FAA AAS Federal Aviation Administration Advanced Automation System
- Slides: 8
FAA AAS Federal Aviation Administration Advanced Automation System • Designed to replace aging equipment from ‘ 60 s and ‘ 70 s • Also consolidate ~200 tracons into ~20 enroute centers • 1981 -1994, cost billions of $ • Some parts of new equipment (controller workstations) used, but system as a whole failed • Consolidation idea abandoned
FAA AAS Requirements • • • Distributed system 99. 99999% availability (3 sec/year downtime) No paper (electronic flight slips) New hardware New software and decision support
FAA AAS Problems • Design contest IBM vs. Hughes – 1983 to 1988 – Detailed design of software but no coding – Voluminous documentation • Implementation by IBM – Many levels of bureaucratic oversight by FAA – Changing requirements, but not what controllers wanted
FAA AAS Alternatives • Modern display system + tracking software at High Desert Tracon – Needed to track fast military aircraft – Separate project funded by Do. D – Open system, COTS equipment (Sun), evolutionary progress of components • PC-based display developed in secret by FAA engineers
FBI VCF Federal Bureau of Investigations Virtual Case file • 9/11 – FBI failed to “connect the dots” and obtain a full picture – Agents could not correlate data from different sources and investigations – Work processes are paper-based • Need to replace obsolete Automated Case Support system – And consolidate many other databases and applications • Actually started in 2000, accelerated after 9/11 • Cancelled in Apr 2005 after costing $170 M
FBI VCF Plan • Replace essentially all diverse FBI IT infrastructure • 800 -page requirement document – Specifies design details like web-page layouts rather than what the system should do • Aggressive deadlines but no milestones or detailed schedule • Use a “flash cutover” – log off old system on Friday and into new system on Monday
FBI VCF Problems • Lack of overall encompassing architecture • Many change requests once agents saw prototypes (using spiral model) • Resulting schedule slips
FBI VCF Replacement: Sentinel • 6 years development, ~$440 M • In operation since July 2012 • Success credited to shift from waterfall to agile in 2010 • Also use significant off-the-shelf products
