Airspace User-Air Traffic Control Information Exchange Using Mobile Devices to Enhance the Future Info-Centric National Airspace System

The Federal Aviation Administration envisions an Info-Centric National Airspace System (ICN) built for diverse operations and supported by evolving and resilient infrastructure and automation. An ICN will enhance safety and efficiency and extend air traffic management (ATM) services to respond to future Connected Aircraft needs including new entrants. General aviation airspace users rely on verbal communication with Air Traffic Control (ATC) to exchange information. Verbal exchanges can be time-consuming, are constrained to serial conversations over specific frequencies, and are subject to read-back errors and incorrect interpretations. Pervasive commercial products, such as tablets and mobile phones, and commercial services, such as Internet Protocol networks, can be leveraged to help solve this problem. Service providers will be a conduit for airspace users to securely connect with and exchange information with ATM systems and ATC prior to departure or after landing. In this paper, we will discuss MITRE’s Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD) efforts to prototype and demonstrate information exchange applications that can operate on an airspace user’s personal mobile device and on an associated interface in the ATC environment. These prototypes demonstrate the ability for a pilot and controller to electronically exchange Instrument Flight Rules clearances, releases, and cancellations; negotiate Call for Release times; and issue, receive, accept, and monitor conformance to taxi routes. The prototype applications include both native iOS (mobile operating system) applications (taxi routing and conformance) and Progressive Web Applications that are hosted on a secure virtual machine environment that manages and stores flight data and emulates authenticated connections between the pilot and National Airspace System (NAS) capabilities. MITRE CAASD’s prototype mobile applications include an intermediary service provider instance for information exchange between airspace users, ATC, and ATM systems in the future ICN.