Read more about NGATS Air and space operations during the first two decades of the 21st century face many challenges including the following:
- Passenger and freight load requirements doubling or tripling
- No new airports coming on line at least for a decade
- Several new aircraft types such as UAVs and very light jets proliferating
- Commercial space operations beginning by 2008
- Increasing use of polar routes that introduce new hazards to crews and passengers
- New navigational technologies that are not compatible with today’s ATC system
Airport capacity limitations and efficiency of flight operations enroute will require accurate predictions of traffic loading at all locations in the airspace system several hours in advance. Weather affects all of these operations and in most cases, precise weather information will be critical for maximizing the performance of the 21st century system.
Four cabinet-level departments of the U.S. Government have joined together to address these issues in an integrated and coordinated way. This new effort focuses on the Next Generation Air Transport System (NGATS) and is being managed by the Joint Development Program Office (JPDO) consisting of members from the FAA, DOD, DOC, DHS, NASA and OSTP.
The NGATS vision is based on five principles: focus on the end user, system-wide transformation, proactive approach to safety risk management, global harmonization, and integrated environmental performance. It is benchmarked on eight key capabilities: network-enabled information access, performance-based services, layered adaptive security, broad-area precision navigation, aircraft trajectory-based operations, equivalent-visual observations, super density operations, and weather assimilated into decision making.
The JPDO has parsed the complex next generation system into several components and has endorsed the concept of Integrated Product Teams (IPT) to manage the R&D associated with each component. IPTs include Airport Infrastructure, Security, Agile Air Traffic System, Shared Situational Awareness, Safety Management, Environment, Global Harmonization and Weather. RAL is playing a significant role in formulating weather-related R&D that must be accomplished to support NGATS.
Contact: Bruce Carmichael