ATM SYSTEMS
WHY SERVICEORIENTED ARCHITECTURE WILL
SUCCEED IN DEFINING FUTURE ATM SYSTEMS
By Damien Chambon, solution architect, Skysoft-ATM
Service Oriented Architecture is one
of the trendiest terms in the ATM
world these days. Initiatives such as
Virtual Centre or SWIM promote this
architectural style as an answer to support an
interoperable system for an integrated sky,
and the trend is gathering speed.
Service orientation in the broad sense,
especially if it is done right such as using the
microservice architecture as defined by
Martin Fowler, can be the answer to one
ATM’s biggest challenges: the heterogeneity
of IT systems.
SkySoft-ATM are working with Skyguide
(Swiss Air Navigation) to implement a
Service Oriented Architecture (SOA).
By standardising the architecture and the
interfaces between Front-End and Back-
End, SOA opens data processing and supply
activities up to competition. Individual Air
Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) will
no longer be compelled to purchase a fullyfledged
system of their own but will be able
to acquire services from competitive
suppliers or share equipment with other
providers as long as interfaces are common
and well-defined. We can then imagine a
new model where existing IT service
providers are able to establish a service
catalogue. This catalogue becomes the
definition of a “Virtual Centre” where
ANSPs can subscribe to ATM services using
key SOA concepts, such as loose-coupling
and location transparency.
Service orientation is first a way of
thinking. However, the high-level concept
also hides a lot of complexity. It’s a play that
requires coordination at the requirements
level, and a strategy for the incremental
replacement of monolithic legacy systems by
many lean and specialised components
exposing standardised atomic services. Just
another challenge to bring ATM systems into
a new era! v
THE ATC TRAINER SIMULATION MODULE
SkySim is a user friendly
assistant to train your ATCOs
staff before airspace changes
become valid in real life
104 AIR TRAFFIC TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL 2020
Generate new traffi c
scenarios and airspaces
with very little effort
USER INTERFACE MODULE
Provide highly confi gurable
operational air situation
display to ATCOs & trainees
MANAGEMENT MODULE
Integrate ATCOs working
rules along powerful
ATC automation
RECORDING MODULE
Record and analyze all
trainees data manually
or automatically
THE NEW GENERATION OF ATM SOLUTIONS
1002730_ATT_Sky Soft-ATM.indd 1 28/08/2019 11:42
/www.skysoft-atm.com