Volpe Center: Volpe Center Highlights

Information Resources

Volpe Center Highlights - September/October 2003

Mobility

Volpe Assists in Establishing Air Traffic Control Communications in Iraq (FAA)

Computer image of the flow of air traffic in the Middle East.

The reconstitution of Iraq's civil aviation infrastructure is considered a key component of ensuring the safe and efficient flow of air traffic in the Middle East. (Map developed by the Lead Coordinator for the FAA and TSA civil aviation assistance to the ORHA in Iraq.) (View larger image.)

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is assisting the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) in reconstituting civil aviation communication in Iraq. Especially critical is the establishment of Aeronautical Fixed Service (AFS) telecommunications between Iraq and adjacent Middle Eastern States to support the safe and efficient movement of air traffic in accordance with international standards. Since May 2003, the Volpe Center has been supporting the FAA's Business and Strategic Planning Division in this effort. Mr. Michael Reamer of Volpe's Telecommunications Division serves as technical advisor to the Lead Coordinator for the FAA and Transportation Security Administration's civil aviation assistance to the ORHA in Iraq. In this capacity, Mr. Reamer has supported the Lead Coordinator in providing guidance to the coalition forces on reconstituting the inter-Iraqi AFS communications infrastructure.

Mr. Reamer's efforts included providing a framework for defining inter-Iraqi AFS communications requirements, such as air traffic voice and data services. On behalf of the Lead Coordinator, he also prepared and assisted in the negotiation of Letters of Agreement to establish appropriate bi-lateral AFS communication services between the Coalition Provisional Authority and several Middle Eastern States, including Iran, Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. As a result of this effort, a new inter-Iraq AFS communications interface with Kuwait was established. Mr. Reamer also assisted in the evaluation and selection of a communications service provider to implement intra-and inter-Iraqi AFS communications; the development of a new network routing plan to optimize the flow of aviation data among states interfacing with Iraq; and the development of a management, operations, and maintenance plan to support the reconstituted Iraqi AFS infrastructure.

Enhancing Flight-Tracking Systems (AMC and RAF)

Volpe's Intermodal Logistics Systems Planning and Integration Division has helped the U.S. Air Force and Army, Defense Logistics Agency, and United Kingdom (U.K.) Ministry of Defense to develop functional data management and information technology strategies and systems to meet critical transportation and logistics requirements.

In recent years, both the U.K.'s Royal Air Force (RAF) and the U.S. Air Mobility Command (AMC) have benefited from sharing enhancements to flight-tracking applications developed by the Volpe Center.

The RAF Logistics Flight Data Management System (L-FDMS) is a Volpe-developed management information system that combines aircraft location data, passenger data, and cargo data to provide in-transit visibility of the U.K.'s strategic airlift. Recently, a Volpe team, led by Mr. Jack Krumm, worked with the RAF to prepare for, and pass, an important security vulnerability assessment. In June and July of 2003, U.K. information security personnel conducted an extensive set of tests, attempting to penetrate Volpe-designed security configurations; they were unable to break through the Volpe-designed secure servers. This milestone will lead to the successful security accreditation of L-FDMS and enable the RAF to deploy the software to its air bases.

A flight-tracking system developed for the Royal Air Force by the Volpe Center recently passed a security vulnerability assessment.

AMC is responsible for Air Force and commercial-contract air mobility. The Volpe Center developed the AMC Flight Following System, which combines FAA flight data from the Volpe-developed Enhanced Traffic Management System (ETMS) with military logistic data sets. (For more on ETMS, see July/August 2003 Highlights.) Recently, Mr. Krumm and his team added helicopter data to the secure Volpe military flight data feed. In addition, Volpe provided AMC with software code previously developed for L-FDMS in support of the RAF that makes helicopters easily discernible from fixed-wing aircraft.

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