[House Hearing, 113 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
MODERNIZING THE AVIATION SYSTEM:
LEVERAGING THE ASSETS OF THE FAA'S
WILLIAM J. HUGHES TECHNICAL CENTER
=======================================================================
(113-58)
FIELD HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON
AVIATION
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON
TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
MARCH 11, 2014 (Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey)
__________
Printed for the use of the
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Available online at: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/
committee.action?chamber=house&committee=transportation
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COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE
BILL SHUSTER, Pennsylvania, Chairman
DON YOUNG, Alaska NICK J. RAHALL, II, West Virginia
THOMAS E. PETRI, Wisconsin PETER A. DeFAZIO, Oregon
HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of
JOHN J. DUNCAN, Jr., Tennessee, Columbia
Vice Chair JERROLD NADLER, New York
JOHN L. MICA, Florida CORRINE BROWN, Florida
FRANK A. LoBIONDO, New Jersey EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas
GARY G. MILLER, California ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland
SAM GRAVES, Missouri RICK LARSEN, Washington
SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts
CANDICE S. MILLER, Michigan TIMOTHY H. BISHOP, New York
DUNCAN HUNTER, California MICHAEL H. MICHAUD, Maine
ERIC A. ``RICK'' CRAWFORD, Arkansas GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California
LOU BARLETTA, Pennsylvania DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois
BLAKE FARENTHOLD, Texas TIMOTHY J. WALZ, Minnesota
LARRY BUCSHON, Indiana STEVE COHEN, Tennessee
BOB GIBBS, Ohio ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey
PATRICK MEEHAN, Pennsylvania DONNA F. EDWARDS, Maryland
RICHARD L. HANNA, New York JOHN GARAMENDI, California
DANIEL WEBSTER, Florida ANDRE CARSON, Indiana
STEVE SOUTHERLAND, II, Florida JANICE HAHN, California
JEFF DENHAM, California RICHARD M. NOLAN, Minnesota
REID J. RIBBLE, Wisconsin ANN KIRKPATRICK, Arizona
THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky DINA TITUS, Nevada
STEVE DAINES, Montana SEAN PATRICK MALONEY, New York
TOM RICE, South Carolina ELIZABETH H. ESTY, Connecticut
MARKWAYNE MULLIN, Oklahoma LOIS FRANKEL, Florida
ROGER WILLIAMS, Texas CHERI BUSTOS, Illinois
MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina
SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania
RODNEY DAVIS, Illinois
MARK SANFORD, South Carolina
VACANCY
------ 7
Subcommittee on Aviation
FRANK A. LoBIONDO, New Jersey, Chairman
THOMAS E. PETRI, Wisconsin RICK LARSEN, Washington
HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina PETER A. DeFAZIO, Oregon
JOHN J. DUNCAN, Jr., Tennessee EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas
SAM GRAVES, Missouri MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts
BLAKE FARENTHOLD, Texas DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois
LARRY BUCSHON, Indiana STEVE COHEN, Tennessee
PATRICK MEEHAN, Pennsylvania ANDRE CARSON, Indiana
DANIEL WEBSTER, Florida RICHARD M. NOLAN, Minnesota
JEFF DENHAM, California DINA TITUS, Nevada
REID J. RIBBLE, Wisconsin SEAN PATRICK MALONEY, New York
THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky CHERI BUSTOS, Illinois
STEVE DAINES, Montana CORRINE BROWN, Florida
ROGER WILLIAMS, Texas ELIZABETH H. ESTY, Connecticut
MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina NICK J. RAHALL, II, West Virginia
RODNEY DAVIS, Illinois, Vice Chair (Ex Officio)
BILL SHUSTER, Pennsylvania (Ex
Officio)
VACANCY
CONTENTS
Page
Summary of Subject Matter........................................ iv
TESTIMONY
Panel 1
Hon. Michael G. Whitaker, Deputy Administrator and Chief NextGen
Officer, Federal Aviation Administration....................... 5
Dennis Filler, director, William J. Hughes Technical Center,
Federal Aviation Administration................................ 5
Panel 2
Peter F. Dumont, president and CEO, Air Traffic Control
Association.................................................... 13
Cynthia Castillo, president and CEO, CSSI, Inc................... 13
Melvin Davis, national representative for NextGen, National Air
Traffic Controllers Association................................ 13
Ben Gielow, general counsel and senior government relations
manager, Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International 13
PREPARED STATEMENTS SUBMITTED BY WITNESSES
Hon. Michael G. Whitaker and Dennis Filler, joint statement...... 27
Peter F. Dumont.................................................. 38
Cynthia Castillo................................................. 46
Melvin Davis..................................................... 53
Ben Gielow....................................................... 59
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED]
MODERNIZING THE AVIATION SYSTEM: LEVERAGING THE ASSETS OF THE FAA'S
WILLIAM J. HUGHES TECHNICAL CENTER
----------
TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 2014
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Aviation,
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure,
Egg Harbor Township, NJ.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 1:30 p.m., in
William J. Hughes Technical Center, Hon. Frank A. LoBiondo
(Chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Mr. LoBiondo. The subcommittee will now come to order.
I would like to thank everyone for being here today.
Let me start off by saying how Rick and I and the
subcommittee, our thoughts and prayers are with the families of
the missing Malaysian Airlines flight. I know we are all
anxiously awaiting to hear what happened there, and at this
point all we can say is our thoughts and prayers are with them.
Again, let me begin by thanking everyone for being here
today and everyone that helped organize this hearing. The FAA
has been a great host and I really appreciate all of their
efforts to accommodate us.
I also want to thank the ranking member, Rick Larsen from
the State of Washington, for taking time out of his day to see
firsthand. We had a tour this morning. I think it was your
first time here, Rick, and got a good opportunity to see why we
are the premier facility in the entire United States of
America--in fact, the world--for safety and security and
research and development. Our laboratories are one of a kind,
but as great as the laboratories are, it is the men and women
who work here at the Technical Center who make all of this go.
The dedication, the enthusiasm, the commitment to excellence is
deeply appreciated, and we want to personally acknowledge you
for that.
I want to also welcome our witnesses today. We look forward
to your testimony.
I have been very fortunate to represent the Technical
Center during my time in Congress. While I have not always been
chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee, I have always been the
biggest cheerleader and a huge supporter for the work that is
done here, and I believe the work that goes on here will make
such a tremendous difference to our aviation system and the
country.
One example of this is the work that was done here at the
Technical Center on the Asiana crash, which was last July, July
of 2013. While the loss of any life is tragic, it could have
been much worse if the improvements and the safety developments
that had been worked on here were not implemented into that
flight.
The Technical Center houses the world's largest aviation
test facility. Work here has produced safety improvements,
including again the most recent aviation slides, fuel tank
explosion protection, fire blocking layers in seat cushions.
These efforts reduce the likelihood of a fire on board an
aircraft, and, should one occur, slow the spread of fire,
giving passengers more time to evacuate an aircraft, and
ultimately save lives.
While I could go on for quite a while talking about the
wide range of important work that goes on here, today's hearing
is focused on the Technical Center's role in the development
and implementation of the FAA's air traffic control
modernization program, known as NextGen. The goal is to ensure
the Technical Center's resources and expertise are being used
in a way that makes the most sense.
The Technical Center serves as the core FAA research and
development facility for NextGen. Looking back, the Technical
Center has been involved in some of the earliest air traffic
control projects, including the design and development of the
early Air Traffic Control Automation Systems and the first air
traffic control tower cab mockup to validate controller work
areas. These projects served as the foundation for our existing
system.
And today, the Technical Center continues to play an
integral role in the development, testing, and validation of
the latest and greatest technologies. This includes programs
such as satellite navigation, text-message-like data
communications, and the enabling software to process NextGen
technologies and capabilities. These programs are essential to
NextGen, and the testing and validation work that is being done
right here at this facility is unmatched anywhere.
Further, the Technical Center's role isn't over once the
new system is deployed in the field. For example, when the En
Route Automation Modernization, called ERAM, software
experienced site-specific problems as it was being installed in
FAA facilities, the problems were relayed to the Technical
Center. Here Government and industry teams were able to
troubleshoot the problem in a simulated environment, develop a
solution, and transmit the solution back to the air traffic
facility for implementation.
The ability to conduct that type of work is only possible
because of the integrated laboratories here at the Technical
Center. One of the key laboratories is the NextGen Integration
and Evaluation Capability. Among its many functions, it has the
ability to provide a combined environment of legacy systems
with future technologies and capabilities, enabling it to
support the transition to NextGen. Given the considerable
challenges with the ongoing transition to NextGen, we must
examine every available resource here at the Technical Center
and ensure they are being adequately utilized, especially the
world-class expertise of the Technical Center employees.
Finally, as part of the transition to NextGen, the FAA, in
partnership with industry stakeholders, must also safely
integrate unmanned aircraft systems or UAS into the National
Airspace System. The Technical Center currently leads the FAA's
Safety Research and Development Program. Through this program
the Technical Center continually works with the FAA's
regulatory organization to increase safety and allow for new
technologies and ideas, including UAS. And as the committee saw
earlier on the tour of the NIEC laboratories, the Technical
Center has already flown UAS using simulation in the National
Airspace System.
The FAA Technical Center will have a key role in helping
collect, protect, analyze, integrate and validate operational
and safety data that will become available from the six UAS
test ranges established by the FAA. This data, along with the
other work, is essential for the FAA to develop the regulatory
program to allow for the safe UAS operations in the National
Airspace System. We need to make sure that the Technical Center
has what it needs for that important work.
I want to just take a moment to say also that we are all
pretty proud here in New Jersey of the Technical Center for
being named one of the six national test sites. There was sort
of a nationwide RFP that was put out. This was a recognition
that the technology is tremendous with the UAS systems. The
application for everyday and quality-of-life issues is
enormous. But the ability to safely integrate them into our
airspace with the proper privacy restraints that are put on
there is something that we look forward to.
And being one of only six in the entire United States of
America, where the New Jersey application, along with Virginia,
has made it to that final stage is something that we can all be
pretty proud of, and I think holds a great opportunity.
With that, I would like to quickly introduce today's
witnesses. Our first panel we have the Honorable Michael
Whitaker, the FAA's Deputy Administrator and Chief NextGen
Officer; and Mr. Dennis Filler, director of the Technical
Center and the head of research and development.
On our second panel we have Mr. Pete Dumont, president and
CEO of the Air Traffic Control Association and cochair of the
NextGen Institute's Management Council; Ms. Cynthia Castillo,
president and CEO of CSSI, Inc.; Melvin Davis, national
representative for the NextGen National Air Traffic Controllers
Association; and Mr. Ben Gielow, general counsel and senior
government relations manager for the Association for Unmanned
Vehicle Systems International.
On behalf of the subcommittee, we welcome you. We thank you
in advance for your testimony. We certainly look forward to
hearing from each of you and your perspectives on the Technical
Center and NextGen and UAS-related resources, as well as your
vision for what the Technical Center's role might look like
into the years ahead.
I now ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5
legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include
extraneous materials for the record.
Without objection, that is so ordered.
And now I would like to turn to our ranking member, Mr.
Rick Larsen.
Rick, thanks again for being here today.
Mr. Larsen. Thanks, Frank. I appreciate it.
I want to thank Chairman LoBiondo for calling today's
hearing to discuss modernizing the aviation system, leveraging
the assets of the FAA's William J. Hughes Technical Center.
It is a pleasure to be here today and to tour this world-
class facility and meet some world-class people involved in the
research.
Over the past year that Frank and I have led the
subcommittee, I have learned a lot through the hearings and in
the listening sessions. Frank has done a great job of
organizing the work of the subcommittee to be sure that the
subcommittee itself is on the cutting edge of trying to figure
out where the FAA and where the national airspace and where the
aviation system and industry needs to go. I really appreciate
his leadership.
Getting to see some of this new technology today has helped
me better understand the rapidly evolving landscape for the
aviation industry. And for those who don't know my district, if
you fly in an airplane, it is probably built in my district, to
give you a flavor of where I come from. There are 200
aerospace, other aerospace suppliers in my district, and in
Washington State there are over 1,000 other aerospace
suppliers, all operating and working not just because of an
active aviation industry worldwide but because of a lot of the
foundational work that takes place in research and development
here at the Technical Center.
So our time here today highlights the ongoing need for a
well-trained workforce that understands the complexities of our
air system, and the center is a unique place for innovation to
advance aviation technology, everything from hardware and
software that you need to get information out to people so they
understand what the weather is going to be like sooner, to the
guys over in the fire system who get to blow things up, which
is pretty cool as well.
For over 50 years, the Technical Center has served as a
primary FAA research and development facility to enhance
aviation safety and modernize the Nation's air traffic control
system. Most recently, the Technical Center has been a
cornerstone for the FAA in research and development of major
NextGen programs like Automatic Dependent Surveillance,
Broadcast and Data Communications, both of which we saw this
morning.
While the implementation of NextGen has been long and
challenging, the FAA has made progress, in part because of the
ongoing work here at the center. The next big challenge facing
the FAA is ensuring the safe integration of unmanned aircraft
systems, or UAS, into one of the most complex air traffic
systems in the world, and the FAA Modernization and Reform Act
of 2012 set forth requirements and milestones for the FAA to
integrate UAS into the national airspace. One of the Act's
provisions required the FAA to select six test ranges. These
sites are located throughout the country and will begin soon
collecting safety and operational data.
Test site data will assist the agency in developing
policies for future commercial and civil use of unmanned
aircraft. So today, as part of the hearing, I certainly want to
hear how the FAA intends to work with test sites to ensure that
it is able to collect, protect, and share the data that it
needs. I am also interested to hear how the agency will ensure
privacy near the test sites.
Unfortunately, the Technical Center can't provide the FAA
with the assets to collect, validate, and analyze all of the
data it intends to gather. So I hope to hear more about how the
FAA intends to use its resources here as well to help advance
the integration of UAS and to advance next-generation air
traffic control.
So I want to thank Chairman LoBiondo again for having me up
here and having me as a partner on the committee. I really
appreciate it very much and look forward to hearing from our
witnesses today. Thank you.
Mr. LoBiondo. Thank you, Rick, very much.
Now I would like to recognize our first witness of the day,
FAA Deputy Administrator and Chief NextGen Officer, Mr. Michael
Whitaker.
Michael, thank you.
TESTIMONY OF HON. MICHAEL G. WHITAKER, DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR AND
CHIEF NEXTGEN OFFICER, FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION; DENNIS
FILLER, DIRECTOR, WILLIAM J. HUGHES TECHNICAL CENTER, FEDERAL
AVIATION ADMINISTRATION
Mr. Whitaker. Thank you. Good afternoon, Chairman LoBiondo,
Ranking Member Larsen, members of the subcommittee. Thank you
for the opportunity to testify today.
Before we begin, I would also like to take a moment on
behalf of the agency to say that our hearts go out to the
families of those on Malaysian Air flight 370. On Saturday, the
FAA sent representatives as part of the NTSB investigative team
supporting the Malaysian Government with the accident
investigation. The United States Government is in communication
across agencies and with international officials to provide any
additional assistance that may be necessary.
Turning to the matter at hand, to the Technical Center, I
am pleased to have the opportunity to highlight this facility's
vital role in deploying NextGen and in integrating unmanned
aircraft into our Nation's airspace.
Let me start by noting that we are nearly complete with the
foundation of NextGen. This foundation includes a much needed
upgrade of the automation in our air traffic control facilities
and building of ground stations to enable the transition from a
radar-based to a satellite-based system.
Right now, 18 of our 20 en route centers have started
running ERAM to control traffic in high-altitude airspace. More
than half are using it exclusively to control air traffic
instead of the legacy system from the 1960s. All 20 en route
centers are expected to be running ERAM exclusively by March of
next year, which will allow us to pull down the legacy host
system.
We are also upgrading the computer system that runs the
lower altitude airspace closer to airports. This project, TAMR,
requires switching out computer processors, screens and
software in more than 150 TRACON facilities across the country.
Throughout the United States, we have installed more than
95 percent of the ground stations for ADS-B, and we will
complete the baseline installation this month. With this
technology we will achieve more precise surveillance of
aircraft, which will make the air traffic system safer and more
efficient.
In addition to this foundation, we continue to implement
performance-based navigation procedures. PBN allows aircraft to
fly on more direct paths across the country and in congested
airspace. These advanced navigation procedures are cutting
flight time and reducing fuel burn and emissions.
This is all good progress, but it is just the beginning.
Completing NextGen's foundation will enable new capabilities
that will make aviation safer, more efficient, and more
environmentally friendly.
NextGen technologies are also making it possible to safely
introduce unmanned aircraft into the airspace system, and let
me give you a few examples of the connection between NextGen
and unmanned aircraft systems.
In order for many unmanned aircraft to operate safely in
shared airspace, we must develop technologies that enable them
to detect and avoid other airborne vehicles. The agency is
researching and developing a collision avoidance system
specifically designed for unmanned aircraft. It is a technology
called ACAS X-U. The Technical Center will also be aiding this
effort by conducting flight testing, as we saw this morning.
Also, ADS-B can help achieve collision avoidance through
more precise surveillance and separation of both manned and
unmanned aircraft in the same vicinity.
Another NextGen technology that will support unmanned
aircraft is NAS Voice System. NVS modernizes the voice
communication capabilities that we use for air traffic
services. It will enable controllers to communicate with the
ground pilot of an unmanned vehicle even if that pilot is
located on the other side of the country.
With its world-class laboratories and engineering
expertise, the FAA's Technical Center plays a central role both
in the deployment of NextGen and in the safe introduction of
unmanned aircraft. As you mentioned, this past December we
announced the selection of six test sites for unmanned aircraft
across the country. These test sites, which include State
governments and public universities, will provide data to help
us determine the safety certification and navigation
requirements for unmanned systems. We expect that a significant
portion of the test site data collection and analysis will take
place at the Technical Center.
Later this year we will also be conducting simulation
modeling for the Department of Defense to assist them in
standardizing procedures for unmanned aircraft across various
branches of the military. The FAA is working with other
Government agencies, including NASA and the Department of
Homeland Security, on unmanned aircraft projects. By working
with other agencies here at the Technical Center, we are able
to leverage each other's expertise and resources and minimize
the duplication of efforts.
Let me close by saying that NextGen is already delivering
benefits across the country. We have made great progress toward
completing the foundation of NextGen and we are well positioned
to reap more benefits in air traffic efficiency, reduce delays,
fuel savings, and environmental improvements. The Technical
Center is enabling us to realize these benefits and enabling us
to safely introduce unmanned aircraft.
Mr. Chairman, that concludes my remarks, and I would be
happy to take any questions.
Mr. LoBiondo. Thank you, Mr. Whitaker.
Now I would like to recognize the head of research and
development for the FAA and the director of the Technical
Center, Dennis Filler.
Dennis, the floor is yours.
Mr. Filler. Thank you, sir. Good afternoon, Chairman
LoBiondo and Ranking Member Larsen. Thank you very much for the
opportunity to testify before you today.
As the director of the FAA William J. Hughes Technical
Center, please let me extend a warm welcome to you. It is
certainly an honor to have you here with us.
The Technical Center is the Nation's premier air
transportation systems laboratory. We support the development
of scientific solutions to both current and future air
transportation system challenges. We utilize our one-of-a-kind,
world-class laboratory and its environments to enable the
modernization and sustainment of the National Airspace System.
There is no facility like this anywhere in the world,
replicating the entire national airspace under one roof with
the capability to support all aviation systems throughout their
complete life cycle.
The center's areas of focus include safety, air traffic
management, communications, navigation, surveillance,
aeronautical information, weather, human factors, flight test,
information systems security, and airport technologies. The
center also provides 24/7 operational support to FAA field
facilities across the Nation. Center specialists diagnose and
correct problems so that critical systems can remain
operational. Our efforts have an impact all across the world.
As the Deputy Administrator stated, the center plays a
central role in both the deployment of NextGen and in the safe
integration of unmanned aviation systems into our Nation's
airspace.
Key NextGen foundational programs such as ADS-B, ERAM, and
datacom have all been developed, tested, or began their
nationwide deployment from the Technical Center through our
unique engineering, our test and evaluation, and sustainment
activities. You have had the chance to see some of these
technologies in action this morning.
The center will continue to be a key player in unmanned
aircraft systems, supporting concept exploration, research and
development, and ultimately full integration and systems
testing. The center replicates the entire NAS by having all the
equipment and the support systems that exist in the NAS. In
addition, we have the ability to simulate or emulate any
geographic location or set of operating conditions. As a
result, it uniquely positions us to be able to support
exploration of unmanned aircraft systems integration.
Key NextGen technologies developed right here will enable
the safe integration of unmanned aircraft systems into our
National Airspace System. These systems and other
transformational programs have the potential to provide UAS, as
well as manned aircraft, more information, flexibility,
situational awareness, and a greater ability to communicate
vital information between all users of the National Airspace
System.
Beyond NextGen and unmanned aircraft systems, other
critical safety systems are developed here, including our
flame-resistant aircraft seats and interior panels which you
saw this morning, and approved floor and exit lightings, and
the standards to which all these products are designed and
built.
The implementation of these standards permitted the
passengers of Asiana Airlines flight 214 the critical time that
they needed to safely exit the aircraft. Thanks in large part
to the contributions of Technical Center research, almost
everyone survived that crash.
In addition, we developed and fielded a crushable concrete
arresting system that provides a way to quickly and safely stop
an aircraft as large as a 747 in the event the plane runs off
the end of the runway. Also, we are currently involved in
research to make it safer to transport lithium batteries.
The Technical Center also serves as home base for other
aviation-related entities. It is the home of the Federal Air
Marshall Service Training Program and the Department of
Homeland Security's Transportation Security Laboratory. Also
located here are a U.S. Coast Guard aviation detachment and the
New Jersey Air National Guard, as well as the Atlantic City
International Airport. These aviation-related entities help
create a collaborative aviation-centered campus that provides a
real-world operational environment in which to explore future
aviation concepts.
Mr. Chairman, once again, I would like to thank you for the
opportunity to testify before you today. At this time, I would
be happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you.
Mr. LoBiondo. Thank you.
We will start, Mr. Whitaker, with you.
With unmanned aerial systems, we know that the Technical
Center is going to be very involved. Can you tell us briefly
how the Technical Center will be involved with the safe
integration into the National Airspace System? And what role
will the Technical Center have with the six new congressionally
mandated UAS test ranges?
Mr. Whitaker. The Technical Center has been involved to
this point and I think will continue to be involved as really
the hub of the research that is going on around UAS. The
Technical Center was involved in administrating the process
around selecting the test sites, working with the test sites on
contracting, and will serve as the hub for analyzing data that
comes from the research that comes out of the test sites.
There are a number of technologies that we need to
understand, sense and avoid being one of the key ones.
Communications are also a key element since the pilot is not
with the aircraft in that situation. All of those systems will
also be tested here and integrated here. I would view the test
center as really the hub of the technical effort to integrate
the UAS into the system.
Mr. LoBiondo. Mr. Filler, what would you say would be the
top five priorities for the Technical Center in 2014? Top
three?
Mr. Filler. OK, sir. Thank you.
Mr. Whitaker. You don't get the questions in advance.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Filler. No, we don't.
First off is sustainment. We have to keep the system
operating safely, which the center does very routinely.
Second is development of human capital. We have efforts
underway to bring in co-op students and continue to develop our
workforce. We, like a lot of Government, have an aging
workforce, and we are putting a lot of effort into making sure
that we can sustain the quality of the work that we do here
each and every day.
Third, obviously, is integration of UAS into the National
Airspace System, understanding where this program is going, how
we can contribute, and making sure that we have all the
resources and the capability to go there.
The last area we are going to concentrate on this year is
in the area of enterprise cybersecurity--making sure the whole
enterprise is secure in an electronic sense.
Mr. LoBiondo. Mr. Whitaker, is the FAA contemplating
another strategic reorganization of the NextGen office? And if
so, what role will the Technical Center have in the new
structure?
Mr. Whitaker. We don't anticipate any significant
reorganizations at this time. The NextGen organization reports
up to me, as does the PMO on the ATC side. So I have line of
sight over that, all aspects of NextGen in that regard. The
Technical Center will remain in its current status under
Dennis, reporting up through General Bolton to me.
Mr. LoBiondo. OK. And Dennis, as both head of R&D and for
the FAA as director, what do you think the major challenges are
that you see for the integration of unmanned aerial systems
into the national airspace, and what do you think is going to
be the most important to focus on first?
Mr. Filler. The biggest challenge is going to be I think
determining the proper starting point, an area of focus. The
UAS problem is very broad, very complex. I believe that we have
to start with a solvable management problem that has industry
and Government backing behind it and focus on that and
concentrate our resources on solving that problem, getting a
good entryway of UAS into the national airspace.
The biggest barrier is going to be on, I think, the
community coming together to say, yes, this is problem number
one and this is where we should focus our resources. Everyone
has different perspectives and different interests, but I
believe that if we can find that first problem and we can all
work together to solve that first problem rather than trying to
solve UAS flying from low altitudes all the way through 60,000
feet and beyond, maybe concentrate in an agricultural area or
some solvable, manageable problem, then we can focus our
resources there, learn, and then we can expand and go into
other domains.
Mr. LoBiondo. Thanks.
Rick?
Mr. Larsen. Thanks.
First for Mr. Whitaker. On the tour today we heard about
the progress in ADS-B installations, and you mentioned it
today, saying 95 percent of ground stations for ADS-B are
installed, and this month at some point it will be 100 percent,
and that would set a baseline. I think you used the term it
would be the baseline for ADS-B. Can you explain what you mean
by that, as opposed to when does the switch turn on?
Mr. Whitaker. Once the installations are in, then the ADS-B
system needs to be integrated with the new automation systems
that are going to be running in the centers, particularly the
ERAM high-altitude centers. So as ERAM finishes up in the
spring of next year, the ADS-B has to be integrated into that
system.
This morning the term ``system of systems'' was used on a
couple of occasions. These are two systems that have to be
integrated together as part of the process going forward.
Mr. Larsen. And you mentioned I think in your testimony 18
of 20 of the centers have ERAM running?
Mr. Whitaker. About half of them run it full time with no
backup in use. The others are in extended runs. So they may do
a 72-hour run to look for bugs, go back to the old system, off
and on. So 18 of them are in some form of running it. Over half
of them are running it 24/7, and the others are still in this
on and off phase. Within the next year we will have all 20 of
them running it full time.
Mr. Larsen. So a couple of weeks ago we had a roundtable
and the chairman had asked you to outline a set of milestones
by May 21st in regards to implementing the Tier 1A
recommendations from the NAC--NextGen Advisory Committee. Can
you sketch out what your thinking has been in the last couple
of weeks to get us to that May 21st date?
Mr. Whitaker. As we have looked at this, there were two
groupings of Tier 1 capabilities. The first grouping deals with
PBN, multiple runway operations and surface data. That
grouping--and I believe there are six of them--were identified
as being very important and on the verge of being completed and
should get high priority. We think those are the right ones for
our immediate attention. We have had some conversations with
the NAC subcommittee about that, and we believe that they agree
with that.
With respect to the date, we have a full NAC meeting in
June. I am not sure of the date. I think it is early June. I
think we have some concern that we ought to be validating the
complete work with the NAC before it goes public. So we will
talk with your offices about the timing of whether that would
be an appropriate date or mid-May. But we believe we can be on
track certainly with the work, and we will continue to talk
with your folks about when to make that public.
Mr. Larsen. Great.
For Dr.--are you a doctor? Merely a mister like me?
[Laughter.]
Mr. Larsen. All right. Well, you ought to be a doctor.
Mr. Filler. Thank you, sir.
Mr. LoBiondo. So ordered.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Larsen. Can you talk about what R&D activities this
budget of $158.8 million does fund here at the Technical
Center, and do any of those dollars specifically focus on UAS?
Mr. Filler. So to answer the second part, the answer is
yes. About half of the dollars that are in the UAS, in the
ballpark of around $3.7 million, are supporting activities that
are ongoing here at the center. Of the R&D budget of $158
million, $62 million or $63 million is work that is done
specifically here at the center. A lot of the areas you saw
this morning out at Research Row as I call it, those activities
out there are supported by the R&D dollars.
Mr. Larsen. How much flexibility do you have here at the
center or as director of research to be flexible with those
dollars, to move them from one bucket to the next bucket if you
need to do that?
Mr. Filler. We have very little authority to do that, sir.
Basically, I have about a 2-percent reserve that I maintain to
be able to help programs of that window. But again, those are
budget line items, and we execute them as so programmed.
Mr. Larsen. Right. In other words, Congress says that you
have to spend X amount of dollars on this budget line item in
research, and Y amount of dollars on that line item.
Mr. Filler. That is what we do, sir.
Mr. Larsen. And we would expect nothing less and nothing
more.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Larsen. Obviously. But if someone were to ask you
directly if you needed even a little bit more flexibility, how
would you respond to that?
Mr. Filler. So, 10 to 15 percent flexibility to be able to
handle more tactical R&D needs. The planning for the R&D budget
is a 3-year window to the future. By the time we get to
execute, again, we are working on a 3-year-old plan. So the
ability to adapt, just like technology today is very quickly
changing, to meet those pop-up needs and the changes in our
environment I think would be greatly appreciated.
Mr. Larsen. Today on the tour we saw an example of an
unmanned aerial system that technically qualified as a small
system, but because of how far it flies, it flies like a large
system. So how are you going to approach that as we are looking
at the test sites? How do you answer this question about small
UAS and their application when it might look small but it acts
big?
Mr. Filler. I don't know how to answer the question, sir.
Forgive me, but that is more of a policy kind of topic.
Mr. Whitaker. I think with UAS we have a segmented
approach. We would like to, if you will, release as much as we
can as quickly as we can. So the focus of the small UAS rule is
to move more quickly on a category of UAS that we think poses
the least amount of safety risk, which is likely to include
line of sight as one of the characteristics. So a model such as
we viewed this morning would not be characterized as small to
the extent it was operated beyond the line of sight.
Mr. Larsen. Thank you. I yield back.
Mr. LoBiondo. For Mr. Whitaker, I understand the FAA
intends to appeal the administrative law judge's decision on
small UAS oversight authority issued last Friday. Can you tell
us, is the FAA also planning to conduct an expedited emergency
rulemaking for small UAS?
Mr. Whitaker. We are appealing that ruling, and because it
is an active matter, I can't really comment on the substance of
that. But I will say that we do view this as a serious safety
issue and we are looking at our options to make sure that we
keep the NAS safe during the appeal. The appeal will stay the
ruling, so in that sense it won't take effect. But an emergency
rulemaking is one of the options that we are looking at.
Mr. LoBiondo. Mr. Filler, we talked about this a little
bit, of the work that is being done here. What sort of research
and development, if you can expand a little bit more than what
you already said, is the Technical Center doing with common
airborne sense and avoidance technologies? And are you working
with the DOD on any of this research?
Mr. Filler. We do work jointly with the Department of
Defense and NASA, as well as industry. I can't at this moment
recall the specific tests that are ongoing, but as you can see,
we do a lot of testing that is going on here. But I do know
that we do have routine flights of our test fleet to ensure
that new systems are being safely integrated. This last summer,
we did fly the ACAS-X system, which is again a collision
avoidance system, to test out new logic. This coming summer we
will, in fact, be flying variants of it that will be dedicated
in using logic that we expect the small UAS to conform to.
Mr. LoBiondo. Thanks, Dennis.
Rick, do you have anything else?
Mr. Larsen. Yes. Back to sense and avoidance, I am just
curious because last year, a year and a half ago, I went up
with one of the contractors who developed sense and avoid, and
we actually flew ourselves towards Mount Constitution on Orcas
Island. I got close enough that it set off the alarm system. I
don't advise that for anybody.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Larsen. But they wanted to show how it works, and that
was obviously a pilot in the flight deck. So I am curious about
what the difference between a sense and avoidance system is on
a manned system would be compared to an unmanned system, if it
is something that operates automatically given an obstruction
in the air inside a certain envelope.
Mr. Filler. So, the term we use here is the ``mark one
eyeball.'' Obviously, the pilot has the responsibility to see
and avoid. So, barring the absence of all electronic systems,
we still rely on the eyeball and the visual cues. They are
very, very hard to, in fact, emulate in the electronic systems.
So, again, you don't have the pilot and his ability to discern
to know that is not a real target, that is not something I am
worried about. As we go into UAV operations, or even commercial
GA, being a pilot at the moment, it is very difficult to see
those aircraft out there. So not all the objects out there have
active transmitters necessarily on board them yet so that we
can actually see them. It is not a very trivial problem to
solve. It still requires a lot of research.
Now, as ADS-B is implemented on almost everything that is
on an airport or that flies, then we will have active beacons
that are telling us where all these objects are in time and
space, and we will have better situational awareness. But until
the ADS-B is implemented throughout the national airspace, we
still have to deal with the limitations of human vision.
Mr. Larsen. Thanks. Thank you.
Mr. LoBiondo. Well, Mr. Whitaker and Mr. Filler, thank you
very much.
We will now adjourn from the first panel and ask the second
panel to come up, take just a little recess, as long as it
takes to get set up for the second panel.
[Recess.]
Mr. LoBiondo. We are ready to get started with the second
panel.
I would first like to welcome Mr. Pete Dumont, president
and CEO of the Air Traffic Control Association.
Pete, thank you for being here.
TESTIMONY OF PETER F. DUMONT, PRESIDENT AND CEO, AIR TRAFFIC
CONTROL ASSOCIATION; CYNTHIA CASTILLO, PRESIDENT AND CEO, CSSI,
INC.; MELVIN DAVIS, NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR NEXTGEN,
NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ASSOCIATION; BEN GIELOW,
GENERAL COUNSEL AND SENIOR GOVERNMENT RELATIONS MANAGER,
ASSOCIATION FOR UNMANNED VEHICLE SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL
Mr. Dumont. Thank you. Chairman LoBiondo, Ranking Member
Larsen, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity
to speak to you today.
I am speaking on behalf of the Air Traffic Control
Association. ATCA was formed almost 60 years ago. We currently
have more than 3,000 members from all sectors of aviation. ATCA
has partnered in one way or another with the Technical Center
for the last 50 years. ATCA's primary mission is to promote the
science of air traffic control.
As you know, NextGen is a complex, all-encompassing
transformation of our current NAS. It requires a technology
refresh, as well as procedural and policy changes. To
accomplish such a large, complex project, the right management
structure with the right capabilities must be in place. In
recent months, the administration has appointed a new Deputy
Administrator, who you just heard from, and the FAA selected an
Associate Administrator for NextGen, Mr. Ed Bolton. This is
certainly a step in the right direction. With this new
management structure an evaluation of current assets and
alignments must certainly occur.
Any strategic realignment or reorganization of the NextGen
organization must surely include the Technical Center. We are
encouraged that Mr. Bolton, in his short time at the FAA, has
already visited the Technical Center on five separate
occasions. The last time he was here, he used a simulator to
gain some intel prior to taking a familiarization flight on an
Airbus in preparation for a NAC meeting. Mr. Bolton seems to
understand the value of the center and the critical role that
it must play in the implementation of NextGen.
The Technical Center has many capabilities to move NextGen
forward, as I am sure you saw on your tour of the facility
today. I have outlined a number of those capabilities in my
written testimony and would be glad to answer any questions
regarding that testimony.
The Technical Center is currently performing NextGen work
on datacom with Harris Corporation and with Exelis on ADS-B.
These are but two models in which the Technical Center is
partnering with industry to move NextGen forward. The models
are very different--one incorporates the use of industry
personnel on-site at the Technical Center to work directly with
the labs. The other collects data in the field for verification
and validation by and at the Technical Center. I use these two
examples to show the different models available. There are many
industry partners and ATCA members performing indispensable
work on NextGen for the FAA.
We believe one role for the Technical Center would be as
the collection facility for all of the UAS test data from the
six recently identified test sites throughout the U.S. The
Technical Center could analyze and report out on the work being
done at these facilities. Verification and validation both
against specification and requirements cannot occur
independently at six different sites. The lack of one central
location will lead to duplication of efforts, siloed results,
increased costs, and a multitude of other inefficiencies. This
is only one of the ways the Technical Center can help move
NextGen forward. I was pleased to hear that the FAA supports
this approach.
The Technical Center requires both external and internal
collaboration to be successful. For all of the state-of-the-art
technology, people and processes in place, they are resource
constrained and cannot do it alone. They must collaborate and
partner to accomplish the goal of NextGen implementation.
This collaboration must occur both internally with
different departments within the FAA, and externally with
industry, academia, users, associations, and other Government
agencies.
Internally, the Government must partner with program
managers of individual pieces of the NextGen solution, as well
as operators, through the union and facility management. These
are the experts on requirements.
Externally, the FAA must continue to collaborate with
industry to not only integrate new equipment and technologies
but new regulations and procedures. Industry has the expertise
to augment the skills and talents within the FAA at the
Technical Center and to fill in the holes where the expertise
is lacking. Industry already brings lessons learned to the
table from large-scale integration and transformation programs
in other industries, as well as within the FAA.
The Technical Center must also continue to partner with
academia, as they have with the 14 universities taking part in
a new 10-year research effort into alternative aviation fields,
another area of NextGen.
And the Technical Center must continue to partner with
associations, like ATCA, to ensure an open and frank discussion
of solutions, planned and in progress, with the entire aviation
community. This will enable the industry experts, users, and
other association groups to understand exactly what the FAA
needs in terms of resources, research, expertise and funding.
Every significant air traffic control challenge the aviation
industry has faced in the last 58 years has been discussed and
debated at ATCA symposiums.
The Technical Center must itself be a NextGen facility,
fully scalable both up and down. As the demands for support
increase, the center must be able to expand to handle the
workload, and as the workload decreases, the opposite must
occur. This will require additional support from contractors
for personnel, as well as FAA employees. NextGen must move
forward, and the Technical Center plays a vital role in its
development and implementation.
I will be glad to answer any questions you may have
regarding this opening statement or my testimony. Thank you
very much.
Mr. LoBiondo. Thank you, Pete.
Now we will turn to our next witness, Ms. Cynthia Castillo,
president and CEO of CSSI, Inc.
You are recognized.
Ms. Castillo. Thank you and good afternoon. First I wanted
to thank Congressman LoBiondo and members of the subcommittee
for the opportunity to speak here today. I am specifically very
proud to represent industry.
CSSI works with Government and commercial clients to ensure
transportation systems are designed and equipped to safely and
efficiently move people and materials. We leverage our deep
roots in aviation to pioneer innovative analytics and best
practices that maximize system capacity, decrease costs, and
improve safety.
CSSI has participated firsthand in the evolution of the
aviation industry over the last two decades. We have driven
over 140 operational improvements as direct results of
corrective actions taken based on our voluntary safety
reporting programs. We have maximized the prospects of safety
aviation travel with newer, stronger safety standards. We have
helped thousands of aircraft meet RVSM certification
requirements, therefore maximizing airspace capacity, reducing
fuel burn, and saving millions of dollars in fuel costs.
In addition, we drive research, test and evaluation efforts
to identify how unmanned aircraft systems can safely be
integrated into the NAS, and we have supported NextGen
initiatives that cut flight miles and increase fuel savings.
The Technical Center is one of our key partners. Most of
the work we do at the Technical Center directly contributes to
the aviation modernization efforts and drives results in three
key areas: improving aviation safety; the safe integration of
the UAS into the NAS; and NextGen.
Safety, as you know, Mr. Chairman, is the aviation
industry's top priority, and improvement initiatives are
prevalent throughout all aviation modernization efforts.
CSSI has fostered the development of safety management
systems that enforce newer and stronger standards for managing
safety risk and accountability, and minimizing the risk of
safety incidents occurring. We also drive the development of
nonpunitive safety reporting programs and industrywide
information sharing programs.
A cornerstone of our aviation safety work at the Technical
Center is the development and implementation of global and
regional separation and performance-based standards. As part of
our role, we work with the international regulators and
participate in every step of the international standardization
process.
Our work in separation standards includes the successful
implementation of reduced separation standards for specific
types of aircraft in the New York Oceanic Flight Information
Region. In addition, as part of the North Atlantic Datalink
Mandate, we have increased the percentage of flights that use
future air navigation systems and text-message-like
communications between pilots and controllers, resulting in
enhanced operational safety in the North Atlantic.
Introducing UAS into the Nation's airspace is challenging
for both the FAA and the aviation community. CSSI works with
the Technical Center to bring a real-world perspective to
modeling and simulation scenarios that emulate this complex air
traffic control environment. The lessons learned can be relied
upon to accurately characterize the workloads expected in a
NextGen environment.
Maximizing the safe and efficient use of airspace in
airports is critical to accommodate future aviation demand. The
aviation industry is working hard to meet the challenge of FAA
forecasts that predict 1 billion passengers by 2015. To meet
this challenge, CSSI works closely with the Technical Center in
support of NextGen concepts such as testing and implementing
pilot projects under the Runway Incursion Reduction Program and
optimizing airspace and procedures in the metroplex in 8 of the
21 regions, with 10 more planned.
The FAA is working tirelessly to modernize what is already
the safest and most progressive aviation system in the world.
At CSSI, we are proud of how we have partnered with the
Technical Center to integrate new technologies into the NAS,
all of which will enhance safety, save fuel, reduce delays, and
increase capacity.
Government and industry must continue to collaborate
closely to achieve NextGen milestones in the face of tight
deadlines and budget challenges. It is imperative for the
future of air transportation and for our Nation's economy.
Mr. Chairman, this is why it is so important for the FAA
and the Technical Center to receive the support they need to
stay at the leading edge of aviation technology and to
contribute to set the gold standard for the rest of the world.
The traveling public deserves nothing less.
This concludes my testimony.
Mr. LoBiondo. Thank you, Cynthia.
Our next witness is Mr. Melvin Davis, National
Representative for the NextGen National Air Traffic Controllers
Association.
Thank you for being here.
Mr. Melvin Davis. Mr. Chairman, Chairman LoBiondo and
Ranking Member Larsen, thank you very much for the opportunity
to be here. NATCA is honored to have this opportunity to
address the committee on this fine afternoon in New Jersey.
NATCA takes seriously its responsibility to represent the
20,000 bargaining unit members around the country, some of who
are stationed here at the William J. Hughes Technical Center.
We embrace the Technical Center's role in the research,
development, testing, integration, sustainment, and
modernization of the components of the National Airspace
System.
The aviation industry has collectively recognized that the
transition to a next-generation air transportation system will
not happen all at once. Progress will be methodical, and it
will be iterative. It will require new systems and capabilities
to be deployed alongside legacy systems.
The Technical Center is essentially a miniaturized version
of a complete legacy National Airspace System in one location.
With ATOP, micro-EARTS, TAMR, ERAM, TFMS, TBFM, SWIM, and the
voice switches all located in one place and maintained at the
same readiness level as those systems deployed across the
Nation, the Technical Center truly represents a one-stop
shopping opportunity to test and initially deploy the next-
generation systems in conjunction with our now-gen systems.
This physical capability, combined with the technical experts
from many of the different aviation domains working here,
enabled by relevant Federal acquisition and operational
policies, represent a truly unique national asset.
The Technical Center is the location where many of our
current air-traffic controllers come to interact with both the
FAA technical staff and the civilian team members from the
various vendors, contracted by the Government, to produce the
systems currently deployed across the NAS. These interactions
within the FAA firewall with equivalent systems to those which
they operate daily back home are invaluable to the current
sustainment and future progress of the NAS. This value is
directly measurable in three ways.
First, by increased efficiency from current systems. An
example of this is the second-level support that extends the
lifespan and expands on latent capabilities of current systems.
So, as we deploy NextGen systems alongside the legacy
equipment, the second-level maintainers here in New Jersey
assist with resolving the inevitable interactivity issues that
crop up.
Second, by reducing problem reports with systems during the
deployment phase. For example, operational test and evaluation
combined with verification and validation expedite resolution
of problem reports. The problem reports are a tracking
mechanism used by controllers and maintainers to resolve issues
associated with the deployment of new systems such as ADS-B or
time-based flow management.
The third way we can measure these enhancements is by
reducing the risk of fielding new systems. An example of this
is the human factors community, work done by the human factors
researchers to detect and resolve conflicts between humans and
machines, referred to as human-machine interface or computer-
human interface. This work is essential to ensuring that the
capabilities like data communications will function as intended
once deployed.
Another significant capability resident here at the William
J. Hughes Technical Center is the scientific community that
supports the wake turbulence programs. The scientific
evaluation of wake turbulence, which is very in-depth and very
specific, has produced relatively simple solutions derived from
that body of work which was conducted mainly here at the
Technical Center and has recently been deployed within the NAS.
The result of these deployments have had dramatic effects,
creating significant capacity enhancements both safely and
efficiently.
I would like to close my verbal testimony by stating that
all of these things that I have described are the result of a
harmonious relationship between Government, labor, scientists,
technicians, and private vendors, made possible by the common
understanding that the whole is greater than the sum of its
parts.
On behalf of NATCA, I would like to thank you again for the
opportunity, and I look forward to your questions.
Mr. LoBiondo. Thank you, Melvin.
Our next and final witness is Mr. Ben Gielow, the general
counsel and senior government relations manager for the
Association of Unmanned Vehicles.
Ben, thank you for being here.
Mr. Gielow. Chairman LoBiondo, Ranking Member Larsen, thank
you for this opportunity to speak to you today. It really is a
true honor for me as a few years ago I was staffing then-
Congressman Vern Ehlers on this committee, which happened to be
his favorite committee. So it is a real pleasure to be here.
Today I am speaking on behalf of the Association for
Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, AUVSI. We are the
world's largest nonprofit organization devoted to the
advancement of unmanned systems.
As you know, unmanned aircraft systems, or UAS, increase
human potential, allowing us to execute dangerous or difficult
tasks safely and efficiently. This technology also has the
potential to create tens of thousands of jobs and tens of
billions of dollars in economic impact.
Because of costs and rapidly advancing capabilities of
small UAS, such as this 2-pound quad copter that I brought for
show and tell, it will comprise a majority of the developing
commercial market. Most of these operations will be conducted
below 500 feet, with limited need to fly above 1,500 feet.
However, the current pace of UAS integration specifically
for small UAS is simply unacceptable. The FAA has been working
on a rule for small UAS since 2009, which should have been
finalized in 2011. Unfortunately, the FAA does not plan on
releasing this rule now until the fall, which means it likely
won't be finalized until sometime in at least 2015. The longer
the FAA takes to write these regulations, the greater the risk
to aviation safety because people are already flying these
systems, as a simple YouTube or Google search will be evidence
of that.
The need for this rule became even more evident last
Thursday when a judge with the NTSB ruled that the FAA has no
authority to regulate model aircraft or unmanned aircraft
systems because they have not gone through formal rulemaking.
As was stated earlier, the FAA has already appealed this
decision and it may, in fact, issue an emergency rule. That is
all yet to be determined. We hope that if an emergency rule is
issued, that it will not be overly restrictive on small UAS.
Regarding work at the Technical Center, the FAA has long
complained that it needs data to safely integrate unmanned
aircraft systems, and the Technical Center is the logical place
to do that data work. However, the UAS research department at
the Technical Center is understaffed, it is under-resourced,
and its current research is not based on a strategic plan to
integrate unmanned aircraft systems into the NAS.
Although the FAA's UAS research budget has grown in recent
years from approximately $4 million in 2013 to $8 million in
2014, and possibly $9 million in 2015, there is currently less
than five full-time UAS researchers here at the Technical
Center. The rest of the researchers are either contractors or
on loan from other departments. We would like to see this core
team expanded.
Currently, all UAS research at the Technical Center is
funded through the FAA's research and engineering and
development budget, which provides very little flexibility on
how funds can be used. I think that was addressed a little bit
earlier. In this research budget, all FAA research programs
have to compete against one another, and it is the FAA's
technical community representative groups that makes the final
decisions on what projects do, in fact, get funded.
In 2014, six UAS projects were approved by the TCRG, with a
total budget of approximately $8 million. Interestingly, none
of them were for UAS test site data management. However, now
that the sites have been selected, the FAA is in need of a
location to store and analyze the data, as well as resources to
do that data analysis. Because no new money is available in the
research budget because of inflexibility, the FAA was forced to
cancel one of its existing projects and use about half of that
amount, roughly $500,000, to initiate the test site data work.
In our opinion, if the FAA is committed to using the test
sites to collect and analyze data, $500,000 is going to be
inadequate. Furthermore, according to the FAA, because they
were not given money to start up or manage the test sites, the
FAA is unable to direct any research work at these test sites.
So this begs the question, what type of data will the test
sites collect? Will everyone be speaking the same data
language? Where will the data go? We assume here at the
Technical Center. How will proprietary information be
protected? How will the data be used? How will duplicative work
be avoided?
The FAA hopes to iron out these details when it brings the
six sites together here at the Technical Center later this
month.
Lastly, we would like to request that the committee closely
monitor the FAA's compliance with a provision in the 2014
defense bill that requires a report to Congress this summer on
the resource requirements needed to implement the UAS roadmap.
Understanding how much it will cost to integrate unmanned
aircraft into the national airspace will help us to understand
the size and the scope of this problem. If, for whatever
reason, the FAA can't meet that deadline, then we suggest the
GAO possibly be tasked with it.
UAS offers great promise, but before this industry can take
off, we need the safety rules, and it is in all of our best
interests to help the FAA get the data it needs to write the
safety regulations. The Technical Center, along with industry,
Government, and others, are willing to do that work.
So again, thank you for this opportunity. I am happy to
answer any questions.
Mr. LoBiondo. Thank you.
Just for clarification, what you have in front of you is
not a model? It is actually a working size?
Mr. Gielow. So the only thing that differentiates a model
aircraft with an unmanned aircraft is the intent of flight. So
you could buy this system yourself, Mr. Chairman, and fly it,
and as long as you are doing it for recreation or for fun, if
you have a smile on your face, you would be considered a
modeler. You would not have to comply with FAA regulations.
Mr. LoBiondo. What you have in front of you actually can
fly?
Mr. Gielow. Yes, yes. This is an actual system. They did
not give me the ground control station, so I can't fly it, but
it does have a system underneath here. If you were to use those
pictures and sell those pictures, the FAA would deem that a
commercial activity and that would be prohibited.
Mr. LoBiondo. Prohibited. OK. Thank you.
The first question is sort of a multipart question for
anyone on the panel who would like to take a shot at it. What
do you see are the major challenges to integration of UAS into
the national airspace? What area do you think is going to be
the most important to focus on first? And based on your
knowledge of the Technical Center, how can the resources and
expertise of the Technical Center be leveraged to help meet the
challenge?
Who wants to take the first shot at that?
Mr. Gielow. I will go ahead and jump in and take this
first. So the challenges for integration, there are a lot of
them. I mean, this is a huge challenge, and as was talked about
in the first panel, you know, systems like this that weigh 2
pounds, all the way up to the systems that weigh 30,000 pounds,
this should not be a one-size-fits-all kind of solution that is
needed.
I think, to emphasize what Director Filler said, if we
focus on things that we could do now--for instance, small UAS
operations over farms or some kind of activity where there is a
minimal safety risk--to get some sort of commercial activities
now will alleviate a lot of the built-up pressure faced by the
industry today, which is currently prohibited from flying at
all. So I think if we bite off a little bit, that would help.
As far as the work that the Technical Center can do, they
are doing good work. They are doing a lot of sense and avoid
work, some command and control stuff. But the Technical Center
has never done research work in small, unmanned aircraft. All
of their work has been focused on the big stuff, flying in
Class A airspace. The reality is the commercial market is in
small UAS.
Mr. Melvin Davis. Mr. Chairman, as an air traffic
controller, obviously it goes without saying clearly where our
hearts are in the matter. There are some inferences
automatically when you start talking about unmanned systems or
autonomous systems, that there is an inherent lack of viability
to control what it does, being no actual pilot. So there are
clear concerns there, but those again are just kind of built
in. We will need to work through those. We will need to work
with the UAS committee on those.
But what I would say as far as major challenges in general
as far as integrating UAS into NAS is kind of back to that air
traffic control aspect. Is there going to be a pilot that is
operating it, or is it just an operator?
So one of the things that happens in the system, in this
system today, is there are humans that have procedures and
training, and generally when things go well, we are following
the procedures and training to the tee, and when things go bad,
there are fallback procedures and there is fallback training.
So I think when you start to get down a little bit lower into
the operator category, if we are not ensuring that those
procedures and training are there or built in or regulated, we
could see some challenges there.
So that goes back to the first part of your question, what
is a major challenge.
Another one is what the role of the Technical Center will
be and what role it could play. I think that the Technical
Center is uniquely situated to greatly assist the effort to
integrate UAS in the NAS for two reasons. One is because of all
of the resident systems that are already here that represent
what is operating already in the NAS. In addition to that,
there has been some wisdom applied to it to bring in UAS
capabilities into the NIEC lab. That was an investment by the
Federal Government to deploy a lab here that had NextGen
systems in it and that also put UAS systems into it.
So I think we have a neat opportunity there on the NIEC
lab. The second piece of that, though, as Mr. Gielow mentioned,
the proprietary data, the ability of the Federal Government to
bring in multiple vendors to share information and have a
firewall to protect it, and then we could evaluate that
information and make decisions without a vendor necessarily
losing a competitive advantage.
Mr. LoBiondo. Anybody else?
Mr. Dumont. Yes, Mr. Chairman. Integrating UAS into the
National Airspace System is probably the most difficult task we
have ever attempted since the beginning of flight. Normally it
has been faster and larger aircraft which have their own issues
integrating into the NAS. The problem with UAS integration is
there are so many different kinds with so many capabilities and
so many different missions.
You spoke of sense and avoid and how you will have piloted
aircraft. Well, piloted aircraft, a Global Hawk, which is an
unpiloted aircraft, have a large payload capability, and they
can have the equipment on board for sense and avoid. To have
sense and avoid on this particular UAS right here, that would
be much more difficult.
How the Technical Center can help us with those types of
issues is to partner with industry, bring industry in to find
out what their needs are, what their capabilities are, what
type of vehicles actually want to fly in the airspace, and
develop a concept of operations which many industry partners
have done on many different types of projects. So they could be
very helpful in that. And then use the NIEC, like Mel was
referring to, to model, simulate the flying of these different
types of UAS in different types of airspace to see what the
results would be so that we can integrate them successfully
into the airspace.
Ms. Castillo. I would like to just expand on some of the
challenges that were already addressed, specifically with the
standards and procedures of operating in the NAS. In
integrating UAS, I believe some of the work that the Technical
Center does today specifically with modeling and simulation,
realistic scenarios of how UAS integrated into the NAS operate
within the NAS, continuation with the work that they do provide
here, a lot of the modeling and simulation, CSSI has been very
intimate with that.
Mr. LoBiondo. Rick?
Mr. Larsen. Mr. Davis, has the FAA or has NATCA
contemplated new training or procedures for air traffic
controllers as UAS is integrated into the national airspace?
Mr. Melvin Davis. Yes, Ranking Member Larsen. The good news
is--and I should have stated it foremost in my initial response
to Chairman LoBiondo's question--the good news is that there is
an incredible amount of UAS operations occurring daily in the
NAS with multiple partners and with tons of actual piloted
aircraft interactions and controllers involved. Somehow or
another, in spite of all the delay and bureaucracy that goes
on, there is a lot of learning that is going along with that.
So I can say that if we look back in 2, 3, 5 years or so,
are we smarter now than we were then? Yes. Are we capturing
those lessons and applying them and starting to lay down some
of the basics? The answer is yes.
Could we be doing it better and more methodically in
addition to all the other work that is going on? Absolutely.
Could there be progress? Could we be expanding and doing it
better? We could.
But the good news is that, yes, through that concept of
partnership, I will just take for just a moment and expand on
the scenario that has been deployed across the NAS for the last
couple of years. It is called a trust culture, and it was an
effort by the Federal Government to actually trust the
employees, both on the airline side and the controller side, to
say tell us what is going on so that we don't have to look back
at an accident, which is a risk-based view. We can look forward
at problems via a predictive mode.
So we have employees that fill out extensive reports about
something that didn't result in an accident, but it was an
incident, and it would not have borne the full investigative
arm but it encourages people to tell the truth and to tell
deeply and specifically what happened so that we can put it
into a database and then later mine that database to find hot
spots where things might occur.
That is a classic example of, again, wisdom and forward-
thinking and trust, and we are able to mine those databases for
both training and for predictive safety measures and those
types of things. So that will bear immense fruit as we move
forward, and that program is called Aviation Safety, et
cetera--ASIAS.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Melvin Davis. It is awesome.
Mr. Larsen. Frank and I both know this, and some folks.
This may be your first hearing you ever participated in ever,
even watching. There is just a lot of abbreviations and
acronyms, and we get a little too used to it, and we apologize.
Mr. Melvin Davis. You are very gracious. Thank you.
Mr. Larsen. Mr. Dumont, with regard to the symposia that
ATCA has, have you developed a consensus on UAS? And second,
have you developed a consensus on what the next big question is
for ATCA to address? What is the next one?
Mr. Dumont. Have we developed a consensus on----
Mr. Larsen. A solution on how to approach things. I mean,
you have symposia. I know they are in Atlantic City, and I know
it is not just for fun. You say you struggle with the
questions. You have the input. Do you come up with consensus
recommendations as an industry through symposia on what to do
about any of the big questions that we are facing?
Mr. Dumont. Oh, we do, yes. I thought you were talking
about just UAS. And, no, it is not just for fun. We do a lot of
work in ATCA. As a matter of fact, one of the comments I get at
our 3-day symposium here in Atlantic City with the Technical
Center is that we get 6 months of business done in 3 days.
We have come to consensus on a lot of different issues.
What we normally do when we come here to the Technical Center,
it is a technical exchange of information. My members, a
majority of them, want to know what is going on here at the
Technical Center, and as they get briefed on it and they
understand all the programs that are in place here, they walk
away with ways that they can help the Technical Center and then
come back and work with the Technical Center to help them
advance their mission.
Mr. Larsen. What is the next big question for us, then?
Dealing with UAS? Working through NextGen? UAS is a big
question. Do you know what the next big one is?
Mr. Dumont. I don't know what the next big one is. I mean,
as far as UAS is concerned, concept of operations. That is a
very important thing, and we need to get that straight.
Mr. Larsen. On data sharing, have you all as an association
group come to conclusions on data sharing? One question we hear
in the discussion about UAS and getting the data from test
sites is the proprietary nature of some of the data.
Mr. Dumont. Right.
Mr. Larsen. Have you all as an association group come to
some conclusion about how the Technical Center or FAA should
address that proprietary data?
Mr. Dumont. Well, no, because there really is no solution
yet. We haven't been told how the data collection is going to
occur. Is it going to be at individual sites? Is it going to be
shared and collected here at the Technical Center? Which we
think is the right model.
I think, Ben, you have some information about data sharing?
Mr. Larsen. Go ahead, Ben.
Mr. Gielow. If I may, right now I don't think there is a
data plan for the U.S. test sites. I mean, when they bring all
six together here at the Technical Center, I think they are
going to hash it out. But again, because the FAA doesn't have
any funding for this, the FAA can't really tell the sites what
testing to do. So hopefully everyone will come to an agreement
on the bits that they need to collect and they can all speak
that same data language, which I am terrible at. I hope I don't
have to get too much deeper.
Mr. Melvin Davis. I have one point that I believe is
relevant to the data sharing question and something that I have
just experienced within the last 4 or 5 months in the NextGen,
the broader NextGen effort, and it kind of goes back to a
statement that I made earlier about trust and about the ASIAS
program is a trust-based program and it is a partnership
between the Federal Government and the operators within the
NAS.
At the NextGen Advisory Committee level, there has been a
renaissance, if you will, on the thought of data sharing on
behalf of the airlines. There is fuel data sharing and
operational data sharing to go back and prove the benefits of
NextGen, and I firmly believe that it is because of the trust
that has been built that the NextGen Advisory Committee, those
relationships between Government and vendors that sit in a room
together once every 3 months and work out the details and say,
you know what, as an aviation community, we have to work
together to improve the community; whereas I think before,
prior to that trust being built, there was a standoffish
attitude that said I am going to protect my data, even if it is
to my detriment.
So I see that renaissance there, and I think there is an
opportunity to potentially establish relationships with the UAS
operators and leverage that trust.
Mr. Larsen. And finally, Ms. Castillo, could you pick one
of the projects that your company has worked on and be more
specific about the role that you all played in supporting the
Technical Center?
Ms. Castillo. Sure. I was thinking of that question. I will
stick with separation standards. I know a lot of the
conversation today has centered around the UAS, and in my
belief the same separation standards will always be a priority
of the FAA.
We have worked closely with our Technical Center partners,
and specifically with global and regional separation standards
components, and through our work we have helped thousands of
aircraft achieve RBS-M requirements. So we have helped through
really all aspects of reduced vertical separations minima RBS-M
requirements, from development and implementation to the
assisting with approval of flying in that airspace, and I am
really proud of the work that we have done with our partners
here in separation.
Mr. Larsen. So what does that work entail?
Ms. Castillo. So, a lot of the work of the safe separation
of aircraft which, when you are introducing other obstacles or
other demand for users in aviation, we have to always look at
how those things are safely integrated in addition to how
aircraft and things integrated in the NAS are safely separated.
So to me, it is all about increasing, maximizing the capacity
of airspace. So we look at models and concepts of airspace
redesign, and it specifically touches a lot of the performance-
based navigation.
So to me, it is about maximizing capacity of airspace,
thereby reducing fuel costs and fuel burn and emissions, if you
will, and saving a lot of dollars for the flying public.
Mr. Larsen. I yield back.
Mr. LoBiondo. This is also a question for any one of the
panel. What role will partnerships between FAA, industry,
labor, and academia play in the future of NextGen, and what
role do you see the Technical Center playing in developing and
utilizing these partnerships?
Ms. Castillo. I will start. I appreciated the first panel
talking about the partnerships because collaboration is going
to be key to our continued understanding of how certain impacts
to the NAS will occur.
CSSI, my company, has been partnered with the FAA for over
23 years, but specifically with the FAA Technical Center for
about 20 years, and we feel that CSSI and companies like CSSI
augment and complement a lot of the talent, the technical
talent here at the Technical Center in skill sets, as well as
capabilities, to, if you will, show up in a broader, deeper way
as a team, taking on the challenges or the initiatives that are
at hand.
And I think recently in some of the challenging times of
budget constraints, companies, contractors, industry can
provide the skill sets, the specialized skill sets to perform
duties, whether they are long- or short-term. So we have
readily available resources to come in and work a task, whether
it be 3 months or so.
So I think augmenting and complementing the skill sets
here, the partnerships with universities certainly is an avenue
for recruitment and the future operators in leadership, if you
will, of what will be running and operating the FAA and all of
the challenges that we are dealing with today.
Mr. Dumont. There are multiple partnerships, internal and
external partnerships that have to occur, internal partnerships
with the users, the operators, the program managers, as I
mentioned in my opening statement. That is to define the
requirements and make sure we get them right. Then we need to
partner with industry to bring some of those solutions to the
table that we might not have thought of within the industry.
They fill the holes that we don't have expertise-wise, and they
bring experience to the table from multiple programs in
different industries so that we can learn from that what we
might not have thought of. That helps us to address the
requirements and produce outcomes that are measureable so that
we can measure our success.
Mr. Melvin Davis. So, one of the things that I have been
blessed with is the opportunity to work in the Federal
Government in a time of no partnership, in a time of very
strong and deep partnership. I can tell you, based on the deep
relationships that I had before we went into those times and
those relationships I was able to maintain and then enhance
afterwards, it is a very passionate point of mine that I would
like to make that the value of partnering with the human
capital, ensuring that there is clear and open communication on
the human side, especially as we move into these complex
systems of systems, there are interactions that will occur that
no one will be able to understand and you will not be able to
map back and clearly explain exactly what went wrong.
But with the value of those strong partnerships, of being
able to have honest and open dialogue, to be able to at least
bracket certain corners of what happened and say, OK, we don't
want to go there again because of those complexities, but to be
able to understand as much as we can about them will prove
invaluable as we continue to deploy systems that overlay each
other and interact with each other.
Mr. Gielow. I would just like to add that the test sites
themselves would like to see the Technical Center more
involved. Our members would like to see the Technical Center
more involved. In fact, I think some of our members had
actually either loaned unmanned aircraft to the Technical
Center or simulators for the Technical Center to use in some of
their UAS work because this was obviously very new to them. I
think that our members are interested in continuing that
relationship.
Mr. LoBiondo. Mr. Dumont, this one is for you. We think one
of the biggest challenges currently facing us in the short term
for NextGen implementation is rewriting the controller handbook
to allow the use of NextGen procedures in a mixed-equipment
environment. Do you think that the Technical Center can use
tools like the NIEC to help facilitate that, or any other
suggestions to help facilitate that?
Mr. Dumont. OK. I think those are two separate questions,
actually. So I think we absolutely need to use the NIEC. As we
talked about briefly, the NIEC is very important in its role of
being able to simulate the current environment, introduce new
technologies, see how those new technologies work in different
simulated scenarios, whether it be a busy timeframe or a not-
busy timeframe. What works at JFK might not work in Seattle. So
that is important.
But the role of the NIEC would be to develop a solution
that can be implemented in the airspace. And then once that
solution has been developed, you will need to rewrite the
handbook so that the controllers are aware of what the
procedures, rules and regulations are to be able to use that
new technology and implementation.
Mr. Melvin Davis. I think, Mr. Chairman, if you don't mind,
actually on the specific controller handbook, 7110.65, my
handbook----
Mr. LoBiondo. What was that again?
[Laughter.]
Mr. Melvin Davis. I would say that there was the previous
chief operating officer at FAA, David Griswold, identified very
accurately a lag in the deployment of technology and the waiver
of the use of that technology, and then the
institutionalization of that within the 7110.65. So there was a
workgroup that started that was hyper-effective at lasering in
and getting those changes into the 7110.65 and able to make up
that lag in a very short period of time. It would be
unfortunate to see that lag come back.
As far as the NIEC is concerned, specifically we could
front load that process, right? And predict what we need to
change in the .65, some of the use of the capabilities built
into the NIEC. And I think it goes back to your original
question, Ranking Member Larsen, to Mr. Filler, about having
some flexibility within his budget to be able to say, listen, I
know I am going to need to do something at that NIEC within the
next 3 years; I am not sure what, so give me some room to
maneuver in the meantime, and we can use that flexibility to
make sure we are ready when the time comes.
Mr. LoBiondo. Thank you.
Well, I want to thank our panelists, both panels very much.
This is obviously a very important issue. I would like to thank
our host, the FAA, and once again to most importantly thank the
men and women of the Technical Center who, on a day-in and day-
out basis, have a commitment to excellence and are producing
such great work here.
So, with that, the committee stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 3:34 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]