Information management - FIXM and Mini Global

The growing need for increased coordination within and across regional airspaces has resulted in the need for uniform flight data models and interoperable systems that process and disseminate flight data. The Flight Information Exchange Model (FIXM) standard provides a common framework by which regional Flight Objects (FOs) may be interpreted and exchanged. In effect, the FIXM standards provide a single intermediate representation through which real world FOs may be translated from one regional representation to another. This paper provides considerations for future enhancements of FIXM and for entities that implement and distribute FOs based on FIXM. These considerations are based on experiences learned during Phase I of the Mini Global project (Phase II is ongoing). The Mini Global demonstrations incorporated several features of interest to the development of a network centric Global Air Traffic Management (ATM) system utilized for information exchange. A Global Enterprise Messaging Service (EMS) was developed to support Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs), Flight Operations Centers (FOCs), and other stakeholders. This allowed for the demonstration to test the FIXM standard and data extensions, demonstrate a capability for international partners to integrate into a global system for data exchange, and evaluate the system's ability to collect flight data for analysis. The resulting observations are grouped by their focus on governance, technical interoperability (FIXM structure and data syntax), or logical interoperability (data interpretation and usage). These observations are intended to make the lessons learned from the Mini Global demonstration available to the FIXM Working Group and to the developers of systems exchanging information based on the FIXM.