, with data systems delivering predictions and tendencies, and including a wide range of automated instruments. The Conference agreed to the seven components of the operational concept (see WP 4). Operational requisites including AIS and MET should be included into the global operational concept. That important target is “to guarantee that while one aircraft advances through different regions with different service levels, it will be able to operate without interruptions using a constant level of operational security. That means many different integrated systems operating seamlessly (not only a single system). The ADS-B following some development required, could serve as an important system in order to provide several parts of the operational concept. Those countries without wide radar coverage may recognize the possibility of soon receiving benefits from the ADS-B systems in place of surveillance radars. Australia has installed one terrestrial station and performance achieved has exceeded expectations, as it has surpassed the performance of secondary radar installed at the same site. Australia has a project to install 20 terrestrial stations. The CAIS (Computerized Aeronautical Information Services) is undergoing operational tests and based on Annex 15 and Doc 8126 is using an exchange format based in an expandable markup language (XML). EUROCONTROL is developing an electronic AIP (eAIP) and it was announced that the European AIS database became operational in June 2003 using the AICM (Aeronautical Information Conceptual Model) and the AIXM (Aeronautical Information Exchange Model), the only exchange model used currently. Other issues considered involved stating that the operational concept is based on a CDM (Collaborative Decision Making) environment. The operational concept will drive the selection of technologies. That ICAO is implementing formats to publish ANP routes based on a web based GIS. And that the ACAS (Anticollision on board) should be considered as the last independent component in the aeronautical security network. (See final report WP/190) Agenda Item 2: Safety and protection in the Traffic Air Management The meeting considered the concepts referring to operational safety and some conclusions are included here: There is a need to harmonize texts about safety management for ATS and Airports introducing the necessity of a systemic integrated focus on system safety, applying system engineering and management engineering to manage risks formally in an integrated manner. There is a need to harmonize operational safety indicators for the whole aeronautical system, with special emphasis on the creation of predicative or "anticipated" indicators that may show security level reached. There is a need to adopt a "holistic" system, which means an integrated system composed by interacting components: human operators, procedures, technological systems and information exchange. The PANS-ATM must include high level supervisory mechanism and the detection of adverse tendencies. A study on MEL (Minimum Equipment List) concepts to the ATM systems and to ATM infrastructure was proposed. There is evidence that most operational errors are unintentional, and that the possibility of managing and preventing those errors is influenced by the willingness of the operational staff to report events that affect security. In some accident and incident cases, some reports extracted from surveillance systems and records from data acquisition systems have been accepted as legal evidence. This could prevent information flow inside the organization and affect aviation safety negatively. Another information sources about operational safety are programs used by airlines to monitor normal operations. The airlines have implemented safety audits regarding “on route” operations (LOSA). They are based on Threat and Error Management Model (TEM), and they are part of the operational environment. The secretariat has proposed the possibility of expanding the LOSA concept to the ATS, adapting these criteria, the name of "Normal Operational Security Verification (NOSS)” was introduced at the meeting. ATS organizations must explore data sources regarding operational safety. Human factors are considered in Doc 9758. Elements or data related to safety surveillance should be in electronic format. The Safety Audit program, at the moment followed Annex by Annex, will evolve to a systemic audit program. Full support was given to the need of certifying services providers and ATM systems, and to considerate electronic technicians into the global debate about safety and certification. Support for need of an independent audit on the safety management practices and performance of service providers was proposed. (See final report WP/197) Agenda Item 3: Performance targets and Required Total System Performance (RTSP) concept. The meeting considered the possibility of defining Performance Targets and RTSP indicators and concluded: Regarding Required Communication Performance (RCP) it was noted that data input does not allow a performance evaluation as direct as in the case of voice data. Full support to the RCP operational concept was given. The countries were encouraged to publish their own economical performance rules, including quality, service efficiency and reference targets. In Europe, a 10 % reliability increase could be equivalent to saving 600 millions Euros in one year. The efficiency of a service provider has deep consequences on air space users. A quality management system can be added easily to current safety management systems. Performance targets and achievements at every level could facilitate a positive dialog between ATM participants. Full agreement on the fact that systems need to be developed based on performance targets. A hierarchical scheme of performance concepts was proposed to the meeting. Level 4 in this scheme defines performance information management parameters for data processing and CNS operational services. For example: RCP (Required Communication Performance), RNP (Required Navigation Performance), RMP, RSP (Required Surveillance Performance), etc. The PIRGs and the States are to consider planning harmonized with the performance model definitions applicable worldwide. ATM systems should be based on concrete performance targets to be complied with and monitored accordingly. (See final report WP/203) Agenda Item 4: Rules to increase the capacity The meeting considered rules in order to increase capacity and concluded: Creation of an ATM system based on collaborative decision making concept (CDM) is needed. Adapt tetra-dimensional trajectory and ADS-B to the specific countries and PIRGs needs. In particular the Asia-Pacific Region will start to implement RNP=4. The European Plan EICP is a part of a process where decisions are based more in common benefits than technology. There is need to establish realistic ATM performance targets that can be monitored. The European Union is preparing harmonized standards on certification of ATS service providers. Runway incursions: Aspects that influence incursions and also standards and performance requirement of equipment, lightning and airport signals were considered. The possibility of an incursion has been calculated, and it has been concluded that it increases faster than traffic volume. Many projects for airport expansion have resulted in more complex operations due to unsuitable designs. A uniform definition and descriptive taxonomy of incursion seriousness was supported. A Draft of the "Advanced Guiding and Surface Movement Control System Manual" (A-SMGCS) was proposed. (See final report WP/204) Committee B: Committee B dedicated it efforts to the following three Agenda Items, giving special emphasis to special technologies. We did not participate in these meetings so we recommend reading following reports: Agenda Item 5: Examination of the UIT conclusions (2003) (CMR2003) and the repercussions on using of aeronautical electromagnetic spectrum: (See final report WP/205). Agenda Item 6: Development status of the Satellite Navigation Worldwide System: (See final report WP/201). An overview of satellite positioning advances by technology and by region was considered. Conclusions related to the vulnerability of the satellite system, the shift of the date to start global services and the need to maintain terrestrial radio navigation aids as system backup were amongst recommendations. A new role of the DME/P was envisioned. Agenda Item 7: Ground-to-Air and Air-to-Air aeronautical communications: (See final report WP/202). In this case an evaluation by technologies and advances, highlighting the importance given to the ASD-B is noteworthy. Radiocom, Inc. POBox 52-1345 Miami, FL. 33152 - U.S.A. Tel. (786) 235-9910 Website www.radiocominc.com
Volver al inicio de la página

September 22, 2003 - Montreal, Canada

11th International Air Navigation Conference

From September 22^nd to October 2^nd 2003, Radiocom Inc had the opportunity of participating at ICAO's 11th International Air Navigation Conference, in Montreal, Canada.

Radiocom Inc. was invited as advisory member to a state and to exhibit its AMHS (ATS Message Handling System) solutions to civil aviation authorities attending the meeting.

In order to understand the importance of this conference, we need to remember that the previous conference, the 10^th Air Navigation Conference took place 12 years ago in 1991.

Delegates of Radiocom Inc

Stand of Radiocom, Inc.

The conference

ICAO structure, methodology and the conference

We decided to include a little summary about how ICAO operates and the different bodies that make up its structure in order to understand the conference.

The constitution of ICAO is the Convention on International Civil Aviation, drawn up by a conference in Chicago in November and December 1944, and to which each ICAO Contracting State is a party. According to the terms of the Convention, the Organization is made up of an Assembly, a Council of limited membership with various subordinate bodies and a Secretariat. The chief officers are the President of the Council and the Secretary General.

The Assembly

It is composed of representatives from all Contracting States, is the sovereign body of ICAO. It meets every three years, reviewing in detail the work of the Organization and setting policy for the coming years. It also votes a triennial budget.

The Council

Is the governing body which is elected by the Assembly for a three-year term, it is composed of 36 States. The Assembly chooses the Council Member States under three headings: States of chief importance in air transport, States which make the largest contribution to the provision of facilities for air navigation, and States whose designation will ensure that all major areas of the world are represented. Even though the States are granted these three different categories, when they vote, all States count as one vote each.

As the governing body, the Council gives continuing direction to the work of ICAO. It is in the Council that Standards and Recommended Practices are adopted and incorporated as Annexes to the Convention on International Civil Aviation. The Council is assisted by the Air Navigation Commission (technical matters), the Air Transport Committee (economic matters), the Committee on Joint Support of Air Navigation Services and the Finance Committee.

ICAO's Assembly Meeting Room

The Conference

The conference is convened by ICAO in order to discuss specific topics according to a predetermined Agenda. It is a meeting that gathers when it is deemed necessary to advance certain aspects of Civil Aviation and where all members States participate in order to agree on proposals and recommendations to the planning board. In this case Air Navigation was the objective of the agenda.

The delegates meet in order to consider working (WP) or information (IP) papers. Working papers are presented by the Secretariat or member States, they tend to expose and give arguments to sustain a given stand, while Information papers present a given experience of a member without taking a stand. In most cases the main proposal is presented by the secretary's office and WP by member states follow stating the position or attitude of each country regarding the proposal. Conference decisions, reports and recommendations are reached by consensus.

A view of one session of ANConf/11, Commitee A

The Commissions

Regarding the development of Standards, the Council is assisted by the Air Navigation Commission in technical matters, the Air Transport Committee in economic matters and the Committee on Unlawful Interference in aviation security matters.

The main body charged with development of technical Standards and other provisions is the Air Navigation Commission. Its primary role is to advise the Council of ICAO on air navigation issues. It is composed of fifteen experts with appropriate qualifications and experience in various fields of aviation. Its members are nominated by Contracting States and are appointed by the Council. They are expected to function as independent experts and not as representatives of their States.

The Air Navigation Commission is assisted in its work by the technical personnel of the Air Navigation Bureau, which is a part of the Secretariat.

Meeting Room of the Air Navigation Commission

The Secretariat

Is headed by the Secretary General, is divided into five main divisions: the Air Navigation Bureau, the Air Transport Bureau, the Technical Co-operation Bureau, the Legal Bureau, and the Bureau of Administration and Services. Each bureau is divided into Sections, which - in the case of the Air Navigation Bureau - correspond each to an area of responsibility in one or more related fields.

The Air Navigation Bureau

It develops technical studies for the Air Navigation Commission as well as recommendations for Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) relating to safety, regularity and efficiency of international air navigation for the Council.

Sixteen out of eighteen Annexes to the Convention are of a technical nature and therefore fall within the responsibilities of the Air Navigation Bureau and its sections. Therefore, the Air Navigation Bureau is very much involved in maintaining the ICAO Standards current.

The Air Navigation Bureau plans, prepares, convenes and conducts regional air navigation meetings in co-operation with the regional offices and Regional Affairs Office (RAO).

THE FINAL REPORT OF THE 11^th AIR NAVIGATION CONFERENCE

In order to provide visitors to our website with information regarding what was concluded at the conference, we have included here what were (in our opinion) noteworthy conclusions for Agenda Items 1 to 4. For complete conclusions, please refer to ICAO web page, using the following link:

http://www.icao.int/icao/en/anb/meetings/anconf11/index.html

Committee A:

Committee A examined Agenda Items 1 to 4 mainly about global strategies:

Agenda Item 1: Global operational concept for Air Traffic Management

At the meeting the ATM global operational concept was examined (a global concept of unified and cooperative decision making was analyzed as the future ATM management).

Following was concluded:

The limitations imposed by country sovereignty must be considered.
The planning horizon is the year 2025 and the notion of worldwide ATM is fundamental. A worldwide management and exchange of information philosophy was recommended, based on the evolution towards a holistic cooperative and collaborative environment when ATM actions are required.
Service providers, including airport operators, require capacity to work in a rich information environment, with real-time data, with data systems delivering predictions and tendencies, and including a wide range of automated instruments.
The Conference agreed to the seven components of the operational concept (see WP 4).
Operational requisites including AIS and MET should be included into the global operational concept.
That important target is “to guarantee that while one aircraft advances through different regions with different service levels, it will be able to operate without interruptions using a constant level of operational security. That means many different integrated systems operating seamlessly (not only a single system).
The ADS-B following some development required, could serve as an important system in order to provide several parts of the operational concept. Those countries without wide radar coverage may recognize the possibility of soon receiving benefits from the ADS-B systems in place of surveillance radars. Australia has installed one terrestrial station and performance achieved has exceeded expectations, as it has surpassed the performance of secondary radar installed at the same site. Australia has a project to install 20 terrestrial stations.
The CAIS (Computerized Aeronautical Information Services) is undergoing operational tests and based on Annex 15 and Doc 8126 is using an exchange format based in an expandable markup language (XML). EUROCONTROL is developing an electronic AIP (eAIP) and it was announced that the European AIS database became operational in June 2003 using the AICM (Aeronautical Information Conceptual Model) and the AIXM (Aeronautical Information Exchange Model), the only exchange model used currently.
Other issues considered involved stating that the operational concept is based on a CDM (Collaborative Decision Making) environment.
The operational concept will drive the selection of technologies.
That ICAO is implementing formats to publish ANP routes based on a web based GIS.
And that the ACAS (Anticollision on board) should be considered as the last independent component in the aeronautical security network.

(See final report WP/190)

Agenda Item 2: Safety and protection in the Traffic Air Management

The meeting considered the concepts referring to operational safety and some conclusions are included here:

There is a need to harmonize texts about safety management for ATS and Airports introducing the necessity of a systemic integrated focus on system safety, applying system engineering and management engineering to manage risks formally in an integrated manner.
There is a need to harmonize operational safety indicators for the whole aeronautical system, with special emphasis on the creation of predicative or "anticipated" indicators that may show security level reached.
There is a need to adopt a "holistic" system, which means an integrated system composed by interacting components: human operators, procedures, technological systems and information exchange.
The PANS-ATM must include high level supervisory mechanism and the detection of adverse tendencies.
A study on MEL (Minimum Equipment List) concepts to the ATM systems and to ATM infrastructure was proposed.
There is evidence that most operational errors are unintentional, and that the possibility of managing and preventing those errors is influenced by the willingness of the operational staff to report events that affect security. In some accident and incident cases, some reports extracted from surveillance systems and records from data acquisition systems have been accepted as legal evidence. This could prevent information flow inside the organization and affect aviation safety negatively.
Another information sources about operational safety are programs used by airlines to monitor normal operations. The airlines have implemented safety audits regarding “on route” operations (LOSA). They are based on Threat and Error Management Model (TEM), and they are part of the operational environment.
The secretariat has proposed the possibility of expanding the LOSA concept to the ATS, adapting these criteria, the name of "Normal Operational Security Verification (NOSS)” was introduced at the meeting. ATS organizations must explore data sources regarding operational safety.
Human factors are considered in Doc 9758.
Elements or data related to safety surveillance should be in electronic format.
The Safety Audit program, at the moment followed Annex by Annex, will evolve to a systemic audit program.
Full support was given to the need of certifying services providers and ATM systems, and to considerate electronic technicians into the global debate about safety and certification.
Support for need of an independent audit on the safety management practices and performance of service providers was proposed.

(See final report WP/197)

Agenda Item 3: Performance targets and Required Total System Performance (RTSP) concept.

The meeting considered the possibility of defining Performance Targets and RTSP indicators and concluded:

Regarding Required Communication Performance (RCP) it was noted that data input does not allow a performance evaluation as direct as in the case of voice data. Full support to the RCP operational concept was given.
The countries were encouraged to publish their own economical performance rules, including quality, service efficiency and reference targets. In Europe, a 10 % reliability increase could be equivalent to saving 600 millions Euros in one year. The efficiency of a service provider has deep consequences on air space users.
A quality management system can be added easily to current safety management systems.
Performance targets and achievements at every level could facilitate a positive dialog between ATM participants.
Full agreement on the fact that systems need to be developed based on performance targets.
A hierarchical scheme of performance concepts was proposed to the meeting.
Level 4 in this scheme defines performance information management parameters for data processing and CNS operational services. For example: RCP (Required Communication Performance), RNP (Required Navigation Performance), RMP, RSP (Required Surveillance Performance), etc.
The PIRGs and the States are to consider planning harmonized with the performance model definitions applicable worldwide. ATM systems should be based on concrete performance targets to be complied with and monitored accordingly.

(See final report WP/203)

Agenda Item 4: Rules to increase the capacity

The meeting considered rules in order to increase capacity and concluded:

Creation of an ATM system based on collaborative decision making concept (CDM) is needed.
Adapt tetra-dimensional trajectory and ADS-B to the specific countries and PIRGs needs. In particular the Asia-Pacific Region will start to implement RNP=4.
The European Plan EICP is a part of a process where decisions are based more in common benefits than technology. There is need to establish realistic ATM performance targets that can be monitored.
The European Union is preparing harmonized standards on certification of ATS service providers.
Runway incursions:
Aspects that influence incursions and also standards and performance requirement of equipment, lightning and airport signals were considered.
The possibility of an incursion has been calculated, and it has been concluded that it increases faster than traffic volume. Many projects for airport expansion have resulted in more complex operations due to unsuitable designs.
A uniform definition and descriptive taxonomy of incursion seriousness was supported.
A Draft of the "Advanced Guiding and Surface Movement Control System Manual" (A-SMGCS) was proposed.

(See final report WP/204)

Committee B:

Committee B dedicated it efforts to the following three Agenda Items, giving special emphasis to special technologies. We did not participate in these meetings so we recommend reading following reports:

Agenda Item 5: Examination of the UIT conclusions (2003) (CMR2003) and the repercussions on using of aeronautical electromagnetic spectrum:

(See final report WP/205).

Agenda Item 6: Development status of the Satellite Navigation Worldwide System:

(See final report WP/201).

An overview of satellite positioning advances by technology and by region was considered.

Conclusions related to the vulnerability of the satellite system, the shift of the date to start global services and the need to maintain terrestrial radio navigation aids as system backup were amongst recommendations.

A new role of the DME/P was envisioned.

Agenda Item 7: Ground-to-Air and Air-to-Air aeronautical communications:

(See final report WP/202).

In this case an evaluation by technologies and advances, highlighting the importance given to the ASD-B is noteworthy.

Radiocom, Inc.

POBox 52-1345 Miami, FL. 33152 - U.S.A.

Tel. (786) 235-9910

Website www.radiocominc.com

Volver al inicio de la página