Air/Ground SWIM Integration to Achieve Information Collaborative Environment

The current ground-based collaboration environment is not sufficient to enable the full range of benefits defined in the ICAO Global Air Navigation Plan (GANP). In order to achieve a safe, secure, high-performing, and sustainable global air traffic management, the collaborative information exchange should be achieved for not only ground operational systems but also connected aircrafts. However, it is difficult for the current command-and-control Air-to-Ground (A/G) communication approaches to satisfy different and extensive information exchanges between the aircraft and the air navigation service providers. To promote the implementation of information collaborative environment in pre-departure phase and improve operational awareness and Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) through information exchange, the Electronic Navigation Research Institute (ENRI) has developed a test system. Several practical experiments have been deployed based on the integration of these systems to show the benefit of A/G SWIM (System-Wide Information Management) integration. In this paper, the concept and the technical framework of A/G SWIM integration are introduced. To provide timely, relevant, accurate, authorized, and quality-assured information for high-assurance operation, the multi-layered system architecture and the collaborative information exchange technology are proposed. Moreover, the development of practical validation system for ground taxiing experiment is presented. Finally, the definition and comparison of communication quality, information quality, and service quality for constructing the collaborative operating environment to include interactions of A/G stakeholders, systems, and services through the A/G SWIM integration are discussed.