Text NOTAM production rules

This section provides rules for the automated production of the text NOTAM message items, based on the AIXM 5.1 data encoding of the Event. Therefore, AIXM specific terms are used, such as names of features and properties, types of TimeSlices, etc:

  • the abbreviation NAV.TD indicates that the corresponding data item must be taken from the Navaid TEMPDELTA associated with the Event;
  • the abbreviation NAV.BL indicates that the corresponding data item must be taken from the Navaid BASELINE;
  • the abbreviation NEQ.TD indicates that the corresponding data item must be taken from the NavaidEquipment specialisation (VOR, DME, Localizer, etc.)  TEMPDELTA associated with the Event;
    • Important note: According to encoding rule ER-11, the TEMPDELTA might also include NavaidOperationalStatus elements that have been copied from the BASELINE data for compliance with the AIXM Temporality rules. The current practice is to not include such static information in the NOTAM text. Therefore, all NavaidOperationalStatus that have an associated annotation with purpose='REMARK' and the text='Baseline data copy. Not included in the NOTAM text generation' shall be excepted from the text NOTAM generation algorithm!
  • the abbreviation NEQ.BL indicates that the corresponding data item must be taken from the NavaidEquipment specialisation (VOR, DME, Localizer, etc.) BASELINE

Several NOTAMs possible

Note that if the navaid is used for instrument approach or departures from one or more airports or affects the en-route navigation in one or more FIR, explicit associations between the Event and one or more AirportHeliport and/or Airspace may be coded. Then, there exist dedicated provision in the OPADD (v4.1, section 2.3.9.3) with regard to the NOTAM that need to be issued in order to ensure that the NOTAM appear correctly in the relevant en-route and airport Pre-Flight Information Bulletins (PIB). Further details are provided in the “several NOTAM possible” section.

The NOTAM production rules provided on this page, unless specified otherwise, are applicable to the “first NOTAM” and the NOTAM containing one or more FIR in Item A. 

Event.concernedAirspaceEvent.concernedAirportHeliportNOTAM to be generated
1..*None

produce a single NOTAM with scope E for all the FIR(s) identified

1..*1..*Produce a "first" NOTAM with scope E for all FIR and additional (scope A) NOTAM for each airport concerned. 
11..*Produce a "first" NOTAM with scope AE for the FIR and one of the aerodromes associated with the Event and additional (scope A) NOTAM for each additional airport.

Item A

The item A shall be generated according to the general production rules for item A using the concernedAirspace(s) or the concernedAirportHeliport, according to the rules specified in table above.

Item Q

Apply the common NOTAM production rules for item Q, complemented by the following specific rules for this particular scenario:

Q code

The mapping provided in the tables below shall be used.

NAV.BL.type

Corresponding Q codes (2nd and 3rd letters)

ILS or ILS_DME

QIC - if both the Localizer and the Glidepath components have a (E)TD associated with the Event

QID - if only its DME component has (E)TD associated with the Event

QIG - if only its Glidepath component has (E)TD associated with the Event

QIL - if only its Localizer component has (E)TD associated with the Event

QII - if only its MKR component has (E)TD associated with the Event and its (N)BL.NavaidComponent.markerPosition=INNER

QIM - if only its MKR component has (E)TD associated with the Event and its (N)BL.NavaidComponent.markerPosition=MIDDLE

QIO - if only its MKR component has (E)TD associated with the Event and its (N)BL.NavaidComponent.markerPosition=OUTER

QIY - if only its NDB component has (E)TD associated with the Event and its (N)BL.NavaidComponent.markerPosition=MIDDLE

QIX - if only its NDB component has (E)TD associated with the Event and its (N)BL.NavaidComponent.markerPosition=OUTER

MLS or MLS_DME

QIW

NDB or NDB_MKR

QNB - if NDB component (E)BL.class=ENR

QNL - if NDB component (E)BL.class=L

LOC or LOC_DME

QIN

DME

QND

MKR

QNF

VOR_DME

QNM

TACAN

QNN

VORTAC

QNT

VOR

QNV

DF

QNX

NDB_DME, TLS or OTHER

QXX

and

NAV.TD.operationalStatus

Corresponding Q codes (4th and 5th letters)

UNSERVICEABLE

AS

ONTEST

CT

INTERRUPT

LS

PARTIAL

AS

FALSE_INDICATION

XX

IN_CONSTRUCTION

XX

OTHER

XX   

Scope

As general rules, for each NOTAM  that is generated:

  • If Item A contains the designator of one (or more) FIR, insert E.

  • If Item A contains the ICAO code of an AirportHeliport, insert AE, for the first such NOTAM and value A for the rest of the NOTAM.

However, more specific rules may be applied, depending on the split in NOTAM series, actual configuration of the FIR, etc. These have to be taken into consideration for each implementation.

Items B, C and D

Items B and C shall be decoded from the values of NAV.TD.validTime following the common production rules.

If at least one NAV.TD.NavaidOperationalStatus.timeInterval exists (the Event has an associated schedule), then the associated Timesheets(s) shall be decoded in item D according to the common NOTAM production rules for Item D, E - Schedules. Otherwise, item D shall be left empty.

Item E

The following pattern should be used for automatically generating the E field text from the AIXM data: 

template = ["NAV.BL.name(1)"] "NAV.BL.type(2)" ["NEQ.BL.type(3)"] ["NEQ.TD.availability.signalType(4)"] [( "NAV.BL.designator(5)" | "RWY-" "NAV.BL.runwayDirection(5)")] \n ["NEQ.BL.frequency(6)"] ["NEQ.BL.channel(7)"] "NEQ.TD.operational status(8)" "." \n
["\n" "due to" "NAV.TD.NavaidOperationalStatus.annotation(9)" "."] \n
{"\n" "NAV.TD.NavaidOperationalStatus.annotation(10)" "."}.

Reference

Rule

(1)

The name of the Navaid shall be included if present in the NAV.BL data

(2)

Insert the type from the Navaid baseline, according to the following decoding rule:

NAV.BL.type

Text to be inserted in item E

VOR

"VOR"

DME

"DME"

NDB

If (E)BL.class=N then use the word "LOCATOR", otherwise use the word "NDB"

TACAN

"TACAN"

MKR

If used as NavaidComponent of an ILS or ILS_DME Navaid, then insert (N)BL.markerPosition first followed by "MKR", otherwise insert just the word "MKR"

ILS

"ILS"

ILS_DME

"ILS"

MLS

"MLS"

MLS_DME

"MLS"

VORTAC

"VORTAC"

VOR_DME

"VOR/DME"

DNB_DME

"NDB/DME"

TLS

"Transponder Landing System"

LOC

"LOC"

LOC_DME

"LOC/DME"

NDB_MKR

"NDB/MKR"

DF

"DF service"

SDF

"Simplified Directional Facility eqpt"

OTHER

None

(3)

If the Navaid Baseline has more than one NavaidEquipment primary components and only one of its primary component NavaidEquipment has a NEQ.TD associated with the Event, then insert the type of that equipment, according to the following decoding rule:

NEQ.BL

Text to be inserted in Item E

DME

"DME part"

VOR

"VOR part"

TACAN

"TACAN part"

Glidepath

"GP part"

Localizer

"LOC part"

Azimuth

"azm signal"

Elevation

"elev signal"

SDF

"Simplified Directional Facility eqpt"

DirectionFinder

"DF"

NDB

If (E)BL.class=N then use the word " LOCATOR", otherwise use the word "NDB"

MarkerBeacon

If used as NavaidComponent of an ILS or ILS_DME Navaid, then insert (N)BL.NavaidComponent.markerPosition first followed by "MKR", otherwise insert just the word "MKR"

(4)

If NAV.BL.type is 'TACAN' or 'VORTAC' and its TACAN.TD.availability.signalType is specified, then insert its value here.

(5)

The following rules apply:

  • If NAV.BL.type has the value 'ILS', 'ILS_DME', 'LOC', 'LOC_DME', 'MLS' or 'MLS_DME', then insert the RunwayDirection.BL.designator of the associated NAV.BL.runwayDirection, if available;
  • Otherwise, insert the NAV.BL.designator, if available.

(6)

Apply the following rules:

NAV.BL.type

Use the following value

VOR, VOR_DME, VORTAC

(VOR)BL.frequency followed by its uom value

NDB, NDB_MKR, NDB_DME

(NDB)BL.frequency followed by its uom value

SDF

(SDF)BL.frequency followed by its uom value

any other

leave empty

(7)

Apply the following rules:

NAV.BL.type

Use the following value

VOR_DME, DME, NDB_DME

(DME)BL.channel

TACAN, VORTAC

(TACAN)BL.channel

any other

leave empty

(8)

Insert the NEQ.TD.operationalStatus decoded as follows:

NEQ.BL.availability/operationalStatus

Text to be inserted in Item E

UNSERVICEABLE

"unserviceable"

ONTEST

"On test, do not use. False indication possible."

INTERRUPT

"subject to interruption"

PARTIAL

"unserviceable" (note that this should only occur for TACAN components)

FALSE_INDICATION

"do not use, false indication"

IN_CONSTRUCTION

"in construction, do not use"

OTHER

"operational status is affected"

(9)

If specified, insert here only the NAV.TD.NavaidOperationalStatus.annotation that has propertyName='operationalStatus' and purpose='REMARK', translated into free text according to the following encoding rules.

(10)

Other NAV.TD.NavaidOperationalStatus.annotation shall be translated into free text according to the rules for annotations decoding.

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).

Items F & G

Leave empty.

Event Update

The eventual update of this type of event shall be encoded following the general rules for Event update or cancellation, which provide instructions for all NOTAM fields, except for item E and the condition part of the Q code, in the case of a NOTAM C

If a NOTAM C is produced, then the 4th and 5th letters (the "condition") of the Q code shall be "AK", except for the situation of a “new NOTAM to follow", in which case “XX” shall be used.

The following pattern should be used for automatically generating the E field text from the AIXM data:

template_cancel = ["NAV.BL.name(1)"] "NAV.BL.type(2)" ["NEQ.BL.type(3)"] [( "NAV.BL.designator(5)" | "RWY-" "NAV.BL.runwayDirection(5)")] \n
["NEQ.BL.frequency(6)"] ["NAV.BL.channel(7)"] ("resumed normal operations." | " : New NOTAM to follow(11)").

Reference

Rule

(11)

If the NOTAM will be followed by a new NOTAM concerning the same situation, then the operator shall have the possibility to choose the "New NOTAM to follow" branch.  This branch cannot be selected automatically because this information is only known by the operator.

Note: in this case, the 4th and 5th letters of the Q code shall also be changed into “XX”.