Usage and implementations
There exist many systems and projects that use AIXM, in particular in the Aeronautical Information Services (AIS) area. AIXM based systems are used to collect, store and provide aeronautical data, for flight procedures design, for the production of Aeronautical Information Publications (AIP), NOTAM and for aeronautical charts. There also exist Air Traffic Control (ATC) and Air Traffic Management (ATM) systems in general that use AIXM for the management of the aeronautical information that is necessary for their operations.
A non-exhaustive list of AIXM data sources is provided through in the AIXM collaboration area:
Data Coding Guidelines
The purpose of providing common AIXM Coding Guidelines is to support the various applications of AIXM and to ensure semantic interoperability between the different systems. The revised ICAO Annex 15 and the new PANS-AIM document, planned to become applicable in November 2018, contain the definition of several Digital Data Sets. Detailed coding guidelines for the provision of these data sets are in development, with the AIP Data Set coding guidelines already available for public review.
Business Rules
Business Rules in the AIXM context are complex constraints, such as dependencies between the values of different attributes (sometimes in different classes), detection of ‘out of range’ values, mandatory properties for class of objects, etc. These are not included in the UML model and do not appear in the XML Schema, being provided as a pool of rules from which a community of interest can select and agree on the rules that are relevant for their implementations. For example, the ICAO AIP Data Set coding guidelines will be supported by a profile of the AIXM Business Rules, which enables the provision of an AIP Data Set Validation Service.
Digital NOTAM
In addition to the encoding of "static" aeronautical data (such as data contained in AIP and charts), AIXM 5.1 and further versions also enable the digital encoding of the "dynamic" information contained in NOTAM, SNOWTAM and other similar messages. This is known as the "Digital NOTAM" project and it is based on the following specifications:
- a set of dedicated coding guidelines for types of events that are usually published through NOTAM (runway closure, navaid unserviceable, temporary obstacle, etc.)
- a set of rules for the automatic generation of the current NOTAM messages (in order to support legacy users, who do not have initially the capability to rely only on digital NOTAM)
- a small extension of the AIXM core model, which allows for linking together the digital data elements that correspond to the digital encoding of each event (including the legacy NOTAM text, to facilitate the transition to the new concept)
More information about the Digital NOTAM project is available on a dedicate page.