Fuser Pre-Updaters

The flight position mediation updater is designed to keep a flight from bouncing around on the map. This can happen because we get data from various sources and at times we may be getting position data from multiple sources at the same time. The position mediation updater uses a combination of priority and a timeout to deal with this. The priority and timeouts for each source are in the table below. The lower priority number indicates a higher priority system. The timeout ensures if we quit getting data from a source we will transition to another source if possible.

Some use cases:

If we have continuous STDDS SMES-ASDE-X data we would use that and filter out position updates from lower sources such as TFMS.

We have arrival with TFMS and TBFM data. We will favor the TBFM positions and filter out the TFMS positions unless we lose TBFM coverage.

As it nears the airport we start getting ASDE-X data, if we continue to get TBFM track hits while we are receiving ASDE-X we will filter out the TBFM track positions.

If the arrival goes on extended final and goes out of the ASDE-X coverage area, if this occurs for 15 seconds and we have another source such as TBFM we will switch to using TBFM tracks (essentially allow the TBFM tracks through the Fuser now).

For a departure we will typically start with ASDE-X. At some point we will typically pick up TBFM track hits. However, until we get out of ASDE-X coverage range for 15 seconds we will stick with the ASDE-X hits and filter the TBFM track hits. Once we get out of the ASDE-X hits for this flight for 15 seconds and we do have tracks from another source like TBFM we will switch to that source.

This updater will attempt to make sure we have the best heading possible.

• If the message has a heading we will use it
• If message has a position but no heading
  • If we had a previous position we will compute heading based on the current position and previous position
  • If this is the first position on the flight and the heading is not known we will compute a heading based on the

The aircraft type updater does a few things

• Uses a lookup table to for valid aircraft types. This is to deal with cases where some sources use different codes for what really are the same aircraft type codes. This lookup keeps that consistent.
• Assigns a default aircraft type is the aircraft type is unknown. The default is UNKN
• Assign a default Wake Turbulence Category if it's unknown. The default is LARGE
• Sets a default engine class if it's unknown. The default is JET

Aerodrome is the European term for airport but also includes more than airports. Airport codes can come in the IATA, ICAO or even FAA Lookup ID depending on the source and message. Where possible this updater will attempt to fill in the missing IATA or ICAO code and keep them consistent when possible. Unfortunately due to inconsistent approaches taken across sources and the fact IATA, ICAO, and FAA Lookup ID don't map to 1 to 1 to 1 it's bit more complicated than one would think.

More details on IATA, ICAO, and FAA Lookup ID can be found here

The carrier is not typically supplied from our current source feeds. The use of carrier or GA is used in the STBO code and decision trees in a few places. The has logic to derive a carrier from the acid.

• Basically it looks for the last letter prior to running into a number. If that results in a 3 character airline code we use that.
• If not we consider the flight to be a GA flight

Logic responsible for setting the cancellation enum.

• NOT_CANCELLED means a flight is not cancelled
• CANCELLED means a flight is cancelled
• UNCANCELLED is a trigger to STBO to re-model a flight

The updater will uncancel a flight if:

• We receive track data for the flight after the cancellation
• We receive an actual out time for the flight AFTER it was cancelled
  • But only if the actual out time is different from the value we currently have for actual out time

Corrects sourceFacility:

• Ensure sourceFacility is an ARTCC. If a sourceFacility code is disallowed, the beaconCode, sourceFacility, compuerId, and eramGufi elements are set to null.
  
  • Correct: 
    
    • Add "K" prefix if facility is a 3-letter US ARTCC and missing the "K".
    • Replace "KZAP" with the correct "PZAN", sometimes used for Anchorage.
  • Disallow: 
    
    • "TFMS"
    • 3-letter codes sourceFacility codes, except the ZSA (South America) and ZPA (Pacific/Australia) TFMS codes.
    • All 4-letter codes starting with "K", that are not the 20 US ARTCC codes, or the oceanic facilities "KONY" and "KOOA".

Corrects computerId

• Pad with zeros to ensure 3-character length (if necessary)

Corrects beaconCode:

• Pad with zeros to ensure 4-character length (if necessary)

Sets the carrier:

• M if a military flight : a message with sensitivity type military was received
• GA if a general aviation flight : the ACID is a registration number (e.g. N454A)
• First 3 letters of the ACID : if a normal ACID (e.g. AAL101)

Sets the flightType:

• MILITARY if the sensitivity type military was received
• SCHEDULED_AIR_TRANSPORT if a TFMS scheduled flight message was received (implies there was an OAG entry)
• GENERAL_AVIATION if the carrier is historically a GA carrier, or the ACID is a registration number name pattern

Contains logic to make sure we have a properly set IDAC global ID needed for coordination with IDAC

• If the IdacUpdate is fused flag is false then it's not a valid global id
• If the Idac Global ID is the same as the UpstreamTmaId then it's not a valid global id

Responsible for maintaining a list of pre-departure flight plans for unique sourceFacilty/computerId. Currently the primary flight plan source is TFMS messages triggered by ERAM. This updater also triggers FUSER source messages under certain conditions:

• When the update cancels the "current" flight plan, the updater triggers a FuserFlight message to switch all flight plan data to the most recently updated one.
• When the update changes the current sourceFacility/computerId, the updater triggers a FuserFlight message to switch all flight plan data to the data for the sourceFacility/ComputerId.

See Fuser Flight Plan Handling for more information.