EUROCONTROL, European air navigation service providers, ICAO, Eurocae, the FAA and industry have completed a number of actions which mean that implementation of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in ATM can now begin.

ICAO is preparing to present a proposal to the international aviation community that will assist in the modernization of air traffic management systems in order to cope with the anticipated doubling of passenger traffic to some 5 billion by the year 2030.

What is the force driving the proliferation of air navigation? In this post I’ve attempted to draw a timeline using my experiences in the profession and ICAO’s path to this point in air navigation.

The European satellite navigation network was declared certified March 2 for use by European civil-aviation authorities. The network is intended to complement the U.S. GPS satellite navigation constellation.

In furtherance of the work of the Next Generation of Aviation Professionals (NGAP) Task Force, ICAO has adopted a new training policy featuring an endorsement process of training organizations and training courses. Training institutions and courses that fully meet ICAO standards and methodological requirements, including its current objective of evolving toward more competency- and performance-based training approaches, will be endorsed.

India’s very own satellite navigation system GAGAN is set to be launched to support air traffic management. Air traffic controllers will be able to track the burgeoning air traffic over the Indian airspace.

ADS-B is a cooperative surveillance technique for air traffic control and related applications being developed as part of global CNS/ATM plan. The successful implementation of this new technology has resulted in many ground systems providing advanced platforms suitable for ATM systems based on the used of data-link and satellite technology.

System Wide Information Management (SWIM) is an international concept which aims to facilitate greater sharing of Air Traffic Management (ATM) system information, such as airport operational status, weather information and flight data in real time. SWIM is essentially the migration from legacy one-to-one information exchange to many-to-many information distribution.