ERAM latest…
Posted by Paul Cox on May 20th, 2009
Hey, remember ERAM? It’s the new computer system that is, quite literally, the new version of the central nervous system of the FAA’s air traffic control system. It handles flight plans, radar displays, you name it- for our nation’s ATC system to work, when ERAM is online, it’ll be absolutely critical.
And it still doesn’t work.
Oh, and a few months ago the media was reporting that it would be turned on Real Soon Now… from Aviation Week, March 15, 2009:
The FAA is quietly approaching a notable milestone in its effort to modernize the U.S. air traffic control network. The agency expects within the next month to debut a new system to handle en route traffic, a project that is a crucial precursor for the FAA’s long-term NextGen plan.
The en route automation modernization (ERAM) system, developed by Lockheed Martin, represents one of the most complex and expensive upgrades the FAA has ever undertaken. ERAM is expected to begin controlling live traffic at the FAA’s Salt Lake City center late this month or early April, and at the Seattle center a few weeks later. Once the system has checked out at these two sites, it will be rolled out nationwide to the remaining 18 en route centers.
While problems remain as the operational date draws closer, they are not atypical at this point in such a large project, stress Lockheed Martin and FAA officials. The $2-billion ERAM effort is on schedule and within budget – something of a rarity for a major FAA modernization project.
…
The FAA chose two sites to introduce ERAM, instead of the usual single key site. This is because the system requires facilities to access each other’s flight data, says Dan Watts, the FAA’s ERAM program director. By bringing up two facilities, the FAA also can see how flights are handed off between them.
The plan is to achieve initial operating capability (IOC) at Salt Lake City and Seattle next month. ERAM will be evaluated and tested for about three or four months, and when the results are analyzed, “we will decide whether we are ready to go ahead and turn [ERAM] on nationwide,” Watts says. This in-service decision will likely occur in late June or early July.
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However, there is still a list of up to 200 fixes that must be resolved before IOC can be achieved at Salt Lake City. These are all issues that have arisen as the system has been installed and tested on site, as the FAA officially accepted the system from Lockheed Martin in October 2007. At that point, the FAA confirmed the system met its contracted requirements.
Watts notes that the number of open issues is reasonable. “Considering this is three times bigger than anything [the FAA] has done in the past 10 years, this is not an unusual number of problems . . . and they are not fundamental problems.” Overall, “this is a fundamentally good system – it has had its bugs, but they have been identified and worked out.”
…
However, the National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. is not as comfortable with ERAM. The union “has some serious issues” with the program, says Natca President Patrick Forrey. He believes some of the problems identified are major, and this will prevent the FAA from achieving IOC by the end of March.
Natca says that while some controllers have been involved in testing and development, the union has not been formally involved. Natca wants its own designated experts to check the system. It has sent a proposal to the FAA that would bring the union into the development process.
The FAA had previously signaled that ERAM could be operational at the first site by the end of 2008. Watts admits that earlier in the program it looked as if it would be completed much earlier than expected. However, it became apparent that the 2008 goal was too optimistic, so it was shifted to early 2009.
I boldfaced several points in this long quote from the article. The point is simple: As usual, the FAA has been lying. Actually, I don’t mean to call Mr Watts a liar; it might very well be that he didn’t know he was trotting out a bunch of hooey at the time. Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t- but one thing is clear, and that’s that the FAA’s previous statements were all pretty much wrong.
Here’s what I wrote about this article back on March 25th:
By March 15, ERAM had already slid to late May, at best, at both ZLC and ZSE.
Here’s something else I wrote about it:
the reality is that at ZSE it’s already slipped to the last week of May and is likely headed for even later. I’ve heard some of the staff folks who are heavily involved say that the FAA would be lucky if we got the thing turned on by the end of June.
And I closed up the piece like this:
So the agency’s employees get to see the result of the FAA’s propaganda machine. Someone at Lockheed or in the FAA’s “external communications” department contacts AWST and passes along a bunch of bad info about the ERAM project being on time and just about ready go to, only a few little bugs to iron out. AWST publishes an article saying that. Jerry Lavey reads that article, doesn’t bother to call anyone in the FAA to actually get the truth about ERAM, and writes his own puff piece, full of goddamn lies incorrect assertions about ERAM.
And that, folks, is the ERAM propaganda machine. Lavey’s opinion blurb is based on a bad article that’s based on lies that some PR person working for the FAA or Lockheed passed along.
You can probably guess why I bring this all up. What’s up with ERAM these days?
Well, Salt Lake Center’s window for IOC has now slid all the way to June 13th through July 11th. Seattle Center’s window for IOS is July 9th through August 9th.
And, as usual, it shows that the FAA guys were talking right out of their asses (like in this “fact sheet“), and the NATCA guys were telling the truth.
Don’t get me wrong- ERAM will come on line, someday. It has to. We can’t pitch it, even though some in NATCA advocate that. It’s got to happen and it’s going to happen.
But when you’ve got two conflicting stories coming out of the FAA and NATCA, you should probably default to paying more attention to the NATCA guys. Pat was right- ERAM was troubled, and all that talk about it rolling out “early” in 2009 from the FAA was a bunch of lies. The first site won’t get it into IOC until mid-year at the earliest (I haven’t heard the scuttlebutt about when it’ll really come on line yet from the people who know) and at the second site, Seattle, it’s now officially in the second half of 2009.
One thing that I do know about ERAM, though- the managers and supervisors at Seattle Center were and are about ready to stage a revolution about the damn thing. The continual scheduling and cancellation and rescheduling and recancellation and re-rescheduling of special overtime, training, refresher, and so forth for ERAM is driving them nuts.
And you can imagine what the workforce thinks about all this- not that the FAA’s leaders give a rip what the workforce thinks or cares about.
May 20th, 2009 at 5:26 am
And people wonder why we are so skeptical about the FAA succefully deploying NextGen in the future. ERAM is a simple software change, nothing more. It’s a pretty big software change, but it’s basically like going from Windows 6.4 to Windows 95. Sure there are going to be some bugs and many new functions but we’re still using the same computer.
NextGen is a completely different kind of computer with completely different technology. It’s like going from a Commodor 64 to a brand new I-Mac. Not only is the hardward going to change, but the entire infrastucture of the NAS will need to change as well. They’ll also need to equip every aircraft operating in the NAS with new avionics (good luck doing that on time). And they really think they’re going to roll out this fantasy technology by 2018? They can’t even deploy ERAM on time!!! Maybe they should have included controllers on the project to begin with.
People always ask me if I’m concened about the prospect of NextGen replacing controllers when it gets deployed. The answer is no. Forget about the fact that the whole concept is fundamentally flawed and will do nothing to reduce delays. The fact is I’ll be eligible to retire in 2023 and I’m confident the FAA will still be working on the project.
May 20th, 2009 at 5:59 am
Lockheed Martin……..We never forget who we are working for…..
May 20th, 2009 at 10:43 am
I’m a general public reader of your blog, so my question is related to what I’m hearing in the news.
Since yesterday, CNN has been running a story about the GPS system, as related to the military, the general public, aviation, etc. Other news networks, online tech sites and the GAO, are also running the story. The story, as I understand it, is stating the GPS system is in dire jeopardy and (?)likely(?) to fail by 2010 sometime. They show footage of people using cell phones, military usage, and aircraft navigation to supplement their story.
If what I am hearing is true, how will this impact the FAA implementing this new means of tracking, etc., planes?
BTW….I’m in total support and awe of what you all do and thank you for “getting the word out” in your blog. Hearing it from the people working the system is, in my opinion, much more truthful than those blurbs from the “spin machine” people.
Links:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,520636,00.html
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-670T
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/165126/gps_system_could_begin_to_fail_within_a_year.html
http://www.sci-tech-today.com/news/GPS-Satellites-Could-Fail–Report-Says/story.xhtml?story_id=11000DG10LF4
May 20th, 2009 at 10:59 am
For Ex-FSS – ….ourselves, to scam and cheat and lie so we get our bonuses……
For Nordo – At least with nexgen, you’ll get to modern technology. With FS21 (FUBAR21), it went from 70′s tech to late 70′s tech with some gee whiz thrown in to look pretty. So it went from a Commodore 64 to a modern computer running the Commodore 64 software and add some pretty pictures. Oh, and we’ll gut the workfroce and give lousy service to the pilots because we never forget who we are working for… see answer to Ex-FSS. To all the pilots out there: Just remember that Phil Boyer and AOPA sold you all down the river and the resulting mess is not the FSS worker bee’s fault. They work hard to provide a service even with all of the crap shoveled out by the FAA and LM.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Another link on a related topic:
Airline mechanics who can’t read English
May 20th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Out There,
You are correct that the new “Nexgen” system proposed by the FAA relies heavily on GPS. Solar flares can affect, damage and destroy satellites.
While I doubt GPS will fail completely I am afraid it could be unreliable during periods of solar activity.
We have been asking management over and over again how will this system do away with radar and how will it work during periods of solar activity and they simply ignore us.
Even simpler question, if an aircraft is in distress and losses GPS, HOW DO WE ASSIST THEM? How about a terrorist turns his equipment off and heads straight for a nuclear power plant to blow up?? What about drug smugglers? How do we stop illegals from crossing the border in planes? The mexicans don’t scare me, but what about the terrorists?
All simple questions, no answers. Our reasonable questions never forwarded up the chain, asked years ago, still no answers. Welcome to our world.
May 20th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
From what I understand from talking to people working on ERAM think it’s a piece of crap. If the Flight Service debacle is any proof, LM is willing to and over any piece of crap as long as they meet deadlines and get the bonuses tied to the deadlines. They also screwed up a major USCG contract. The USCG called them on the carpet about that, but since FAA management slugs are hoping for a post retirement job with LM, they’ll kiss their butts and the controllers will have to deal with the crappy equipment. FS21 was such a wonderful system that it’s in the proccess of being replaced with another piece of junk!!!
May 20th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
“…..but since FAA management slugs are hoping for a post retirement job with LM, they’ll kiss their butts and the controllers will have to deal with the crappy equipment.”
You know, there’s a hell of a lot of truth behind that statement!
May 20th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Isn’t this were one of the FAAMA %holes tries to change the subject to Mr Marks? Pay no attention to the ERAM problems folks, just fight amongst yourselves. That way you won’t notice management’s failures.
May 20th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Out There,
No only is the GPS system in trouble (nothing a few billion and a few rocket launches won’t fix) but the backup NextGen requires (they didn’t tell you about that did they ?) called eLoran is slated to be axed in this year’s budget. In case you’d like to know more…
http://gettheflick.blogspot.com/2009/05/nextgen-nonsense.html
Don Brown
May 20th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
Reports I have read indicate that the fully deployed ADS-B system requires the nationwide installation of 794 ground stations. Explain again how this is more cost efficient and reliable than the current system? Explain again how this system is satellite based and won’t require ground technicians?
May 21st, 2009 at 4:38 am
A breath of fresh air…..
Babbitt, at his confirmation hearing this week.
“When (Texas Senator Kay Baily) Hutchison asked him whether “NextGen,” the FAA’s effort to modernize the national airspace system, was his top priority, Babbitt replied: “Safety will be my No. 1 priority.”
May 21st, 2009 at 8:15 am
“Safety will be my No. 1 priority.”
FAAMA will fight that….way too costly, and there won’t be any jobs for those idiots to retire into.
May 21st, 2009 at 11:25 am
Out There,
The main problem…..from what I have heard and understand……is that the military is concerned that they cannot replace the “older” GPS satellites if and when they begin to fail. That they can’t produce the satellites and rockets to send them into space quick enough, hence leaving them in the dark. Now imagine the same situation with NextGen.
May 21st, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Nordo,
Not disagreeing with any of the comments about Nextgen, or GPS, or anything else… except that you are not correct about ERAM being nothing more than new software. New hardware and software and new HW/SW architecture. I am not saying better. But it is replacing all of the legacy system…
May 21st, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Nice try says “…..change the subject to Bob Marks….”
Why do you management fools try an incite hate and discontent on this web site. Mr. Marks is an honorable man and truly a giant among famous labor leaders. Another Samuel Gompers in my book. Stop bad mouthing or next NATCA president. You go Bob!
May 22nd, 2009 at 5:42 am
Burger Flipper, have you ever boiled your boyfriend’s rabbit?
STOP STALKING THE MAN.
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Burger, did you read the entire 40 word post? It was intended to be sarcasm.
May 22nd, 2009 at 4:10 pm
“TOP STALKING THE MAN”
Why?
You drug NATCA into this…putting us all at risk and have also threatened to sue US. AND pimped us for money….
You suck.
May 23rd, 2009 at 6:51 am
What makes you think I am Bob Marks?
I’m just tired of you dragging the comments section of this forum down into a troll-filled cesspool because of your creepy agenda.
May 24th, 2009 at 9:04 am
Lets just imagine, that some country, or religious fanatic, gets a nuke, and does a low level burst. It will take out many low level satellites, GPS, TV, Radio, and who knows what else. WX, god forbid cell phones, and Wifi!!!
Taking over a plane and flying it into a building will seem like small change.
They will do almost as much destruction to the flying public that Bush and his merry men did in the last 8 years.
Just a thought, but who has the ability to launch a nuke?
Wh is the government looking at HF?
June 16th, 2009 at 10:16 am
And people wonder why we are so skeptical about the FAA succefully deploying NextGen in the future. ERAM is a simple software change, nothing more. It’s a pretty big software change, but it’s basically like going from Windows 6.4 to Windows 95. Sure there are going to be some bugs and many new functions but we’re still using the same computer.
NextGen is a completely different kind of computer with completely different technology. It’s like going from a Commodor 64 to a brand new I-Mac.
This doesn’t seem to be a technology forum. ERAM is a massive change to the current hardware and software within ARTCCs. NextGen is a program office with people in it — not a computer. ERAM provides the basic computing infrastructure to allow the NextGen programs (e.g., ADS-B) to be implemented.
Reports I have read indicate that the fully deployed ADS-B system requires the nationwide installation of 794 ground stations. Explain again how this is more cost efficient and reliable than the current system? Explain again how this system is satellite based and won’t require ground technicians?
I’m not equipped to discuss the cost-benefits analysis for ADS-B. However, I can explain how the system is satellite based.
Each aircraft will receive GPS data from the satellite constellation. This data will be processed by the onboard avionics and transmitted over one of two radio links to a collection of ground stations operated by a private contractor. The air-to-ground transmissions will be similar to the beacon transmissions in current use. The private contractor will then process the ADS-B reports to create messages which have significantly more information about the aircraft than is provided by the beacon squitters. The reports will be transmitted via ground-to-ground links to a data interface at each ARTCC where are processed by ERAM.
There seemed to be several comments in this thread of the nature “What if GPS fails?” The simple answer is that ERAM will process both RADAR and ADS-B reports. If one is unavailable then the other will take its place. Given the possibility of transponder failure and events such as 9/11, it is hard to imagine the full retirement of non-cooperative (i.e., primary) radar.
June 16th, 2009 at 10:18 am
This site needs a preview feature. My backquotes didn’t gake
And people wonder why we are so skeptical about the FAA succefully deploying NextGen in the future. ERAM is a simple software change, nothing more. It’s a pretty big software change, but it’s basically like going from Windows 6.4 to Windows 95. Sure there are going to be some bugs and many new functions but we’re still using the same computer.
NextGen is a completely different kind of computer with completely different technology. It’s like going from a Commodor 64 to a brand new I-Mac.
This doesn’t seem to be a technology forum. ERAM is a massive change to the current hardware and software within ARTCCs. NextGen is a program office with people in it — not a computer. ERAM provides the basic computing infrastructure to allow the NextGen programs (e.g., ADS-B) to be implemented.
Reports I have read indicate that the fully deployed ADS-B system requires the nationwide installation of 794 ground stations. Explain again how this is more cost efficient and reliable than the current system? Explain again how this system is satellite based and won’t require ground technicians?
I’m not equipped to discuss the cost-benefits analysis for ADS-B. However, I can explain how the system is satellite based.
Each aircraft will receive GPS data from the satellite constellation. This data will be processed by the onboard avionics and transmitted over one of two radio links to a collection of ground stations operated by a private contractor. The air-to-ground transmissions will be similar to the beacon transmissions in current use. The private contractor will then process the ADS-B reports to create messages which have significantly more information about the aircraft than is provided by the beacon squitters. The reports will be transmitted via ground-to-ground links to a data interface at each ARTCC where are processed by ERAM.
There seemed to be several comments in this thread of the nature “What if GPS fails?” The simple answer is that ERAM will process both RADAR and ADS-B reports. If one is unavailable then the other will take its place. Given the possibility of transponder failure and events such as 9/11, it is hard to imagine the full retirement of non-cooperative (i.e., primary) radar.
June 16th, 2009 at 10:20 am
Third times the charm. Being able to edit or delete a post would be nice too.
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:15 am
I like the Comment comparison made up top. Going from HOST/DSR setup to ERAM is like going from a Commodore 64 to a Modern Age iMac. Id Almost have to say thats a perfect analogy when it comes to the Hardware Involved in ERAM. As for the software side .. What a Joke. Did you know over 75% of the Code in ERAM is still written in ADA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_programming_lang... Its a Really OLD DoD Language not many left out there that know the language) And that most all of the Code from DSR and HOST where just Ported over. Then Programmers when in and Hacked away at it writing API's for it to interface with the Core. And now as we can all see one of the main issues with ERAM is that it has some major issues with doing inter-facility communications. As Mentioned in another comment Im not a controller, But if I understand correctly there are alot of Controller Functionality problems too. Most from reading Help Desk Tickets and PR's seem to be easy fixes. But as they fix one issue it creates 2 more issues in other areas. Im Still amazed that they are allowing Microsoft Products interact with ERAM. They spent a ALOT of extra money for that too. Walk around the SOC sometime and you will see Windows XP for Support Workstations, and Windows Server 2003 for the Support Security Workstation. All that could be running AIX or any Flavor of Linux and it would of been more secure and not to mention alot cheaper. They had to buy special X Server software called Exceed just to allow for windows to view X11 windows off the Support Side Processors. Im Sure IBM was going to charge Extra if Lockheed asked that Windows XP be Replaced with Fedora or Ubuntu so they went with XP.
Most that read this is controllers I Think. But Atsetup (anyone ever heard of AT Coach? yea nearly the same software STARS Used same company devloped it) Anyways what I was getting at, is the Training side to ERAM complicated things big time. So now not only does your AT Training guy need to be a controller but he needs to be a glorified computer operator too and part programmer to build scenarios. Did you know Techs are not and will not be trained on how to fix or how ATSetup works? So if it breaks you might be on your own. But they train them on how to build Scenarios. Only because of OLC. ERAM is a double edge sword. Its bad because to many politics are running the show and forcing things to work rather than addressing the issues and taking the time to properly fix whats broke. The good side is, Host, DSR, Nadin, and many other systems some as old as I am are still in use and getting harder to maintain and find parts for to keep it turning and burning. What parts of ERAM that do work, work well. Other need work. But ive mentioned this before. is ERAM all that Much Different than DSR from when it first got Implemented? If I remember right (I was new back then) everyone was moaning and growling about DSR, This dont work and that dont work.. Politics pushed this, Manager got this and that Bonus, Contractors got bonuses, but in the end after all the Headache DSR turned out to be a Pretty decent system, no one wanted to Switch from CDC /9020 to DSR but it needed to happen. once all 22 sites go ORD I bet most of the moans will be gone and most will start to like the new system. I For one was glad to see the track balls on the M&C's go away. i Hate Trackballs they make my hand cramp LOL