The importance of System Wide Information Management for the future ATM system is undisputed now and luckily it seems that the voices wanting to eliminate the venerable abbreviation SWIM have also lost power.
Within the SESAR Program, 2 work-packages are entrusted with the development of SWIM, WP8 (“Information Management”) and WP14 (SWIM Technical Architecture”), with involvement from EUROCONTROL in both. SWIM is one of the core technical developments in the SESAR Program. It enables data sharing between ATM services across the whole European ATM system. The goal is to improve collaborative decision making and common situational awareness through the provision of quality information to the right people at the right time.
It is foreseen that SWIM will put in place several elements facilitating this improved exchange of information. The first of which -the ATM Information Reference Model (AIRM)- is to be released soon. The dedicated SWIM web pages will provide more details on this and future developments. Furthermore the SWIM LinkedIn Subgroup provides a discussion-forum for all stakeholders who wish to get involved and share their ideas.
Of course this does not mean that SWIM development and implementation will now be smooth sailing. For one, there are still different interpretations of the concept and its scope and some experts even worry that the available network technologies will not be up to the requirements that will be imposed by full scale SWIM implementation. Sadly it is rather quiet on the SWIM Linkedin Subgroup but this does not mean that there is that little to discuss. If nothing else, just read Roger-Wilco’s many articles about SWIM and I am sure you will have plenty to talk about.