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"Unity is the good for human beings
only when it is the unity for the whole
mankind in the name of the basis that
is common for all the mankind".
L.N. Tolstoi
"Harmonizing the World Air Navigation System"
INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM
of the International Trustee Funds of the Tsyolkovsky
Moscow State Aviation Technological University
Introduction
1. General Characteristic Of The Problem
2. Target-Orientation Of The Program
3. Analysis Of Available And Promising Methods To Be Used For Implementing The Projects Submitted
4. Contents Of The Program. Stages And Dates Of Program Implementation
5. Results Expected From Program Implementation
6. Major Section Of The Program
Basic Trends In Implementing The Program
INTRODUCTION
The efficiency and safety of the world air transport system is mainly determined by the quality of operation of the most important element of that system, i.e., the air navigation system (ANS).
The specific features in the economic development of the world countries and the differences of air navigation aids, rules, and procedures available in those countries give rise to narrow places on the routes of the main air traffic flows. As a result, the delays of aircraft on the ground and in the air are greatly increasing and the risks of air accidents are growing.
The measures taken by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) at the 10th Air Navigation Conference in connection with the introduction of the promising concept of the communication, navigation, surveillance / air traffic management systems (CNS/ATM concept) and the global and regional plans for introducing that concept will greatly make for elimination of those shortcomings and contribute to the process of harmonization and, subsequently, integration of the national air navigation systems.
In a number of countries the process of implementing the CNS/ATM concept comes into collision with serious difficulties. This especially concerns countries with vast territories where big capital investments are required because it is necessary to introduce a great complex of aids. The situation may become worse under economic difficulty conditions when it is the social and other more important problems that have to be financed first.
This is just the situation that has turned out in Russia and in most of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries where the rate of introducing the CNS/ATM concept has sharply dropped down. In this case it is only conditionally that we may speak about harmonization of the world air navigation system because the territory of Russia and other CIS countries being itself a large-scale region is a territory over which the world commonwealth flight routes pass. Owing to this fact, the Russian problems becomes common because their solution requires help on the part of interested countries, air companies, and other investors.
The Trustee Funds of the Tsyolkovsky Moscow State Aviation Technological University of Russia, the USA, France, Great Britain, Australia, Czechia, Cyprus, and other countries, on the basis of wide cooperation with the scientific communities of those countries, are forming a real program with the purpose of eliminating the shortcomings existing in Russia in the air navigation provision of flights and are orienting themselves first of all to the solution of the problem of using the international air routes and airdromes.
The main trends of the Funds programs coincide with the traditional ways of improving and developing the national air navigation systems. At the same time, the programs single out, as individual, the trends without which the desired objectives cannot be reached. Those trends include harmonization of the air navigation systems of Russia (No. 7) and other CIS countries, integration of the air navigation systems of Russia and other CIS countries in the world system (No. 8), control of the air traffic safety (No. 11), non-traditional ways of developing the air navigation systems (No. 12), and scientific support of the air navigation system activities (No. 13).
The program trends reflect the whole set of organizational, economic, tactical, technical, technological, and ergonomic measures necessary for developing the national air navigation system and for providing integration of that system in the world one.
The main projects of this program (Supplement 1) are of interest for developing the air navigation support of flights in different regions and countries of the world and may be used as a basis for successful work of the Fund in this direction.
1. GENERAL CHARACTERISTIC OF THE PROBLEM
The air navigation system is, along with the fleet of aircraft and airdromes, the most important element of the air transport system. To have the use of civil aviation effective, it is necessary to provide the correspondence of civil aviation potentials with the air transportation demands and to carry out the coordinated development of all the civil aviation elements.
A comparatively short time ago those problems were being solved, mostly, on the national level because the number of international flights in Russia and other CIS countries was rather small and could not considerably affect the decisions taken in the country and aimed at developing the air navigation aids used to provide air traffic.
Now the situation has considerably changed. The fast expansion of international cooperation, growth of transportation volumes on the long-range airplanes capable to cover distances exceeding 10,000 kilometers, and the appearance of global satellite aids of communication, navigation, and surveillance brought about the necessity of integration of the national air navigation systems into united regional ones and then into the world air navigation system.
Predetermining the development of such events, the 10th Air Navigation Conference of the International Civil Aviation Organization in September 1991 adopted a promising concept of the communication, navigation, and surveillance systems and the air traffic management (CNS/ATM concept) for implementation and then developed global and regional plans of introducing that concept.
So, the air navigation system to be developed in the CIS countries must not only satisfy the internal demands but be able to carry out its functions in the international field and pass in an evolution manner, via harmonization with the foreign systems, over to integration into those systems. First, such harmonization and integration must be carried out in the European ICAO region that includes all the CIS countries.
The Western countries (27 countries) have been coordinating their activities for a number of years within the framework of the "Eurocontrol" international organization in providing the harmonization of their national air navigation systems and since 1998 they started to implement the integration stage. The fast rate of improvement of the systems both in the Western Europe and in other countries of the world (the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, and others) has made it necessary to provide the required safety and efficiency of flights under the conditions of an extremely great air traffic intensity that have a tendency to continuously grow. This factor explains the accelerated introduction of the promising elements of the CNS/ATM systems in the West and the reduced norms of separation for aircraft.
The situation in Russia is different. In connection with the transition of the economy to the market conditions, the economic situation in the country has resulted in a sharp reduction of air transportation demands and, consequently, in a drop of flight intensity. Under these conditions, the problem of developing the home air navigation system could not be a priority problem and, as a result, the rate of introducing new equipment and technologies has sharply dropped. The shortage of material resources brought about the transition from the policy of developing the system to the policy of supporting the operation of that system.
The discrepancy between the Western countries and Russia in the level of introducing the systems recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization has been expanding with every passing year and bringing about a number of negative problems such as the following ones:
- The home aircraft must be continuously updated to meet the requirements specified for the flights on foreign routes. In using their aircraft, air companies have to make great material expenses.
- The flights of foreign aircraft over the territory of the country become difficult because the level of the air navigation support greatly differs from the one used in the Western countries.
- The increasing difference in the levels of technical equipage in Russia and the Western countries is becoming the obstacle on the way of harmonization and integration of the systems within the framework of the European ICAO region.
- The level of technical equipage in Russia makes it impossible to provide the flexibility in specifying flight routes and moves Russia away from the solution of the target-oriented problem being solved by the advanced Western countries, i.e., to transition to "free flights".
- The level of air traffic safety in Russia, in spite of the drop of air traffic intensity, has no stable tendency to growth.
The state of the flight air navigation support worries not only the aviation circles of Russia but the world aviation community as well. This is determined by the important geographical position of the country through which a number of profitable transit routes pass and connect different continents. The gains of flight time over those routes may be as great as several hours.
Another factor of fixed attention of the Western countries to the situation with the air navigation support in Russia is the growing rate of international air relations with our country that is as great as six percent a year now.
As a matter of fact, Russia is a great region. The Russian air navigation system is unique as regards the dimensions of its territory, the differences of the climatic conditions, and the availability of vast territories that are not yet opened up completely.
Large capital investments are required every year to develop the system in accordance with the plans of introducing the CNS/ATM concept. Under present economic conditions in the country, such investments in the system are unreal. From another point of view, if no necessary measures are taken, the problem of providing the integration of Russia in the world system will not be solved in the visible future.
It follows from what has been said above that it is necessary to use the potentials of mutually profitable international cooperation in this field on the basis of the global ICAO plan of transition to the promising CNS/ATM systems.
This program aimed at the accelerated entry of the Russian air navigation system into the world system is based on the following provisions:
- The program must take into account the fast growth of negative consequences that may arise if the existing situation concerning the introduction of new equipment and methods remains in Russia.
- The program must be oriented to implementation of the provisions specified by the Global and European plans of introducing the promising CNS/ATM concept of the International Civil Aviation Organization.
- The program must contain the complex solution of the problem of developing the air navigation system of Russia and, consequently, integrating that system in the European and world systems.
- Provisions must be made in the program for coordination of the efforts exerted by a number of countries and international organizations.
On the basis of the above provisions, the Fund employees made efforts to prepare a draft program under the name of "Integrating the air navigation system of Russia into the world system". This draft program does not cover all the problems to be solved but concentrates the reader`s attention on drafts in which both Russia and other countries as well as international air organizations are interested. To this end, it is assumed that a wide international cooperation be organized and a wide network of the Fund branches in a number of countries be attracted for implementing the program.
2. TARGET-ORIENTATION OF THE PROGRAM
2.1. Improving the safety and efficiency of using the network of international routes of Russia.
The total length of international air routes of Russia exceeds 200,000 kilometers, and about 50 foreign air companies carry out their flights on those routes. A number of transit routes pass through the country and connect Europe and North America in the shortest way with the Asian continent. The considerable part of the international routes, especially transit ones, pass through sparsely populated and little mastered regions where the use of traditional radio facilities supporting flights is extremely difficult. Besides, such use requires great material expenses.
On the routes on which such equipment is available, the service lives of a number of systems is over and the equipment needs replacement. Due to this reason, provision of the international routes of Russia with the systems that are recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization and use the latest achievements of science and technology, including satellite technology, is the major condition for improving the safety and efficiency of flights.
2.2. Providing necessary conditions for harmonizing the systems inside Russia and other CIS countries and then for integrating them into the European and world systems.
The creation of a promising air navigation system of Russia in accordance with the promising CNS/ATM concept is an extremely complicated problem involving great material expenses. Due to this reason, the system development is based on an evolutionary approach whose basic principle is the priority in implementing the projects. One may consider the following projects as priority ones: updating of the Moscow automated air traffic control systems, introduction of the regional automated air traffic control system in the city of Samara, and others. A number of projects necessary for harmonizing the air navigation system of Russia and CIS countries have been frozen for a while and require that attention be paid to them in preparing this program.
To prepare the national systems for integration on a regional scale, it is assumed that organizational measures be implemented in order to coordinate approaches and to jointly carry out the system integration. To this end, it will be necessary to prepare appropriate plans and engineering architecture of a promising integrated system.
Continuous contacts and, possibly, joint work with the Eurocontrol as well as with states contiguous with Russia, such as Japan, China, and others, must be an important point in reaching this target.
2.3. Providing a necessary scientific surplus for further development of the air navigation system.
The international aviation community has recognized that it is impossible to independently solve a number of problems the community is confronted with because those problems require the analyses and statistics in great amounts and for all the regions of the world. Besides, joint work on a common problem is economically profitable for each country.
During recent years, a great volume of work has been done in Russia in the trend of non-traditional development of the air navigation systems, creation of unique software products, expert systems for modeling the air traffic management processes, investigation of the human factor, and others.
Most of those works that are rather promising and of interest for the international air community may be comparatively soon brought to practical implementation if this program starts being effectively fulfilled.
3. ANALYSIS OF AVAILABLE AND PROMISING METHODS
TO BE USED FOR IMPLEMENTING THE PROJECTS SUBMITTED
At present, apart from financial difficulties there are no other ones for designing and introducing up-to-date equipment and methods to be used in the air navigation systems recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization. Moreover, there is a great unused potential of the industry and science in Russia and this potential may be used for implementing the program provided that appropriate financial support is obtained.
More complicated is the setting up of effective international organizations or cooperation groups for carrying out works aimed at harmonizing and integrating the national systems jointly with the CIS countries, countries being the members of the Eurocontrol as well as with countries that are contiguous with Russia, such as Japan, China, and others.
The forms of such cooperation existing in the West in the air navigation field have clearly shown their efficiency and usefulness for each country. This circumstance was noted in the decisions taken at the World Conference carried out by the International Civil Aviation Organization in Rio de Janeiro in 1998.
The experience gained by the Fund in carrying out the international contacts and in organizing the works that are important for the whole mankind is the starting point for including such projects in this program. The high authority of the Fund members on the political and public stages in Russia and abroad must make for inclusion of those projects in this program.
Investigations aimed at searching new trends in developing the air navigation systems are being under way in all developed countries. A great reserve of such investigations has been accumulated in Russia that is reach with new ideas and is carrying out the conversion of the defense industry branches. Familiarization of the wide aviation community of the world with the investigation data and the mutual contacts carried out by the Fund members will make for the successful search of the countries that are technically and economically interested in their practical implementation.
4. CONTENTS OF THE PROGRAM. STAGES AND
DATES OF PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION
The program (Supplement 1) contains projects that are actually the organizational, tactical, technical, technological, and ergonomic measures and are aimed at harmonizing the air navigation systems of Russia and other CIS countries and at providing the starting conditions for subsequent integration of their systems into the systems of other states (and their operation as a single system). The Supplement contains brief descriptions of means to be used for solving the problems specified, the status of the developments as of 1998, and the approximate cost of implementation of those developments. The conditional ratings of the projects are specified by the program. Those ratings take into account the implementation periods, the financing of the projects, and the effect to be gained through the implementation of the projects. In the case of the target-oriented financing of the projects, no attention will be paid to the ratings because the rating depends in a considerable degree on the requirements of the countries and regions in which a particular project is to be introduced.
5. RESULTS EXPECTED FROM PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION
The implementation of the program will make it possible to accelerate the introduction of new equipment and methods in the air navigation field in Russia and in this manner to join the CNS/ATM concept introduction rates specified by the Global ICAO Plan. In this case, the following results may be obtained:
- elimination of narrow places existing in the major aircraft flows and, first of all, on international transit air routes;
- reduction of non-production losses of the air space users in their flights over the Russian territory by 10 to 15 percent;
- achievement of the air traffic safety levels being planned by the International Civil Aviation Organization for the period after 2000 (four-time increase for each type of separation);
- improvement of efficiency in the activities of air traffic controllers and flying personnel;
- expansion of the volume of scientific research and the rate of introduction of scientific research results in practice;
- intensification of international cooperation and assistance to close contacts of scientists and specialists in different countries;
- reduction of time and losses in carrying out similar projects in each individual country through joining the efforts directed on joint implementation of those projects;
- provision of the system integration stage through the contacts of specialists from various countries at the early stage of their work and through their subsequent joint activities.
6. MAJOR SECTION OF THE PROGRAM
1. Organizational and Functional Structure of the Air Navigation System and Management of that System Activities.
2. Structure of the Air Space and the Route Network.
3. Ground, Airborne, and Space Means of Communications, Navigation, and Surveillance.
4. Automation of the Planning Processes and the Air Traffic Control.
5. Automation of Air Navigation Processes.
6. Systems Supporting the Air Navigation System Operation.
7. Harmonizing and Integrating the Air Navigation Systems of Russia and Other CIS Countries.
8. Integrating the Air Navigation Systems of Russia and Other CIS Countries in the World System.
9. Human factor.
10. Operation and maintenance of the Air Navigation System.
11. Controlling the Air Traffic Safety.
12. Non-traditional Methods of Developing the Air Navigation System.
13. Scientific Support of the Air Navigation System Activity.
14. Public Examination of the Air Navigation Support System.
BASIC TRENDS IN IMPLEMENTING THE PROGRAM
1. Development and Implementation of Flight Air Navigation Support Aids Complexes and Automated Systems
2. Development and Implementation of New Technologies
3. Conduction of Future Studies
4. Conduction of Organizational-Technical Activities
5. Development of Requirements and Programs
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