FAA uses FairCom DB in system for all U.S. flight plans
FairCom’s database technology is used in mission-critical systems throughout the world. One of the organizations that trusts FairCom is the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which uses the FairCom DB multimodel database in the communications system that serves as the backbone behind all FAA operations.
Defined in the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, The FAA’s mission is “to provide the safest and most efficient aerospace system in the world” and its area of responsibility includes more than 29 million square miles of U.S. airspace. Communications are the primary means by which the FAA provides most of its services. The backbone of FAA communications is a system known as the National Airspace Data Interchange Network (NADIN), which is an interfacility communications network built to handle the complex nature of the services relied on by the FAA. The FairCom DB multimodel database is embedded within NADIN because of its ability to provide capacity, speed, reliability and flexibility to this critical system, which additionally requires 7x24x365 availability. As the core for interfacility communications nationwide, NADIN directly determines the level of service and safety the FAA as a whole can provide.
FAA provides the safest and most efficient aerospace system in the world
One of the main responsibilities of the FAA is Air Traffic Control. To efficiently provide support to this function, NADIN uses FairCom DB to collect, store and transfer every flight plan of every flight over U.S. airspace, as well as all international routes to and from the United States. An average day in the U.S. will see 43,290 flights inside U.S. airspace and at peak times there are approximately 5,000 aircrafts the FAA must monitor live. NADIN relies on FairCom DB's ability to handle these high capacities of critical data.
The NADIN Messaging Servicing Network is then responsible for disseminating flight plan data among Flight Service Stations, Air Route Traffic Control Centers, U.S. Military Base Operations, and the International Civil Aviation Authorities. Because access to flight plan information is crucial, NADIN requires fast information transfer: A responsibility FairCom DB was designed for.
In addition to transferring air traffic control voice and communications through NADIN, other critical information, such as weather alerts, are also disseminated via NADIN. The flexibility FairCom DB enables NADIN to handle the data complexity presented by the data variety the system requires which can include—voice, image and various data formats.
Safety, time and money
The biggest disruptor to the FAA’s mission is inclement weather, which can create both a safety hazard and impede air traffic efficiency. As the largest cause of traffic delays (accounting for almost 70% of all delays) inclement weather is also expensive, costing airlines and passengers billions of dollars each year. While it cannot control the weather, the FAA does impact such things as flight delays and efficient routing. FairCom DB provides the FAA with immediate access to reliable data, enabling the organization to identify aircraft that are scheduled to fly through severe weather and to re-route them if possible. The end results for the 2.7 million passengers that come through U.S. airspace daily are improved safety, time (and frustration) saved and more money in their pockets.
The FAA’s use of FairCom DB is just one example of how FairCom database technology plays a role in everyday life. FairCom DB is trusted in 911 emergency response systems, package tracking systems, wireless phone call routing, and credit and debit card transaction processing. And this only scratches the surface of the use cases for which some of the world’s best known brands and more than 40 percent of the Fortune 100 trust FairCom.
Explore the entire family of FairCom database products and read success stories from other industry-leading businesses that trust FairCom for their data management solutions.
