Problem Definition

Background

The ENACT Challenge: Enabling Network Architecture for Collaborative Technologies

The FAA's vision for continued safe integration of traffic into the National Airspace System (NAS) entails all vehicles operating harmoniously, occupying the same airspace and using both new and existing air traffic management systems and procedures. This vision goes beyond the accommodation practices in use today, which largely rely on operational segregation to maintain systemic safety.

We realize this vision requires research and collaboration across industry, government, and academia.

A future network would require a high-bandwidth, real-time data exchange between the FAA and multiple service suppliers. This challenge explores what a future service to support a potential future Network Architecture capability could look like in an environment in which many vehicles would periodically transmit information over the internet to service suppliers, who would in turn provide some or all the data to the FAA.

The capability potentially calls for high bandwidth and system-of-systems implementation/integration (parallel efforts by industry partners, FAA, and possibly other partners) on a cloud infrastructure. This is a research endeavor; details of protocols, specific cloud technologies, and frameworks have not been selected.