A Domain Specific Language for aviation domain interoperability

The purpose of this work is to promote and advance interoperability between aviation information systems. Modern information systems require a flexible, scalable, and upgradeable infrastructure that allows communication, and collaboration, between heterogeneous information processing and computing environments. Aviation systems from different organizations often use differing representations and distribution policies for the same data and messages, limiting interoperability and collaboration. Although this problem is conceptually straightforward, information exchange is error prone, often dramatically underestimated, and unexpectedly complex. In the air traffic domain, complexity is often the result of the many different uncorrelated information processing environments that are used. The complexity and variation in information processing environments creates a barrier between domain practitioners and the engineers that build these systems. These divisions have contributed to documented systems failures such as the FAA´s Advanced Automation System and the FBI´s Virtual Case File. Operationally, difficulties in sharing information have contributed to significant coordination challenges between organizations. These coordination problems are evident in events such as the response to Hurricane Katrina, the Minneapolis over flight of October 2009, and other incidents requiring coordination between multiple organizations. To address interoperability in the aviation domain, a prototype Domain Specific Language (DSL) for aviation data will be designed and implemented. The DSL provides the capability to specify and create aviation data for use in the aviation domain. The DSL is designed to allow the domain practitioner to participate in dynamic information exchange without being burdened by the complexities of information technology and organizational policy. The DSL provides the capability to specify and generate information system usable representations of aviation data.- The DSL makes use of an aviation metadata repository that contains the representational details of the aviation data. The combination of DSL, aviation metadata repository, and data generation provide the capability for aviation systems to interoperate, enabling collaboration, information sharing, and coordination.