Mitre data communication laboratory initiative for Departure Clearance (DCL)

In this paper, we present the preliminary results of a MITRE data communication initiative for FANS DCL procedures and requirements evaluation conducted in the MITRE Aviation Integration Demonstration and Experimentation for Aeronautics (IDEA) Lab and the Reconfigurable CNS/ATM Test (RCAT) Lab. Participants at the Integrated Communications Navigation and Surveillance (ICNS) Conference will find the data and observations of interest as the industry develops the avionics supporting data communications services and procedures. The FAA Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) and Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) Programs are becoming a reality. RTCA SC-214 and EUROCAE WG78 are jointly developing the data communication standards for safety, performance and Future Air Navigation System (FANS) interoperability requirements for Air Traffic Services (ATS). MITRE has been supporting the FAA Data Communication Program acquisition and implementation planning and is actively involved in SC-214 standardization. The FAA plans to implement a ground system, and operators are equipping with FANS avionics to support the Departure Clearance (DCL) service to be initially offered in the 2015 time frame. The work in this paper provides the first data towards SC-214/WG78 standards validation through laboratory experiments and data measurement for the Departure Clearance Service. The IDEA lab provides cockpit simulators that can be used for human in the loop (HITL) exercises and pilot response time measurement. The MITRE RCAT lab has an operational Flight Management System (FMS), Communication Management Unit (CMU), VHF Digital Radio (VDR), access to Data Service Provider (DSP) networks, and is capable of measuring the actual communication technical performance for both VDL2 and VDL0 sub networks in the Boston metroplex. The measured pilot response time and the actual communication technical performance are then statistically combined to estimate the actual communication performance at Boston for comparison with the required communication performance (RCP) in the RTCA SC 214 draft standards.