Media

Thursday, 10th July 2014: The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) is leading the way in digital aeronautical data quality compliance with the launch of its new application, ASSET©. This solution is a ‘one-stop-shop’, cloud-based application for Aeronautical Information Management (AIM), which allows operators to securely input data via the web and ensures complete data traceability back to the originator.

Philip Hughes, IAA Director of Commercial, Technology and Training said ‘The IAA is delighted to have designed, developed and successfully deployed ASSET© in conjunction with CGH Technologies. This revolutionary, cloud-based AIM solution has been stringently tested by users and has achieved an unparalleled level of compliance with the European Aeronautical Data Quality (ADQ) standards. We are very proud of our solution, which could potentially be deployed all over Europe. The development of this solution is one of the many ways the IAA is helping the EU to deliver the Single European Sky ’.

Designed, developed and deployed by the IAA and CGH Technologies Inc., ASSET© enables users to view, map and review authoritative digital data at any time through the cloud-based service solution. ASSET© is unique in that it is the only middleware platform that allows users to analyse, map in 2D and 3D and provide accurate Annex 14/15 analysis, whilst providing notification to other users for aeronautical input.

Data compliance is a fundamental requirement for the European Single European Sky and ASSET© has been audited by independent international audit groups and found to have met over 80% of ADQ compliance with service level agreements. This level of compliance is set to increase to 90% following the publication of formal arrangements. ASSET© has also passed a rigorous security audit for data security in the cloud. Glyn Owen, COO of CGH said ‘the digital origination of aeronautical data is the cornerstone of ASSET© and provides IAA the ability to ensure data quality for the end users’.

For more information, contact:
Tony Lane,
Communications Executive,
Irish Aviation Authority,
Tel: +353 86 791 1864.

For more technical detail, please see the note below…

ASSET© Technical Note

ASSET© is a modular ‘one-stop-shop’ aeronautical application that enables the collection of digital data from the authoritative sources that has been developed by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA). The
IAA commenced its strategic initiative in 2012 by conceptualising how aeronautical digital data origination and data quality could be collected in the form of “software as a service”, utilising a cloud solution.

Undertaking this task, the IAA and the winner of its competitive tender process, CGH Technologies, Inc. (CGH), has been able to design, develop and deploy an iterative services permission-based common solution that allows the IAA and its users to submit data into ASSET© whilst allowing the aeronautical navigation service providers (ANSPs) to provide feedback and executive decision-making for airspace and other analysis. CGH has assisted in the strategy and vision of moving forward in the next generation of data collection.

Through this innovative services solution, the IAA has taken ASSET© from development and test into production so that its users can view, map and review authoritative digital data at any time through the cloud-based service solution.  ASSET© has become the only middleware platform allowing users to analyse, map in 2D and 3D, provide accurate Annex 14/15 analysis, whilst providing notification to other users for aeronautical input. With data collection and analysis in hand and with the modular approach for design, the IAA has adopted international Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards for cost benefits and is already realising cost savings impact for their organisation. To date, the IAA digital data can be provided in multiple formats such as aeronautical information exchange model (AIXM) 5.1 and comma separated values (CSV) for download data services.

IAA’s iterative approach, which provided incremental capabilities prior to a full-scale deployment, was required to meet stringent security requirements and aeronautical data quality (ADQ) compliance. ASSET© was audited by independent international audit groups and found to have met over 80% of ADQ compliance with service level agreements and to have passed the security audit for data security in the cloud. The accomplishment of these major goals provided the IAA the foundation to commence with Phase II of their 2014 initiative of eAIP deployment using ASSET© as its common platform. In other words, user(s) authoritative data is ingested into ASSET© by the data originator and the solution retains all traceability of new, edited and deleted data back to the data originator – thus a key part of complying with ADQ.

In brief, the IAA has ‘zero’ seat license fees allowing users with appropriate permissions to utilise ASSET©. With no seat license fees, any user can sign up for an account to utilise ASSET©. This will enable users like the military, airlines, planning councils and a range of other aeronautical industry users to access ASSET© for their aeronautical data needs.  Achieving this, the IAA is now preparing to raise the bar even higher by starting the next phase of its future with ASSET© by incorporating Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) in 2015.

With the IAA efforts underway and by accomplishing these milestones, the IAA strategic vision for the realisation of aeronautical information service (AIS) to aeronautical information management (AIM) is now achievable.