In the last three years IDS AirNav has closely cooperated in the framework of the Swedish L-CAPS project for ADQ (aeronautical data quality). As part of the solution, IDS AirNav has provided a SAAS dynamic data management based on its Cronos system.
The experience has resulted in enormous value and enriched the experience of the ANSPs LFV and Naviar, airport company ISAVIA and the relevant military stakeholders. It can be considered a very innovative system.
Cronos is designed from the ground up as a digital and dynamic AIS (aeronautical information services), ATS (air traffic service), and MET (meteorological) management system. It is a step ahead of the upcoming ICAO and Eurocontrol recommendations and specifications with a set of web modules to manage aeronautical, air navigation, and meteorological data. Its features include embedded modularity and extensibility that meet today's specific requirements while allowing for the future enhancements and expansions of tomorrow.
Based on the latest available web-technology, fully integrated with the IDS Air Nav Suite, which is based on an AIXM 5.1 compliant aeronautical database, Cronos provides further functionalities to manage traditional TAM messages, or Digital NOTAM packages, GRFnew SNOWTAM formats, OPMET data and Weather charts, iWXXM packages and ATS and Flight Data up to the latest version. It is also available as a mobile Android and iOS app.
Thanks to involvement in SESAR SWIM, Cronos includes SWIM APIs and globally supported open-standards that are available for secure data exchange, paving the way to digitalization. This is a key enabler to mobile app usage and are a more accurate way to optimize information management and distribution, a key target of the SWIM concepts. Cronos provides a set of communication modules that are embedded into its own B2B Gateway, on which new SWIM connectivity is merged together seamlessly with the traditional communication patterns that are today available for data exchange (AFTN, AMHS). Cronos’ B2B Gateway is a modularized service on which EAD Service Layer (PAMS, AIM-SL, ESI), NM B2B (Flight Preparation, Filing and Management) services, e-mail, s-FTP and AFTN/AMHS traffic are seamlessly present for publishing/consuming/receiving/transmitting aeronautical, flights and weather information with confidence and dispatch integrated and automated Pre-Flight Information Bulletins.
Cronos can be configured as a standalone product or can be integrated within IDS AirNav SUITE. By integrating platforms into a single interface, it is simple to share and access data across different ANSPs and Airport departments – thus saving time, resources, and the frustration of managing numerous platforms and data sources.
The system has several benefits for end users. These include increased efficiency because the information is encoded only once, at the point of origin and because the digital platform enables radical improvements in information filtering capabilities, in stopping information overload and in reducing the time spent on analysing irrelevant information.
Cronos also enables consistent quality. With digital information, it is possible to put in place exhaustive and cost-efficient data validation and evaluation procedures. For example, the unavailability of a critical Navaid could immediately trigger incremental PIB notifications to pilots with affected flight plans.
In addition, Cronos improves pre-flight briefings. In a digital aeronautical information platform it is possible to structure PIBs by applying human factor principles that maximize the transfer of information to the pilot's working memory. It can include images, weather charts and a structure that facilitates reading and creates a clearer picture of a situation which could affect a pilot's flight.
In terms of innovation, by embedding a digital NOTAM platform, Cronos has immediate practical benefits for end users. It will bring new value to investments that are made in recent years, such as the European AIS database, which delivers static data in digital format.
Finally, it enables superior data quality by allowing pilot users or regional sites or entities to request and propose Proposals of Flights or Aeronautical Events onto a digital platform. Any change is tracked from the point of data origination to the information distribution sales.