Development Conception and Implementation Of China Air Traffic Management System

Presented by Air Traffic Management Bureau, CAAC Montreal, Sep. 2008 1. Fast Growth Faced by China Civil Aviation Aviation transportation, playing a key role in the activities of the modern world economy, is one of the industries with fastest growth in the world economy. With the rapid progress of Chinas economy and its increasing process of internationalization, civil aviation transportation of China is on a course of high speed growth. In the past ten years, the transportation volume has always maintained a growth of 15%. Today, the total volume of China aviation transportation ranks No. 2 in the world; and for a certain period in the future, the fleet size, number of airports, and aviation transportation volume of China will keep on rising at a high speed. It's foreseen that, by 2010, domestic airports will increase by over 30, reaching above 180; the fleet of aviation transportation will enlarge by 100 to 150 aircraft annually, amounting to 1,580 or so by 2010. When the year 2020 comes, the number of domestic airports will reach 250, with the total number of transportation aircraft nearly 2,600 and the total volume of departures and arrivals next to 10 million. In the process of economic development and modernization in China, the proportion that aviation transportation industry occupies will be significantly raised; in the meanwhile, the role that aviation transportation plays in the event of huge natural disasters, such as earthquake happened in Sichuan Province, and unexpected events have been attached great importance by the state Authorities. Aviation transportation has become an important component in the construction of state strategic infrastructure. 2. The Limitations of Current China ATM system Either the requirements of national economic development or the construction of strategic infrastructure will promote the overall and fast development of China aviation transportation industry. As the fundamental support system for the aviation transportation industry, China ATM system is faced with difficulties and challenges in the following three aspects. First, due to the restriction of the management system and access policy, the airspace resources is insufficient and used in an inefficient manner, this will restrain the growth of aviation transportation volume in China. In high density areas such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, where the capacity is near to saturation, the airspace issue has become the major factor restraining flight volume. Second, with the requirements of fast-growing aviation transportation, China ATM infrastructure, including telecommunication, navigation and surveillance, are relatively inadequate, especially in the west part of China, where the geographic conditions are adverse and economy is relatively backward, and its ATM infrastructure is even weaker. With the gradual implementation of the State Western Development Strategy, it has been reorganized a prerequisite task to develop
1

aviation transportation there. This will promote air transportation in western area growing at a speed higher than the national average level, resulting in very urgent demand on construction and improvement of ATM infrastructure as well as introduction of new technologies and approaches. Third, due to the insufficient status quo of China ATM infrastructure, especially on the information system development and application aspect, and ATM operation mechanism, although China has established a preliminary ATM operation coordination mechanism, an integrated and systematic ATM operation collaborative decision-making system and an automatic national traffic flow management system are still to be set up yet, and this limits the management capability of flight activities in a comprehensive, orderly, efficient, and flexible manner. 3. Principles and Conception for Development of China New ATM System On the basis of the status quo of China ATM system, confronted with the existing realistic problems at present, and looking into the prospects of the future development of China ATM system, China will develop new ATM system pursuant to principles of attaching equal importance both to construction of traditional infrastructure and introduction of new technologies. As mentioned above, the most existing constrains of China ATM system, which will restrain the growth of aviation transportation, are attributed to inadequate and incomplete infrastructure. These problems need to be resolved urgently, while at present, new ATM technologies have not been comprehensively applied yet owing to factors such as their maturity and legal liabilities. Therefore, in one hand, continuation of enhancing traditional infrastructure in a short term is a direct, effective, and reliable measure to resolve the problems. In the other hand, traditional ATM technologies and equipment will be indispensable emergency / backup measures for the future ATM system within a foreseeable future. China is actively conducting studies on how to define the construction merit for traditional ATM infrastructure, in order to meet both current ATM system requirement and long-term future ATM system back-up requirement. In order to adapt to the demand of continuous growth of aviation transportation in a long run, studying and drawing on the achievements of its international counterparts, taking the actual situations of China ATM system into consideration, and centering on the principles of safety, capacity, efficiency, service, China has put forward its conception of planning and constructing China new ATM system, so as to meet the requirements for ATM system raised by continuously fast-growing aviation transportation and to play a greater role in Chinas economic construction and social development. China New ATM system aims at improving safety level to ensure flight safety, increasing airspace capacity to meet the requirements of growing aviation transportation, improving operational efficiency to reduce flight delay, and raising service level, especially providing aviation transportation with quality service by means of implementing network information etc. China New ATM system will cover the whole process of aviation transportation to vigorously develop, construct, and integrate the following sub-systems: Airspace management system, Flight plan management system, Air traffic flow management system, Air traffic service system, Aviation information system, Meteorological service system, ATM automation system, Dynamic management system for airports and runways, and Information integration & exchange network
2

system etc. China new ATM system will accelerate the transition in the following aspects: (1) Transition from conventional ground-based navigation to satellite navigation: space-based and ground-based GNSS augmentation system will be established, and it will be introduced in the western area first and then extend to the eastern area. The issues relating to application of Compass Navigation Satellite System of China is taken into consideration. (2) Transition from ground and airborne sensor-based navigation to performance-based navigation (PBN): China will expedite the application of RNP/RNAV at high density airports, in busy terminal areas, and on trunk routes, and consequently achieve 4D navigation and Trajectory Based Operation. (3) Transition from voice communication to data link/voice communication: China will ultimately realize network-based communication (ATN network). (4) Transition from Radar surveillance to comprehensive ADS-B/MDS/Radar surveillance: ADS-B trial and initial operation will be conducted in the western area of China. (5) Transition from separate ATM automation systems to nationwide networking ATM automation system with emergency backup mechanism and system. (6) Transition from the current flight plan management to national air traffic flow management. (7) Transition from ATM internal information exchange to comprehensive integrated information exchange among ATM, airlines, and airport etc. On the basis of the preliminary conception as above, China has conducted researches in respects of system operational concept, integrated system framework, and technological transition scheme, and has begun to launch trial application and construction in relevant fields. 4. Measures of Construction and Development of China ATM System Based on the principles and conception for evolving to China new ATM system, China has set forth its short-term measures for improving the present ATM system and introducing new ATM system, and incorporated them in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan for China ATM system. (1) In the respect of airspace, ATC control areas will be re-organized and enlarged to reduce co-ordinations among ATC units and to improve operational efficiency. The reforms on airspace management and airspace access mechanism will be promoted, joint terminal control areas for civil and military aviation in heavy traffic regions will be established, and unified ATC command will be implemented, and airspace dynamic management and flexible usage mechanism will be established to realize the optimized utilization of airspace on utilization rate and efficiency. (2) In the respect of infrastructure construction, the construction of radar facilities for China eastern area and trunk routes in the western area will be continuously strengthened to realize radar control. The construction of major ACCs will be taken as a task of top priority to raise the overall level of the ATM automation system. An open platform and standard format data transmission mode will be adopted, to integrate nationwide automation system resources and to promote the application of data exchange functions among ACCs. A unified national flight plan and radar data process system will be established, and a centralized national flow management system will be constructed on this foundation. ATM information integration platform will be further enhanced, with the focus of construction targeting the basic information resource system for ATM and air carriers, to provide users with high quality and efficient ATM information service.
3

(3) In the respect of R&D of new technologies related to the future ATM system, a series of trials and validation work will be carried out, including ADS-B trials, GNSS integrity monitoring, ATN testing and implementation, and RNP/RNAV application trial, and etc., which have laid the foundation for developing various technical policies and construction plans on China New ATM system. (4) Study on crucial technologies including ADS-B, MDS, GNSS and ATN, and develop equipment and technology with independent intellectual property rights as a solid foundation of the transformation to China new ATM system. 5. Concerning Development of International Cooperation As planning and implementing the NextGen ATM system is a complex global task, it's necessary for all nations to develop appropriate systems and frameworks, programs and implementation plans with the harmonization and coordination and definition of ICAO based on their respective situations. This forum convened by ICAO has provided all nations with a good communication platform. China will make the best use of this valuable opportunity to strengthen communication with all nations, regions, and organizations, draw on their experiences and achievements, and exchange ideas and views, so as to facilitate the planning and construction of China new ATM system. End