Definition
The establishment of a new temporary ATS area, which did not exist as a published (static data) airspace.
Notes:
- this can take the form of either a specified airspace type (such as a CTR) or an airspace with a specified class (such as a class A airspace);
- this scenario does not include the establishment of temporary P, D, R or similar areas; see the dedicated scenario: Ad-hoc special activity area - creation.
- the creation of a permanent ATS area by NOTAM shall be an exceptional situation, as such events are expected to be managed through static data amendments. However, this is supported in this scenario as the same data requirements and rules apply and it helps ensuring that all the airspace created by NOTAM are made available digitally, not only the temporary ones;
- this scenario does not support the use of geographical or administrative features (such as State borders, rivers, sea shores, etc.) in the definition of horizontal projection. If operationally necessary, this can be done by providing a simplified polygon larger than the area and excluding a neighbouring FIR, for example;
- this scenario is limited to the creation of a temporary area with a unique airspace class value for the whole area;
- this scenario does not support the creation of airspace with conditional lower/upper limit, such as “6000 FT AMSL, but at least 1000 FT AGL”.
Event data
The following diagram identifies the information items that are usually provided by a data originator for this kind of event.
The table below provides more details about each information item contained in the diagram. It also provided the mapping of each information item within the AIXM 5.1 structure. The name of the variable (first column) is recommended for use as label of the data field in human-machine interfaces (HMI).
Data item | Description | AIXM mapping |
---|---|---|
type | The type of area, although this is rarely provided. Typical examples are CTR, AWY or "no type". | Airspace.type with the list of values CodeAirspaceType |
class | The airspace classification of the area | Airspace/AirspaceLayerClass.classification with the list of values CodeAirspaceClassificationType. |
designator | A designator allocated to the area. However, it is unlikely that such designators are provided by the data originator. It is more likely that the designator will be allocated by the publication office. | Airspace.designator |
name | The name of a geographical feature or location, which is also used for identifying the area | |
location note | A free text note that indicates the location of the area in relation with relevant geographical or aeronautical features, such as "AT FARNBOROUGH AIRFIELD", etc. | Airspace.annotation with propertyName="geometryComponent" and purpose="REMARK" |
horizontal limit | The horizontal shape of the area or of one of its composing volumes (if the area is an aggregation of different volumes with different vertical limits). | Airspace/AirspaceVolume.horizontalProjection following the rules for encoding for encoding {{Geometrical and geographical data}}. The AirspaceGeometryComponent shall have operation="BASE" and operationSequence="1". Only geometries of type Polygon, Circle or Corridor are allowed in this scenario." |
excluded airspace | A reference (type, designator, name) to one or more airspace that are excluded (subtracted) from the volume described by the aggregation of the horizontal limits specified for the area; for example: "EXCLUDING THE HEATHROW CTR". | Airspace/AirspaceVolume.contributorAirspace |
lower limit | The lower limit (value, unit of measurement and vertical reference) of the area. | Airspace/AirspaceVolume.lowerLimit and lowerLimitReference |
upper limit | The upper limit (value, unit of measurement and vertical reference) of the area. | Airspace/AirspaceVolume.upperLimit and upperLimitReference |
concerned airspace | The indication of AirportHeliport feature(s) in the vicinity of which the area is located and/or the FIR impacted. In order to facilitate the work of the operator, the Digital NOTAM data provider interface should include the following functionality:
In all situations, the operator shall be allowed to take the final decision by selecting the airports/FIR which are affected by the area. This might include additional ones, which have not been identified automatically by the spatial checks but have an operationally significant relation with the area. | Event.concernedAirspace href |
concerned airport/heliport | The indication of AirportHeliport feature(s) in the vicinity of which the area is located. In order to facilitate the work of the operator, the Digital NOTAM data provider interface should include the following functionality:
In all situations, the operator shall be allowed to take the final decision by selecting the airports/FIR which are affected by the area. This might include additional ones, which have not been identified automatically by the spatial checks but have an operationally significant relation with the area. | Event.concernedAirportHeliport href |
start time | The effective date & time when the area becomes established and active. This might be further detailed in a "schedule". | Airspace/AirspaceTimeSlice.featureLifetime/beginPosition, Airspace/AirspaceTimeSlice/validTime/timePosition, Event/EventTimeSlice.validTime/timePosition and Event/EventTimeSlice.featureLifetime/beginPosition |
end time | The end date & time when the area ceases to exist. It might be an estimated value, if the exact end of activation is unknown. It may also be indeterminate for a permanent area. | Airspace/AirspaceTimeSlice.featureLifetime/endPosition Event/EventTimeSlice.featureLifetime/endPosition also applying the rules for {{Events with estimated end time}} |
schedule | A schedule might be provided in case the area is only active according to a regular timetable, within the overall period when it exists. | Airspace/AirspaceActivation/Timesheet/... according to the rules for {{Schedules}} |
controlling unit note | A free text note that provides information about the unit or service that provides ATS services in the area. | Airspace/AirspaceActivation.annotation with propertyName="status" and purpose="REMARK", according to the rules for encoding annotations |
note | A free text note that provides further instructions concerning the area, such as the reason that led to the area establishment, etc. | Airspace/AirspaceActivation.annotation with purpose=””REMARK”, according to the rules for encoding annotations |
Notes:
- It is recommended that data input applications allow the operator to visualise graphically the horizontal shape and the vertical extent of the special activity area. If a schedule is used, the graphical interface should also have a "time slider" that allows the operator to see when the area is actually active.
Assumptions for baseline data
- It is assumed that no baseline data exists for this area.
Data encoding rules
The data encoding rules provided in this section shall be followed in order to ensure the harmonisation of the digital encodings provided by different sources. The compliance with some of these encoding rules can be checked with automatic data validation rules.
Identifier | Data encoding rule |
ER-01 | The special activity area shall be encoded as:
|
ER-02 | The Airspace BASELINE shall contain one AirspaceActivation object with status=ACTIVE, IN_USE or INTERMITTENT (as appropriate) which shall have the values "FLOOR, uom=OTHER" for lowerLimit and "CEILING, uom=OTHER" for the upperLimit of the associated AirspaceLayer. |
ER-03 | The Airspace BASELINE shall contain one AirspaceLayerClass object which shall have the values "FLOOR, uom=OTHER" for lowerLimit and "CEILING, uom=OTHER" for the upperLimit of the associated AirspaceLayer. |
ER-04 | If the area activity is limited to a discrete schedule within the overall time period between the "start time" and the "end time", then this shall be encoded using as many as necessary timeInterval/Timesheet properties for the AirspaceActivation with status ACTIVE/IN_USE/INTERMITTENT of the BASELINE Timeslice. See also the rules for Event Schedules. It is recommended that the HMI of a data provider application allows to provide a schedule only in relation with active times, because only these will be translated into NOTAM text. |
ER-05 | If a schedule is provided, then the Airspace BASELINE shall contain a second AirspaceActivation object with status=INACTIVE, which shall explicitly specify the times not covered by the activity schedule. This shall be done automatically by the system and should not be visible to the operator. The "INACTIVE" times shall not be translated into NOTAM text. See also the rules for Event Schedules. |
ER-06 | If one or more "exclude airspace" are specified, each shall be encoded as an AirspaceGeometryComponent with operation=SUBTR, operationSequence as dictated by the order of the element, contributorAirspace/AirspaceVolumeDependency.dependency=FULL_GEOMETRY and pointing to the airspace concerned. In addition, when the AIXM 5.1 encoded data is provided to a client, the data corresponding to the AirspaceVolume(s) of the controbutorAirspace (lowerLimit, lowerLimitReference, upperLimit, upperLimitReference, horizontalProjection, etc.) shall be copied in the AirspaceVolume(s) of the current Airspace. This will provide a complete description of the current Airspace, eliminating the need to traverse the xlink:href in order to get the full geometrical information. |
ER-07 | If the type is not provided by the data originator, then it shall be encoded as a "CLASS" type airspace |
ER-08 | It is recommended that an alphanumeric designator is allocated to a temporary area, in order to facilitate it's identification on graphical representations (such as airspace activity maps) and verbal communication. The composition rule is derived from the CTR and TMA designators - "CCCCnnnnyy", where:
|
ER-09 | The Event BASELINE shall contain associationEvent with reference (href) to each of the identified:
|
Note: The objective is to full automatic generation, without human intervention. However, the implementers of the specification might consider reducing the cost of a fully automated generation by allowing the operator to fine-tune the text in order to improve its readability (with the inherent risk for human error, when re-typing is allowed).
Examples
Following coding examples can be found on GitHub (links attached):