The Common Constraint Situation Display (CCSD) allows CDM participants such as airlines to view a graphical display of information that they can use to monitor the state of the NAS and to manage their operations. The CCSD is a web-based tool that can be accessed over the CDMnet. The CCSD displays the following types of dynamic data.

• It shows the Enhanced Traffic Management System (ETMS) predictions of air traffic demand for the next fifteen hours, and it highlights the particular airports, sectors, and fixes where excess demand is forecast.
• It shows selected weather information such as the current intensity of precipitation.
• It shows flow-constrained areas (FCAs), which are volumes of airspace that are expected to be special trouble spots, possibly because of severe weather.
• It shows the reroutes that have been issued by the Air Traffic Control System Command Center.
• It shows the Collaborative Convective Forecast Product (CCFP), which is used by the FAA and NAS users for traffic flow management strategic planning.

In addition, to help the user interpret this data, the CCSD allows the user to display static data such as airports, navaids, fixes, and political boundaries.

The data displayed on the CCSD comes from the Enhanced Traffic Management System (ETMS), which is the main automation system that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) uses for traffic flow management. Flight data, including reports of the current positions of airborne aircraft, comes to ETMS from the twenty-one air route traffic control centers (ARTCCs) and the roughly 190 Terminal Radar Approach Control facilities (TRACONs) in the United States. In addition, data comes from Canada, Great Britain, and Mexico.

ETMS receives data on flights that fly under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR). ETMS typically receives a position update on an airborne flight once a minute. The demand predictions are updated once a minute, with these predictions being based on the latest data that ETMS has received; these predictions are provided to the CCSD. Also, the CCSD receives an update on the precipitation data once every five minutes, on the CCFP once every two hours, and on FCAs and reroutes whenever an FAA traffic manager issues an update. The most recent data is shown on the CCSD every time its screen refreshes, which is once a minute (or whenever the user manually refreshes the screen).

The data shown on the CCSD is exactly the same data that is seen by the FAA traffic flow managers that use ETMS, except that data on sensitive flights, lightning data, and aircraft icons are omitted. What is notable about the CCSD is that it provides access to this data in an inexpensive and easily supported way since a CCSD user only needs a browser and connectivity to the Air Traffic Control System Command Center (ATCSCC), which hosts the CCSD web server. The user does not need any special software that needs to be installed or maintained.

CCSD User's Manual v8.40 PDF File (2.61 MB) Posted June 25, 2008