One of the first steps in developing the technology to automate the National Airspace System (NAS) is to coordinate and manage the data that is necessary for the technology to work properly. The system-wide information management (Swim) platform will allow all of the NextGen systems to “speak” to one another, as well as to other systems within other government agencies and industry partners, according to the FAA. “The safe and efficient use of airspace depends on how well the different parts of the airspace system communicate with each other,” the agency explained.
The Swim platform will eventually allow users to access information from different sources–such as radar and weather sensor data from the integrated terminal weather system (ITWS) and traffic management data from the TMA and ERAM systems–on the same network. Today that would be impossible because weather information and traffic management information are on completely different systems. The sharing of this information is vital, however, if the automated systems of the future are going to pass information back and forth.
The first stage of Swim development, defining the necessary equipment requirements, begins this year and will run through 2013. The second stage will focus on data exchange and will begin in 2011.
