Boeing

Boeing Air Traffic Management has submitted a comprehensive series of proposals in response to a recent Department of Transportation (DOT) request for private sector ideas to improve the security of the air transportation system.

Boeing research activities mentioned in the company's responses to the DOT include tools that will:

• enable secure and encrypted communication links between aircraft, satellites and ground-based users to provide real-time information about aircraft trajectories, weather, air traffic flow, and other air traffic conditions. This system would give authorities on the ground instant access to information that could be used to detect, monitor, and respond to threats or unusual situations during flight.
• provide a 3D model of an airport that would be integrated with information from the airport's various security systems and models of passenger flow. This will enhance the ability of authorities to detect, evaluate, monitor and respond to threats to aircraft and passengers on the ground and develop the safest and most efficient evacuation plans possible.
• detect and analyze weather, chemical, biological or nuclear events throughout the transportation system. This system will assist authorities in planning appropriate responses by giving them an instant snapshot of an event and its potential fallout, including how wind patterns might disperse a chemical agent or how the ability to instantly re-route planes in an emergency might be affected by a fast-moving storm system.
• synthesize a variety of information about an airplane's position, altitude, speed and intended flight path into a unified, easy-to-interpret graphical representation so even small variations from the flight path could instantly be detected. Controllers also will be able to predict and plot any plane's future position, enabling them to see potential congestion points well in advance and giving them time to plan the safe avoidance of congestion and delays.

"We expect our ongoing research in these and other areas to allow us to develop a fully integrated, completely interoperable, and user friendly security and surveillance system that incorporates and analyzes data from every segment of the air transportation system," said John Hayhurst, president of Boeing Air Traffic Management.

Many of the topics covered in the white papers submitted to the FAA on November 21 include work by Connexion by Boeing^SM, Boeing Autometric, Preston Aviation Solutions Pty Ltd, and Jeppesen Sanderson, Inc. in conjunction with Boeing Air Traffic Management.

"The comprehensive approach being investigated by The Boeing Company is a natural complement to the FAA's Operational Evolution Plan and will add a great deal to the safety, security and confidence level of the flying public," Hayhurst concluded.