United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Accounting and Information Management Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1997-02-03 monographic deposited born digital 69 p. GA 1.13:AIMD-97-30 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-97-30 P0b002ee18038e79a f:ai97030 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-23 GAOREPORTS-AIMD-97-30 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-AIMD-97-30 AIMD-97-30 Systems design Systems compatibility Cost control Air traffic control systems Federal procurement Navigation aids Systems conversions Requirements definition Computer software Information technology FAA National Airspace System Plan FAA Host Computer Program FAA Peripheral Adapter Module Replacement Item FAA Advanced Automation System FAA Voice Switching and Control System FAA Integrated Terminal Weather System FAA Aviation Weather Observing System FAA Initial Sector Suite System FAA Air Route Surveillance Radar-4 FAA Display Channel Complex Rehost Project FAA Display System Replacement Software Capability Maturity Model NAVSTAR Global Positioning System FAA Capital Investment Plan FAA Wide Area Augmentation System FAA Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System FAA Oceanic Display and Planning System FAA Air Traffic Control Modernization Program FAA Air Traffic Control System Chapter Report AIMD

GAO reviewed the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) air traffic control (ATC) modernization effort, focusing on: (1) whether FAA has a target architecture and associated subarchitectures, to guide the development and evolution of its ATC systems; and (2) what, if any, architectural incompatibilities exist among ATC systems and the effect of these incompatibilities.<p/>GAO found that: (1) FAA lacks a complete systems architecture, or overall blueprint, to guide and constrain the development and maintenance of the many interrelated systems comprising its ATC infrastructure; (2) FAA is developing one of the two principal components of a complete systems architecture, the "logical" description of FAA's current and future concept of ATC operations as well as descriptions of the ATC business functions to be performed, the associated systems to be used, and the information flows among systems; (3) however, FAA is not developing, nor does it have plans to develop, the second essential component, the ATC-wide "technical" description which defines all required information technology and telecommunications standards and critical ATC systems' technical characteristics; (4) the lack of a complete and enforced systems architecture has permitted incompatibilities among existing ATC systems and will continue to do so for future systems; (5) overcoming these incompatibilities means "higher than need be" system development, integration, and maintenance costs, and reduced overall systems performance; (6) because there are no standards for programming languages or open systems, ATC systems' software has been written in many different application programming languages, often exhibiting proprietary system characteristics; (7) this not only increases software maintenance costs but also effectively precludes sharing software components among systems; (8) without a technical architecture specifying the information technology standards and rules, the opportunity to share software will likely be lost; (9) in some cases, system incompatibilities exist because the technology and standards now available to permit system integration and interoperability did not exist or were only emerging when the systems were designed and developed; (10) other system incompatibilities are the result of FAA's failure to adopt and effectively enforce a technical architecture; (11) by failing to formulate a complete systems architecture, FAA permits and perpetuates inconsistency and incompatibility; (12) as a result, future ATC system development and maintenance will continue to be more difficult and costly than it need be and system performance will continue to be suboptimal; (13) FAA's management structure for developing, maintaining, and enforcing an ATC * https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-97-30/html/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-97-30.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-97-30/pdf/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-97-30.pdf GAO/AIMD-97-30 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-97-30 Chapter Report GAO/AIMD-97-30; Air Traffic Control: Complete and Enforced Architecture Needed for FAA Systems Modernization; Systems design Systems compatibility Cost control Air traffic control systems Federal procurement Navigation aids Systems conversions Requirements definition Computer software Information technology FAA National Airspace System Plan FAA Host Computer Program FAA Peripheral Adapter Module Replacement Item FAA Advanced Automation System FAA Voice Switching and Control System FAA Integrated Terminal Weather System FAA Aviation Weather Observing System FAA Initial Sector Suite System FAA Air Route Surveillance Radar-4 FAA Display Channel Complex Rehost Project FAA Display System Replacement Software Capability Maturity Model NAVSTAR Global Positioning System FAA Capital Investment Plan FAA Wide Area Augmentation System FAA Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System FAA Oceanic Display and Planning System FAA Air Traffic Control Modernization Program FAA Air Traffic Control System Title 31 Section 720 31 U.S.C. 720 Volume 109 Page 436 109 Stat. 436 Volume 110 Page 684 110 Stat. 684 Public Law 104-50 Public Law 104-106