Volpe Center: Volpe Center Highlights

Information Resources

Volpe Center Highlights - May/June 2000

Safety

Promote public health and safety by working toward the elimination of transportation-related deaths, injuries, and property damage.

Hazardous Materials Training Provided at U.S. Postal Service Airmail Facilities (USPS)

Mr. Glenn Goulet of the Environmental Engineering Division and Mr. Terry Sheehan of the Service Assessment Division currently are conducting haz-ardous materials training sessions for selected employees at U.S. Postal Service (USPS) airmail facilities. These "Train-the-Trainer" courses instruct postal personnel on how to educate mail handlers in proper procedures for managing hazardous materials in order to protect the traveling public. The courses were designed by the Volpe Center to support the Postal Services' efforts to improve the Hazardous Materials Program for their Aviation Mail Security Group. The first courses were held in Dallas, Texas, and Charlotte, North Carolina, in April 2000, with an additional sixteen locations scheduled around the country. By the completion of the project, which is targeted for September 2000, it is estimated that 360 postal personnel will have been trained throughout the United States, Guam, and Puerto Rico.

Volpe Continues Work on FAA Safe Flight 21 Program (FAA)

The Volpe Center's Airport Surface Division provides support to the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Integrated Product Team for Advanced Technology in their efforts to manage the Safe Flight 21 Program (SF21). SF21 is a joint cooperative effort between government and industry to develop and demonstrate a set of free flight operational enhancement capabilities that are derived from evolving communications, navigation, and sur-veillance technologies. The underlying core concept of SF21 is the sharing of real-time traffic and weather infor-mation between the pilot and the air traffic controller to provide enhanced operational capabilities.

Building on work accomplished during previous efforts by the Volpe Center at the Atlanta and Dallas/Fort Worth airports, the Airport Surface Division will build and install a Surveillance Server at the Memphis International Airport in Memphis, Tennessee. The Surveillance Server acquires surface vehicle information from a variety of airport sensors, processes this information, and produces a clear and accurate real-time image of airport surface traffic. As part of SF21, this information will be available to aircraft via a computer uplink and displayed in the Memphis Air Traffic Control Tower and in both the Federal Express and Northwest Airlines Ramp Control Towers.

During the week of April 3, 2000, Mr. Joe Ruggiero of the Airport Surface Division traveled to the Memphis International Airport to brief representatives from the Memphis Airport, Federal Express, and Northwest Airlines on the Volpe Center's role in the FAA's SF21 effort. During this visit, a site survey also was performed in the Air Traffic Control Tower Equipment Room to determine the best location for the installation of the equipment.

Helping FAA Transition to MCI Worldcom Telecommunications Services (FAA)

During the week of April 3, 2000, Ms. Kathleen McGann of the Telecommunications Division represented the Volpe Center at the General Services Administration/Federal Technology Services (FTS) Forum and Exposition 2000 that was held in Dallas, Texas. The purpose of the Forum was to acquaint federal agencies with FTS2001 services, telecommunications technology changes and enhancements, and management and process updates.

The Volpe Center's Telecommunications Division supports the operation and enhancement of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Telecommunications Information Management System (TIMS). This system is used to manage the ordering, circuit inventory, and billing reconciliation for both administrative and National Airspace System (NAS) operational circuits.

Approximately one year ago, DOT and FAA selected MCI WorldCom (MCIW) as their FTS2001 vendor. The transi-tion to this new vendor ultimately will involve approximately 15,000 to 20,000 circuits that support, among other things, the FAA's nationwide long distance service, weather information, and the Administrative Data Transmission Network.

During the Forum, Ms. McGann; Mr. David Lantzy, FAA's Deputy Director for NAS Operations (Telecommunications); FTS Program Managers; the TIMS Program Manager; and representatives from various FAA regions met with MCIW and the Defense Information Technology Contracting Office (DITCO), which is the telecommunications contracting agency for the FAA, to discuss the requirements, mechanism, and time frame for the transition of existing services to MCIW. During the Forum, the FAA announced an accelerated transition schedule that calls for sending all orders to the vendor by August 30, 2000.

At the conclusion of the Forum, the FAA agreed to a proposal made by Ms. McGann that will require modifying the Telecommunications Management System (TELMS), the current FAA ordering system, which also was devel-oped at the Volpe Center. This proposal would satisfy DITCO and MCIW requirements with minimal impact on the FAA. Over the last few weeks, the Volpe Center has fine-tuned the requirements, developed the design, and implemented the modifications to TELMS.

At the request of the FAA, representatives from the Volpe Center's Telecommunications Division attended a national transition-planning meeting in Palm Coast, Florida, during the week of April 17, 2000. That meeting was convened to develop action plans, resource estimates, and schedules to meet the FAA's cutover goal for transi-tion to MCIW. The meeting resulted in additional requirements for substantial Volpe Center support over the next four months to work with FAA regional staff, MCIW, and DITCO to streamline ordering methods and processes, and to develop new interfaces that would enable the transition of services within the time frame mandated. As part of this effort, the Volpe Center recently achieved a significant milestone by completing the development of a bulk ordering process that meets the required transition schedule.

Volpe Participates in Transit Safety Task Force (FTA)

Mr. Robert Adduci and Mr. James Harrison, both of the Infrastructure Protection and Operation Division, played key roles in the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) Safety Task Force. The first phase of this project began in April 1999, when FTA Administrator Gordon Linton requested that a Safety Task Force be convened to: (1) evaluate FTA's current safety program, (2) identify safety issues, (3) benchmark "best practices," and (4) recommend ways to meet the transit industry's safety needs for the 21st Century. Task Force members were recruited from throughout DOT and split into four subgroups to develop recommendations in the areas of best practices, human factors, design standards, and data collection and analysis. Mr. Adduci played a central role in planning, implementing, and coordinating Task Force activities in support of Chairperson Rhonda Crawley of FTA's Office of Research, Demonstration, and Innovation. In addition, Mr. Adduci directed the production of the draft final report, "Redefining FTA's Future Role in Transit Safety," which was presented to FTA Acting Administrator Nuria Fernandez.

Phase II, which began in January 2000, involved the production of the "FTA Safety Action Plan." Developed by FTA's Office of Safety and Security, the Plan was designed to implement the Task Force's findings. Both Mr. Harrison and Mr. Adduci provided planning, technical analysis, and production in support of this effort. On February 23, 2000, Mr. Harrison met with Ms. Judy Meade, Director of FTA's Office of Safety and Security, and Ms. Fernandez to present the "FTA Safety Action Plan." The Plan was approved and presented at the American Public Transit Association's (APTA) 25th Annual Legislative Conference on March 13, 2000, by Ms. Fernandez and DOT Secretary Mortimer Downey.

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