PERFORMANCE BASED NAVIGATION PBN NAS NAVIGATION STRATEGY 2016 From the Administrator Ten years ago, the FAA and aviation stakeholders embarked on a path to modernize navigation in the National Airspace System (NAS). As part of this activity, the FAA and aviation stakeholders developed and published a report called “Roadmap for Performance- Based Navigation (PBN).” Michael P. Huerta Since the Roadmap’s publication, together we have New PBN operations and procedures will provide the established and flown thousands of Area Navigation predictability and repeatability necessary to facilitate (RNAV) and Required Navigation Performance (RNP) the transition to the Next Generation Air Transportation procedures throughout the NAS, resulting in safety, System (NextGen), including integration of Data access, capacity, efficiency and environmental benefits. Communications (Data Comm) and improvements to traffic flow management. Finally, the far-term strategies We have learned a great deal over the last 10 years, to 2030 and beyond focus on leveraging time- and and we also recognize that as the NAS continues to speed-based air traffic management to increase evolve, so too must our navigation strategy. system predictability. Therefore, I am pleased to present the “PBN NAS The FAA is taking the necessary steps to enhance Navigation Strategy 2016.” It builds on the progress community involvement in our decision-making of the past decade and refocuses our priorities and processes. These include updating the FAA Community milestones to transition to a truly PBN-centric NAS, Involvement Manual, and accepting and implementing that is, a NAS where PBN is used as the basis for daily industry recommendations contained in the NextGen operations. It charts a course that will allow the public Advisory Committee’s 2014 “Blueprint for Success to and private sectors to advance the NAS collaboratively Implementing Performance Based Navigation” relative and constructively for the benefit of all aviation to community outreach and airport involvement. stakeholders, including aircraft operators, the traveling public, as well as new entrants such as unmanned The following strategy document is the product aircraft systems and commercial space vehicles. of collaboration between the FAA and aviation This strategy document describes a pathway to this stakeholders, and has benefited greatly from the vision, linking together many interdependent elements input of the NextGen Advisory Committee and the necessary to deliver PBN, and includes commitments Performance Based Operations Aviation that will: Rulemaking Committee. • Leverage evolving aircraft capabilities; A successful transition to a PBN-centric NAS will require a sustained, long-term focus on collaboration • Enable new operations; across aircraft operators, manufacturers, airport • Enhance decision support tools; operators and the communities that surround airports. • Engage surrounding communities; and Balancing the interests of these groups will be a • Reduce dependence on legacy challenge, but there is much common ground, and we navigational infrastructure. must take on these challenges if we are to advance the system to the benefit of all aviation stakeholders. The This strategy document is divided into near-, mid- and PBN NAS Navigation Strategy will be a living document, far-term objectives over the next 15 years. In the near and it will be revisited every two years to confirm term, we will focus on increasing the utilization of RNAV that the priorities it contains continue to address the and RNP procedures that are in place and develop navigation needs of an evolving world. new criteria, policies and standards to allow for more advanced applications of PBN. In the mid term, we will Thank you for your continued support and active build on newly available PBN operations to increase participation in ensuring that the most complex access, efficiency and resiliency across the system. airspace in the world remains unsurpassed in safety. Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Background 6 Today’s Navigation 6 Building on PBN Accomplishments 8 Evolving NAS Operations 8 Increasing Use of PBN Procedures 10 Airport and Community Outreach 11 Navigation Strategy Overview 13 Navigation Service Groups 16 PBN Evolution 18 2016–2020 Timeframe 22 2021–2025 Timeframe 23 2026–2030 Timeframe 24 Resiliency 26 Minimum PBN Capabilities 28 Related Efforts 31 Appendix A: Summary of FAA Goals and Commitments by Vision Area 32 Appendix B: Navigation Service Group Definitions 33 Abbreviations, Acronyms and Initialisms 34 References Introduction The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has deployed • Reducing pilot-controller voice communication by using thousands of Performance Based Navigation (PBN) text-based messages, allowing controllers more time to procedures and routes throughout the National Airspace plan or handle emergencies and abnormal situations; System (NAS), and aviation stakeholders are realizing the benefits. It is now possible for aircraft to leverage PBN during • Providing pilots with vertical guidance, resulting in more all phases of flight, navigating free from the constraints stabilized approaches and landings; previously imposed by the physical locations of ground- • Reducing flight track distance, fuel burn and emissions based navigation infrastructure. PBN services are laying the due to more direct flight paths and optimized vertical foundation for the NAS of the future by enabling many Next descent profiles; Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) operational improvements, capabilities and initiatives. • Improving predictability to better inform airline operators for schedule and gate management; and For example, the PBN framework enables a safer and more efficient design of airspace and procedures within the nation’s • Reducing reliance on and investment in ground-based complex airspace by: navigational aids and the conventional procedures dependent on them. • Segregating traffic between airports, arrival and departure paths, and routes in close proximity; The needs of the NAS continue to evolve based upon • Increasing efficiency of sequencing, spacing and merging technological, economic and societal drivers. With this when integrated with communication, surveillance and evolution, the FAA and aviation stakeholders need to controller decision support tools; periodically review the state of the system, assess the current vision and associated strategies, and update them to provide • Allowing for reduced divergence between departure a framework for moving forward. operations, resulting in increased departure throughput; • Providing safe access to airspace near obstacles This updated “PBN NAS Navigation Strategy 2016” provides and terrain; a compelling view of a future that builds upon past PBN • Improving access to airports during poor weather accomplishments. It also provides the context for defining conditions, especially for general aviation and refining implementation plans and resource requirements (GA) operations; necessary to fully transition to a PBN-centric NAS. www.faa.gov 3 Background HISTORY By 2010, established PBN procedures were in place at the nation’s busiest airports. Based on several years of In 2003, the FAA introduced its PBN strategy in the operational experience, operators and controllers had built “Roadmap for Performance-Based Navigation.” The a deeper understanding of PBN and a mutual awareness of Roadmap outlined possible benefits using capabilities how PBN could best be leveraged. The joint focus became in modern aircraft. FAA initiatives helped to establish the obtaining additional flight-efficiency benefits, especially by necessary policy, processes and tools to meet early PBN minimizing the number and duration of level-offs below top objectives. The initiatives also helped the FAA and aviation of descent for arrival procedures at busy terminal areas. industry better understand many of the technical challenges This goal has been realized since 2011 through the holistic associated with this transformation. perspective and collaborative efforts of the FAA’s Metroplex program. The FAA’s early initiatives included the introduction of Q-Routes and T-Routes1 for en route navigation and Area PBN EXPLAINED Navigation (RNAV) departure and arrival procedures for busy airports or airports with busy surrounding airspace. These PBN comprises RNAV and RNP and describes an aircraft’s procedures were typically designed as overlays of historical ability to navigate in terms of performance standards. RNAV vector patterns and existing conventional ground-based enables aircraft to fly on any desired flight path within the procedures to accelerate the availability of published coverage of ground- or space-based navigation aids, within PBN procedures. the capability of the aircraft equipage or a combination of capabilities. Additionally, the 2003 Roadmap included the introduction of Required Navigation Performance (RNP) procedures RNP is RNAV with the addition of onboard performance — which grew out of the need for access to the terrain- monitoring and alerting capability. A defining characteristic challenged airports of Alaska — into operational use in the of RNP operations is the ability of the aircraft navigation lower 48 states. The July 2006 update to the “Roadmap system to monitor the navigation performance it achieves for Performance-Based Navigation” served as a call to action and inform the pilot if the requirement is not met during for the FAA and industry by continuing to focus