AviationSimNet

Designed to be reusable, reconfigurable, extensible, scalable, and flexible, AviationSimNet may also be cost-efficient. It provides an Air Traffic Management collaboration environment for FAA, industry, academia, and any other ATM stakeholders to demonstrate valuable ATM concepts. Leveraging the public Internet and/or dedicated lines, AviationSimNet provides access to remote capabilities (e.g., flight simulators, Unmanned Aerial Systems, supporting systems such as SWIM) that may otherwise be unattainable yet are critical to support demonstrations and concept evaluations.

• Scalable: Depending on the scope of a study, AviationSimNet can be used to model one aircraft to several thousand. Target generators (applications that create and maneuver simulated traffic) are allowed to instantiate multiple objects defined in the model.  Tests have shown that AviationSimNet can handle several hundred aircraft updates per second over the Internet, even with 4-5 simultaneous channels of voice communications.
• Flexible: AviationSimNet targets a global audience; Air Traffic Management policies, regulations and metrics can differ by region. The Object Model is designed to support alternative options for any type of event or message. Participants can define, implement, and adopt flexible components in AviationSimNet to suit the needs of the experiment. Additionally, AviationSimNet is not bound to a particular network; it can operate over the Internet, a single computer, a local subnet, or over private leased lines.  As long as the network enables common access to a central service host (AviationSimNet SimCenter) then messages can be delivered to any participant.
• Reusable: As the object model for AviationSimNet evolves over time, the participants strive to maintain backward-compatibility.  New class definitions are inherently invisible to applications that were built with older object model revisions.  This allows the set of sharable data to evolve in AviationSimNet, without requiring parallel modifications to organizations’ simulation assets.
• Reconfigurable: The AviationSimNet infrastructure is designed to support any number of participants at any time.  Even independent exercises can be conducted simultaneously over AviationSimNet.  All the events that transpire over AviationSimNet are generated by participating organizations in a publish-and-subscribe format.  Any participant can publish, and any participant can subscribe; even the simulation date and time are published during the start of each scenario.
• Extensible: The AviationSimNet object model grows to support new types of studies and higher-fidelity simulators. Changes to the model are tested and driven by research needs. Organizations with lower fidelity simulators can still participate by only sharing the data they are equipped to handle.

Other benefits of AviationSimNet include:

• A simulation environment that is defined and built by the same people who use the environment.
• A simulation environment to research, demonstrate and validate Air Traffic Management concepts that are too large or complex for a single facility.
• Fostering collaboration across the Air Traffic Management community.
• Allowing organizations to improve the return on investment of simulation components.
• Promoting opportunities for maturing, evaluating, and demonstrating concepts at various levels of fidelity.
• Enabling access to other facilities, UAS and other advanced simulators, rather than obtaining and installing new ones.