Aviation Web Services

1
Aviation Web Services

• Craig Duncan
• craig.duncan_at_c3daero.com

2
Executive Summary

• Today
• Pilots face many problems using the Internet to
  access weather and navigation data
• Tomorrow
• Aviation Web Services will solve todays problems
• The Future
• Aviation Web Services will be part of NASAs SATS
  and HITS programs and the Airborne Internet
• Money
• Aviation Web Services will pay for themselves
• C3D Aero
• Builds Aviation Web Services that will help make
  the future a reality

3
Today

• Weather and navigation data is published for
  pilots on the Internetand World Wide Web
• Direct User Access Terminal Service (DUATS)
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations
  (NOAA) website
• FAAs NOtices To AirMen (NOTAMs)
• AOPAs Airport Directory
• Pilots create flight plans with this information
  using PCs

4
Some existing websites
5
Problems today

• Data is contained or trapped in individual web
  pages on different websites
• Pilots must go to many sites to obtain a complete
  picture of flight and weather conditions
• Pilots must view information in the format
  specified by each website
• Text
• Static images
• Java applets

6
Additional problems today

• Data on aviation websites is currently designed
  for humans to read, not for computer programs to
  manipulate
• Most websites lack security and reliability
• FAA Advisory Circular 00-62
• Pilots can not access aviation information on the
  Internet from the cockpit
• Not practical to browse the Webin flight

7
Tomorrow

• Aviation Web Services will solve todays problems
• Pilots will be able to access aviation data
  frommany sources withdifferent devices
• PCs
• PDAs
• Telephone

Control Visions Anywhere Pilot
8
The solution

• Publish existing aviation data on the Internet as
  Web services
• Information will be freed from individual web
  sites
• Applications and aviation web portals will be
  able to collect, process, integrate, reformat,
  and redisplay information from other sources
• Data will be secure

9
Web services

• Definition
• Software components that can be published,
  located, and run over the Internet using
  Extensible Markup Language (XML)
• Used to
• Allow other applications to call modules of code
  remotely with XML
• Expose data in a database as XML
• Send XML messages

10
Extensible Markup Language (XML)

• Definition
• A markup language that describes data in a
  structured and human-readable text format
• Example ltpilotgt ltnamegtCraig
  Duncanlt/namegt ltstatusgtstudentlt/statusgt
  lthours typedualgt37.3lt/hoursgt lt/pilotgt
• Related to HTML, but more powerfulbecause XML
  can be modified and extended
• Has become the de facto standard for
  representation of information content
• Has become the language of choice for information
  exchange

11
Web services diagram
Note Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) is an
XML message format
12
Reasons to use Web services

• Applications can be built that are
• Platform-independent
• Distributed
• Secure
• Web services will become the common architecture
  for system and application integration
• Based on open industry standards
• Companies and government agencies will be able to
  easily communicate with customers and external
  partners

13
More reasons to useWeb services

• Loosely-coupled and flexible systems are more
  useful than hard-wired and monolithic ones
• Example World Wide Web
• Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)
• Companies and government agencies will be able to
  access software remotely that they or others have
  already built (reuse)
• Organizations will be able to extend the life and
  value of legacy systems by exposing existing data
  as XML

14
Even more reasons to useWeb services

• Developers will be able to integrate
  applications
• Quickly
• Easily
• Inexpensively
• Software development and maintenance time will be
  reduced
• Increase efficiency 30 Gartner
• Data can be secured using industry standard
  security methods
• Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol
• Public-key certificates
• WS-Security

15
Web services issues

• Not a silver bullet
• Web services provide plumbing between
  applications
• However, plumbing is essential
• Easy to write, hard to get right
• Distributed and asynchronous software is the
  hardest to develop and debug
• However, not impossible
• XML is wordy
• Takes up a lot of processor timeand bandwidth
• However, up to a 90 compression ratio

16
Aviation Web Services

• Web services that containaviation data
• A more descriptive name would be Aviation XML
  Data Services
• Will allow aviation information to be accessed
  anywhere, anytime, and on any device

17
Aviation Web Services diagram
18
List of Aviation Web Services

• Applications and aviation web portalswill be
  able to access the following types of information
  over the Internet
• Weather conditions (NOAA AIRMETs, AWOS)
• Restricted airspace notices (NOTAMs, SUA)
• Airport information(AOPAs Airport Directory,
  FAAs A/FD)
• Airplane data in manufacturers Pilot Operating
  Handbook (POH)
• Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs)

19
Other Aviation Web Services

• Airworthiness Directives (AD)
• Will allow mechanics to be automatically notified
  of the latest airframe and engine problems
• Medical and licensing
• Will return a yes or no answer if a pilots
  certificates are valid
• Existing hotel reservation, restaurant, and car
  rental Web services
• Example Dollar Rent A Cars Web service allows
  passengers to rent cars while purchasing tickets
  on Southwest Airlines website

20
The Future

• Aviation Web Services will bea part of
• The Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS)
• The Highway in the Sky (HITS)
• The Airborne Internet

Conceptual SATS aircraft. Source NASA
21
Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS)

• National Aeronautics and Space Administrations
  (NASA) goalReduce door-to-door travel timeby
  half in 10 years and two-thirdsin 25 years.
• 98 of Americans live within a30 minute drive of
  a small airport
• SATS will be an airborne transportation network
  that will use small aircraft and the nations
  5,000 small airports

22
Highway In The Sky (HITS)

• A graphical flight path system
• Flying will be as easy as and safer than
  driving a car
• Intuitive cockpit displays show
• Virtual path for aircraft to follow
• 3D representation of terrain and obstructions
• 2D moving map of other aircraft, weather
  conditions, restricted airspace, and airports

23
HITS cockpit displays

• Flight path and moving map displays. Source NASA

24
Aviation Web Services will provide data for HITS
cockpit displays
25
HITS air traffic management

• Pilot will select destination by either
• Clicking on a map display
• Speaking the name of the airport
• Aircraft will automatically accessAviation Web
  Services and use them to
• Obtain updates of weather, navigation, airport,
  and aircraft performance data
• Note Most information will already be
  cached in a database on the aircraft
• Plan the flight and navigate through the air
• Receive alerts and notifications
• Display current flight information

26
HITS air traffic management continued

• Aircraft will be able to communicate information
  to other aircraft in the area
• Aircraft will broadcast their ownAviation Web
  Services to theNational Airspace System (NAS)
• Flight tracking information
• Local weather conditions (PIREPs)
• Equipment performance data and failures
• Controller Pilot Communications Markup Language
  (CPCML)
• Will use the Airborne Internet
• A private, secure, and reliable
  peer-to-peeraircraft communications network that
  uses thesame technologies as the commercial
  Internet

27
Airborne InternetHourglass architecture
28
Existing aviation technology

• Aviation Web Services will complement and not
  replace existing technology
• Global Positioning System (GPS)
• Inertial navigation systems
• Onboard radar
• Collision avoidance systems?
• Web services may be too slow for tactical
  aircraft separation

29
Money

• Aviation Web Services will pay for themselves
• Does not cost a lot of money to write a layer of
  software components that expose existing aviation
  data as XML
• Pilots will pay to use Web portals and
  flight-planning applications that use Aviation
  Web Services
• DSIs www.sats-net.com
• AOPAs website member area
• www.aeroplanner.com
• Web portals and application companies will pay to
  access Aviation Web Services provided by
  government agencies and other companies
• NOAA, FAA, and non-classified military
• AOPA and Jeppesen

30
Aviation Web Services roadmap
31
C3D Aero Vision and Mission

• Vision
• Enable pilots to access aviation data on the
  Internet from the cockpit
• Mission
• Create Web services for the aviation industry

32
Conclusion

• Today
• Pilots face many problems using the Internet to
  access weather and navigation data
• Tomorrow
• Aviation Web Services will solve todays problems
• The Future
• Aviation Web Services will be part of NASAs SATS
  and HITS programs and the Airborne Internet
• Money
• Aviation Web Services will pay for themselves
• C3D Aero
• Builds Aviation Web Services that will help make
  the future a reality

33
Links

• Web services
• http//www.c3daero.com/aviation/aviationwebservice
  s.aspx
• http//www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,103013,00.asp
  
• http//msdn.microsoft.com/webservices
• http//www.capeclear.com/products/webservices
• SATS and HITS
• http//sats.nasa.gov
• http//www.defensedaily.com/cgi/av/show_mag.cgi?pu
  bavmon0301file0301sats.htm
• http//www.aero-space.nasa.gov/library/nasao/highw
  ay.htm
• http//www.aerospace.nasa.gov/aero_blueprint/index
  .html
• Airborne Internet
• http//www.airborneinternet.com
• http//www.sats-net.com
• Other
• http//www.anywheremap.com
• http//www.aeroplanner.com