London
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Workshop |
27th November 2006 |
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Day 1 |
28th November 2006 |
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Day 2 |
29th November 2006 |
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The ATN Conference is now in its eighth year. In the past seven
years we have kept you up-to-date with what is happening in Aeronautical
Communications. We started by focusing on the ICAO ATN, but this
has long since expanded to include FANS-1/A and Airline Operational
Communications. We are now widening the scope of the conference
again. We are starting to introduce Airline Passenger Communications
and will be looking at how new communications technology is being
applied to deliver airline benefits.
Previous ATN conferences have dealt with the issues and opportunities
surrounding the Aeronautical Telecommunication Network and its implementation.
So, with FANS and now LINK firmly established on agendas around
the world, ATN2006+ posed the question:
How will aviation comms deliver value to airlines?
The Workshop
A major new feature of this year's conference was the Workshop
that replaced the traditional first day tutorial. This workshop
included sessions on ATC, AOC and APC as well as an Open Forum.
The objective was to identify the top five issues that users want
addressing.
As input to this Workshop, Helios conducted a user survey and presented
the results on a session by session basis. Each session started
with a scene-setting presentation from an expert in the sector.
The workshop was then delegate driven, discussing the results of
the survey, and whatever delegates considered most relevant.
The Conference
The main conference continued the theme, provoking ideas on what
should happen next.
Our first session, 'The Big Picture' aimed to show how communications
fit in to the overall picture of improved ATS. There are big programmes
in Europe and North America - SESAR and NGATS - but are they addressing
the user requirements? This is what we investigated and questioned.
Regulation is always an issue - the European Implementing Rule
for Data Link Services is now all but a done deal - but where to
next?
We also brought the results of the workshop into the main conference
and debated them, and heard of the benefits of SWIMware - that is,
System Wide Information Management - for enabling the sharing of
information to provide global airborne interoperability.
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