The Australian
Radical overhaul to deliver safer skies
Won't happen ahead of OneSky. There are not enough resources to do airspace reform and OneSky.
Lowering airspace will result in more sectors (existing sectors will need to be split, i.e. two sectors become three sectors or three sectors become four sectors). Any potential sectorisations would need to be simulated for workload and procedures. Additional frequencies would be required, additional surveillance may be required, additional consoles would be required, additional simulator time and resources.
OneSKY Australia program
From 2018, Australia will be providing air traffic control services using the most advanced and integrated air traffic control system in the world.
Through collaborating with the Department of Defence, it will unify Australian skies under a new, harmonised air traffic management system as we work towards creating ‘one sky’ for Australia.
This will enable a new level of operational and cost efficiency and safety, while also reducing delays for the travelling public and providing opportunities to improve environmental outcomes.
It will place Airservices and the Department of Defence in a position to manage forecast growth of air traffic movement in Australia of as much as 60 per cent by 2030.
Benefits
The benefits of a combined civil military air traffic management system, delivered under the OneSKY Australia program, will include safety and efficiency improvements as well as cost savings and reliability.
Improved safety and efficiency – shared situational awareness for civilian and military controllers through use of common data, additional new system safety nets and alerts, greater information security. The future system will also allow us to maximise the use of these systems within Australia’s skies, helping to minimise noise for communities and delays for the travelling public.
One flight information region – this means that any controller, at any one of the 200 consoles around the country, will be able to access the same flight information at any time, removing the potential for sharing incorrect information. It will also allow for greater use of flexible airspace and user preferred routes.
Modular and adaptable – the future system will be able to easily absorb and integrate future technology enhancements. This will reduce the costs of upgrading to the latest available technology in the future through updates to sections rather than whole, and allow us to quickly respond to changes in our operating environment.
Greater use of four dimensional trajectories – our air traffic controllers will know, with greater certainty and accuracy, the precise flight path an aircraft will take before an aircrafts takes off. This will allow them to map out the projected trajectories of all flights in our airspace. This will give us a clear picture of how our airspace works in four dimensions and help reduce delays for passengers. The current system works in three dimensions.
Key facts
▪Replaces the current civilian system known as The Australian Advanced Air Traffic System (TAAATS) that was built in the 1990s and commissioned in 2000.
▪TAAATS has had more than 200 incremental system changes since it was first commissioned.
▪The Request for Tender identified 172 specific operational needs for the future system.
▪Fifty-one of these are new capabilities, with a further 87 that are only partially delivered through our current system.
▪An additional four safety functionalities will be introduced including alerts for medium-term conflict detection, long-term conflict detection, cleared flight level, violation of controlled airspace and conflict probe.
▪Integrated surveillance processing and alerting for all technologies, including Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B).
▪Increase of radar feeds from 32 to 45 with expanded offshore surveillance area supporting future extensions of ADS-B coverage.
▪Enhanced information security protocols, dual redundant architecture and a nominal 24-hour, 95 per cent technical disaster recovery of a partition at alternate locations.