Aeronautical Integrated Data Exchange Agent – Next Generation
AIDA-NG is COMSOFT’s Aeronautical Message Handling System (AMHS), based on the ECG (EATM Communication Gateway) software. COMSOFT and leading European Air Navigation Service Providers designed the AIDA-NG in close cooperation. With COMSOFT's technical expertise and the experienced operators' clearly defined requirements and valuable advice, a system was developed that sets the benchmark for modern AMHS implementations in terms of reliability, performance, functionality, and comfort. Apart from AIDA-NG’s capability to cope with all international aeronautical interoperability standards (AMHS, AFTN, CIDIN, SITA), one of AIDA-NG's strong points is its comfortable and efficient support of sophisticated operational procedures.

In contrast to other less mature AMHS implementations on the market, AIDA-NG provides fully integrated and uniform message handling facilities, such as efficient queue handling and tracing, for all connected networks; message tracing, for instance, can be seamlessly performed through the AFTN/AMHS gateway. Multi-site systems (operational, contingency, and test/training system) are supported by advanced configuration and administration means.

AIDA-NG is based on up-to-date COTS servers and a powerful LINUX operating system; hence, it can be hosted on a variety of current and future platforms. This is in particular important as regards the upgrade path within the lifetime of the system.
The excellent scalability and utmost upgrade and extension possibilities make AIDA-NG a system that is able to keep pace with future developments and the requirements resulting thereof. Due to this flexibility, its user-friendliness, and considerable performance, AIDA-NG recommends itself for aeronautical communication centres of any size. AIDA-NG is best supplemented by the CADAS AIS and CADAS ATS/AFTN/AMHS User Agent solution.

• Open and fault-tolerant system architecture based on COTS equipment
• Compliance with international and ICAO communication and message handling standards (AMHS, AFTN, CIDIN, SITA Type B)
• High connectivity
• Uniform integration of all network types
• Utter adaptability via online and offline configuration and different parameter sets
• Fully integrated, easy-to-use HMI for all system functions
• Powerful routing algorithms and queue handling mechanisms
• Multi-site configuration and monitoring support (central administration)
• Excellent performance and throughput capacity
• Sophisticated message database handling
• Online diagnostics and statistics
• Service availability of 99.9997%

AIDA-NG consists of three major components: Core System, Recording System, and Operator Working Positions (HMI). They all may be hosted on two or more servers and computers that are interconnected via a redundant Fast-Ethernet LAN. All system parts are based on highly scaleable COTS equipment. They are independent of each other, which means that they can be extended and enhanced individually.

Core System

The Core System is composed of two identical communication units, which are run in an operational/hot standby combination. Both units mutually supervise their hardware and software. Upon software or hardware failure of the operational unit, the hot standby unit is automatically enabled so that it can take over immediately without loss of data. Depending on the environment, this switchover takes place within less than five seconds.

The Core System

• consists of fully duplicated servers in failover configuration with facilities to automatically switch between the servers within seconds;
• houses duplicated physical LAN/WAN interfaces for the connection to external communication partners;
• executes protocol stacks for the communication with all partner systems;
• performs message handling and central routing tasks.

Recording System

The Recording System has two identical mirrored database servers, which are operated in parallel. The mirroring between the database servers is performed in the background with no bearing on the regular operation.

The Recording System

• is a fully redundant database system;
• holds the traffic, statistical, and technical event databases (storage period configurable per database type);
• maintains static databases (system configurations, templates, archives, and other data);
• provides operators and applications with direct and concurrent access to all databases and archives.

Operator Working Positions (HMI)

All Operator Working Positions are identical in hard- and software. They are redundant in so far as there may be installed up to 99 positions, which can be used concurrently. Under ordinary conditions, the system is operated and supervised by two to six identical Operator Working Positions that all provide the full functional scope.

The Operator Working Positions

• provide an intuitive HMI to access system resources, configurations, messages, and queues;
• support team work by means of a sophisticated resource sharing concept;
• allow efficient access control by individually configurable user profiles;
• provide all system resources with simultaneous read access;
• perform online checks on all entered data.

System Architecture

The most effective way to achieve high service availability is to duplicate the system components. Thus, the system avoids shared hardware components as typically used in standard cluster solutions available on the market. The advantage of a duplicated system, therefore, is the exclusion of single points of failure. The AIDA-NG solution puts this approach consistently into practice as it has all major system components duplicated. The benefit of this layout is a measurable service availability of more than 99.9997%.

AIDA-NG is equipped with tools that allow to manage software releases and administer global system configuration data centrally; system parts are automatically updated with all required data during start-up. This also goes with monitoring: Even though there are different components that make up the system, these can be monitored by any Operator Working Position, or by several simultaneously. The Working Position displays the states of both the system as a whole and its single major components so that all operators are continuously informed on status changes. Further systems that are not necessarily at the same location, such as additional contingency and test systems, can also be monitored and controlled via the very same HMI.

This brings about the following advantages:

• Time-consuming and error-prone manual software installation and upgrade tasks on single system components are no longer necessary.
• De-centralised architecture allows, for instance, to centrally manage two systems located at different sites.
• The smooth switchover from one site to another makes contingency management very save and simple; switching over the operational services is therefore only a matter of minutes.

HMI Features

• AIDA-NG provides a fully graphical, clear-cut, and intuitive user interface.
• All functions can be accessed concurrently from several Operator Working Positions.
• Apart from hierarchically structured dialogues and menus, an object browser allows fast and direct access to related objects such as system parameters and diagnostic values.

System Parameter Handling

• Nearly all system parameters can be changed and activated online without the need to restart the system.
• The hardware-related configuration is part of the system parameters; modification of these parameters, such as activation of new interfaces or changing physical interface characteristics (e.g. V.24 to V.11), influence the system performance and availability in no way.
• Parameter input is menu-driven and facilitated by selection lists.
• Inputs are immediately checked on validity as well as cross-checked against related parameters, so that the user is prevented from entering inconsistent data.

System Inspection

Throughout all system levels, the system permanently collects diagnostic and statistic values of all available resources:

• system component states and resources,
• message routing,
• remote connection states and protocol-stack-related values (data line monitoring),
• operating system and hardware status,

Based on diagnostic values, the system generates absolute, average, and peak statistics in different resolutions (minute, hour, day, month, year). All values can be displayed, printed, and exported to spreadsheet applications such as Microsoft® Office Excel. The connection states to communication partners can be visualised in logical and geographical maps.

Event and Alarm Handling

• All changes in the system are reported and stored as events.
• The visual and acoustic presentation of events can be configured individually with the help of the corresponding alarm attributes.

• AIDA NG provides integrated standard AFTN, CIDIN, SITA, and AMHS (ATS Message Server, AFTN/AMHS Gateway) message routing functions.
• Standard AFTN/SITA/AMHS routing functions are enhanced by the possibility to copy, redirect, and pause messages.
• AIDA NG can act as a mere gateway between networks since it can switch messages transparently.
• Received/transmitted messages can be monitored online per circuit.
• Pending messages in outgoing queues can be monitored online (per circuit), directly accessed and rerouted, redirected to other destinations, blocked, and removed. AIDA NG harmonises the queue handling for all supported networks.
• Outgoing message queues are permanently checked on their length and whether they contain messages whose lifetime has expired (overdue messages).
• Messages to be processed (copied, redirected, etc.) can be explicitly specified via flexible filters.

• The storage period is configurable (up to several years). All data is accessible online since there is no distinction between short-term and long-term storage.
• Data can be exported automatically or manually to removable media. Archive databases can be viewed with the same powerful tools as online databases.
• AIDA NG provides a unique and uniform message tracing function, which is independent of the message type. This allows to retrieve, for instance, an incoming AFTN message and to trace its related outgoing AMHS messages and vice versa.
• A flexible filter facilitates systematic message retrieval.

• AIDA NG systems have been tested to switch a permanent load of nearly 200 messages per second with an input/output ratio of 1:2. High message load does not influence the response time of the Operator Working Positions.
• Overload situations are prevented by means of extensive flow control mechanisms.
• Exceptional circumstances, such as a huge number of queued messages caused by temporary outages of communication partners, do not reduce the overall system performance.