Aviation Weather Research Management Planning
Overarching guidance and programmatic direction leading to more effective identification, selection, prioritization and management of applied aviation weather research is needed. The development of Research Management Plans (RMP) by the FAA's Aviation Weather Group is proposed to meet this need. An RMP would provide overarching guidance and direction for a given area of bounded research; convective storms, for example. Taken together, the RMPs represent foundational guidance for the FAA's Aviation Weather Research Program (AWRP) and its aviation weather research partners during their planning and execution of annual research activities. They would, therefore, be revised periodically to reflect changing user needs, research portfolio priorities and other factors such as availability of funding. Fundamentally, each RMP is intended to connect evolving user and NAS enterprise architecture (EA) requirements to a research strategy for a given weather phenomena by describing how the chosen strategy would notionally produce a concept, or evolutionary line of concepts, that meet those requirements. The RMP also attempts to connect expected research outcomes to notional benefits and, thereby, improve the viability of research concepts during follow-on acquisition activities. Finally, RMPs would identify issues associated with implementation of a research concept so planning to resolve those issues can begin early.
Bounded program/project plans are expected to flow from an associated RMP. These follow-on plans describe each year's deliverables/milestones and those critical how, what, where, when and by whom details. Per FAA Acquisition Management System (AMS) guidelines, research activities described by these annual plans begin in the Research, Engineering and Development (RE&D) phase and then, if successful, move to the Concept Maturity and Technology Development (CMTD) phase. Each RE&D Project Plan, therefore, guides RE&D activities expected to produce a scientifically/technically validated RE&D concept. Promising RE&D concepts are then proposed for entry into CMTD with CMTD activities described by a CMTD project plan. The outcome of CMTD would be a scientifically and technically mature concept that has been tested and evaluated to validate its suitability/sustainability for use in the NAS. Research transition (RT) beginning with the creation of RMPs and ending with a hand-off of mature research concepts to an appropriate FAA acquisition agency (or transfer to the NWS for operational production) offers an effective and efficient path to NAS operational use for advanced weather capabilities coming from the research community.
- Indicates paper has been withdrawn from meeting
- Indicates an Award Winner