Identification, Quantification and Mitigation of ATM-Weather Integration Gaps for NSIP Increments Dependent on Weather Information

This presentation describes ATM-Weather Integration (AWI) research carried out over the last 18 months by members of the MITRE Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD). The work built on MITRE's Operational Weather Needs Analysis (OWNA) process.

This phase of research started with an AWI gap analysis of National Airspace System (NAS) Segment Implementation Plan (NSIP) operational increments with direct or indirect weather dependencies. Identified gaps were characterized by the class of the needed weather information (e.g., translated versus non-translated [raw]), the needed weather type (e.g., forecasts of convection, icing or turbulence), the associated air traffic control (ATC) decision-making domain and the AWI “levels” (from L0 to L4) at which gaps were anticipated.

Next, a rating system was used to objectively quantify the severity of the gap. Parameters such as integration level differentials, the timeframe in which the gap mitigation was predicted to be available and the impact of the gap on the ability of the increment to meet its stated goals were among those used to objectively derive a gap severity value.

Finally, an overall gap mitigation strategy was proposed. By taking gap severity, feasibility and readiness assessment information into consideration, a realistic, objective gap mitigation plan was created, one that should enable high level FAA managers to make good AWI choices despite being in a budget-constrained environment.