SUPERIOR NETWORK SOLUTIONS

Transcription

1 AMF BEST PRACTICE SUPERIOR NETWORK SOLUTIONS

2 Organisation The UK s Airspace Management Function combines the resources of the Airspace Management Cell (AMC UK) and the Strategic & Pre Tactical planning elements of UK Network Management. Military staff (Royal Navy & Royal Air Force) is well represented in the department and are colocated with civilian colleagues at the Swanwick Centre. The AMF was first formed early in 2012, initially as a structural change within the management hierarchy, progressing into a fully integrated unit with enhanced capabilities, tools, methods & responsibilities. The AMF operates Sunday through Saturday from The AMF has a responsibility to the UK / Irish FAB & operates in an integrated FAB environment. Purpose The primary purpose of creating an integrated unit was to achieve the conjunction of ASM & ATFCM functions. Although a significant step change in itself, the Strategic & Pre Tactical planning staff is additionally tasked with a shift in emphasis from planning and briefing to also providing NETWORK SOLUTIONS at a strategic & pre tactical level, right up to D-1, thus reducing the need for tactical intervention in the tactical phase of operations. Working practices 1. Collaborative decision making It is widely recognised throughout ATM that CDM is the key to successful operations, ensuring that information is shared across all actors & used to inform decisions that make best use of capacity & opportunity while mitigating against adverse factors. The AMF, by co location & by formal & informal conferencing ensures that all members are fully informed & participate in the process. Mandatory is the 1130 (L) pre tactical conference which involves all duty staff. This requires detailed information relating to the next day s operation to be exchanged followed by a 7 day look ahead and discussions that may lead to the variation or suppression of Military activity in the event of excessive civil demand. The output of this meeting is also used to ensure the completeness, relevance (to the network) & accuracy of the D-1 brief that is widely circulated before close of business at D-1. Similarly the AMF makes extensive use of tele conferencing, not only with the Network Manager in Brussels but with Dublin, Shannon, the Scottish Centre at Prestwick, together with participating in the FAA conference calls each afternoon. Verbal briefs are also given daily the by Met. Office.

3 2. Tools, processes & data Considerable development since the formation of the AMF has taken place, particularly in the fields of strategic planning, post ops data collection & analysis & the dissemination of network related data across many areas of NAT s business & operations. Close collaboration with NATS analysis providers & forecasters & the generation of supporting data tools has enhanced both the quality & quantity of information available to the AMF planners. A rolling 12 month STRATEGIC EVENT OVERVIEW is maintained to inform forthcoming significant events & this is supplemented by the NETWORK CAPACITY OPTIMISATION PLAN (NCOP) which aims to provide a single source for all planning information in relation to a specific event or time period. NCOPs may be produced for a specific event such as the London Olympics. Otherwise the AMF plans to produce a seasonal NCOP and possibly down to the level of a monthly NCOP. Information is provided for the whole UK / Irish FAB network & aims to include details on any strategic events or significant demand changes. The level of detail may granulate down as far as demand graphs for individual key sectors or airfields on days where there may be an issue. Where instances of excessive demand are identified then a statement of likely measures to be applied will be included. These include RAD, re-route scenarios, level-cap scenarios, Danger Area activity (and possible suppression). The planning process is also backed up by the ATFM EVENTS PLANNER (ATEP) which is an Outlook based diary designed to headline events notified for the next 7 days of operations. the AMF has LARA installed on both Military & civil positions & in addition to recording Military airspace bids & allocations can also be used by civil staff to request the variation, limitation or suppression of military activity to maximise capacity in the event of excess demand. The NM DASHBOARD was created after a request from the Swanwick leadership team to see service performance data from the last 7 days and predictions for the next 7 days in a concise single page report. The Pre-tact Strategic section of Network Management updates and sends out the dashboard on a daily basis. Historical data includes predicted and actual delays from the past 7 days, predicted and actual NAT core tracks from the past 7 days, LAC staffing for the last 7 days. Predictions include NAT east and westbound predictions up to D-5, delays predictions (capacity and staffing ) up to D-7 and LAC staffing outlook up to D-1. The PRE TACTICAL BRIEF is a long established & widely recognised output of the AMF & pre dates the formation of the AMF by several years. Despite this the brief is the subject of continuous development & improvement& is specifically designed to ensure consistency of presentation as well as providing a comprehensive overview of the D-1 planning activity. POST OPS data is collected on a daily basis and entered into a single tool (the ATEP calendar) The AMF intends to enter the post ops data into a different tool in the future which would make the information easier to access and searchable using keywords. Currently sources of post ops data include: daily conversations with Ops Supervisor, Network Manager, written reports from NM, Ops Sup, LAS and AMC. When a significant event occurs a Post Ops report will be written to inform our internal customers. Post Ops is an area of significant development within NATS and strengthening our post-ops capability will enhance our Strategic and Pretact planning.

4 MILITARY ACTIVITY: In addition to the normal Airspace Management activities, the AMC is responsible for ensuring that all military activity, properly quantified, is understood & managed within both the strategic & pre-tactical processes. WEEKLY MDA PLAN: Although LARA is deployed within the AMF Military units currently submit airspace bids by , fax, phone call etc. In addition to being input into LARA these are consolidated into a single weekly sheet to give a complete picture of planned activity. AOs PRE BRIEF: From the above plan, a high level extract is issued by AMC UK to advise of significant activity expected within the MDAs during the coming week. MANAGED DANGER AREA ACTIVATION OPTIONS The fulfilment of Military requirements, while balancing airspace use with network demand & capacity has resulted in an increasing volume of complex activation options, scenarios & protocols for the Managed Danger areas, requiring particular attention to detail in the ASM & related pre tactical processes but this environment does allow greater freedom & flexibility to accommodate excessive civil demand while reducing the need for absolute suppression of Military areas. Ensuring these are correctly chosen, executed & promulgated is essential to ensure full assessment of impact takes place & features within subsequent network plans. CONFIRMATION OF MILITARY ACTIVITY Military staff embedded within the AMC now routinely call all active units at 1600 L D-1 to confirm that the planned activities for the next day are still proceeding. This call will be supplemented with up to date weather advice to inform the squadron s decision. Obtaining a final go / no go decision at this stage enables network plans to be adjusted in good time & increases the number of conditional routes available for flight planning purposes. FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS The key to the future will be the harmonisation & integration of planning, assessment & reporting tools together with the facility to generate effective scenarios in the planning process to determine the optimal, demand / capacity based network solution, in the pre tactical phase to reduce tactical intervention & workload, improve predictability, network stability & flight efficiency. CONTACT: Paddy REYNOLDS, AMF UK; Patrick.REYNOLDS@nats.co.uk

5 COLLABORATION PRECISE DATA ACCURATE PREDICTIONS ROBUST PLANNING RESOLUTION