Open standards for airport databases — ARINC 816

Abstract

Since the introduction of the electronic flight bag (EFB) in the Boeing 777 in 2003, airport moving maps (AMM) are making their way into modern flight decks in order to provide improved situation awareness to the pilot during ground operations. The Airbus A380 and the Boeing 787 will be equipped with AMM displays as standard, while retrofits are available for older airliners. The new ARINC specification 816 is based on RTCA DO-272A and DO-291 and defines an "Embedded Interchange Format for Airport Mapping Database". The goals are to simplify data handling but also to provide additional features to further increase the benefit of AMM displays. ARINC 816 addresses the requirements of embedded avionics systems by moving complex processing steps like coordinate projections or triangulations to the data provider. According data are pre-computed and loaded into the system. Thus, less powerful avionics hardware is needed and its certification is less complex. Both contribute to a more cost effective design. A particular difficult task is the labeling of the airport map. ARINC 816 splits this process into two components: the identification and aggregation of objects to be labeled is done offline and the results are stored as containers and anchor points in the dataset. The avionics system can focus on the placement and deconfliction of the previously identified labels. Some issues have been identified in the implementation of this concept. Some have already been addressed in Supplement 1 to the specification; others are discussed in this paper. All data are encoded in binary-XML. While this format is convenient to handle, it has the disadvantage of significantly larger file sizes than comparable binary formats. Using an open and standardized format allows end users to choose between different database suppliers independently from the selected avionics system, and it enables database suppliers to convert airport data directly into the end-system specification and deliver the data directly to the airline. Data delivery can be accomplished by products such as data distribution and management (DDM) for subsequent loading onto the airplane by CD-ROM, portable data loaders, wireless gatelink or other "last mile" solution. The AMDB data is provided in accordance with a data packaging standards such as ARINC-665. This paper discusses joint industry activities which led to this new standard, new airport data and their benefits for airport moving maps, and the benefits for end users.