Global harmonisation through information

Over the last 20 years, air traffic management (ATM) has progressed its ability to optimise individual actions to improve the utilisation of existing capacity. In order to take the next step and meet current user expectations and future air transportation system growth needs, however, it needs to move beyond the individual to integrated decisions. The future system, whether operating on the surface or in the air, must be founded on high-integrity information management including unambiguous information exchanges and collaborative decision making. In order to meet the interoperability requirements of the global aviation community, several aspects of information management need to be improved upon, including globally accepted standards, operational needs and efficiency objectives, as well as making use of emerging information technologies to enable it. The new requirements on integrated information encompass improved data quality (ie accuracy, resolution and integrity), timely distribution of information, digital processing and exchange of information, and more efficient and effective management of information. This paper highlights the interoperability issues of ground ATM automation systems and touches upon the integration of aircraft information into the ATM system. With the current emphasis on global interoperability among all the individual systems, globally accepted technical standardisation in the system architecture and data exchange standards for ground ATM automation systems is a prerequisite for harmonisation of services.