CARATS Open Data for
Research & Development

Background

Fukuoka FIRWith an increase in the global air traffic demand, the accompanying social infrastructures, namely air traffic systems, areexpected to improve for safer and more efficient air traffic management. A long-term vision, which is known as
collaborative actions for renovation of air traffic systems (CARATS), has been established with the committee comprisingacademic experts, manufacturers, and related ministries and agencies including Japan Civil Aviation Bureau, promoting
the renovation and modernization of the current air traffic systems. One of the committee’s activities constitutes thedistribution of a series of commercial aircraft track data possessed by air traffic control centers, CARATS open data, toaccelerate the research and development in the fields of air traffic management and communication, navigation, andsurveillance, and facilitate their improvement through a wider participation of government bodies, industries, andacademia. Electronic Navigation Research Institute (ENRI) has extended its support to create data and promote theactivity, given its experience in using radar data for research including performance analysis.

What is CARATS open data?
CARATS open data are a series of track data and weather data while the contents have been expanded. A series of trackdata are converted from the actual instrument-flight-rules (IFR)-scheduled-flights data recorded in the radar informationand flight plan databases. The data have been processed to remove the need for confidentiality and are intended forgeneral release. Currently, a total of 1.58 million flights data are available, which are provided to applicants for the sole
purpose of research and development or academic-related objectives. Till date, the annual number of users from various
fields, such as industry, academia, and government including foreign organizations, has significantly increased. It isconsidered that the CARATS open data will be utilized for activities that will foster the development of air transportation.

National Institute of Maritime, Port and Aviation Technology
Electronic Navigation Research InstituteCARATS Open Data for
Research & Development
Specification
twelve-weeks-a-year (a week of each month a year) datacontaining time histories of latitude, longitude, pressure altitude,
and aircraft types provided in a comma-separated value format
are collected for CARATS open data. Since the scope of the data
has gradually expanded, they may have different contents withrespect to a given year.
Period2012 to 2018 (1,580,000 flights)

SourceRadar / ADS-C / MLAT

Coverage

Fukuoka FIR, IFR scheduled flights(including international flights)

Fukuoka FIR:
Radar control area: 10 sec interval

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Oceanic control area: 1 min interval

2015 2016 2017 2018
Terminal area: 8 sec intervalTokyo international airport, Fukuoka airport

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Air route traffic control
Terminal
radar control
Aerodromecontrol
AirportAir routeTerminal area

Airport surface: 1 sec intervalTokyo international airport, Fukuoka airport

Terminal
radar control
Aerodromecontrol
Terminal area

2016 2017 2018
Data contents

AirportTrajectory viewer "PlotTrack" and “PlotSurface“With its joint collaboration, ENRI has developed andprovided the trajectory viewer, PlotTrack and PlotSurface,to support the open data. It can display aircraft
movements with fast forwarding capabilities andvisualize images of all radar tracks. Moreover, it helps
entrants catch a glimpse of traffic flow over the Japanese
airspace easily.

PlotTrack
PlotSurface

Position ofaircraft※Flight ID is given as a virtual ID due to confidentiality reasons.

Left column – Flight ID
Right column – Aircraft Type

Display image

Application of CARATS open data
It is an extremely valuable source providing the data of most flights within the radar scope of the Japanese air trafficcontrol, enabling users to conduct various analyses, such as the traffic flow tendency in a specific control area, andfurthermore, flight efficiency through the combination of additional data, including weather forecast and aircraft
performance.
Departure
Arrival201816141210864207 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

Radar tracks

Traffic volume

National Institute of Maritime, Port and Aviation Technology
Electronic Navigation Research Institute7-42-23, Jindaijihigashi-machi, Chofu, Tokyo 182-0012 Japan
Phone: +81-422-41-3165 Fax.: +81-422-41-3169
CARATS Open Data Information website

Fuel consumption
Contact details for CARATS open data:
Secretariat of the Committee for Promoting
Renovation of the Air Traffic System,
Civil Aviation Bureau, MLIT.
Email: carats@mlit.go.jp©ENRI 2022.10
No part of this material may be used or reproduced in any manner without a prior written permission of Electronic Navigation Research Institute.