The Future of Aviation
NextGen, shorthand for the Next Generation Air Transportation System, refers to a wide-ranging initiative to transform the air traffic control system. It focuses on leveraging new technologies, such as satellite-based navigation, surveillance, and networking. The initiative involves meaningful collaboration among government departments and agencies as well as companies in the aerospace and related industries.
Currently, the U.S. air transportation system handles roughly 50,000 flights over a 24-hour period. By 2025, air traffic is projected to increase two-to-three fold, equating to 100,000-150,000 flights every 24 hours. It is acknowledged that the current U.S. air transportation system will not be able to meet these air traffic demands.
In transforming the national airspace system, JPDO is working with the FAA , NASA , the Departments of Transportation , Defense , Homeland Security , Commerce , and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy .
The Senior Policy Committee of JPDO directs the NextGen initiative. The committee is chaired by the Secretary of Transportation, and includes the Undersecretary for Policy of the Department of Transportation; Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration; Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; Secretary of the United States Air Force, representing the Department of Defense; Deputy Secretary of the Department of Commerce; Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security; and the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
There are nine capabilities that will enable the transformation of the national air transportation system. The NextGen capabilities are as follows:
- Integrated NextGen Information
- Separation Management
- Capacity Management
- Trajectory Management
- Security
- Flow Contingency Management
- Environment
- Safety
- Flexible Airport and Surface Operations
Providing a high level of security in air transportation is a major goal for NextGen, which envisions a layered, adaptive security system. This means a system that depends on multiple technologies, policies, and procedures that adapt to individual situations, and can change according to the threat level. Other security measures will be in place as additional roadblocks to neutralize the threat, whether it is in the airport, on the plane, or in the air.
Intercontinental travel is, of course, a key element of the world’s air transportation system. “Global Harmonization” is the technical term for coordinating NextGen activities with our counterparts throughout the world.
The FAA entered into an agreement with the European Commission (EC), which formalized cooperation between the NextGen initiative and its European counterpart, the Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research (SESAR) program. The FAA and EC are following through to identify opportunities and, as appropriate, establish timelines to implement common, interoperable, performance-based air traffic management systems and technologies.
And by the way, the ability to track any flight, whether commercial airline flights, or privately owned Cessna aircraft, from the convenience of your computer is already available, and I have talked about it in my other post – Live Flight Tracking. And it is Free.
ADS-B; Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast is one of the initiatives of the JPDO’s NextGen program. You can read all about it here; and watch the video as well. It is pretty cool!
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