Interim Report of a Review of the Next Generation
Air Transportation System Enterprise Architecture,
Software, Safety, and Human Factors
Committee to Review the Enterprise Architecture, Software Development Approach, and
Safety and Human Factor Design of the Next Generation Air Transportation System
Computer Science and Telecommunications Board
Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
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This project was supported by the Federal Aviation Administration under award number DTFAWA-12-A-80013. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the organizations or agencies that provided support for this project.
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COMMITTEE TO REVIEW THE ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE, SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT APPROACH, AND SAFETY AND HUMAN FACTOR DESIGN OF THE NEXT GENERATION AIR TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM
DAVID E. LIDDLE, U.S. Venture Partners, Chair
STEVEN M. BELLOVIN, Columbia University
JOHN-PAUL B. CLARKE, Georgia Institute of Technology
GEORGE L. DONOHUE, George Mason University
R. JOHN HANSMAN, JR., Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MATS P.E. HEIMDAHL, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
JOHN C. KNIGHT, University of Virginia
LEON J. OSTERWEIL, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
WALKER E. ROYCE, International Business Machines Corporation
GAVRIEL SALVENDY, Purdue University
THOMAS B. SHERIDAN, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
ROBERT F. SPROULL, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
JAMES W. STURGES, Independent Consultant, Greer, South Carolina
ELAINE WEYUKER, Independent Consultant, Metuchen, New Jersey
Staff
JON EISENBERG, Director, Computer Science and Telecommunications Board
LYNETTE I. MILLETT, Associate Director, Computer Science and Telecommunications Board
DWAYNE A. DAY, Senior Program Officer, Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board
VIRGINIA BACON TALATI, Program Officer, Computer Science and Telecommunications Board
ERIC WHITAKER, Senior Program Assistant, Computer Science and Telecommunications Board
COMPUTER SCIENCE AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS BOARD
ROBERT F. SPROULL, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Chair
LUIZ ANDRE BARROSO, Google, Inc.
ROBERT F. BRAMMER, Brammer Technology, LLC
EDWARD FRANK, Apple, Inc.
JACK L. GOLDSMITH III, Harvard Law School
SEYMOUR E. GOODMAN, Georgia Institute of Technology
LAURA HAAS, IBM Corporation
MARK HOROWITZ, Stanford University
MICHAEL KEARNS, University of Pennsylvania
ROBERT KRAUT, Carnegie Mellon University
SUSAN LANDAU, Google, Inc.
PETER LEE, Microsoft Corporation
DAVID E. LIDDLE, U.S. Venture Partners
BARBARA LISKOV, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
JOHN STANKOVIC, University of Virginia
JOHN A. SWAINSON, Dell, Inc.
PETER SZOLOVITS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
ERNEST J. WILSON, University of Southern California
KATHERINE YELICK, University of California, Berkeley
Staff
JON EISENBERG, Director
VIRGINIA BACON TALATI, Program Officer
SHENAE BRADLEY, Senior Program Assistant
RENEE HAWKINS, Financial and Administrative Manager
HERBERT S. LIN, Chief Scientist
LYNETTE I. MILLETT, Associate Director
ERIC WHITAKER, Senior Program Assistant
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Preface
The Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) is an effort begun in 2003 whose goals include improving the capacity, efficiency, and safety of the U.S. air transportation system and also enabling reduction in noise, pollution, and energy use. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and various stakeholders, including equipment providers, airlines, and contractors, are currently implementing both near-term and midterm capabilities of this effort.
Section 212 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, Public Law 112-95 (Box P-1) called for an examination of NextGen’s enterprise architecture and related issues by the National Research Council (NRC). The project that was a result of this call was funded by the FAA. The Committee to Review the Enterprise Architecture, Software Development Approach, and Safety and Human Factor Design of the Next Generation Air Traffic System was formed under the auspices of the NRC’s Computer Science and Telecommunications Board in 2012 to conduct the study. The statement of task for the study committee can be found in Box P-2.
BOX P-1 FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, Public Law 112-95
SEC. 212. EXPERT REVIEW OF ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE FOR NEXTGEN.
(a) REVIEW.—The Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall enter into an arrangement with the National Research Council to review the enterprise architecture for the NextGen.
(b) CONTENTS.—At a minimum, the review to be conducted under subsection (a) shall—
(1) highlight the technical activities, including human- system design, organizational design, and other safety and human factor aspects of the system, that will be necessary to successfully transition current and planned modernization programs to the future system envisioned by the Joint Planning and Development Office of the Administration;
(2) assess technical, cost, and schedule risk for the software development that will be necessary to achieve the expected benefits from a highly automated air traffic management system and the implications for ongoing modernization projects; and
(3) determine how risks with automation efforts for the NextGen can be mitigated based on the experiences of other public or private entities in developing complex, software-inten-sive systems.
(c) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate a report containing the results of the review conducted pursuant to subsection (a).
BOX P-2 Statement of Task
As stipulated in Sec. 212 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, PL 112-95, a National Research Council study would review the enterprise architecture, software development approach, and safety and human factor design aspects of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). An ad hoc committee will conduct a study and prepare a report that will (1) highlight the technical activities, including human-system design and testing, organizational design, and other safety and human factor aspects of the system, that will be necessary to successfully transition current and planned modernization programs to the future system envisioned by the Joint Planning and Development Office of the Administration and obtain necessary certifications and operational approval; (2) assess technical, cost, and schedule risk for the software development that will be necessary to achieve the expected benefits from a highly automated air traffic management system and the implications for ongoing modernization projects; and (3) determine how risks with automation efforts for the NextGen can be mitigated based on the experiences of other public or private entities in developing complex, software-intensive systems, particularly for life-critical, real-time operational systems, and including past aviation system development programs. The committee will issue a brief interim report within 12 months providing an initial assessment focusing on software development challenges and a final report within 18 months providing a full assessment of the issues listed above.
The study committee has received a number of briefings on NextGen efforts, particularly as related to the study’s focus on enterprise architecture, software development approach, safety, and human factors. For the purposes of this interim report, the committee offers a brief encapsulation of some of the areas of focus and concern it has been discussing up to this point in the study process. The original focus of this interim report was expected to be on software development challenges, per the statement of task (see Box P-2). Based on what it has learned so far, coupled with the fact that software development is affected by every stage (from conception to deployment and maintenance) of system development and integration, the committee has reframed that discussion around the challenges of system architecture for software-intensive systems. Chapter 1 offers context and background information, Chapter 2 briefly discusses numerous and complex constraints to which the FAA and NextGen are subject, and Chapter 3 describes the committee’s emerging areas of focus and concern, along with some of the questions that have been under discussion thus far in the study process. Committee biographies can be found in Appendix A. A list of briefers from meetings prior to the release of this interim report can be found in Appendix B.
The committee thanks the FAA staff and the other experts who took the time to brief the committee. The committee also thanks the reviewers who made many thoughtful comments and also had several suggestions regarding additional topics to explore. The committee expects to receive additional briefings and inputs and explore those and other topics further and is reliant on timely availability of FAA staff and information to do so. The committee expects to issue its final report with findings and recommendations in 2014.
David E. Liddle, Chair
Committee to Review the Enterprise Architecture, Software Development
Approach, and Safety and Human Factor Design of the Next Generation
Air Transportation System
Acknowledgment of Reviewers
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report:
Laura Haas, IBM Corporation,
Norman Fujisaki, Independent Contractor, Broadlands, Virginia,
Barbara Liskov, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Amadeo Odoni, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Amy Pritchett, Georgia Institute of Technology,
William Scherlis, Carnegie Mellon University,
Edmond Soliday, United Airlines (ret.),
John Swainson, Dell, Inc., and
John Tracy, The Boeing Company.
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Peter M. Banks, Red Planet Capital Partners. Appointed by the National Research Council, he was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.
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Contents
Operational and Capacity Constraints
Political, Economic, and Cultural Constraints
3 EMERGING TOPICS OF FOCUS AND CONCERN
Understanding and Managing Benefit and Cost Expectations
System Integration and Software Development Approaches
Human Factors, Automation, and Decision Support Tools
Unmanned Aircraft System Integration
The Importance and Necessity of Modernization
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