Vietnam Air Traffic Management (VATM) selects FREQUENTIS for implementation of smartFPLconverter

ICAO has introduced changes to the format for flight plan and associated ATS messages in Amendment 1 to the Procedures for Air Navigation Services - Air Traffic Management, Fifteenth Edition (PANS-ATM, Doc 4444). The changes in this amendment will be effective on November 15, 2012. To comply with Amendment 1 of ICAO 4444 and to avoid a costly upgrade of its Flight Data Processing System, VATM opened an international tender for an FPL 2012 converter.

After a thorough evaluation of all the bids, VATM awarded the contract to Frequentis based on the technical and financial merits of its smartFPLconverter solution. smartFPLconverter will be implemented as a turnkey project with a a short delivery schedule of 60 days. The Factory Acceptance Tests were recently conducted in the presence of the VATM staff and successfully completed.

smartFPLconverter is built on the foundation of Frequentis smartMessenger, a High- Performance and High- Availability ATS Message Handling System (AMHS). smartFPLconverter is a flexible system that interconnects to Flight Data Processing and Flight Plan Handling systems available in the market using standard communication interfaces. This allows ANSPs to conform to the Amendment 1 of ICAO 4444 in a timely and cost-effective manner.

smartFPLconverter provides bi-directional conversion between the present and new FPL format and holds messages for distribution within 24 hours prior to the EOBT/DOF in the flight plan message.

smarFPLconverter features a Destination Dependant Conversion (DDC) database. This allows the system to handle variations in the format of flight plans conforming to different interpretations of the 2012 format. The easily modifiable and understandable rules database allows changes to be made by local personnel as the FPL format evolves.