Use of Virtual Mission Operations Center Technology to Achieve JPDO's
Virtual Tower Vision

William D. Ivancic

216-433-3494

<wivancic@grc.nasa.gov>

NASA Glenn Research Center

21000 Brookpark Road

Cleveland, OH 44135

Phillip E. Paulsen

216-433-5607

<Phillip.E.Paulsen@grc.nasa.gov>

NASA Glenn Research Center

21000 Brookpark Road

Cleveland, OH 44135

*Abstract*---The Joint Program Development Office has proposed that the
Next Generation Air Transportation System (NGATS) consolidate control
centers. NGATS would be managed from a few strategically located
facilities with virtual towers and TRACONS. This consolidation is about
combining the delivery locations for these services not about decreasing
service. By consolidating these locations, cost savings in the order of
\$500 million have been projected. Evolving to spaced-based
communication, navigation, and surveillance offers the opportunity to
reduce or eliminate much of the ground-based infrastructure cost.
Dynamically adjusted airspace offers the opportunity to reduce the
number of sectors and boundary inconsistencies; eliminate or reduce
"handoffs;" and eliminate the distinction between Towers, TRACONS, and
Enroute Centers. To realize a consolidation vision for air traffic
management there must be investment in networking. One technology that
holds great potential is the use of Virtual Mission Operations Centers
to provide secure, automated, intelligent management of the NGATS. This
paper provides a conceptual framework for incorporating VMOC into the
NGATS.

Table of Contents

[**[1. Introduction 1]{.smallcaps}**](#__RefHeading___Toc133654746)

[2. Virtual Mission Operations Center 2](#__RefHeading___Toc133654747)

[3. VMOC Real World Experience 3](#__RefHeading___Toc133654748)

[4. Life Cycle Development 5](#__RefHeading___Toc133654749)

[5. Legacy Interoperability Support 6](#__RefHeading___Toc133654750)

[6. Summary 7](#__RefHeading___Toc133654751)

[References 8](#__RefHeading___Toc133654752)

[Biography 8](#__RefHeading___Toc133654753)

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc133654746 .anchor}1. Introduction

The Joint Program Development Office (JPDO) has proposed that the Next
Generation Air Transportation System (NGATS) consolidate control
centers. NGATS would be managed from a few strategically located
facilities with virtual towers and TRACONS. Thus, what JPDO has proposed
is basically movement of the current air transportation system from a
circuit-base, voice-based, manual control system to a fully network
centric system using netcentric operation concepts \[1\].

FAA is currently working some of these issues for ground-based
communication under the System Wide Information Management (SWIM)
program. However, SWIM does not currently include mobile operations to
the aircraft or support for unmanned aerial vehicles -- although that is
being considered for the future \[2\].

The following are some key features that network centric solutions
regarding mobile network technology that need to be considered for
future communication systems.

-   **Interoperability**

    -   Is the new network fully interoperable with existing open
        standards (IETF)?

-   **Scalability**

    -   Will the technology that works on a single vehicle also work on
        many?

-   **Survivability**

    -   Can one still maintain network connectivity, even if a primary
        data path fails?

-   **Mobility**

    -   Can one maintain network contact with something in motion
        without the need for manual reconfiguration?

-   **Transparency**

    -   Can one field a mobile network that is truly "set and forget"?

-   **Security**

    -   Can one securely cross multiple domains (i.e. open, closed,
        government, etc...)?

-   **Use of Shared Infrastructure**

    -   Can one take advantage of low cost (open) network
        infrastructure? (The ability to share network infrastructure
        enable dramatic cost reductions and system flexibility.)

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc133654747 .anchor}2. Virtual Mission Operations
Center

Requirements

Some of the original Virtual Mission Operations Center (VMOC) concepts
beginnings can be traced to NASA's Glenn Research Center. Glenn Research
Center worked collaboratively with General Dynamics Advanced Information
Systems[^1]to demonstrate secure command and control of space assets at
NASA Johnson's Inspection 99 and 2000. After receiving feedback form
mission and operations specialists at the NASA Johnson Space Center's
Mission Control Center, requirements for generic mission operations were
developed. These generic requirements are:

-   Enable system operators and data users to be remote

-   Verify individual users and their authorizations

-   Establish a secure user session with the platform

-   Perform user and command prioritization and contention control

-   Apply mission rules and perform command appropriateness tests

-   Relay data directly to the remote user without human intervention

-   Provide a knowledge data base and be designed to allow interaction
    with other, similar systems

-   Provide an encrypted gateway for "unsophisticated" user access
    (remote users of science data)

VMOC Defined

A Virtual Mission Operations Center (VMOC) can be defined as a framework
for providing secure, automated command and control, resource
management, data mining, machine-to-machine communications and access to
an asset or assets by remote users using Internet technologies.

A VMOC may also include the following features: intrusion detection,
survivability and redundancy, accounting and data mining. Intrusion
detection ensures that malicious users have not gained access to the
system. Intrusion detection may also entail deployment of
countermeasures to ensure system integrity.

The VMOC may also be designed to ensure survivability and redundancy.
There may be a number of VMOCs, geographically separated and networked
in such a manner that if one VMOC goes off-line a secondary VMOC can
immediately take over. Effectively, this is failover to a
geographically-separated hot standby. Such geographically separated
systems are directly in line with JPDO's consolidated control center
concept.

The VMOC may implement an accounting mechanism in order to keep track of
a customer's use of the resources for auditing or billing purposes.

Finally, a VMOC may offer data-mining services. With regards to the
NGATs, data mining services directly correspond to the SWIM concept of
publish and subscribe. Here data such a aircraft location, passenger
lists, destinations, security information, flight plans, weather
information, turbulence information, maintenance records, etcetera can
be access from virtual storage facilities. Of course, ownership and
privacy issues will have to be addressed regarding the access provided
by any database service.

![](media/image1.wmf){width="5.897222222222222in"
height="3.4583333333333335in"}

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc133654748 .anchor}3. VMOC Real World Experience

NASA Glenn collaborated with Cisco Systems, General Dynamics, the Air
Force, the Army Space and Missile Battle Labs, Surrey Satellite
Technology Limited (SSTL), Universal Space Networks (USN), the Office of
Secretary of Defense and others to demonstrate space-based netcentric
concepts and real-time command and control of a space-based asset. A
VMOC base on General Dynamics Nautilus Horizon product provided a
framework for the mission partners to define, test, and field an
IP-based command and control system capable of supporting secure
distributed mission operations of any IP-based platform or sensor. This
VMOC provided a path for the rapid development and demonstration of new
technologies within the relevant environment \[3, 4\].

The VMOC tied remote space operators directly to an orbiting spacecraft
via the open Internet through a Web environment. The VMOC was
implemented as a geographically distributed, dual, hot-standby
operations center. The primary VMOC was located at the Center for
Research Support (CERES) on Schriever Air Force Base, CO, with the
backup VMOC located at NASA's Glenn Research Center (GRC) in Cleveland,
Ohio. With the satellite ground stations tied to the Internet, the VMOCs
are the control elements that orchestrate the tie between the user and
the spacecraft. This VMOC has continued spiral development to enhance
system interoperability and responsiveness, enhance situational
awareness, facilitate "system of systems" solutions, and support
automated machine-to-machine interactions.

This master VMOC used Internet Protocols to acquire satellite data,
dynamically task satellite payload, and perform telemetry, tracking and
control (TT&C) of on-orbit satellite assets. The VMOC performs a number
of functions:

(1) Enables system operators and data users to be remote from ground
    stations

(2) Verifies individual users and their authorizations

(3) Establishes a secure user session with the platform

(4) Performs user and command prioritization and contention control

(5) Applies mission rules and performs command appropriateness tests

(6) Relays data directly to the remote user without human intervention

(7) Provides a knowledge database and is designed to allow interaction
    with other, similar systems

(8) Provides an encrypted gateway for "unsophisticated" user access
    (remote users of science data)

Security Manager

The security management concept is illustrated in figure 2. Access to
the VMOC was controlled and monitored for intrusion with a
"defense-in-depth" strategy. Autonomous network intrusion detection and
countermeasures were conducted using the Automated Security Incident
Measurement (ASIM) intrusion detection system and the Common Intrusion
Detection Director (CIDD). Both ASIM and CIDD were developed by General
Dynamics for the Air Force Information Warfare Center, and they are used
routinely by most Department of Defense (DOD) bases to mitigate the
network risks associated with hackers (external to the monitored
connections) and saboteurs (internal to the monitored
connections).![](media/image2.png){width="5.773611111111111in"
height="3.051388888888889in"}

For the June 2004 demonstration, the remote user was authenticated via
user name and password. Additional VMOC authentication is planned using
technologies such as biometrics and DoD common access cards (CAC). Each
user was assigned a priority and ordered by priority in the VMOC's
database. Priorities were demonstrated for command and control. A
high-priority user's request preempts a lower priority user request. In
addition, the database included information to determine what
authorizations specific users possessed. For example, one user may be
able to request a stored image whereas another may actually be
authorized to command the system to take an image.

Redundancy and Survivability

The VMOC is designed for survivability by utilizing multiple mirrored,
geographically separated VMOCs. The demonstration used two VMOCs, with
the primary VMOC located at CERES in Colorado Springs, and the secondary
VMOC located at NASA GRC in Cleveland, Ohio. Both VMOCs held mirror
images of all hardware and databases. When the primary VMOC was
deliberately made to fail, a switch to the secondary at GRC was nearly
instantaneous. Furthermore, when the CERES VMOC came back online, the
switch back was also indiscernible by the user. Currently, this switch
was performed by the redirector, which is a single point of failure.
Other techniques are being investigated to perform this dual hot-standby
function.

Systems Integrator

The General Dynamics master VMOC is actually an integrator of systems.
That is, the master VMOC coordinates the external user requests with
space and ground assets available from SSTL---here, the United
Kingdom--Disaster Monitoring Constellation (UK-DMC) satellite and images
requested via SSTL's mission planning system---and ground assets from
USN. Thus, the master VMOC acts both as a resource coordinator and as an
interface to various systems that are available.

For aeronautics system, one may have a master VMOC for air traffic
management coordination communicating with a VMOC located onboard and
controlling an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

Scheduler

The scheduler takes user requests, prioritizes these requests and then
looks at the available resources to determine if and when a request can
be granted. Data that is used by the scheduler includes available
space-based assets, available ground system support, orbital dynamics,
and user priority. For our real world demonstration, the General
Dynamics' VMOC did not have to determine availability of onboard assets.
That was done by the SSTL mission planning system, as the UK--DMC is
under SSTL control and the SSTL mission planning system understands the
details of the UK--DMC power management and resource availability better
than the external VMOC can. However, future implementations may require
the master VMOC to also perform resource management and monitor such
resources as available power and battery levels.

Scheduling is an iterative process. The VMOC receives a request, then
determines what assets may be available to service that request. The
VMOC then queries those assets as to their availability. If all assets
are available, the VMOC schedules those assets and schedules the
request. If the assets are not available, the VMOC will determine if
there is another time the request can be scheduled. If so, the VMOC
again queries all necessary assets for availability. This process is
repeated until a time can be found when all required assets are
available or until the VMOC determines that the request cannot be
granted. As additional assets are added to the system, the complexity of
the scheduling process grows.

For aeronautics, such scheduling can be applied to the gates, tarmac
area, arriving and departing flights, rescheduling of traffic due to
weather, aircraft maintenance and numerous other applications.

Data Mining

The General Dynamics VMOC was implemented to perform data mining. When
the VMOC receives a request for an image, the VMOC will first examine
its data base and other image data bases to determine if an existing
image will fulfill the user's needs. If so, the stored image will be
sent to the user. If an existing image is not available, a new image
request will be made. Once the new image is received, it will be sent to
the user and stored locally in an image database and will likely also be
stored remotely.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc133654749 .anchor}4. Life Cycle Development

The VMOC can be deployed throughout the mission life cycle -- here the
life cycle consists of the air traffic management upgrade, deployment
and implementation, and operations life cycles. Figure 3 illustrates the
process. The VMOC can be incorporated into the system developers'
conceptual design to enable concept testing and provide a framework for
integrating new technologies, instruments, platforms and system
operations concepts. These interrelated systems can use the VMOC as a
test integrator prior to deployment in the field. Once system has been
tested off-line, they can be brought into operations using the same
VMOC.

The VMOC also provides a secure, portal that enable domestic and foreign
civil and DoD air traffic control centers to integrate command and
control operations. The VMOC can contain the mission rules that enable
disparate ATC operations to interoperate.

As a secure portal, the VMOC can provide a common interface for System
Wide Information Management (SWIM). Furthermore, it can provide fusion
engines whereby data from multiple sources can be integrated to produce
knowledge databases. Such databases can include weather, flight plans,
cargo, radar data, aircraft tracking and 3D trajectory information,
passenger lists, maintenance information, black-box data depositories,
and numerous other types of information.

Finally, the VMOC can provide an intelligent interface to enable legacy
systems to interoperate with other disparate legacy systems and with
future communication systems.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc133654750 .anchor}5. Legacy Interoperability
Support

The VMOC can provide the secure portal framework and location for
housing radio bridging technologies which enable interoperability among
a variety of radio systems. Robust radio bridging applications and
development suites allow one to connect two way radios, cellular phones,
traditional and IP telephones, PCs, PDAs, and other communications
devices. These systems are based on open-standard software including
voice-over-internet-protocol (VOIP) and provide interoperable group
communications to otherwise stand-alone communication systems for
international, national, state, and local public safety and defense
organizations, as well as for diverse commercial enterprises. Such
bridging technology is available from at least two commercial entities
today and will likely become more prevalent in the future \[5, 6\].
These systems create massively scalable group communications among all
types of communication devices. They are already in use in the military
theater. They provide a "virtual" device which can be located anywhere
in the world that has Internet connectivity. For "survivability" and
redundancy, multiple units can be mirrored and deployed in
geographically distributed areas. Furthermore, since the technology is
based on Internet Protocols, the radio systems can easily be integrated
with encryption systems for secure communications and communications
isolation.![](media/image4.wmf){width="5.7625in"
height="3.454861111111111in"}

Figure 4 provides an example of interoperability between disparate radio
systems. In this example, a military aircraft equipped with a UHF analog
radio can talk to a civilian aircraft via a bridging application. At
each ground radio site, the analog radio signal is tuned into IP packets
which are sent to the VOIP server/radio bridge. The server application
can forward the packets between radio systems using IP technology.
Furthermore, the server can also route these same VOIP packet to other
radio systems, and phones. Thus, the DoD, Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI), Federal Emergency Management Authority (FEMA),
Department of Homeland Security (DHS), FAA and other communities of
interest can all be brought into the situation if so necessary. In
addition, various parties can be listen-only mode while others may be
provided push-to-talk capability.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc133654751 .anchor}6. Summary

A Virtual Mission Operations Center is a framework for providing secure,
automated command and control, resource management, data mining,
machine-to-machine communications and access to an asset or assets by
remote users using Internet technologies. All of these features are
required for the Joint Program Development Office's virtual tower
vision. The VMOC concept is currently deployed to provide a secure
portal and mission rules for the Cisco Router in Low Earth Orbit (CLEO)
and has been selected for use in the Air Force space and missile defense
system.

The VMOC provides a framework to define, test, and field an IP-based
command and control system capable of supporting secure distributed
operations of any IP-based platform or sensor. It also provides a path
for the rapid development and demonstration of new technologies within
the relevant environment. Incremental integration and demonstration of
key technologies, and architectures will lead the way to true
transformational communications by facilitate many of the goals of
network centric operations.

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc133654752 .anchor}References

"NGATS ATM Enterprise Architecture Report," Joint Planning and
Development Office of Crown Consulting, Inc, June 2005
<http://www.crownci.com/NGATS_EA_REPORT.doc> as of April 2006

<http://www.crownci.com/NEA_Presentation.ppt>

as of April 2006

^2^ "Next Generation Air Transportation System 2005 Progress Report," To
The Next Generation Air Transportation System Integrated Plan
<http://www.jpdo.aero/site_content/pdf/ngats-np_progress-report-2005.pdf>
as of April 2006

^3^ [Will Ivancic](http://roland.grc.nasa.gov/~ivancic/), [Dave
Stewart](http://www.verizon.com/fns/), [Dan
Shell](http://www.cisco.com/), [Lloyd
Wood](http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/L.Wood/), [Phil
Paulsen](http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn), [Chris
Jackson](http://www.sstl.co.uk/), [Dave
Hodgson](http://www.sstl.co.uk/), [James
Northam](http://www.sstl.co.uk/), [Neville
Bean](http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/L.Wood/UoSAT-2/), [Eric
Miller](http://www.gd-ais.com/), [Mark Graves](http://www.gd-ais.com/),
[Lance Kurisaki](http://www.gd-ais.com/): "Secure, Network-Centric
Operations of a Space-Based Asset: Cisco Router in Low-Earth Orbit
(CLEO) and Virtual Mission Operations Center (VMOC)," NASA Technical
Memorandum
[TM-2005-213556](http://gltrs.grc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/GLTRS/browse.pl?2005/TM-2005-213556.html),
May 2005

^4^ B. P. Conner, L. Dikeman, V. Osweiler, D. Schoenfelt, S. Groves, P.
E. Paulsen, W. Ivancic, J. Walke and E. Miller: "Bringing Space
Capabilities to the Warfighter: Virtual Mission Operations Center
(VMOC)," paper
[SSC04-II-7](http://www.cisco.com/application/pdf/en/us/guest/strategy/strategy/c644/ccmigration_09186a0080389c14.pdf),
18th Annual AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites, Logan, Utah, 9-12
August 2004.

^5^ Twisted Pair Solutions' Wide Area Voice Environment^TM^
([WAVE](http://www.twistpair.com/page.php?page=wave)^TM^)
<http://www.twistpair.com/> as of April 2006

^6^ CISCO Land Mobile Radio Gateway,
<http://www.cisco.com/application/pdf/en/us/guest/products/ps259/c1650/cdccont_0900aecd8034ef85.pdf>
as of April 2006

[]{#__RefHeading___Toc133654753 .anchor}Biography

![](media/image5.jpeg){width="1.0951388888888889in"
height="1.375in"}***Will Ivancic** is a senior research engineer at
NASA's Glenn Research Center working in the networking and advanced
communication technology development. Mr.* *Ivancic's work includes:
advanced digital and RF design, communications networks, satellite
onboard processing, and system integration and testing, Mr. Ivancic's
recent work has concentrated on research and deployment of secure mobile
networks for aerospace and DoD networks*

***Phillip E. Paulsen** received a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering
and a Masters in Business Administration from Cleveland State
University. He is a certified NASA Project Manager with over 17 years of
experience in the design and development of space flight systems. He
served as the Tracking and Data Acquisition Manager (TDAM) for all
intermediate and large class NASA ELV missions from 1993 to 1999. Since
1999 Mr. Paulsen has been managing the development of Internet
Protocol-compliant network hardware and software for use in space-based
platforms.*

[^1]: General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems acquired Veridian
    Information Solutions, a leading network security vendor for the
    intelligence community, in August 2003, along with Veridian\'s
    Nautilus Horizon software.