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Phase 2 Part 2 Individual Project Research Project

SE630-1103B-01

Case Study of the Federal Aviation Administration

By

Demetrios Gavrilos

Colorado Technical University Online

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction ………………………………………………………………………..3

History and Development of FAA……………………………………………….... 4-7

ERAM……………………………………………………………………………... 7-12

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………..13

Appendix A………………………………………………………………………....14

Appendix B…………………………………………………………………………15

Appendix C…………………………………………………………………………16

References…………………………………………………………………………..17

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INTRODUCTION:

The Federal Aviation Administration is a large government agency that has over 48,000

employees. (Binns, p.4) Since one of its main functions is to regulate airspace and its safety

systems engineering is of great importance in helping the agency adapt to ever changing

technologies in aviation and the increasing air traffic. The 9-11 attacks placed even more

demands on the FAA which required it to help prevent terrorist attacks. A new agency, the

Transportation Security Administration was created in November of 2001 to help deal with

airport security. (faa.gov, 2011) The FAA needs a well-developed functional, physical and

allocated architecture to keep refining and improving its effectiveness. This paper will look at

some of the methods the FAA has used and whether or not they are working and how significant,

of a role, systems engineering has played in the FAA’s development as an agency. More

specifically the ERAM project, which is the FAA’s most recent, will be analyzed.

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The Federal Aviation Administration was established in 1958 by the Federal Aviation

Act of 1958. The FAA is responsible for providing two things. Its mission is to develop air

commerce and to promote air safety. (Kurian, p.218) This mission is carried out by:

Promulgating and enforcing air safety rules

Certificating airmen and aircraft

Designating and establishing airways

Administrating a grants in aid to airports program

Maintaining and managing a common system of air navigation and air traffic control for

military and civil aircraft (Kurian, p. 218)

Obviously, the FAA requires a very well developed functional architecture. This is because there

are over 230,000 aircraft being actively used today and over 620,000 people have pilot’s

licenses. (Binns, 2006) One must keep in mind that the airplane is a very dependent machine

and it needs a sophisticated and elaborate ground organization in order to be useful. (Kurian,

p.218) The invention of the airplane and all of the engineering it required was merely the first

step into what developed as a highly efficient and effective transportation system over the next

several decades. Few would argue air transport helped improve logistics. Passengers, their

luggage or cargo can now be transported in amazingly small amounts of time. In the early days

of the aircraft fliers used landmarks to navigate instead of electronic aids. (Kurian, p.218) This

method of pilots using landmarks and their own senses had limitations. Pilots could only fly

during daylight. The U.S. Air Mail Service concluded that adaptations needed to be made. A

ground system was developed which adopted functional requirements such as rotating light

beacons, emergency landing fields, and radio stations. (Kurian, p.218) By the mid-1920s the post

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office was flying the mail on a fixed schedule over a lighted airway that stretched from New

York to San Francisco. (Kurian, p.218) At that time investors wanted the U.S. government to

take an active role in the development of air transportation since the government had also done

so for railways, seaways and highways. (Kurian, p. 218)

There was also a problem with air traffic fatalities that needed to be dealt with. The U.S.

Air Mail Service had 1 fatal accident for every 463,000 miles and the commercial planes had a

fatal accident every 13,500 miles in 1924. (Kurian p.219) The Air Commerce Act of 1926 was

passed to link civil aviation to federal policies. (Kurian, p.219) This act gave the secretary of

commerce the duty of establishing and operating airways, air navigation aids, controlling air

traffic, licensing pilots investigating accidents and certificating aircraft of airworthiness. (Kurian,

p.219) The government needed a system upgrade that would enable planes to fly in overcast

conditions or at night.

The Aeronautics Branch was created by the act and developed a radio range which

transmitted two Morse code signals an “a” and an “n.” (Kurian, p.219) In the middle of the radio

beam where both signals could be heard with equal intensity the signal sounded steady, like a

long dash. (Kurian, p.219) The pilot flew along this steady, equal intensity signal and used it to

guide him along even though he couldn’t see the lighted airway. This is the required device that

enabled air transportation to develop more effectively. The Aeronautics branch also had aircraft

be certified at the manufacturing plant in order to save time. (Kurian, p.219) In July of 1934 the

Aeronautics Branch was renamed Bureau of Air Commerce.

By 1935 the Bureau was operating air route traffic control centers in Newark, Chicago,

and Cleveland. (Kurian, 220) Near the end of the 1930s nine more centers had been created.

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(Kurian, p.219) Know the federal government had taken over the responsibility of controlling

how en route traffic flowed. (Kurian, p.220) There were still a lot of safety concerns at the time

since some of the fatalities involving air transport apparently were caused by poor ground based

navigation, as in the case of the crash that killed U.S. Senator Cutting. (Kurian, p.220) A new

independent organization was formed called the Civil Aeronautics Authority. (Kurian, p.220)

This agency was responsible for safety, investigating accidents, air traffic control, maintenance

of airways, safety – rule enforcement, and economic rule making. (Kurian, p.220) The agency

was complex and in 1949 President Roosevelt split the authority into the Civil Aeronautics

Board, and the Civil Aeronautics Administration. (Kurian, p.220) The CAA existed for 18 years

and in that time new technological innovations developed, such as radar, which made air traffic

control more reliable. (Kurian. p.220)

Now it was possible for air traffic controllers to actually see and track the air traffic they

saw on a screen and the distance between aircraft could be reduced which helped increase

capacity. (Kurian. p.221) It was difficult to apply the technology since military and civilian

interests were competing against each other regarding the precise equipment to install and there

was also lack of funding due to the Korean War expenses. (Kurian, p.221) It was clear a more

efficient agency needed to be created so that technological advances and systems engineering

methods could be applied more quickly. In 1956 two passenger planes, a Super Constellation and

a DC-7 were collided over the Grand Canyon and 128 passengers died. (Kurian, 221) The air

traffic control system did not have the have the equipment or resources to require all airliners to

fly under instrument flight rules in controlled airspace. (Kurian, p.221) Instrument flight would

have to be required regardless of weather conditions and this meant that long range radar on a

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large scale and an increase in the number of air traffic controllers would have to be executed.

(Kurian, p.221) The system requirements were clear and a new more broadly empowered agency

would need to be created to help improve the air traffic system. Congress dissolved the CAA and

CAB and the FAA was created in 1958. (Kurian, p.221) The FAA was given sole responsibility

of operating and developing “a common system of air traffic control and air navigation for both

military and civil aircraft.” (Kurian, p.221) This is basically how the FAA was born. The FAA

has created the safest most reliable air transportation system in the world. (faa.gov, 2010) I will

look at some of the ways the agency is dealing with current problems.

For about the past 40 years the FAA has used the legacy En Route Host computer and

backup system in 20 air traffic control centers in the U.S. (faa.gov, 2010) En Route Host is being

replaced by (ERAM), which stands for En Route Automation Modernization. ERAM is a part of

NexGen which is part of the FAA’s modernization plan. (Gilbert, 2010) A congressional

committee has recommended that the U.S. government spend $368,750,000 on ERAM. With

ERAM software a flight can be checked for the entire flight, whereas with the old Host system a

flight plan is checked for route constraints only in the area of the departure facility. (faa.gov,

2010) With ERAM a controller is able to get information to respond to pilot requests by reading

multiple views at the same time more efficiently. (faa.gov, 2010) ERAM also offers a decision

support tool whose key functions are: the prediction of the future flight paths of the aircraft and

the prediction of potential future conflicts between the two aircraft or between aircraft and a

specific airspace. (Confesor, 2009) Information on the flight is available to all controllers no

matter what the facility location is making coordination better. (faa.gov, 2010) The functional

capabilities of ERAM will be:

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Weather data integration

Conflict Resolution

Cockpit communication

Information sharing

Airspace flexibility

Strategic flow management (lockheedmartin.com, 2011)

It is important to note that ERAM will be delivered in stages of multiple releases and not all at

once. (lockheedmartin.com, 2011) These capabilities will help controllers communicate with

pilots. One of the key technologies of ERAM is a 4- dimensional trajectory model used for route

tracking the planes. This model helps to predict the path of each aircraft in space and time.

(lockheedmartin.com, 2011) This enables flight operations to transition from ground based radar

to satellite based automatic dependent surveillance – broadcast (ADS-B) technology.

(lockheedmartin.com) The subsystems ERAM is composed of are shown in the functional

architecture on Appendix A. Commercial of the shelf (COTS) components and customized

components will be used to construct the subsystems. There are 12 subsystems. ATC stands for

“air traffic control,” notice all the arrows around flight data processing. I think I should explain

each subsystem briefly.

The surveillance data processing (SDP) assesses radar surveillance connections,

generates tracks and generates information about aircraft to aircraft terrain. SDP even has the

ability to process weather messages at long range. (faaco, 2010) Flight data processing (FDP)

accepts flight plans and revised flight plans from controllers and pilots worldwide. FDP is

capable of generating converted routed and trajectories for each plan and will determine if a

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plane is within trajectory by comparing data from SDP and comparing it to the trajectory. (faaco,

2010) The controller is notified if the plane is off trajectory and an adherence trajectory is

created to help place the plane back on the flight plan. (faaco, 2010) It also offers manual and

automatic handoff functions. (faaco, 2010) Display system (DS) provides the controller and the

specialist with an accurate picture of local and surrounding airspace with respect to aircraft

traffic, weather conditions and airspace characteristics. It also supports the controller and

specialist’s connection with other ERAM subsystems. (faaco, 2010) Systems Operations (OS)

provides monitoring and systems analysis recording (SAR), display recording, security and

diagnostics for ERAM elements. (faaco, 2010) Weather Data Processing (WDP) connects

ERAM to the Weather and Radar Processor (WARP) and the Weather Message Switching

Center Replacement (WMSCR). WDP processes WARP weather grids and applies it to FDP

trajectory modeling and DS for display at operational positions. (faaco, 2010) Conflict Probe

Tools (CPT) use flight data from FDP and provide conflict probe and trial planning. (faaco,

2010) General Information Processing (GIP) provides controllers with access to notices to

airmen as well as the ability to retrieve and enter general information. (faaco, 2010) Test and

Training Services provides the capability to execute simulation scenarios so that new systems

releases may be verified or to certify the system. (faaco, 2010) External Communication Services

(ECS) provides the physical connections to all external interfaces such as NEXRAD which is

used for precipitation information or WMSCR which is used for surface weather information.

(faaco, 2010) SWIM application services (SAS) where SWIM is an acronym for system wide

information management. SAS sends slight data operations for creating upgrading and deleting

to FDP and receives flight data from the FDP function. (faaco, 2010) The End Route Data

Distribution System (EDDS) , see appendix B, makes information such as flight and track data

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available to other systems within and outside of the air route traffic control centers. (faaco, 2010)

The En Route Information Display System (ERIDS), see Appendix C, provides electronic access

to the controller of graphic and textual products that were only available on paper in the past.

(faaco, 2010) Some examples are standard operating procedures and charts. ERIDS also provides

controllers with notices to airmen pilot reports. (faaco, 2010) ERIDS was developed and

deployed in 2006 and 2007. (faaco, 2010)

One would think that the FAA would take the time and put in the necessary work and

effort to put ERAM through simulations and a battery of tests before implementing it. The FAA

conducted simulations and test under different scenarios to determine some of the benefits of

using ERAM. Air space alerts was one situation that was covered. An airspace alert may a

situation that involves a plane whose passenger is going into labor and needs to make an

emergency landing or if air force one needs immediate clearance to land. Overall there was a

decrease in the number of aircraft which penetrated the protected airspace when ERAM was

used. It helped controllers identify and control potential penetrators better. ERAM improved the

timeliness of identifying the aircraft which approached the boundaries of the protected airspace.

(Zingale, 2006) There was also a small decrease in workload and in air ground communications.

(Zingale, 2006) The controller can use vectors to move a plane away from certain protected areas

before violations happen. (Zingale, 2006) As far as the simulations were concerned ERAM

seemed to be on track so far. The systems architecture, the functional requirements seemed to be

executing their functions effectively. How would ERAM be affected if a channel stopped

working? Channel failure demands some sort of backup. These failures pertain specifically to the

host computer system (HCS).

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In ERAM the active and backup channels are the same. (Zingale, 2006) When a channel

failed on the old legacy system the controllers would switch to enhanced backup surveillance or

(EBUS). (Zingale, 2006) With ERAM there doesn’t seem to be much other than a minor

disruption. Safety and effectiveness are not reduced. Other than a slight increase in workload

while the switch is being made ERAM will apparently handle channel failure better than the

legacy system. (Zingale, 2006) With the legacy system there is a large increase in workload until

air traffic is adjusted on account of the outage. (Zingale, 2006) This workload will last until the

host computer system is restored or traffic flow is adjusted to account for the outage. (Zingale,

2006)

Another simulation was conducted regarding what kind of impact an aircraft briefly

crossed air traffic control center boundary (ARTCC) would have. There was no change in safety

and an increase in efficiency. (Zingale, 2006) There is a slight increase in the amount of time the

plane spends in the sector since the aircraft is received sooner with ERAM sectors than with

legacy. (Zingale, 2006) The distance flown by the intervening air craft will decrease compared

with legacy since controllers can provide more direct routes than with legacy, the number of

aircraft handled in the intervening sector will decrease since the intervening sectors do not

control the aircraft any more. (Zingale, 2006) There were also decreases in the number of the

frequency of route amendments, handoff commands, and air ground communications. (Zingale,

2006)

Lockheed Martin is ERAM’s manufacturer and ERAM was supposed to be fully

operational at all FAA en route facilities before the end of the year 2010. (Steve, 2011) Right

now ERAM is only operational in the Seattle and Salt Lake City sites. (Schofield, 2011) It has

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been installed in 18 more ATC centers in the continental U.S.A. but it is not yet operating at

those sites. The U.S. Transportation Department’s Inspector General has publicly described the

problems ERAM has been having. (Steve, 2011) The problems are:

The interfaces with other air traffic control (ATC) facilities

The aircraft data labels on the controller displays

The way handoffs are processed

The Software must be tailored for individual locations to meet the local needs such as

airspace configurations (Steve, 2011)

ATC systems all over the world easily execute the previously mentioned functions. (Steve, 2011)

This makes me wonder why they do not function with ERAM software. Correcting these

problems may cost as much as $500 million more than what has already been spent. (Steve,

2011) The FAA has partially shut down the project until the middle of September 2011.

(Schofeld, 2011) Testing on ERAM continues but introducing ERAM to new sites has been

stopped. (Schofeld, 2011) This is mainly to promote and maintain safety in air transportation. I

have found that both software and aviation experts alike are confused as to why it has been so

difficult to apply ERAM and confidence in the software is low. One must keep in mind that

ERAM is the largest and most comprehensive technological update in the history of the FAA.

(Gilbert, 2010) The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) executive vice

president Trish Gilbert recently testified before a house transportation appropriation

subcommittee that ERAM is an “example of what happens without collaboration.” (Gilbert,

2010) The project began with no input from users with “front-line” knowledge of the system.

(Gilbert, 2010) Now in the late stages the FAA is reaching out for collaboration. (Gilbert, 2010)

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It seems as though the FAA will, in spite of all ERAM’s shortcomings so far, overcome them

and continue to adapt. ERAM’s CMMI or, capability maturity model integration, level has most

recently been appraised at 1, performed, which is merely a start in process improvement. (GAO,

2004)

DISCUSSION:

One of the key elements in defining a system’s function is user interface. (Buede, 2009)

These are the functions associated with requesting and obtaining inputs from users, providing

feedback and output to users and then responding to the questions of the users. (Buede, 2009)

This is part of user interface processing. IDEF0 diagrams and functional architecture are basic

components of systems engineering. These also need user input to be complete. The FAA

neglected the basics of systems engineering and it cost them. I do not know why. I think it is

because in its fervor to overhaul the national aviation system the FAA’s previous administration

thought it knew better than users who were also the ones doing the fundamental work and

“bringing in the beans.” The users are also stakeholders. It isn’t wise to neglect users in any

system. Furthermore, ERAM’s operational functional architecture doesn’t present an input

which would help modify it for each particular ATC’s or airport’s unique air traffic situation. A

project of this scale will always have some bugs but I think this one may have more than are

acceptable.

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Appendix A ERAM Operational Functional Architecture (faaco, 2010)

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Appendix B End Route Data Distribution System --- Operational Functional Architecture (faaco, 2010)

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Appendix C En Route Information Display System----- Operational Functional Architecture (faaco, 2010)

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Appendix D (GAO, 2004)

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References:

Binns, T (2003). The FAA, Chicago, IL: Heinemann Library

Buede, D (2009). The Engineering Design of Systems, Models and Methods, Hoboken, NJ:

John Wiley and Sons.

Confesor, S (2009) Government and Academia Partnership to Test and Evaluate Air Traffic

Control Decision Support Software. Atlantic City, NJ: International Test and Evaluation

Association.

Faa.gov (2010, November, 16). En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) Retrieved

September 2, 2011 from http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/technology/eram/index.cfm

Faaco (2010). FY11 ERAM Systems Overview, Retrieved September 2, 2011 from

https://faaco.faa.gov/attachments/FY11_Eram_System_Overview.pdf

GAO (2004). Air Traffic Control, Report to Congressional Committees. United States

Government Accountability Office, Retrieved September 8, 2011 from

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04901.pdf

Gilbert, T. (2010) National Air Traffic Controllers Association: Congressional Testimony

Retrieved September 2, 2011 from NATCA web sitehttp://www.natca.org/legislative_congressional_testimony.aspx?zone=Congressional%20Testimony&nID=415

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Kuran, G. (1998). A Historical Guide to the U.S. Government. New York, NY: Oxford

University Press

LockheedMartin.com (2011) En Route Automation Modernization Program, Retrieved

September 2, 2011 from http://www.lockheedmartin.com/products/eram/index.html

Schofield, A (2011). ERAM Threatened Further by FAA Shutdown. Retrieved September

2, 2011 from Aviation Week Website:http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=aviationdaily&id=news/avd/2011/08/04/02.xml

Steve, (2011). ERAM Suffers Under FAA Shutdown. Retrieved September, 2 2011 from Roger-

Wilco website http://www.roger-wilco.net/eram-suffers-under-faa-shutdown/

Zingale, C. (2006) Methods for Examining Possible Effects of (ERAM) on Controller

Performance. Retrieved September 2, 2011 from Federal Aviation Administration

Website http://www.tc.faa.gov/its/worldpac/techrpt/tctn06-14.pdf