Experience

Separation Standards

Provide Program Planning support to the FAA Separations Standards Analysis Team. Some of the tasks are as follows:

• Conduct an independent assessment of separation standards implementation planning to identify areas of efficiency and suggest resources along with pathways that are required to accomplish the FAA mission. The assessment addresses all national and international planning activities.
• Examine allocation of program resources and resources that may be contributed by states represented within ICAO regional groups and technical panels. Define roles and responsibilities of participating organizations. Recommend changes if necessary to working relationships, planning process and documentation.
• Assess integration of NextGen and service unit business planning process with separation standards implementation methodology.
• Provide support for the development of strategic, tactical and implementation plans. Support the management and execution of separation standards plans, including the specifying of requirements for the successful planning and implementation of major program initiatives.

Next Generation Aviation Research and Technology Park

Determination of laboratory and technical infrastructure requirements. This involves a functional analysis and assessment of user requirements obtained through a series of focus-groups held with industry leaders and representatives of the FAA, academia, and other potential Park tenants.

FAA NextGen Support

• FAA NextGen Facilities Special Program Management Office -
  Provided program, strategic, research, analysis, planning and reporting support to the FAA NextGen Facilities Special Program Management Office at FAA Headquarters in Washington, DC and the Future Facilities Engineering Team at the FAA Technical Center in New Jersey. Some of the specific tasks included:
  1. Development and delivery of the Concept and Requirements Definition (CRD) products and Investment Analysis (IA) of the Acquisition Management System (AMS) process for the Nation’s new FAA NextGen facilities, including En Route, Terminal and Tower. Some of these products and artifacts included:
     • Concept of Use (ConUse)
     • Concept of Operations (ConOps)
     • Shortfall Analysis Report (SAR)
     • Enterprise Architecture (EA) products
     • Operational Safety Assessment (OSA)
     • Preliminary Program Requirements (pPR)
     • Range of Alternatives (ROA)
     • Investment Analysis (IA) Plan
  2. Assist with the development of the NAS Enterprise Architecture Infrastructure Facilities roadmaps, including:
     • Supporting facility roadmap meetings
     • Coordinating facility roadmap agendas, issues and goals with other roadmap teams
     • Identifying key dependencies between roadmaps
  3. Review and analyze NextGen documents (ex. NextGen Solution Set Resource Planning Documents (RPDs); EA Roadmaps; Project Level Agreements (PLAs)) to:
     • Identify shared-benefit opportunities between the NextGen Facilities Program and other NextGen initiatives
     • Identify alignment of R&D activities between the NextGen Facilities Program and other NextGen initiatives
     • Identify opportunities to initiate and/or accelerate NextGen R&D activities
  4. Assist with the development of NextGen Facilities Program initial Program Requirements.
  5. Provide Project Management to coordinate the production of a virtual reality (VR) visualization of a potential NextGen facility based on currently known vision, requirements and concepts gathered from the above work. The virtual prototype is to illustrate a proposed facility, its size and configuration, populated with the various systems, equipment and infrastructure that are currently envisioned.
  6. Identify and document NextGen Program R&D activities which must be completed in order to provide the data needed to sufficiently determine NextGen Facilities requirements.
  7. Provide support for human-in-the-loop simulations, studies, and other R&D activities that have been identified from the above activities and initiated, sponsored, conducted or supported by AJP-1710, Future Facilities Engineering Team.
  8. Identify and coordinate the NextGen Facilities Human Factors analysis activities necessary for the Investment Analysis Readiness Decision (IARD) according to the AMS. Involved close coordination with the Human Factors Research and Engineering Group at FAA Headquarters and the Human Factors Laboratory at the FAA Technical Center.    
• FAA Future Facilities Engineering Team -
  Provided program, strategic, research, analysis, planning and reporting support to the FAA Future Facilities Engineering Team at the FAA Technical Center in Atlantic City, NJ and at FAA Headquarters in Washington, DC. Some of the specific tasks included:
  1. Conduct research into the program, technical and physical requirements of the NextGen operational concepts and capabilities, and their impacts on new NextGen operational facilities, including En Route, Terminal and Tower. Some of the NextGen capabilities included in the research were:
     • Integrated Arrival/Departure Control Service (Big Airspace)
     • High Altitude Generic Airspace Operations
     • Staffed NextGen Towers
     • Flexible (or Dynamic) Airspace Management
     • Airspace Redesign
     • Flow-Based Trajectory Management (Multi Sector Planner)
     • Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)
     • Commercial Space Transportation
     • Integrated Business Continuity Services (BCP)
     • Convergence
     • Trajectory Based Operations (TBO)
  2. Conduct and document a continuous gap analysis that tracked the research and development efforts of those NextGen capabilities that were necessary for the successful facilitation and implementation of the operational concepts within NextGen facilities.
  3. Assist with the development of the FY10 NAS Enterprise Architecture Infrastructure Facilities roadmaps, including:
     • Supporting facility roadmap meetings
     • Coordinating facility roadmap agendas, issues and goals with other roadmap teams
     • Identifying key dependencies between roadmaps
  4. Review and analyze NextGen Solution Set Resource Planning Documents (RPDs) and Project Level Agreements (PLAs), including:
     • Identify shared-benefit opportunities between the NextGen Facilities Program and other NextGen initiatives
     • Identify alignment of R&D activities between the NextGen Facilities Program and other NextGen initiatives  
• National NextGen Research Infrastructure - The President of Diakon Solutions served as the Executive Secretariat and the representative for FAA Chairperson for the Aeronautics Research, Development, Test & Evaluation (RDT&E) Infrastructure Interagency Working Group (IIWG) established under the direction of the Aeronautics Science and Technology Subcommittee (ASTS) of the Committee on Technology (COT) of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC). There are three Chairpersons, one from each of the following: FAA, DoD and NASA. This IIWG serves as part of the internal deliberative process of the ASTS, which provides overall guidance and direction. The goal of the IIWG is to identify and integrate Federal aeronautics RDT&E infrastructure needs, conduct joint planning and develop joint strategies for the aeronautics RDT&E infrastructure used by the Federal Government, primarily for NextGen.  The IIWG serves as a forum for the exchange and leverage of information among the participating agencies. Specifically, the IIWG is tasked with developing a plan for Federal aeronautics RDT&E infrastructure that conforms to the direction of Executive Order 13419 – National Aeronautics Research and Development, the National Aeronautics Research and Development Policy (Policy) approved by the President in 2006, and the National Plan for Aeronautics Research and Development and Related Infrastructure (Plan) approved by the President in 2007. The national aeronautics RDT&E infrastructure plan (I-Plan) is the product of the IIWG.
• FAA NextGen Laboratory - The President of Diakon Solutions served as the Manager of the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center’s Laboratory Future Development Group, responsible for the development of the FAA NextGen Laboratory at the Technical Center. This effort involved the research into, and coordination with the various NextGen operational concepts and capabilities to provide an environment in which to conduct NextGen concept exploration, integration, studies, human-in-the-loop simulations, and demonstrations.

FAA Programs Supported

• Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen)
• Separation Standards
• Aviation Research Division
• Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC)
• Human Factors
• En Route - Display System Replacement (DSR)
• Future EnRoute Work Station (FEWS)
• Terminal – Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS)
• Free Flight
• En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V)
• Operational Evolution Plan (OEP)
• Center TRACON Automation System (CTAS)
• Traffic Management Advisor (TMA)
• Surface Movement Advisor (SMA)
• User Request Evaluation Tool (URET)
• Cockpit Flight Management Systems (FMS)
• Cockpit Control and Display Units (CDU)
• Automated En Route ATC (AERA) CHI
• Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) Maintenance Control Center (AMCC) system and the Monitor & Control (M&C) console
• En Route, Terminal, Tower, Oceanic and Airways Facilities domains

FAA Laboratories Supported

• The Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) Laboratory
• The Research, Development & Human Factors Laboratory (RDHFL)
• The EnRoute Integration and Interoperability Facility (EIIF)
• The Free Flight Technology Integration Laboratory (FFTIL)
• The Airway Facilities Tower Integration Laboratory (AFTIL)
• The Commercial Space Transportation (CST) Laboratory
• The Reconfigurable Cockpit Simulator (RCS)

Commercial Systems and Capabilities

• Pseudo Aircraft Systems (PAS) - Air Traffic Control (ATC) simulation tool by NASA
• ATCoach - Air Traffic Control (ATC) training system by UFA
• InterMAPhics – Graphical User Interface (GUI) rapid prototyping system by Gallium
• ODS Toolbox - Air Traffic Control (ATC) interface rapid prototyping and simulation system by Orthogon/Barco
• VAPS – Virtual Application Prototyping System by Virtual Prototypes
• ISO 9001:2000
• Microsoft Project and Primavera Project
• C computer programming language
• C++ computer programming language
• OpenGL
• Silicon Graphics computers
• MultiGen – Virtual reality 3D modeling software by MultiGen
• Vega - Real-time virtual reality simulation software by Paradigm
• JACK – Virtual reality anthropometric human models by EAI
• Flock of Birds - Electromagnetic tracking systems by Ascension Technology
• CrystalEyes - 3D goggles by Stereographics
• CyberGlove – Virtual reality gloves by Virtual Technologies
• Virtual Reality head mounted displays (HMD) by N-Vision
• Acoustic and gyroscope tracking system by Intersense 
• Microsoft office and productivity tools

Non-Government Support Customers

• Commercial Aerospace
• Non-profit Aerospace
• Accommodations
• Restaurants
• Service Businesses
• Retail Stores
• Organizations
• e-Commerce
• Real Estate