Air Traffic Control: Complete and Enforced Architecture Needed for FAA Systems Modernization

00736008https://doi.org/10.21949/14029601997PDFTech ReportGAO/AIMD-97-030Air traffic control facilitiesRadar air traffic controlAids to air navigationModernizationSystem designIntegrated systemsSystems architectureSystems integrationTechnical descriptionUnited StatesStillman, Rona B. Dr.United States. Government Accountability OfficeNTL-AVIATION-Air Traffic ControlNTL-AVIATION-Aviation Planning and PolicyNTL-AVIATION-Aviation Safety/AirworthinessUS Transportation CollectionBecause of the size, complexity, and importance of FAA's air traffic control(ATC) modernization, the General Accounting Office (GAO) reviewed it todetermine (1) whether FAA has a target architecture(s), and associatedsubarchitectures, to guide the development and evolution of its ATCsystems; and (2) what, if any, architectural incompatibilities existamong ATC systems, and the effect of these incompatibilities. TheGAO found the FAA lacks a complete systems architecture, or overallblueprint, to guide and constrain the development and maintenance ofthe many interrelated systems comprising its ATC infrastructure. Whilethe FAA is developing one of the two principal components of a completesystems architecture, namely the "logical" description of FAA's currentand future concept of ATC operations, FAA is not developing, nor doesit have plans to develop, the second essential component-the ATC-wide"technical" description which defines all required information technologyand telecommunications standards and critical ATC systems' technicalcharacteristics.84