changing lenses: leveraging a common data source for

Changing Lenses: Leveraging a Common

Data Source for Strategic and Tactical Applications

By: David Rose, Leah Walker and Marina Sominsky

NASA Cost & Schedule Symposium, Aug. 15, 2019

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Biography: David Rose

• Industry / Company Employment- Cobec Consulting Inc. (2013 – Present)- EcoSys Consulting (2010 – 2013)- Freescale Semiconductor (1998 – 2010)

• Education / Certification- BA, Aviation, Airplane Systems, OSU

- Commercial Pilot

- PMP

• Professional Experience- Domain Expert, Scheduling, Cobec, various FAA

programs

• Something you don’t know about me- Flew the Fuji Blimp at Oshkosh


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Biography: Leah Walker

• Industry / Company Employment- Cobec Consulting Inc. (2018 – Present)

- Regulus Group LLC (2011 – 2018)

• Education / Certification- BA, English, UCO

- PMP

• Professional Experience- Consultant, Scheduling, Cobec, 8 years FAA Support on

various programs

• Something you don’t know about me- Expends an unusually high amount of energy on

costumes for any occasion allowing a costume


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Biography: Marina Sominsky

• Industry / Company Employment

- Cobec Consulting Inc. (2017 – Present)

- Kitchell (2008 – 2017)

- Freescale Semiconductor (2004-2007)

• Education / Certification

- BS, Chemical Engineering, KU

- EIT, PMP, PSP

• Professional Experience

- Sr. Consultant, Cobec, FAA TAMR program

• Something you don’t know about me

- Avid ski enthusiast


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Introduction

• RADAR Systems covering the Southern California

Large TRACON (SCT)

• Tactical: Operational Sustainment Initiative (OPS)

• Strategic: Facilities and Equipment Program (F&E)

• Common Reporting Infrastructure

- Oracle® Primavera P6℠

- Tableau® Software


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Presentation Outline

• FAA Program Schedule Types

• The Southern California TRACON

• Surveillance Improvement Initiative (SII)

- Platform Overview

- OPS Initiative

- F&E Program

• Setting the stage in Primavera P6

• Tailored reporting in Tableau

• Conclusion

• Questions/Comments


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FAA Program Schedule Types

• Operational Sustainment (OPS)

- Tactically focused initiatives

- Schedule owners

• Terminal Second Level Engineering (TSLE)

• Regional Service Area

• System Support (Service) Centers (SSC)

• Technical Operation (Tech Ops)

• Technical Support Operations Group (TSOG)

- Stakeholders / Union Partners

• Air Traffic Controllers (ATC)

• National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA)

• Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS)


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FAA Program Schedule Types

• Facilities and Equipment (F&E)

- Strategically focused programs

- Driven by the Acquisition Management System (AMS)

- Funding is released by the Joint Resource Council (JRC)

- Performance reporting

• Regular and ongoing

• Status of achievement and forecasting of major milestones

• Financial performance

- Authority Stakeholders

• FAA executive reporting chain

• The United States Congress


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Southern California TRACON

• The Southern California Terminal Radar Approach Control facility (SoCal TRACON or SCT) provides radar air traffic approach control services to all arriving and departing aircraft for 24 airports in Southern California.

• SCT guides about 2.2 million planes over roughly 9,000 square miles in a year and covers an area from 20 miles north of Burbank to the US/Mexican border and from San Bernardino to Santa Catalina Island.

Click to edit Master title styleSouthern California TRACON

• California Airspace

• SCT Major Airports- Burbank

- John Wayne

- Los Angeles

- Long Beach

- Ontario

- San Diego

- Van Nuys

- March AFB

- MCAS Miramar

- NAS North Island

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Surveillance – Platform Overview

• RADAR Explained

- Primary – Non-Cooperative

- Secondary - Cooperative

• ASR-9 – Primary

• Mode-S - Secondary

Mode-S Secondary / Cooperative Radar

ASR-9 Primary / Non Cooperative Radar

Non-Cooperative Data Block

CooperativeData Block


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Surveillance - OPS Initiative

Surveillance Systems need to be continually maintained and

sustained to address issues identified below:

• End of Life Parts

• Depot Stock Depletion

• Aging Systems

• Urban Growth

• Surveillance System Software Upgrades*

• Automation System Software Upgrades and Enhancements*

• System Safety Modifications (SSMs)*

• Software Performance Improvements*

*Tracked in P6 as Optimization and Rebaselining Tasks


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Surveillance - OPS Initiative

Maintenance and Sustainment Issues for the ASR-9 and Mode S are identified below:

ASR-9

• Rotary Joints*

• Encoder Non-Linearity*

• Beacon Antenna Tilt*

• ASR-9 Cabling Issues*

• ASR-9 RF Interference (SPECTRUM)*

Mode S

• CPME Relocations and Receiver/Transmitter cabinets and Delays

• FRD Documentation

• IF Receivers

• Annual Antenna Check

• Rotary Joints*

• APG/Encoders*

• RFTTGs*

*Tracked in P6 as Optimization and Rebaselining Tasks


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Surveillance - F&E Program

Mode-S SLEP

-Shortfall analysis completed demonstrated that a Mode-S Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) is needed to ensure supportability and sustainment of the systems through CY2026

-Without a SLEP, Mode-S will experience decreased operational availability and performance deterioration as a result of decreased availability of replacement parts due to obsolescence

-Current Plan: Replace all En Route and some Terminal Mode S Systems

Program Scope

-Full replacement of Mode-S System below the rotary joint

-Provide a minimum of equivalent performance as current Mode-S

ASR-9 SLEP 3

- The ASR-9 SLEP Phase 3 Program is intended to extend the service life for all 135 ASR-9 systems.

- Seven projects have been identified that will address obsolescence, end of service life, and diminishing manufacturing sources.

• Data Communications Equipment (DCE) Modernization:

• Analog to Digital (AID) Converter Circuit Card Assembly (CCA) Replacement

• Clutter Map Memory CCA Depot Replenishment

• Modulator Pulse Assembly (MPA) Monitoring and Control CCA Replacement

• Maintenance Display Unit (MDU) Replacement

• Hardline Cables and Connectors Replacement and Depot Stock

• Receiver Protector Depot Replenishment

Click to edit Master title styleSurveillance Improvement Initiative Background

• SCT transitioned to a new automation platform in Aug 2015:

Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS).

• Soon after STARS implementation, Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs) noticed an

increase in false targets and tracks.

- False Target Impacts and Mitigations Include:

• Increased ATC to aircraft radio communications

• Unnecessary maneuvering requests of aircraft by ATC

• Unnecessary go-arounds

• Progress has been made to reduce false targets through adjustments to the

automation system

• Further false target reduction requires adjustments and optimization of the

network of sensors feeding the SCT facility. The Surveillance

Improvement Initiative.

Click to edit Master title styleSurveillance Improvement Initiative

• Goal:

- Reduce false targets and improve surveillance performance while minimizing risk and

operational impact.

• Steps for Surveillance Improvement Strategy Implementation:

- All RADAR systems feeding SCT

• Evaluate current condition

• Re-baseline all systems

• Optimize using a new technique for a network of sensors

• Develop and implement software to further reduce false targets

• Duration:

- Currently underway and expected to complete by end of 2019

• Certain activities require full or reduced surveillance service outages varying

from 3 to 10 hours in duration

- Outages can result in increased separation requirements to ensure safety margins

• ATC and Technical Operations are working closely to schedule events and plan outages to

maximize proper safety margins and minimize operational impacts

NOTE: Full ADS-B implementation in 2020 will further improve false targets and false tracks

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Setting the Stage in Primavera P6



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Stakeholder Requirements

• PMO Reporting for F&E projects – Key Milestones and Counting and overall program status

• TSLE Requirements- Engineering Studies

- Site Support

- Outages

- Optimization

• System Service Center (SSCs)- Resources

- Site Activity

- Outages

• Air Traffic Control (ATC)- Outages

- Level of service improvement dates


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Primavera Reporting Setup

• Identify the required codes and user defined fields for each stakeholder

• Tailor the Tableau dashboard to filter for defined milestones and desired views

• Primavera Layout to drive Tableau dashboard

• Data Collection

• Data Import to Tableau Prepare

• Data Joins in Database

• Publishing to Tableau

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Code and UDF Stakeholder Matrix

• Based on stakeholder requirements, OPS and F&E schedules have UDFs or

Codes assigned to tasks to allow dashboard display and filtering.

Programs

Stakeholders Requirements Primavera P6 OPS F&E

ATC Outages UDF: Full Downtime x

SSC Geographic locationActivity Code: Loc ID

Activity Code: Service Areax

TSLE Surveillance PlatformUDF: ASR-9

UDF: Mode Sx

Tech Ops Surveillance Platform

UDF: ASR-9

UDF: Mode S

Activity Code: Loc ID

Activity Code: Service Area Activity Code: Resources

x x

JRC Program Information

UDF: ASR-9

UDF: Mode S



x x

SII Surveillance Platform

UDF: ASR-9

UDF: Mode S



x x


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Defining UDFs for Reporting


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FAA EPS – Many Project Types


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Primavera Task Layout


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Putting it all Together

• Open all Relevant Projects in the EPS

• Identify the codes and UDFs the stakeholders require:- F&E – Equipment Delivery, Install, Site Complete

- OPS – Resources, Downtime, Facility Type, Location ID, on-site activities

- Apply reporting layout within P6, and export to CSV

• Import to reporting SQL database, where data joins occur, and tailored dashboards are published via Tableau

• Release the dashboards to the stakeholders – SCT OPS and Surveillance F&E!

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Tailored Reporting in Tableau



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The SCT Dashboard – Home Page


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The SCT Dashboard – Outage Filter


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The SCT Dashboard – Full Schedule


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The PMO F&E Dashboard Home Page


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The AJW-41 Dashboard

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Conclusion



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Conclusion

• Coordination between tactical (sustainment / maintenance) and strategic (new capabilities)

• Single source of truth – Primavera P6 schedule repository

• Efficient data gathering, transformation, and visualization

• Stakeholder driven codes, fields, and resource views

• Distinct Tableau dashboards with custom level of detail to meet diverse requirements

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QUESTIONS/COMMENTS?


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