CDM Orchestrator
OVERVIEW
CDM Orchestrator: is the component that coordinates and monitors the activities carried out by each stakeholder in order to maintain the turnaround process status. All aspects related to the definition, configuration and execution of CDM milestones are based on jBPM technology. Such technology makes possible to model processes through a graphical flow diagram description able to split a process in steps ruled by relationships working on logical conditions and execution order. It is possible to conceive the process associated to a milestone as a workflow to be modeled by a jBPM flow chart. In such a way any CDM milestone can be configured to be adapted to any airport during the CDM setup phase.
Once configured, all milestones can be activated and executed by a Workflow Manager being the core module of the CDM Orchestrator. The Workflow Manager has in charge the reception of messages by a dedicated JMS queue where all flight events are received, the update and consistency management of flight data and then the activation of the appropriate milestone. The execution of each specific milestone is in charge at the jBPM process associated to the current milestone.
Workflow Manager monitors all critical steps of the life cycle of the flight by ensuring an accurate turnaround process status. The Workflow Manager component allows to introduce a supervisory process of each milestone based on trusted sources registered by the Stakeholder Enrollment. By exploiting the milestone approach, the platform can improve the overall performances automatically monitoring the execution time of single milestone or comparing the intermediate milestone with the immediately preceding or the following one. Milestone management is carried out by detection and alert generation:
- Detection t = t ± ∆t: locates the successful execution of a milestone by checking data updates according to the roles assigned to the partner
- Alert Recognition: the logic of identifying anomalies of executing a milestone or a sequence of events
The status of each milestone can be seen by looking at the user interface of the ATM module and can be :
- Passed : verified and correctly processed within foreseen time limits and without generation of alarm conditions
- Missed : the event associated to the milestone has not received in the time slice foreseen avoiding the execution of the process whilst the next milestone has been processed
- Alarmed : the execution of the process has generated an alarm which can be open or closed
- Running : the workflow is in progress
- Suspended : the workflow is in progress but suspended waiting for an event.
- Waiting : time slice foreseen passed without receiving the expected event
Next table shows the default association among flight events and CDM milestones used to drive milestone activation.
A key point of the CDM Workflow Manager is related to the capability of measuring key performance indicators needed to evaluate Service Level Agreement of the whole airport rather than each single stakeholder.
In relationships with the measurement of an A-CDM airport have been defined for each target (Performance Driver) the related Performance Indicators and measurement techniques (Performance Measurement). Data gathered are stored to be exploited by business intelligence tools.
BENEFITS
The use of the CDM brings the following advantages:
“monitoring all critical phases of the flight life cycle ensures an accurate state of the turnaround process”.
“offers a process of supervision of each milestone based on reliable sources recorded by the registration of the stakeholders”
“improves overall performance by automatically monitoring the execution time of the single milestone or by comparing the intermediate milestone with the one immediately preceding or following”
SOLUTION COMPONENTS
SYNTHESIS
The form looks like an electronic spreadsheet showing the list of flights on the rows and the attributes on the columns. The reference activity of each line is the stationary activity, so that a cycle (Arrival, Stationing and Departure) on a single line. The system automatically presents the flights of the current day, as thanks to a continuous connection to the server allows a real-time update. For each column shown there is the possibility to obtain, with the appropriate darts, an increasing or decreasing sort of data.
TABULAR VIEW
Tabular mode is very slim and allows ramp operators to use the system in an extremely intuitive way by presenting only the attributes of close interest and with clearly ergonomic presentation modes.
The timeline representation, however, is rich in information and allows operators to analyze flight status as a whole by identifying the relationships between flights and the reasons for any critical issues.
The system is also completed with a window showing the state of allocation of infrastructure resources to flights. The mask also allows you to identify any overlaps in resource usage or allocation criticality so that you can make automatic reshares or manual reallocations through the back office systems provided at the airport.
All features are profilable. Each handler will only see the flights under management and can only modify the TOBT field, while the other system operators, Apron, ADM, PDO and airline appraisers are only allowed to display the data.
Tabular view is an electronic spreadsheet that shows the list of flights on rows and attributes on the columns. The reference activity of each row is the parking activity, so a cycle (Arrival, Parking and Departure) on a single line.
It is possible to view all flights or only those departing or arriving. A red ball indicates the number of active A-CDM alarms and the red background indicates the alarm fields. By moving the mouse on the red ball, a pop up displays the list of A_CDM alarm codes and related descriptions. By clicking on the link in the “Flight Code” column, the detail of the flight are shown. From this mask the handling operator can change the TOBT time to reflect planning changes in their operations. This detailed view is very simple to be used by ramp agents even through a smartphone or other similar mobile devices.
Using this interface they can look in real time at the status of the flight in charge verifying if criticalities are rising about the time slot granted by the ANSP. Colors of managed fields (EOBT, TOBT, ARDT, TSAT) show possible emerging criticalities mainly regarding the TSAT vs the ARDT. As an example, the background color of the ARDT field will become orange in case the aircraft is not Ready three minutes after the TOBT, and the TSAT will be voided in the following two minutes.
SYNTHESIS
On the timeline, moving with the cursor is possible to scroll along the time line. Selecting a slot will pop up with the details of the activity, as shown in the figure shown below.
On each line are the activities of the flight, they are represented in
- Green if the activity has already occurred
- Yellow if the activity is in progress
- White if the activity is scheduled
By selecting the “ON” option of the “Runway” field, located on the bottom bar, you can expand the display of the mask and enrich it with information relating to the movements made on the ground of the aircraft.
TIMELINE VIEW
On the timeline view, you can scroll through the time line with the cursor. Selecting a slot will pop up with the activity details. On each line are the activities of the flight,they are represented in Green if the activity is already done, Yellow if the activity is in progress, White if the activity is scheduled. By selecting the “Runway” option, you can expand the display of the mask and enrich it with information about the ground movements of the aircraft :
- Inbound: from the departure of the previous airport up to the aircraft landing
- Taxi-in: Time between landing and block on
- Taxi out: Time between the block off and takeoff
- Outbound: after takeoff
Clicking on the flight code will display the mask with all the flight logs and with a description of all the allocated resources. Each received Log is graphically highlighted by a milestone appearing in red if there is an active alarm on that data. The description of the alarm will be visible by placing the mouse on the milestone, this will open a pop up with info.
Both from the tabular view and from the timeline you can show the online status of resource allocations to flights.
After selecting the resource type from the top bar, the operator can view the allocation of all the resources assigned to the flights he manages, if a fleet is selected on the log mask by moving to the resource monitor, the selection is not Lost, so will be highlighted the same flight with the selected resource.
It is possible to select the resource allocation time by choosing whether the view is on Scheduled, Expected, and / or Actual.
For each allocated resource, a bar indicates the association period. The background will be red when there is an active alarm on the resource.
ANSP Gateway provides interfaces with Air Traffic Control systems through several protocols such as:
- ENAV CDM JMS QUEUES
- ENAV RFD (Radar and Flight Data Distributor)
The gateway has been implemented within the AirportGate infrastructure belonging to the AOSnice platform. The architectural model of AirportGate allow total uncoupling among ANSP interface and AOSnice applications.
Of course, to match specific requirements of any country, new ANSP physical protocols can be added in the AirportGate.
