NASR—The FAA's System for Managing Aeronautical Information

The National Airspace System Resource (NASR) System provides the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) with the means for storing and maintaining a reference database with descriptive details of the National Airspace System's (NAS's) infrastructure and the operational status of all components. NASR, completed in January 1999 and declared operational in March 1999, assures the FAA of current and accurate information available on the framework upon which Air Traffic Control and other FAA activities are overlaid. NASR supports the management of NAS data used by the FAA, chart producers, military and other Government entities to produce a variety of aeronautical publications. In addition, NASR data is accessed by commercial air carriers, flight planners, and flight systems developers as required by FAA regulation to support the safety-of-flight mission. NASR is a client-server system employing a graphical user interface (GUI) for aeronautical information specialists (AIS) accessing NAS data. The primary requirements were that it be a reliable and maintainable system with simplified access to NAS data. The database includes over 1,500 data elements in over 350 tables, and provides access to the data by virtue of four temporally-different views; the analysts use over 400 user forms to access and manage NASR's data contents. Looking towards the future, interfaces with data sources and those systems dependent upon NASR information are being automated. It is planned that users will have access to an external website holding a copy of the latest database contents updated on a daily basis.