Air Traffic Control in Europe

Air Traffic Control in Europe

[Michael Feldman]

Flying Object: European Air Navigation System Gets Overhaul

As air traffic increases in Europe, navigation and safety are becoming
critical issues. As a result, the European Community is revamping its
air-traffic safety systems.

Eurocontrol is an independent European organization overseeing air
navigation safety. It consists of 16 member states that have joined
forces to develop new systems anci to gradually upgrade existing air-
traffic navigation systems throughout Europe. There are five Eurocontrol
centers in Europe, each one respon- sible for clifferent activities for
the project.

At the Eurocontrol Experimental Center south of Paris, developers are
working on collision-avoidance softwaire and a mathematical simulator
using object-oriented technology, the Booch method, Rational Rose, and
Ada.

One of these projects, RAMS (Re- organized ATC Mathematical Simulator),
is a simulator developed and used in-house by the Eurocontrol
Experimental Center. RAMS is also used by external groups, such as
national aviation organizations. The RAMS program simulates different
air patterns, enabling researchers to study a new section of air space
and new monitoring procedures.

The RAMS project consists of about 100,000 lines of code and required 15
man-years of development work.

The second project, called Airborne Collision Avoidance System (ACAS), is
a safety-system simulator that consists of more than 40,000 lines of Ada
code, required six man- years of development work, and was completed two
months ahead of schedule.

A methodological approach

For each of these projects, the development teams adopted an iterative
approach and the Ada programming language. For the design phase,
Eurocontrol used the Booch method and Rational Rose. By using an
object-oriented design approach, developers were abIe to take full
advantage of many of the features and benefits of the Ada language,
including abstraction and information hiding.

"Once we had decided to take an iterative, object-oriented approach to
the project, we needed to select an effective methodology," explains
Michael Lott, head of the software- engineering unit at Eurocontrol. "We
needed a method that was well defined by a recognized expert. This
method also had to be supported by several tools. We selected the Booch
method and Rational Rose based on these criteria."

The primary reasons for selecting an iterative, object-oriented approach
were maintainability, flexibility, and reusability of the software over
its lifetime, which Eurocontrol estimates to be from 12 to 15 years.

"Many of our projects are maintained over long periods of time and are
modified regularly," says Lott. "For example, our real-time simulator
needs to be modified for most specific simulations, and the software
must be adaptable. With object- oriented technology, we are able to
simplify this process."

(reprinted by permission from Rational Watch, Summer 1994)

Re: Air Traffic Control in Europe

[Roger Barnett]

In article <38cdd8$8m9@felix.seas.gwu.edu>

[snip]
> As air traffic increases in Europe, navigation and safety are becoming
> critical issues. As a result, the European Community is revamping its
> air-traffic safety systems.
> 
> Eurocontrol is an independent European organization overseeing air
> navigation safety. It consists of 16 member states that have joined
> forces to develop new systems anci to gradually upgrade existing air-
> traffic navigation systems throughout Europe. There are five Eurocontrol
> centers in Europe, each one respon- sible for clifferent activities for
> the project.
[snip] 

strange, I thought the most advanced air traffic control system in Europe 
was the one in Vienna, which already has the features mentioned in this
press release - doesn't use Ada though, so I guess it doesn't count

-- 
Roger Barnett
Natron Software Maintenance Ltd, York, England

Re: Air Traffic Control in Europe

[Bill Kinnersley]

In article <783082205snz@natron.demon.co.uk>,
:
: [snip] 
: 
: strange, I thought the most advanced air traffic control system in Europe 
: was the one in Vienna, which already has the features mentioned in this
: press release - doesn't use Ada though, so I guess it doesn't count
:
Alright, I'll ask the obvious question: which language does it use?


-- 
--Bill Kinnersley
  billk@cs.ukans.edu
226 Transfer complete.

Re: Air Traffic Control in Europe

[Brendan Boulter]

In article <783082205snz@natron.demon.co.uk>, Roger@natron.demon.co.uk (Roger Barnett) writes:
 
|>
|>strange, I thought the most advanced air traffic control system in Europe 
|>was the one in Vienna, which already has the features mentioned in this
|>press release - doesn't use Ada though, so I guess it doesn't count
|>
|>-- 
|>Roger Barnett
|>Natron Software Maintenance Ltd, York, England
|>


I think you missed the point of the original article - Eurocontrol is
attempting to modernise / regulate / integrate Europe's ATC system.
While it is true that some contries have more advanced systems than others,
there is no single integrated system. In fact, the current "system" is
really 16 different systems, each having their own methods, equipment,
standards, traffic capacity, etc. An aircraft travelling from Berlin to 
Madrid might pass through up to five different air traffic control
sections. Since each airspace has different equipment and different
capacities, there may be bottlenecks at the interface going from a high
capacity network to a low capacity network. The fact that Vienna
(supposedly) has an advanced system doesn't solve the problem. What is
needed is a co-ordinated and integrated system. This is where Ada and
Software Engineering come in. Large and complex software systems can
probably be written in <pick a language> given enough time and resources,
but most Ada proponents believe that Ada is more cost effective in the
long run (considering the whole of the software lifecycle).

Re: Air Traffic Control in Europe

[Bob Wells #402]

Brendan Boulter <brendanb@ALGOL.ILO.DEC.COM> wrote
> there is no single integrated system. In fact, the current "system" is
> really 16 different systems, each having their own methods, equipment,
> standards, traffic capacity, etc. An aircraft travelling from Berlin to
> Madrid might pass through up to five different air traffic control
> sections.

It's actually worse than that Brendan. The 51 centres from which information
is available, have some 31 different systems, using computers from 18
different manufacturers with 22 different operating systems and 33 different
programming languages!

Yeesh!

Bob W. (-:

Re: Air Traffic Control in Europe

[Brendan Boulter]

In article <9410311029.AA06511@eurocontrol.de>, Bob Wells #402 <wel@EUROCONTROL.DE> writes:
|>Brendan Boulter <brendanb@ALGOL.ILO.DEC.COM> wrote
|>> there is no single integrated system. In fact, the current "system" is
|>> really 16 different systems, each having their own methods, equipment,
|>> standards, traffic capacity, etc. An aircraft travelling from Berlin to
|>> Madrid might pass through up to five different air traffic control
|>> sections.
|>
|>It's actually worse than that Brendan. The 51 centres from which information
|>is available, have some 31 different systems, using computers from 18
|>different manufacturers with 22 different operating systems and 33 different
|>programming languages!
|>
|>Yeesh!
|>
|>Bob W. (-:
|>

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the information - I know how bad it is but I didn't want
to frighten anyone ! 

Brendan