ACARS User Guide PDF

Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques
Airline Telecommunications and Information Services
AIRCOM Server
User Guide
2001VLLYSUM137
AIRCOM Server User Guide
THIS IS AN EXTERNAL DOCUMENT AND DATA PROTECTION DOES APPLY.
SITA reserves the right to make changes to this document at any time without prior notice.
Last revision date: April 2, 2014
© SITA 2000-2014
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All rights reserved
SITA ii 2001VLLYSUM137
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 SCOPE .............................................................................................................................................................................. 8
1.1 IDENTIFICATION.............................................................................................................................................................. 8
1.2 SYSTEM OVERVIEW........................................................................................................................................................ 8
1.3 DOCUMENT OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................................................. 8
1.4 TERMS AND ACRONYMS................................................................................................................................................. 9
1.5 APPLICABLE DOCUMENTS ............................................................................................................................................ 10
1.5.1 SITA Documents ................................................................................................................................................ 10
1.5.2 Non-SITA Documents......................................................................................................................................... 10
2 MAIN WINDOWS ......................................................................................................................................................... 11
2.1 LOGIN WINDOW ........................................................................................................................................................... 11
2.2 MAIN CLIENT WINDOW ................................................................................................................................................ 13
2.2.1 Status Bar........................................................................................................................................................... 17
2.2.2 Change Password .............................................................................................................................................. 19
2.3 USER PREFERENCES ..................................................................................................................................................... 20
2.3.1 General Preferences .......................................................................................................................................... 21
2.3.2 Notification Preferences .................................................................................................................................... 23
3 OPERATION REFERENCE ........................................................................................................................................ 25
3.1 USER MAILBOX WINDOW............................................................................................................................................. 25
3.1.1 Mailbox Folders Section .................................................................................................................................... 28
3.1.2 Mailbox Message Summary Section .................................................................................................................. 28
3.1.3 Message Preview Section ................................................................................................................................... 31
3.1.4 Message Viewer Window ................................................................................................................................... 32
3.2 NEW MESSAGE WINDOW ............................................................................................................................................. 35
3.2.1 New Uplink Message .......................................................................................................................................... 35
3.2.2 New Ground Message ........................................................................................................................................ 43
3.2.3 New Message Accessibility ................................................................................................................................ 44
3.2.4 Configuration Impacts on Type B Message Header .......................................................................................... 44
3.3 FORWARD WINDOW ..................................................................................................................................................... 46
3.4 REPROCESS WINDOW ................................................................................................................................................... 48
3.4.1 Toolbar .............................................................................................................................................................. 49
3.4.2 Data and controls .............................................................................................................................................. 49
3.5 MY FLIGHTS ................................................................................................................................................................. 51
4 AIRCRAFT TRACKING & FLIGHT MONITORING ............................................................................................. 54
4.1 AIRCRAFT TRACKING WINDOW .................................................................................................................................... 54
4.1.1 Toolbar .............................................................................................................................................................. 55
4.1.2 Aircraft List ........................................................................................................................................................ 57
4.1.3 Grouping and Sorting ........................................................................................................................................ 60
4.1.4 Data Panels........................................................................................................................................................ 61
4.1.5 Status Bar........................................................................................................................................................... 76
4.1.6 Context Menus ................................................................................................................................................... 77
4.1.7 Tracking Grid Context Menu ............................................................................................................................. 78
4.1.8 Find .................................................................................................................................................................... 82
4.1.9 Preferences ........................................................................................................................................................ 83
4.1.10 Modify Tracking Data ................................................................................................................................... 86
4.2 FLIGHTMONITOR .......................................................................................................................................................... 89
4.2.1 Toolbar .............................................................................................................................................................. 90
4.2.2 Map .................................................................................................................................................................... 92
4.2.3 Aircraft List ........................................................................................................................................................ 96
4.2.4 Data Panels........................................................................................................................................................ 98
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4.2.5 Views Panel...................................................................................................................................................... 101

4.2.6 Layer Groups ................................................................................................................................................... 103
4.2.7 Time Bar .......................................................................................................................................................... 106
4.2.8 Status Bar......................................................................................................................................................... 107
4.2.9 Context Menus ................................................................................................................................................. 108
4.3 LEGACY AIRCRAFT SITUATION DISPLAY .................................................................................................................... 113
4.3.1 Aircraft Route Display ..................................................................................................................................... 123
4.3.2 Flight Plan Display .......................................................................................................................................... 124
4.3.3 Aircraft Positioning and Extrapolation ........................................................................................................... 125
4.4 FLIGHT SENTRY DISPLAY (FSD), POWERED BY FLIGHT EXPLORER ............................................................................ 127
4.4.1 Starting the Flight Sentry Display client .......................................................................................................... 128
4.4.2 Additional Functions from AIRCOM Server .................................................................................................... 128
4.5 SATCOM .................................................................................................................................................................. 131
5 LOGS & REPORTS VIEWING ................................................................................................................................. 132
5.1 TRAFFIC LOG VIEWER WINDOW ................................................................................................................................. 132
5.1.1 Function Description ....................................................................................................................................... 133
5.1.2 Data Description .............................................................................................................................................. 135
5.2 EVENT LOG VIEWER WINDOW ................................................................................................................................... 137
5.2.1 Function Description ....................................................................................................................................... 138
5.2.2 Data Description .............................................................................................................................................. 138
5.2.3 Event Log Operations Audit............................................................................................................................. 139
5.3 REPORTS & REPORT VIEWER WINDOWS .................................................................................................................... 140
5.3.1 Reports Window ............................................................................................................................................... 140
5.3.2 Report Viewer Window .................................................................................................................................... 142
6 MISCELLANEOUS ..................................................................................................................................................... 144
6.1 FILTER WINDOWS ....................................................................................................................................................... 144
6.2 PRINT WINDOW .......................................................................................................................................................... 149
6.3 REFERENCE ADMINISTRATION DATA.......................................................................................................................... 152
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List of Figures
Figure 2-1: Login Window ........................................................................................................................................................ 11
Figure 2-2: Main Client Window (for an operator user) ............................................................................................................ 14
Figure 2-3: Change Password Window ...................................................................................................................................... 19
Figure 2-4: Preferences Window – General Panel ..................................................................................................................... 20
Figure 2-5: Preferences Window – Notification Panel .............................................................................................................. 20
Figure 2-6: Visual Notification Dialog ...................................................................................................................................... 24
Figure 3-1: Main Status bar ....................................................................................................................................................... 25
Figure 3-2: User Mailbox Window ............................................................................................................................................ 26
Figure 3-3: Messages Summary Section .................................................................................................................................... 29
Figure 3-4: Downlink Message Preview Section ....................................................................................................................... 31
Figure 3-5: Uplink Message Preview Section ............................................................................................................................ 31
Figure 3-6: Ground Message Preview Section ........................................................................................................................... 31
Figure 3-7: Message Viewer Window ....................................................................................................................................... 33
Figure 3-8: New Uplink Message Window ................................................................................................................................ 35
Figure 3-9: Advanced Options Dialog ....................................................................................................................................... 40
Figure 3-10: Message Preview Errors and Multi-Parts Message ............................................................................................... 42
Figure 3-11: New Ground Message Window............................................................................................................................. 44
Figure 3-12: Forward Window – Single Message...................................................................................................................... 46
Figure 3-13: Forward Window – Multi-Messages ..................................................................................................................... 47
Figure 3-14: Reprocess Window – 4 Messages Selected ........................................................................................................... 48
Figure 3-15: My Flights Window............................................................................................................................................... 52
Figure 4-1: Aircraft Tracking Window – General Tracking Data .............................................................................................. 54
Figure 4-2: Aircraft Tracking Group By .................................................................................................................................... 60
Figure 4-3: Aircraft Tracking Window – Faults (AFDAS) ........................................................................................................ 70
Figure 4-4: Aircraft Tracking Window – Faults Hierarchical View .......................................................................................... 71
Figure 4-5: Aircraft Tracking Window – DFM.......................................................................................................................... 74
Figure 4-6: Aircraft Tracking Window – Custom Fields ........................................................................................................... 75
Figure 4-7: Aircraft Tracking Window – Sequences ................................................................................................................. 75
Figure 4-8: Aircraft Tracking Status Bar ................................................................................................................................... 76
Figure 4-9: Typical Tracking Grid Context Menus.................................................................................................................... 78
Figure 4-10: Start Uplinks Hold Period Window....................................................................................................................... 79
Figure 4-11: Typical Uplink Grid Context Menus ..................................................................................................................... 80
Figure 4-12: Uplink Message Viewer ........................................................................................................................................ 81
Figure 4-13: Tracking Window Find ......................................................................................................................................... 82
Figure 4-14: Preferences Panel .................................................................................................................................................. 83
Figure 4-15: Tracking Window Preferences – Aircraft Display ................................................................................................ 84
Figure 4-16: Tracking Window Grid Preferences ...................................................................................................................... 85
Figure 4-17: Modify Tracking Data Window ............................................................................................................................ 87
Figure 4-18: FlightMonitor Window ......................................................................................................................................... 89
Figure 4-19: Map Tools: Select radius, Select rectangle, Range & bearing............................................................................... 93
Figure 4-20: FlightMonitor Map Flight Plan Display ................................................................................................................ 93
Figure 4-21: Legend showing flight stages and positions colors............................................................................................... 94
Figure 4-22: View GMA ............................................................................................................................................................ 95
Figure 4-23 - FlightMonitor Window– Aircraft List Panel ........................................................................................................ 96
Figure 4-24 - FlightMonitor Window– Aircraft List Group By & Sort ..................................................................................... 97
Figure 4-25: FlightMonitor Aircraft & Flight Panel .................................................................................................................. 98
Figure 4-26: Flight Plan Panel ................................................................................................................................................... 99
Figure 4-27: Positions Panel ...................................................................................................................................................... 99
Figure 4-28: Map Legend Panel............................................................................................................................................... 100
Figure 4-29: Views Panel......................................................................................................................................................... 101
Figure 4-30: Map Display Options Group ............................................................................................................................... 103
Figure 4-31: Navigation Group ................................................................................................................................................ 104
Figure 4-32: FIR / UIR Context Menu ..................................................................................................................................... 104
Figure 4-33: Weather Groups .................................................................................................................................................. 105
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Figure 4-34: Legend Panel with Weather Info ........................................................................................................................ 105

Figure 4-35: Time Bar with Radar Layer Animating ............................................................................................................... 106
Figure 4-36: Aircraft List Context Menu ................................................................................................................................. 108
Figure 4-37: Window Preferences Panel.................................................................................................................................. 110
Figure 4-38: Window Preferences – Aircraft List .................................................................................................................... 111
Figure 4-39: Short Label Editor ............................................................................................................................................... 112
Figure 4-40: Long Label Editor ............................................................................................................................................... 112
Figure 4-41: Date Time Format Editor .................................................................................................................................... 112
Figure 4-42: Legacy Aircraft Situation Display Window ........................................................................................................ 113
Figure 4-43: ASD Display Options Dialog .............................................................................................................................. 114
Figure 4-44: Aircraft Route Display on the Map ..................................................................................................................... 123
Figure 4-45: Aircraft Flight Plan Display on the Map ............................................................................................................. 124
Figure 4-46: Positioning Data from Flight Plan Extrapolation ................................................................................................ 125
Figure 4-47: Flight Sentry Display Main Window................................................................................................................... 127
Figure 4-48: Plane Contextual Menu Figure 4-49: Airport Contextual Menu ................................................................... 128
Figure 5-1: Traffic Log Viewer Window ................................................................................................................................. 132
Figure 5-2: Traffic Log Viewer – Hex View ........................................................................................................................... 134
Figure 5-3: Event Log Viewer Window ................................................................................................................................... 137
Figure 5-4: Reports Window – Local Access .......................................................................................................................... 140
Figure 5-5: Reports Window – Remote Access ....................................................................................................................... 141
Figure 5-6: Report Viewer Window – Traffic Log Report ...................................................................................................... 142
Figure 6-1: Mailbox Filter Window ......................................................................................................................................... 144
Figure 6-2: Event Log Filter Window ...................................................................................................................................... 144
Figure 6-3: Traffic Log Filter Window .................................................................................................................................... 145
Figure 6-4: Message Type Filter Value ................................................................................................................................... 148
Figure 6-5: Print Font and Back Color Dialogs ....................................................................................................................... 149
Figure 6-6: Print Window ........................................................................................................................................................ 151
List of Tables
Table 1-1: AIRCOM Server Client User Roles ........................................................................................................................... 8
Table 1-2: Terms and Acronyms.................................................................................................................................................. 9
Table 2-1: Login Window Functions ......................................................................................................................................... 12
Table 2-2: Login Window Information ...................................................................................................................................... 12
Table 2-3: Menu Functions ........................................................................................................................................................ 15
Table 2-4: Operations Menu Functions...................................................................................................................................... 16
Table 2-5: Change Password Functions ..................................................................................................................................... 19
Table 2-6: Change Password Window Information ................................................................................................................... 19
Table 3-1: User Mailbox Functions ........................................................................................................................................... 28
Table 3-2: User Mailbox Folders ............................................................................................................................................... 28
Table 3-3: Mailbox Message Summary Information ................................................................................................................. 30
Table 3-4: Message Viewer Data ............................................................................................................................................... 34
Table 3-5: Message Viewer Functions ....................................................................................................................................... 34
Table 3-6: New Uplink Message Data ....................................................................................................................................... 39
Table 3-7: New Uplink Message Functions ............................................................................................................................... 40
Table 4-1: Aircraft Tracking Window Functions ....................................................................................................................... 56
Table 4-2: Aircraft Tracking Hotkeys ........................................................................................................................................ 57
Table 4-3: Active Aircraft Tracking Information (Aircraft List) ............................................................................................... 60
Table 4-4: Active Aircraft Tracking Information (ACARS Route Grid) ................................................................................... 62
Table 4-5: Active Uplink Messages Tracking Information ........................................................................................................ 66
Table 4-6: Faults Monitoring Information ................................................................................................................................. 73
Table 4-7: DFM Information ..................................................................................................................................................... 74
Table 4-8: Tracking Grid Context Menu ................................................................................................................................... 79
Table 4-9: Uplink Grid Context Menu ....................................................................................................................................... 80
SITA vi 2001VLLYSUM137
Table 4-10: Faults Grids Context Menu..................................................................................................................................... 81

Table 4-11: Custom Fields Grid Context Menu ......................................................................................................................... 82
Table 4-12: Sequences Grid Context Menu ............................................................................................................................... 82
Table 4-13: FlightMonitor Window Toolbar ............................................................................................................................. 91
Table 4-14: FlightMonitor Hotkeys ........................................................................................................................................... 92
Table 4-15: FlightMonitor Context Menus .............................................................................................................................. 109
Table 5-1: Traffic Log Viewer Functions ................................................................................................................................ 134
Table 5-2: Traffic Log Viewer Data ........................................................................................................................................ 137
Table 5-3: Event Log Viewer Functions .................................................................................................................................. 138
Table 5-4: Event Log Viewer Data .......................................................................................................................................... 139
Table 5-5: Reports Window Functions .................................................................................................................................... 141
Table 5-6: Report Viewer Window Functions ......................................................................................................................... 143
Table 6-1: Filter – Viewing Mode & Use of the '%' Character ................................................................................................ 146
Table 6-2: Filter Window Functions ........................................................................................................................................ 147
SITA vii 2001VLLYSUM137

1 Scope
1.1 Identification
This document is the AIRCOM Server User Guide. It contains all information needed by users to operate
and understand the functions available to them in this software package.
1.2 System Overview
The AIRCOM Server software (the client interface) allows the user to interact with the system’s
database to view his/her messages received from aircraft, send and track uplink messages to aircraft as
well as viewing the current tracking information for all active aircraft. Many more functions will be
discussed later in this document.
The AIRCOM Server is still evolving to add and enhance such functions as system supervision as well
as many small function enhancements making the AIRCOM Server an ideal ACARS message
processing system.
The AIRCOM Server Client provides two major user profiles
Operator User Profile This profile allows an operator user to view and send messages, view certain configuration
items as well as aircraft tracking information. This document describes the features
available to this profile.
System Administrator Profile This profile includes all the functionality available in the Operator User profile plus all
configuration items maintenance, system monitoring and supervision functions available to
the system administrator users. Administration usage is described in the “AIRCOM Server
Administrator Guide”.
Table 1-1: AIRCOM Server Client User Roles
1.3 Document Overview
This guide is divided in the following sections:

 Scope: This section; general introduction of the document.
 Main Windows: Description of the Login, Main and Preferences windows.
 Operation Reference: Information and detailed procedures to execute and understand the AIRCOM
Server software from an operator user’s point of view.
 Aircraft Tracking & Flight Monitoring: Descriptions of the windows that provide the live
tracking data of the aircraft and their geographical situation on a world map. The FlightMonitor,
ASD Legacy and FSD are the 3 different AIRCOM Server's options to do so.
 Logs & Reports Viewing: Windows providing access to AIRCOM Server logs and the ability to
generate reports on that data.
 Miscellaneous: Other general-purpose windows.
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1.4 Terms and Acronyms
ACARS Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System

ADLT AIRCOM Data link Traffic Handling applications that encompass the following elements: XASP,
CAAS, DHP and VMMS.
AFDAS ACARS Fault Detection and Alerting System
AIRCOM SITA VHF and Satellite Air-Ground Communication Service
ASD Aircraft Situation Display: deprecated, now called "FlightMonitor"
ASP AIRCOM Service Processor
BATAP Type B Application to Application Protocol handling CSCI
CMC Central Maintenance Computer
CSCI Computer Software Configuration Item
DFM Dynamic Frequency Management
DHP Direct Host Processor
DM Downlink Model
DSP Data link Service Provider
ETA Estimated time of arrival
ETD Estimated time of departure
FCM Fuel Conservation Monitoring
FDE Flight Deck Event
FE Flight Explorer
FI Flight number, also known as Flight Identifier
FlightMonitor New flight following & map display tool, successor of the ASD
FSD Flight Sentry Display
GES Ground Earth Station
GMA Ground Movement Advisories
GSP Ground Service Processor
GUI Graphical User Interface
LDAP Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
LOGE Event Log
LOGT Traffic Log
MSN Message Sequence Number
MSS SITA’s Message Storage System
MU Management Unit
ODBC Open Database Connectivity
RGS Remote Ground Station
SITA Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques
SMI Standard Message Identifier
SMT Standard Message Text
UTC Universal Time Coordinated
VDL VHF (Very High Frequency) Digital Link
VHF Very High Frequency
XASP Extended AIRCOM Service Processor
Table 1-2: Terms and Acronyms
1.5 Applicable Documents
1.5.1 SITA Documents
[S1] AIRCOM Server Hardware and Software Prerequisites Installation Guide

2001VLLYSUM134
[S2] AIRCOM Server Installation and Configuration Guide

2001VLLYSUM132
[S3] AIRCOM Server Monitoring Guide

2000VLLYSUM01081
[S4] (This document)
[S5] AIRCOM Server Administrator Guide

2001VLLYSUM138
[S6] AIRCOM Server Disaster Recovery and Mirroring Guide

2010VLLYSUM693
[S7] SITA AIRCOM System Specification for the MIAM Connectivity
1.5.2 Non-SITA Documents
[E1] Air-Ground Character-Oriented Protocol Specification,

AEEC specification 618-4
[E2] Data Link Ground Systems, Standard and Interface Specification (DGSS/IS)
AEEC Specification 620-4
2 Main Windows
2.1 Login Window
When a user starts the AIRCOM Server Client (the user interface), the Login window first appears
(Figure 2-1). This window allows identifying the user to the system by supplying an AIRCOM Server
user name and password that has been assigned by the AS administrator or by providing your company’s
directory service account credentials. Your administrator will tell you which of the two to use, because
AIRCOM Server can be configured for any of the two authentication methods.
Once the user has been identified, the users’ access rights and privileges are set to determine the allowed
actions and available functions.
Figure 2-1: Login Window
However, before validating user credentials, the login sequence checks the validity of the license key as
specified in the database being accessed. The following may occur:
 If the license key is invalid, a dialog advises the user and login is not allowed.
 If the license key is valid but expired, login is still allowed1.
Note that when a license key is expired or invalid, the Server component of the system is disabled. Also,
each database holds its own copy of the license key, so if ever accessing a backup or replicated database,
even though the key is old and expired, it is still possible to login and browse through archived data.
Due to user credentials validation and security configuration, it is possible to get security-related
messages such as previous failed login attempts, or to be asked to change the current password (see
section 2.2.2). Also, if archiving is active, connection to the archive data source (in addition to the
online data source) occurs at login. If ever the data source is temporarily unavailable, it may display a
progress bar while trying to connect.
1
Provided the user identification is valid.
Function Description
OK The user must press this button or press the Enter key in order to log into the AIRCOM
Server. The user name and password text boxes must be filled in before pressing this button;
otherwise a failed login message is displayed.
Cancel Quits the application without logging in. Once pressed, the application terminates.
Edit Opens the Client Configuration tool to configure database connections. After the Client
Configuration tool is closed, the list of available connections is automatically refreshed.
F5 key press Refreshes the list of database connections. Hence, it is possible to leave the login window
opened, launch the AIRCOM Server Client Configuration utility, add or change connections
(optionally close the utility), return to the login window and press ‘F5’ to refresh the list of
connections.
Table 2-1: Login Window Functions
Data Description
User name & password AIRCOM Server authentication
To enter the AS Client account's user name and password that was assigned by the AS
administrator for the database server selected in the “desired database connection” list. Please
note that these are case insensitive, i.e. the user name and password may be entered in either
uppercase or lowercase, or a mix of the two. The user can change his password any time after
login.
Directory service authentication
The user name and password must be those of your directory service account and they follow
the directory service validation rules. No password change can be done within AIRCOM
Server; it rather has to be done directly to your directory service account. This means there is
no “Change Password” option under the File menu.
Desired database List of all available database server connections as defined by the AS administrator. The
connection initial selection is considered the default database server, and when logging off from the
Client, it is always this default connection that is pre-selected.
If the selected connection corresponds to a database for which the access has been deemed
read-only for all users, the user is prompted with a dialog advising that the database access will
be read-only and that no changes will be possible in the system.
Table 2-2: Login Window Information
2.2 Main Client Window
Once the user has successfully been identified by the system, the following window (Figure 2-2) is
displayed. This is the main application window from which an operator user accesses all AIRCOM
Server functionality. Closing this window, either by clicking the Exit button or by using the built-in
close button [X], and confirming the intention to exit the application terminates the current session.
All functions allowed for the logged user are accessible from the menu. The day-to-day operation
functions are accessible both from the toolbar buttons and the Operations menu. When a toolbar button
has more than one function associated, a dropdown arrow is displayed next to it. In such a case, the first
function is called directly (the default function) if the button is clicked on its face, while the other
functions are accessible by clicking on the dropdown arrow.
The status bar at the bottom of the window shows the online and archive data sources connection state,
logged-in user display name, and the current UTC date/time taken from the Server computer. Note that
all time references and manipulations use the Server time. Each panel has a useful tooltip including
additional information such as the name of the online database connection.
If the AIRCOM Server administrator has configured the appropriate account policies, it is possible for
all users to consult their last successful login date and time and/or the last failed login attempts (if any).
The information is displayed for a short period of time immediately after login via a tooltip, and then it
is available anytime by positioning the mouse over the 3rd panel that displays the currently logged user
name.
Figure 2-2 shows the window for an operator user having all operator privileges.
Figure 2-2: Main Client Window (for an operator user)
Menu Functions Description

File menu Gives access to the system’s basic tasks:
 Close: Closes the current window.
 User Preferences: Allow customizing options for each user.
 Change Password: Allows the user to change its current login password (not available
for LDAP (directory service) authentication).
 Log Off: Close all opened windows and restart the application at the login prompt as to
log on another database or with a different user.
 Exit: Close the application and all opened windows.
Operations menu Gives access to all operational functions, same as from the Main toolbar described below.
Window menu The AIRCOM Server Client being a Multiple Document Interface, the Window menu
provides functions to organize the application windows within the Main application
window. It also lists the opened windows within the application environment allowing a
switch between already opened windows (the active one is identified with a checkmark).
Menu Functions Description

Help menu Gives access to the help information on the AIRCOM Server system:
 User Guide: This guide in PDF format.
 Administrator Guide: The Administrator Guide in PDF format.
 Release Notes: What’s new and fixes for the current release, as well as setup guidelines,
important release announcements and known problems and limitations.
 About: Indicate the software version number, the exact build number of the Client
application and copyright information.
Table 2-3: Menu Functions
Clicking on any dropdown toolbar button automatically drops down the menu to present the available
options. There is no default menu option fired on the button click. Below are the operation related
windows. Some menu options and windows are not shown here because they are reserved to AIRCOM
Server administrators. These are described in the document [S5].
Mailbox button Launches the User Mailbox window to view and manage all user messages as well as to
reply or acknowledge aircraft messages. The User Mailbox is described in section 3.
Your user account must “own a mailbox” to have this menu available.
Messages button Dropdown accessing to the new message windows to send uplink messages to aircraft or
ground messages to other users. The functions available are the following.
New Uplink Allows the user to send uplink messages to any aircraft configured in the system’s fleet
configuration. The New Uplink window is described in section 3.2.1.
Your user account must have the right to send uplink messages to have this menu available.
New Ground Allows the user to send ground-to-ground messages to users configured in the system and
to dynamic Type B destinations. The New Ground window is described in section 3.2.2.
Your user account must have the right to send ground messages to have this menu
available.
Tracking button Dropdown accessing tracking-related windows. The list varies according to license
options.
FlightMonitor The FlightMonitor window lets the user view all active aircraft positioned over the world
map, with their cumulated positioning data, flight phase (Out, Off, On, In,…), flight plan
data and other tracking data. It can also display weather layers and information provided
the related license option is set (requires an account with Schneider Electric weather
provider) and it can get additional position feeds such as radar and ADS-B to complement
or replace ACARS positions, especially useful for non-ACARS equipped aircraft (requires
an account with FlightAware data provider).
If you do not have the FlightMonitor license option, if the option is not installed, or if you
do not have the appropriate operation user right to “View FlightMonitor”, this menu will
not be visible.
FSD 3 menus may exist for Flight Sentry Display:
 Flight Sentry Display (FSD): The FSD button calls the Flight Sentry client (powered by
Flight Explorer) which provides flight following capabilities combining the feeds from
many sources (radar, voice reported, ACARS) and flight plans to track aircraft over the
world.
 FSD Playback: Launches the FSD Client in playback mode allowing replaying a flight
recording previously performed within the FSD Client.
 FSD Offline: Launches the FSD Client in offline mode. This is useful when the FSD
data feed is down. This option is available only on demand. If not available, contact
your AS administrator for more details.
If you do not have the Flight Sentry Display license option, if the option is not installed, or
if you do not have the appropriate operation user right to “View Flight Sentry Display
(FSD)”, these menus will not be visible.
ASD Legacy Launches the legacy Aircraft Situation Display window. This is the ancestor of the
FlightMonitor and is going to be decommissioned in a future release.
If you do not have the Aircraft Situation Display – Legacy license option, if the option is
not installed, or if you do not have the appropriate operation user right to “View ASD
legacy”, this menu will not be visible.
Aircraft Tracking Brings up the Aircraft Tracking window to let the user view the current state of all active
aircraft, the pending uplink messages (i.e. being processed), active and monitored aircraft
faults, the dynamic frequency management status and any sequences status. This menu is
available only if you have the right to “view aircraft tracking”.
My Flights Launches the My Flights window to view and manage all dynamic flight assignments
assigned to you or that you have to supervise. The My Flights window is meant to support
flight dispatchers and is described in section 3.4. This window is available only to users
having a dynamic flight assignment office defined or to the user being the default master
office; otherwise the menu option is not available.
Logs button Dropdown accessing the system’s event and traffic logs and the reports browser.
Event Log Launches the Event Log Viewer window presenting the events logged by the server and the
clients about everything with the system such as communications, traffic, configuration
changes and security.
The Logs and Reports windows are described in section 5.
Traffic Log Launches the Traffic Log Viewer window presenting all messages sent and received by
AIRCOM Server.
Reports Launches the Reports window allowing browsing for reports to view with the available
report viewer.
Exit button Closes the AIRCOM Server Client and the FlightMonitor.
Table 2-4: Operations Menu Functions
2.2.1 Status Bar
Three status indicators at the bottom left of the status bar indicate the following:
First indicator: Shows the online database connection status.

This indicator is green when successfully connected, and would turn red critical ( ) if ever the
connection to the database would be lost.
A connection loss is typically detected by an operation requiring access to the database, like opening a
window or saving changes. When this occurs, a dialog appears stating the application is trying to
reconnect, and two things can happen: either it will be able to reconnect after some time, or the user
decides to cancel that dialog and exit the application.
Second indicator: Shows the archive database connection status.

This indicator is gray when the archive is not configured. When configured and connected, it is green,
and red critical when disconnected ( ). When the archive is disconnected, you may click the status
indicator to refresh the connection state – i.e. try to reconnected to the archive database.
Having an archive configured but not connected is not a blocking situation. It may be due, for example,
to maintenance operations, It does not prevent the user to operate. All that is temporarily missing are
the messages and logs that have been archived. However, if you notice the archive is configured and has
been disconnected for a very long time, you may ask your system administrator to verify if the situation
is expected or not.
Third indicator: Shows the base service connection status.
The AIRCOM Server base service is a new component in AS version 6.0. This service is required to
operate the new Aircraft Tracking and Sequencer windows. With time, the Client session will eventually
exclusively connect to this service to operate.
The Client session automatically connects to the service after login. A green indicator shows the service
is connected and the user is properly authenticated. A red indicator shows the service is not connected.
Since the service login is asynchronous after the user logged in the Client, it may occur that the service
shows as red at startup, but then it will connect just a few seconds later. Whaterver the condition that
prevents the Client to connect to the service, or if ever the service connection would be lost during a
session, the Client will always automatically try to reconnect every 15 seconds. To get more details on
connection problems or disconnection reasons, you may always refer to the Windows Event Application
Log – look for AIRCOM Server Client.
Other status indicator colors exist, such as orange which means trying to connect, and yellow which
means connected and logging in (i.e. authenticating the user); these two states are very short in time
(especially the yellow status) and you should not expect to see them except for very quick transitions.
The other status that may occur is red critical ( ) which occurs when the communication is lost with
the service. This state is also transitory and will change to the disconnected – connecting – logging in –
connected sequence afterwards.
The status indicators are followed by two other panels:
Logged user display name:
Current date and time expressed in UTC:
Any other panels after the date and time would show only when a window is opened and they depend on
the currently active window. They show information about that specific window.
2.2.2 Change Password
The change password dialog may pop up at login if ever the security configuration requires changing
password at login, or it is obtained anytime from the main window File menu (Ctrl-W keyboard
shortcut). Not available if using directory service authentication to login.
Figure 2-3: Change Password Window
OK button (Enter key) Checks that the Old password is valid and then, if New and Confirm passwords match. If
applicable password rules are respected, the password is successfully changed and the user
gets a confirmation dialog. If the Old password or the New and Confirm passwords do not
match, or the password rules are not respected, the user is prompted to retry.
Specific messages may pop up due to password rules enforced by security configuration. In
any case, follow the instructions to correctly set a new password.
Cancel button (Esc key) Cancels the change password operation; and the user gets a notification dialog stating that
the password was not changed.
Table 2-5: Change Password Functions
Data Description
Old Password Currently valid password for the logged user (case insensitive).
New Password New password (case insensitive).
Confirm Password The same password as entered in the new password box, for confirmation purposes (case
insensitive).
Table 2-6: Change Password Window Information
2.3 User Preferences
The user preferences are customizable options for each user to adjust, as they like. These options are set
via the User Preferences window available through the Main window’s File menu (Ctrl-P). Figure 2-4
and Figure 2-5 below illustrate the User Preferences window. The description of each available option
follows.
Figure 2-4: Preferences Window – General Panel
Figure 2-5: Preferences Window – Notification Panel
2.3.1 General Preferences
This panel presents miscellaneous individual options. Those available are:
Startup window: The startup window allows picking up a window among the list of supported windows
that will launch automatically when starting the Client application. The list of available windows may
vary from one user to another depending on the user rights of each user account. The full list of
supported windows is: User Mailbox, Aircraft Tracking, FlightMonitor, ASD Legacy, Event Log, and
Traffic Log.
The following startup size and start maximized settings apply for Client applications ran locally. When
the Client is run remotely via the browser, the remote session settings supersede the user preferences.
When the Client is accessed remotely, it is preferable to set the startup size preferences to fit the remote
session resolution (see the Client Web Access tool on the AS Server computer or ask a system
administrator).
Main startup size: The main Client application window opens at the specified size in pixels.
Main start maximized: When checked, the main Client application window opens maximized on the
desktop. If the size is later restored, the window resizes to the main startup size. The size list presents
four common predefined sizes as well as “(system)” and “(use current)”. The system setting means the
main window opens at the size of the desktop, but still not maximized (unless start maximized is
checked), which means it can be dragged around. The use current setting means the current main
window size becomes the opening size the next time the Client is started. The current size is displayed
at the bottom of the startup frame.
Child startup size: The Client application child windows (all windows opened within the main
environment) open at the specified size in pixels. The size list presents four common predefined sizes as
well as “(fit main window)” and “(use current)”. The fit main window setting means the child window
opens at a size to fit in the main window without any scrollbars to show in the main window, but still not
maximized (unless start maximized is checked), which means it can be dragged around. The use current
setting means the current “User Preference” window (this window) size becomes the opening size of all
child windows. The current size is displayed at the bottom of the startup frame.
Child start maximized: When checked, the Client application child windows open maximized within
the main window. If their size is later restored, the windows resizes to the child startup size.
Automatic refresh: The time interval in seconds indicates the frequency at which the mailbox will
automatically refresh itself to get any new messages for the folder being viewed at the time of the
refresh, and this occurs only if the mailbox is in online viewing mode. Note that a value of zero seconds
means that no automatic refresh will ever occur. Also, the default initial setting is 90 seconds for a user
that never changed this preference and the minimum allowed setting (besides zero) is 20 seconds. Note
that the ‘automatic mailbox refresh’ setting must differ from zero in order to enable the message
notification function described below.
Aircraft display: An aircraft can be represented everywhere in the Client using either its registration
identification or its nose number. For an aircraft, the registration configuration is mandatory while the
nose number is optional. Therefore, if displaying aircraft using their nose number and one aircraft does
not have a nose number defined; it will be displayed using its registration between parentheses. Only at
a few locations like in the FlightMonitor data panel or in the New Message window, both the aircraft
registration and nose number are displayed, otherwise any ‘Aircraft’ field refers to the aircraft according
to the “aircraft display” user preference.
The mailbox and log viewers display historically stored information. This means that the registration
and nose number information relating to a message or a log entry represent the configuration of the
aircraft at the moment the message or log entry was created. In other words, if an aircraft did not have a
nose number defined one month ago, the nose number information for messages received one month ago
will show the registration between parentheses (assuming aircraft display is set to nose number) even
though a nose number has been configured since then.
Print Fonts & Layout: All configurable print font and layout parameters can be set here to become the
defaults used whenever printing something via the AIRCOM Server Client (except reports). The
header/footer, message, and regular text are the different sections of printed documents that can be
affected by fonts and layout settings. Fonts and background color settings are set using corresponding
standard Windows dialogs. Refer to section 6.2 for more details on print settings.
2.3.2 Notification Preferences
This panel presents options driving the system’s mailbox message notification function. This function
allows any user to get notifications (visual and/or audio) when messages of different priorities are
received in their inbox folder.
Activation of any notification occurs at every mailbox refresh cycle based on the ‘automatic mailbox
refresh’ setting described above. Therefore, even though the mailbox window is not opened or is not in
online viewing mode, the auto-refresh setting is also important to enable the notification function (an
auto-refresh value of zero means no message notification).
Each times a mailbox refresh fires, new messages received by the user since the last refresh are obtained
and analyzed based on their priorities. Depending on the message priorities available in the set of new
messages and on whether or not message notification is already in action, the system will fire the
appropriate message notification based on the following settings.
Priority selection: The first step in configuring the message notification is to select a message priority
among the five priorities: No Priority, Take Note, Low, Medium, and High. These priorities are set
when configuring downlink templates, hence a priority is associated to downlink messages matching
such and such template. Any other messages coming into the system, like ground messages including
forwarded messages, have no priority. One set of notification options is configurable for each priority
level.
Showing a notification box: When this option is checked (for any priority), upon reception of new
messages of the configured priorities, a dialog box shows up a listing the messages of the priorities
having visual notification configured. The dialog offers to acknowledge and continue working using the
‘No’ button, and it also offers the option to immediately open the user’s mailbox window using the
‘Yes’ button. Both of these actions terminate any notification (visual and/or audio).
If the dialog is still opened when a new notification fires, any new messages that shall be displayed will
be added to the already existing ones, and this occurs until the dialog is acknowledged. Note that the
dialog displays up to 50 messages; the newest being listed first, any messages passed the 50th are not
shown.
If the dialog is hidden under other windows and that the application’s Mailbox window is opened or gets
the focus, any notification stops, hence the dialog closes.
Figure 2-6: Visual Notification Dialog
Playing the AS Notification sound from the Windows sounds: When this option is checked (for any
priority), upon reception of new messages of the configured priorities, the sound of the highest priority
among the received messages is played according to the following settings.
Repeat the sound indefinitely at specified intervals: When this option is checked, until an
event occurs to terminate the sound, it plays indefinitely at every [x] seconds intervals.
Play the sound a set number of times at specified intervals: When the indefinitely check box
in not checked, a number of repetitions is specified along with the number of seconds interval
between each sound play iteration. The only exception is if the number of repetitions is one, in
which case, of course, the interval does not apply.
The sound to play is identified in the option’s description and it follows the following naming
convention: “AS Notification [priority level] – [priority name]”. These sounds are configurable via the
Windows Control Panel ‘Sounds and Audio Devices’, under the Sounds tab, looking for AIRCOM
Server in the Program events list. Browsing for a new sound for each priority level changes the sounds
for all user accounts of the computer where the AIRCOM Server Client is installed.
Flashing the window and taskbar: When this option is checked (for any priority), upon reception of
new messages of the configured priorities, the application’s task bar icon and title bar start flashing. It
flashes twice and stays highlighted until the user selects the application.
NOTE: Use the ‘Esc’ (escape) key to manually terminate any ongoing notification: If combined
with visual notification, selecting either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ from the dialog terminates any parallel audio
notification. If the Mailbox window is opened or gets the focus while audio notification is in action, it
stops the sound play. Ultimately, hitting the Esc key while the application has the focus also stops the
audio notification.
A warning area at the bottom may display some messages to let the user know that a specific value was
invalid and has been automatically changed to respect minimum or maximum values. This warning
disappears automatically after a few seconds.
3 Operation Reference
3.1 User Mailbox Window
The User Mailbox window is available through the Main window via the Mailbox button and via the
Operations menu. Figure 3-2 below illustrates the Mailbox window within the Client environment.
When the “User Mailbox Window” pops up and is selected, we can see some additions (see Figure 3-1
below) to the Main status bar that include the indication of the Mailbox view mode (ONLINE or
HISTORICAL mode), filtered or not. The default is ONLINE mode with a period of 15 minutes (i.e. all
messages of the last 15 minutes and any new messages received afterwards get displayed on each
refresh, automatic or not). Any custom filter criteria can be saved and automatically applied when the
window opens the next time. To change the view mode and save criteria, use the Filter function that will
be described later in this section.
Figure 3-1: Main Status bar

In online viewing mode, the messages are retrieved only from the online data source while they may be
retrieved from both the online and/or archive data sources when in historical viewing (if archiving is
active). However, the source of the data is totally transparent to regular operations, except if archiving is
active, the archive data source is needed due to the data time span requested, but it is unavailable for
some reason; then it may incur a delay trying to connect to the archive and/or a dialog advising that
archived data is unavailable.
Also added to the status bar are the number of messages currently displayed in the message grid and the
Ack and New mail icons, described in Table 3-3.
Figure 3-2: User Mailbox Window

Note that when loading data corresponding to the applied filter criteria, it may result in a very large
amount of data that would be long to load and equivalently difficult to scroll and consult. If the result of
the applied filter exceeds the maximum number of messages (defined by the system administrator), a
warning message stating that the result exceeded the defined maximum is displayed and the final result
set is limited to that maximum, with only the most recent data loaded. And when sorting the messages,
it is only the displayed subset that gets sorted.
The Event Log and Traffic Log windows are also limited by the same maximum size parameter as the
Mailbox window, because the three windows are subject to returning very large amounts of data. In all
three windows, the Refresh function does not prompt the user with the above-mentioned dialog. It
systematically applies the current filter and the result size reduction as described above.
Data retrieval can be cancelled any time using the Cancel button on the progress bar that shows up when
the filter execution time lasts more than 2 seconds (note: the progress bar, in the mailbox only, does not
show as long as the client application does not have the focus; this is to avoid an auto-refresh to steal the
focus form other applications).
When cancelled, the partial results that have been retrieved at this stage are displayed into the window
(same for mailbox, traffic log or event log). The progress bar also shows the number of data rows the
filter is applied upon. This is directly linked to the time span used in the filter specification and the
volume of data in your system; thus the bigger this value is, the longer the filter execution tend to be in
order to get complete results (or reach the maximum number of rows). The filter execution can be tuned
by an administrator using system parameters (see document [S5], System Parameters window, Database
tab).
Refresh button (F5) Allows refreshing the current messages display using the same filter criteria as the last time the
filter was applied using either the filter dialog Apply button or using the filter dropdown. The
only element changing during a refresh is the time span in online filtering; allowing getting any
new message that could have come in. Note that automatic refresh is available if configured in
the user’s preferences (see section 2.3.1). The refresh frequency is set in seconds and, for the
ONLINE viewing mode, new messages come in without any user action required. Upon
Refresh, the sort order is set to Date descending, i.e. always the most recent messages fitting
the filter criteria, unless the “Lock Sel” option is used, in which case the sort order is
preserved.
Lock Sel. toggle button Toggle button determining whether the selection is locked to the current message or not:
 When pushed out (default), no lock on the selected message is made and so, any refresh
will reposition the selection at the top of the grid (first row) on the last message received
(depending on the current filter), with the default sort order.
 When pushed in, the selected message highlight in the grid is red and the current message
stays selected on each refresh (manual or automatic) and keeps the current sort order, even
when new messages are received. This prevents losing the cursor position at every refresh,
when reading messages. This may however prevent from noticing that newer messages
arrived in the meantime.
Filter button Allows filtering messages using various search criteria. This is a dropdown button. The first
item "Filter…" opens the filter window with the currently applied filter selected. The other
items list all available filters and selecting one of them applies it without having to open the
filter window. The default filter is identified by a star next to its name; any modified filter is
also identified with the keyword “(modified)”.
For the details on the use of the Filter window, refer to section 6.1.
New button Calls up one message generation window to send uplink messages to aircraft or ground
(with privilege) messages to other users. It is the same as the ‘Messages’ button from the Main window.
Reply button Applies to downlink messages only. Brings up one of the two windows to generate an uplink
(with privilege) ONLY to the aircraft that sent the currently selected message:
 New Uplink: Allows the user to send uplink messages to any aircraft configured in the
system’s fleet configuration. The New Uplink window is one case of the “New Message
Window” described in section 3.2.
Note that an uplink message cannot be sent to an aircraft that has not been defined by the
system administrator. This function is not available to users with no uplink privilege.
Ack button Applies to downlink messages only. It is active for messages that require the logged user to
(with privilege) acknowledge them. The icon in the Ack column of the grid identifies messages requiring
acknowledgment by the user. It is similar to the Reply function except that the ‘Ack’ allows
the user to select only templates or guides of category ‘User-Ack to Downlink’. This are
usually templates with few data to enter sent only to acknowledge the reception and reading of
a message
This function is not available to users with no uplink privilege
Note that if no acknowledgement template has been defined for an aircraft, it is not possible to
acknowledge a message. If that is the case, ask your system administrator to make sure such
acknowledgement templates are defined for each aircraft configured in the system.
Forward button Calls the “forward” window described in section 3.3 that allows selecting users and groups
defined in the system as well as additional non-configured Type B addresses to forward the
selected messages to.
View button Allows viewing a detailed copy of a message via the Message Viewer window (alternatively,
press ‘ENTER’). In this detailed view, all fields defined in the message template can be
located (downlinks only) as well as all converted values of all fields that can be converted (e.g.
ICAO/IATA airport codes). The viewer also allows browsing through messages (see section
3.1.4, Message Viewer Window).
File button Allows moving one or more messages into the Filed Messages folder thus removing them from
the current folder.
Delete button Allows moving one or more messages into the Trash folder. Note that if the messages being
deleted are already in the Trash folder, the user is prompted to permanently delete the
messages. Once the messages have been deleted from the Trash folder, they are no longer
available.
Close button Closes the User Mailbox window.
Keyboard Home / End Navigate directly to the first and last row of the data grid.
Splitters Explore the 3 splitters available in the mailbox window: vertically at the top between the
folders and the message grid, vertically at the bottom between the message data and the
message itself, and horizontally between the folder-grid at the top and the message display at
the bottom.
Table 3-1: User Mailbox Functions
Following is a detailed description of all sections of the User Mailbox window.
3.1.1 Mailbox Folders Section
These fixed folders (indicated by the lock on the folder icon) allow the user to categorize the messages
into different folders.
(Root Folder): Currently logged user name (Administrator in this example)
All messages: The sum of all messages stored in the other folders
Inbox: All messages received for this user (downlinks, grounds and forwarded messages)
Outbox: All messages send by this user (uplinks and grounds messages)
Trash: Deleted messages (Delete button)
Filed Messages: Stored messages (File button)
Table 3-2: User Mailbox Folders
3.1.2 Mailbox Message Summary Section
The message grid is the messages summary section of the window (Figure 3-2).
Figure 3-3: Messages Summary Section

The most important information about each message is available at a glance for the selected folder. Each
column represents a specific element as described in the following table.
Data Description
P (Priority) column Applies to downlink messages only. If an icon is displayed for a message, it means that the
(blank) Normal downlink message is considered having a certain level of priority compared to other messages.
Note The priority attributed to a downlink messages is the one defined by the administrator in the
downlink template it matches.
Low
Medium
High
Ack column Applies to downlink messages only. The Ack icon is displayed for a message when the user is
expected to acknowledge it by selecting the Ack button in the toolbar. The column is blank
when the message does not need acknowledgment from the current user or after the message has
been acknowledged already.
Note that the icon is also displayed in the status bar when at least one of the messages listed in
the grid is marked with the icon.
New Mail column If the ‘New Mail’ icon is displayed for a message, it means that the user has not read the current
message since it was received. To read the message, the user must either click the View button
from the toolbar, double-click the message, or press the ENTER key while the message is
selected. The icon is removed once the message has been read. The ‘F9’ key can also be used to
toggle the ‘New Mail’ icon for the selected messages.
Note that the icon is also displayed in the status bar when at least one of the messages listed in
the grid is marked with the icon.
Date column Time at which the message was received by the system (in UTC time).
Status column The current status of a message, prefixed by the type of message it is: Downlink, Uplink or
Ground message. The status can be one of the following:
 DN: Forwarded Downlink forwarded to the current user by another
 DN: Inbox Downlink distributed to the current user
 UP: Cancelled Uplink cancelled by an administrator
 UP: Copied Uplink send to an aircraft and copied to the current user
 UP: Dropped Uplink trashed on specific conditions (typically replaced by a
more recent one)
 UP: Expired Uplink not delivered within its validity period
Data Description
 UP: Forwarded Uplink forwarded to the current user
 UP: In Progress Uplink sent for which an acknowledgement is expected
 UP: On-Hold Uplink kept on-hold until certain configured conditions are met
 UP: Outbox Uplink to be processed and sent by the Server
 UP: Queued Uplink in the queue to be sent to an aircraft
 UP: Requested Uplink that has been requested by a downlink
 UP: Retransmit Uplink retransmitted (same as “In Progress”)
 UP: Success (MAS-X) Uplink for which a MAS-X has been received
 UP: Successful Uplink for which a MAS-S has been received
 UP: SVC Error Uplink for which a MAS-F has been received but considered
delivered anyway
 UP: Trashed Uplink trashed
 UP: Unparsable Uplink that cannot be parsed by the Server
 UP: Untransmittable Uplink that cannot be sent due to a failed link condition
 UP: Waiting for aircraft Uplink waiting for aircraft to begin a particular flight
 UP: Waiting for condition Uplink waiting for a specific condition (time, flight stage, …)
 UP: Waiting for request Uplink waiting for a downlink request in order to be sent
 UP: Waiting for route Uplink waiting for a valid transmission route to the aircraft
 UP: Waiting for VHF/HF Uplink waiting for VHF or HF coverage before sending
 UP: Waiting to retransmit Uplink waiting to be retransmitted following a failed attempt
 GND: Forwarded Ground message forwarded to the current user

 GND: Inbox Ground message distributed to the current user
 GND: Outbox Ground message to be processed and sent by the Server
 GND: Sent Ground message successfully processed and sent
 GND: Untransmittable Ground that cannot be sent due to a failed link condition
 Event Notification Event notification message
 Fault Notification Fault notification message
Message Type Typically, the name of the template (or uplink guide, as applicable) that matches the message
column contents or that has been used to build a message. If a model was used to reformat the message,
the model name is appended to the message type.
Aircraft column The aircraft registration number (AN) from which a downlink message has been received or to
which an uplink message was sent.
Flight column The flight number (FI) of the aircraft at the moment the message was sent or received.
SMI column The SMI (Standard Message Identifier) of the message, if of the AEEC-620 format.
Error column The SVC error number received in response to an uplink message. This indicates to the user
which error was received (0 means no error).
Orig. Airport column ICAO code of the origin airport (departure) if found in the message.
Dest. Airport column ICAO code of the destination airport (arrival) if found in the message.
Message column The column is hidden by default but a user may resize it in order to view it (position the cursor to
(hidden by default) the right of the last column until the ‘resize’ cursor appears and drag). It contains the full
message contents, of which only the beginning is visible. To see the rest of the message within
the grid, position the cursor in the cell of the desired message and use the keyboard arrows to
move within the message text. However, it is better to view the message either in the Details
section at the bottom of the window or in the Message Viewer.
Table 3-3: Mailbox Message Summary Information
3.1.3 Message Preview Section
Figure 3-4: Downlink Message Preview Section
Figure 3-5: Uplink Message Preview Section
Figure 3-6: Ground Message Preview Section

The bottom pane of the User Mailbox window displays the details of the currently selected message. For
all types of messages, it shows the Type B originator and destinations of the message and the message
status as displayed in the summary grid. Other information is also added for downlink, uplink and
ground messages types:
 Downlinks: Medium (RGS or VGS station) on which the downlink has been received, Provider
node that processed the downlink, MSN (Message Sequencing Number) attributed by the aircraft
and AC Type (Aircraft Type) associated with the aircraft (‘(none)’ if the aircraft has no type
configured, blank if the aircraft is not specified).
 Uplinks: Medium (RGS or VGS station) used as ground location in the uplink message (used if
the Service Provider doesn’t know where to route the uplink), Error Code received for the uplink
sent earlier and AC Type (Aircraft Type) associated with the aircraft (‘(none)’ if the aircraft has
no type configured, blank if the aircraft is not specified).
 Grounds: AC Type (Aircraft Type) associated with the aircraft (‘(none)’ if the aircraft has no
type configured, blank if the aircraft is not specified).
The message sender and receiver(s) are shown as the ‘To’ and ‘From’ fields. For downlinks, the ‘From’
is always an aircraft and for uplinks, the ‘To’ is an aircraft and a list of copied users (cc) is available.
The message box displays either the raw message (the message exactly as it has been received or sent) or
the reformatted message (after processing and reformatting). The display mode is set to automatic when
the window is opened, meaning that the reformatted version of a message will be displayed if it exists;
otherwise only the raw message gets displayed. The view mode can however be forced to ‘Raw’ or
‘Formatted’ by changing the mode indicator. There is also a view mode called ‘Encrypted’ that is listed
only for uplink messages when one of the possible encryption license options exists. This mode allows
viewing the encrypted equivalent of an uplink (if it were configured to be sent as encrypted to the
aircraft). To avoid any ambiguities in the case where the selected representation does not exist for a
message, an indication such as ‘(no formatted message available)’ or ‘(no encrypted message available)’
is displayed. In any case, the label above the message box always indicates which version of the
message is currently displayed.
The ‘Show free text only’ checkbox is used only when a raw message is displayed (has to be of AEEC
620 or Type B format) and allows viewing only the free text portion of the message. The option is
disabled when a reformatted message is displayed.
Reformatted messages in outbox can show split messages. These are new ground messages sent by the
user that had to be split in parts according to the model properties used for formatting. A split message
appears with red lines separating each part of the message. Each separated part has been sent as
individual messages to the intended destinations.
3.1.4 Message Viewer Window
The detailed Message Viewer window is available from the User Mailbox window by selecting the View
button or by double clicking or pressing the ENTER key over a message. This window displays all
information available for the selected message, regardless of it being a downlink, uplink or ground
message.
Opening a message viewer takes a snapshot of all messages that were displayed in the mailbox current
folder at the time the viewer was opened. All these messages can be browsed using the first/last &
previous/next buttons. When moving to a message in the viewer, the current message selection is
synchronized in the mailbox, if it can. The mailbox has to be displaying the same folder as the viewer
and the message must still exist (for example, it could have been deleted or filed). However, when
selecting different messages or folders in the mailbox (or when auto-refresh changes the selection
automatically), the viewers are not synchronized to that new selection.
Multiple viewers can be opened with different message selections and different filters, and this can be
useful to compare messages. It is always possible to return to the mailbox without closing the message
viewers, but when closing the mailbox, all opened viewers are closed.
Figure 3-7: Message Viewer Window
There are two display modes for the messages, raw and formatted, and both can be defined or only one,
depending on how it has been generated and reformatted. The distinction is the following:
Raw message: It is the original message that is received from the aircraft (for a downlink message) or
from an external user (for an uplink or ground message) before being parsed. The raw message
doesn’t exist for a message generated by a local user.
Formatted message: It is the message generated by the system based on the template and model
definitions, configured for each message and its final recipient. Incoming messages from the aircraft
or external users are reformatted, if configured to do so, from the information contained in the raw
message; they can also be distributed as raw (e.g. without reformatting). On the other hand, messages
from a local user (using the New Message window) are formatted from the information entered by the
user the at generation time, not from a raw message.
The Message Viewer window opens up on the ‘Formatted Message’ tab, even if no reformatted message
is available. The ‘Raw Message’ tab shows the original incoming message, when applicable, and also
the list of fields identified in it to be used in the formatted message. The following table describes the
data presented in the Message Viewer:
Data Description
Message Type indicator Describes the type of message currently displayed. The message type has three parts: its
nature (downlink, uplink or ground message), its matching template and the model used to
format it, when there is a formatted message.
Formatted Message pane The message formatted in accordance with the template and model specified in the Message
Type indicator. Formatted messages in outbox can show split messages. These are new
ground messages sent by the user that had to be split in parts according to the model
properties used for formatting. A split message appears with red lines separating each part
of the message. Each separated part has been sent as individual messages to the intended
destinations.
Raw Message pane Contains the original message as received from the service provider or external user. The
and Fields List panel underneath it lists all fields defined in the template and the location at which they are
identified in the message text, highlighted in color. The selected field is underlined in the
message as to identify, by changing the selection, where each field is defined. Fields defined
within a record (a repeating sequence of fields) are highlighted in the first record occurrence
only. There is also in some cases an expanded value for a field, if the system administrator
has defined a lookup table to search for it.
Message Information pane Contains static details about the message, that is: information typically found in any message
(right-hand side) and characterizing the particular message being viewed.
This includes the list of local and external users, as well as dynamic recipients to which the
message has been distributed. When the message displayed is an uplink, the listed users are
those that have received a copy of the uplink sent (cc). The list is larger than in the mailbox
and easier to consult.
Table 3-4: Message Viewer Data
The Message Viewer functions, available from the toolbar, are pretty straightforward, as described in the
next table.
Reply button Applies to downlink viewing only. It allows creating an uplink message to the aircraft that
(with privileges) originated the viewed downlink message.
Print button Brings up the Print window described in section 6.2, allowing previewing, selecting printing
parameters and printing the message being viewed. It prints both the reformatted message
and the raw message (separated by headers) and followed by individual field’s data - the ones
from the raw message panel.
Previous / Next Allows browsing between messages into the folder from which the viewer was called. The
and First / Last buttons ordering of messages is by their timestamp; no matter in which the list is sorted in the
Mailbox window and the first message is the most recent while the last is the older. Previous
therefore goes to more recent messages, Next to older ones.
Close button Closes the Message Viewer window and returns to the main Client window.
Splitter Explore the vertical splitter available between the left-side message display and the right-side
message details.
Table 3-5: Message Viewer Functions
Note the status bar at the bottom of the main window indicates the nature of the displayed message and
its index amongst the messages listed in the selected folder.
3.2 New Message Window
To generate uplink messages to aircraft and ground messages to other users, use the ‘New Message’
window. The uplink and ground contexts are very similar and they are presented in next two sections.
3.2.1 New Uplink Message
The ‘New Uplink’ window allows a local user to generate uplinks quickly without being concerned with
the formatting of the message. Once the uplink templates have been properly configured, generating an
uplink is only a matter of entering the wanted values and text for the message, the system will take care
of formatting the data properly, limiting line lengths, text lengths and quote lengths as needed, based on
the model associated with each aircraft. Note that an uplink message can be sent only to aircraft defined
in the system.
Figure 3-8: New Uplink Message Window
The ‘New Uplink Message’ window can be called in three different methods:
 New Uplink: The first method is to create a new unsolicited uplink message by clicking the ‘New
Uplink’ item under any ‘New’ button available from many windows. From the Main and User
Mailbox windows, the ‘New Uplink’ window opens up empty and can be used to send uplinks to one
or many aircraft using any template allowed for the logged user. From the Traffic Log, Aircraft
Tracking and FlightMonitor windows, the ‘New Uplink’ window opens with a pre-selected list of
aircraft based on the items selected when calling the window.
 Reply: The second method is to reply to a downlink message from the Mailbox or Traffic Log
window (‘Reply’ buttons). This brings up the ‘New Uplink’ window with only that aircraft selected.
All templates allowed for the user can be used to generate the uplink.
 Ack: The third method to send uplinks is to acknowledge a downlink message using the ‘Ack’
button in the Mailbox window for any downlink that needs acknowledgement by the logged user.
The ‘New Uplink’ opens with only the destination aircraft selected and a list of ‘user-ack’ templates
allowed for the user.
Once in the ‘New Uplink Message’ window, prepare the uplink by doing the following:
 Select the “Send As” setting.
 ‘(private)’ means send the message as yourself, i.e. as a standalone user.
 A group mean sending as one of the groups that the logged user is part of.
For groups to be listed they must have the right to perform uplinks and the templates listed
for them depends on the group’s permissions (see Uplinks User Permissions).
Choosing to send an uplink as a group has two impacts: (1) all members of the group will get
a copy of all generated messages, and (2) the logged user has access to templates allowed by
the group’s privileges which most certainly differ from the individual privileges (see uplink
template permissions).
 Select the destination aircraft (one or many) and the users (and groups) that should receive a copy of
the uplink. Dynamic Type B addresses can also be added in the copy list. Note that in the
destination list (ground) or ‘Copy To’ list (uplink), users displayed as gray text are not active for
distribution; this is why they cannot be selected as message destination or copy destinations.
You can find a specific aircraft with the “Search” field. Select “reg.” for registration number, “flight”
or “nose” to search by the selected criterion. Type a part or the complete identification and as soon
as an aircraft will match it will be shown in the field and selected in the list. While you type, the
search field auto-completes what you type to the first match in the list of aircraft. You can select the
currently highlighted aircraft by pressing the “Enter” key or unselect it by pressing “Enter” again, all
without leaving the search field. It is also possible to browse the list with the key up and key down
while the focus is on the search field.
 Select the template to be used for the uplink.

The list of templates represents all templates for which the user has the permission to use and that are
configured for distribution for the checked destination aircraft. This means that changing the
distribution list of aircraft can dynamically influence the list of available templates depending on the
uplink distribution configuration. This also means that once a template is available, you are sure that
a model has been configured to format the uplink message to each of the destination aircraft.
 Fill in the required fields.
Required fields have a light yellow background. Similarly, the destinations list, the additional Type
B addresses (only in ground context), the template list, and the model list (for ground messages only)
have a light yellow background when nothing is selected. This indicates that the data is required to
be able to preview messages.
 Enter the wanted user text to complete the message.
 Optionally, you can specify a Flight Identifier (when there is only one aircraft destination), a ground
location, and advanced options (see Figure 3-9), but the system will provide appropriate values in
most cases.
 Click ‘Preview’ and validate that all messages are properly formatted. Switch back to the ‘Edit’ tab
if modifications are needed and preview again. When done, click ‘Send’ to transmit the uplink.
 For new uplink messages, one message per aircraft is previewed, and users are copied as per the
‘Copy To’ selections and ‘Additional Type B addresses to copy’ list.
 For new ground messages, one message per user is previewed, including those listed as ‘Additional
Type B addresses to copy’. When groups are selected, they are uniquely resolved into individual
users for previewing and sending.
The following tables describe each data field and the functions associated with the toolbar buttons.
Data Description
Send As list The send as selection determines two behaviors: (1) When sending as a group, the users part of
the group (including the logged user) get a copy of each sent message while when sending as
(private), no copies are sent*. (2) The available templates depend on the template permissions
of the sender (logged user or group).
If the same group as the send as selection is selected as a destination of the message, each user
of the group will get only one copy of the message.
* This excludes the Copy To and additional Type B addresses.

Destination list The list of aircraft to which the uplink will be transmitted, as selected by the user or pre-
selected by the system, depending on how the window was opened.
Note that the ‘Nose’ column is only visible if there is at least one aircraft in the fleet
configuration having a nose number configured.
Data Description
Copy To list The list of users and user groups that will receive copy of each uplink sent: if an uplink is sent
to three different aircraft, each user in copy will receive three messages, each formatted as it
needs to be for its destination aircraft.
Groups are resolved into individual users and each listed user always receives only one copy of
each message (possible user duplications are handled).
Grayed out user names indicate that they cannot receive messages at the moment, hence they
cannot be selected as destinations.
Additional Type B A list of Type B addresses not configured as normal users that needs to be copied on the
Addresses To Copy field uplink messages sent. The addresses entered must be separated by spaces, semi-colons or line
breaks. As for the copied users, each Type B destination will receive one copy of each uplink
sent.
If it happens that a Type B address entered here matches the Type B address of a configured
user, the additional Type B address is replaced by the configured user in the subsequent
message processing. In other words, the user configuration settings are taken into account.
Template Selection Lists all allowed templates for the context of the generated message (new uplink,
dropdown acknowledgement or ground template). The selected aircraft (uplink) do affect the listed
templates to present only those templates that are configured for the selected aircraft and
having a configured model for each selected aircraft.
Whenever a template is available, the first one is selected. Only when no templates match the
list of selected destinations and the distribution configuration, the template list says ‘(no
template available)’.
Also, once a template has been selected and field values entered, if a new destination is
selected that has the current template configured, the template stays selected and field values
are not lost.
Message Fields list The list of input fields that are needed to generate the uplink based on the selected message
template. These fields are either a list of selectable predefined values or an input text box that
requires a user input, with possible length and character limitations. If the input area is yellow,
the field is mandatory and cannot be left empty. If the field is a list of predefined items, it
shows as a dropdown list if there are 20 items or less in the list, while it requires using the
Value Lookup window for longer lists.
Special note on value lookup list: The listed values are those from the ‘Value’ column in the
selected lookup table for the listed template field (refer to document [S5], Template – From
Local User section for more details). Using a value list to pick up a predefined value does not
mean the value will get converted after preview. To get a value conversion, it does not need to
be a value list field and a lookup table needs to be specified for the field in the model used to
perform the preview formatting (again, refer to document [S5], Template – From Local User
section for details).
The field order is decided based on the template fields’ order setting (see document [S5],
Template Fields Panel section for details).
If there is no visible field list, it is because the current template and destination selections
require no field inputs to be able to generate the uplink message(s).
User Text box Free text section to enter any desired text, in addition to the predefined data from the template.
This text will be included in the final uplink as configured in each model definition, or not at
all if one model doesn’t make use of the field.
Data Description
Wrap Text option The wrap text option allows forcing the content of the User Text box to wrap or not. The
default value is wrapping, i.e. no horizontal scrolling required. An equivalent option exists in
the preview panel controlling the preview message display and both edit and preview options
are synchronized. Therefore, changing one option affects the other such that text wraps or does
not wrap in both edit and preview panels.
Ground Location or To specify a specific Ground Location (RGS/GES) or the Airport location for the uplink
Airport field message (GL or AP text element item (TEI) in the uplink TE line). This field is only used for
aircraft that are not actively tracked by the system as the Ground Locations are normally taken
from the internal aircraft tracking data.
Flight Identifier field To specify a specific flight identifier (FI) for an uplink message sent to one aircraft. This field
is not editable in the case where multiple aircraft are selected as destinations or when a single
aircraft between the INIT and IN stages is selected. This field is used to specify an FI no
matter if the aircraft is actively tracked or not by the system. If the aircraft is tracked and an FI
is already known, the one specified here overrides the one from the tracking data. Be careful
as this FI would then replace the one from the tracking data.
Advanced options The advanced options are configurable via the ‘Advanced uplink send options’ dialog opened
using the ‘Advanced…’ button. The currently configured and applicable options are always
visible in the New Message window, next to the ‘Advanced…’ button. When performing a
preview operation, the displayed settings are used to generate the messages.
Send uplink advanced Three options are available here: “on reception/creation” of the uplink message (as soon as the
option Send button is pressed), “on flight stage”, or “on or after flight stage”. This determines when
the uplink should be sent, and you can optionally add a time delay after that event occurred, in
minutes (e.g. it could be on reception/creation + 10 minutes).
When set to any flight stage options, you have to specify the flight stage and upon send, the
message(s) are stored (“UP: On-Hold” status). See the help tooltip next to these settings for an
explanation of each option.
The default value is the one from the configuration of selected template. You may also refer to
document [S5], template configuration advanced tab for more details.
Override maximum wait Checking the option allows overriding the default value for the current message(s). The
time advanced option default value either comes from the selected template advanced options, or if the template does
not specify a value, it comes from the System Parameters.
The on-hold timeout tells the system how long an uplink can stay in the “UP: On-Hold” status
before being reactivated. If the on-hold timeout expires, the system will process it as an
expired message, and send the appropriate notification back to the originating user.
Default value when unchecked: from the selected template configuration.

Override validity Checking the option allows overriding the default value for the current message(s). The
advanced option default value either comes from the selected template advanced options, or if the template does
not specify a value, it comes from the System Parameters.
The validity time tells the system for how long an uplink is considered valid and should be
retried if an aircraft is unreachable for a long period of time. If the validity time is exceeded
and the uplink has not been successfully delivered, the system considers the message as
expired and stops trying sending it. An appropriate notification will be sent back to the
originating user if its configuration requires so.
Default value when unchecked: from the selected template configuration.

Table 3-6: New Uplink Message Data
Figure 3-9: Advanced Options Dialog

To change an option, check it and edit its value. Removing the check of an option resets the option’s
value to its default. The first two options default value is blank, i.e. when unchecked the option is
ignored. Checking them allows changing those preset defaults to a custom value applying just for the
current uplink message(s) being generated.
The ‘OK’ button confirms the option changes for as long as the New Uplink Message window is opened
with the same template selected. The options are preloaded from the corresponding advanced options of
selected template. No matter whether the ‘To’ and ‘Copy To’ destinations or other new message data
are changed, or whether many edit and preview iterations have been done, as long as the template
selection is unchanged, any advanced options stay available. The ‘Cancel’ button cancels any changes
made only since the dialog was last opened.
Functions Description
Preview button or tab A required step before being able to send messages, the ‘Preview’ function displays the
generated messages for verification before they are transmitted to the aircraft. If anything
needs to be corrected, it is always possible to switch back to the ‘Edit’ tab and make the
appropriate changes. The ‘Preview’ also validates that the user has entered all required
information to complete the uplink sequence.
Once in preview, the left-hand side lists of destinations are automatically set in selected-only
mode to better see what the selected destinations are. When back in edit mode, the selected-
only settings are flipped back to their state before the preview operation.
More details on preview below this table.

Send button Enabled only after the generated messages have been previewed, the ‘Send’ function stores the
messages in the user “Outbox” for the server to send them to each aircraft. From this point,
the user can follow the status of the generated uplinks by monitoring their status in its
“Outbox” folder.
Chk Only button Allows the user to see only the selected aircraft and copy to users.
Print button Prints the generated messages to the selected printer via the Print window (section 6.2).
Close button Closes the Uplink Generation window.
Advanced button Opens the ‘Advanced Options’ (with edit pane only) dialog allowing completing options
setting.
Table 3-7: New Uplink Message Functions
Depending on the template configuration, different results can be obtained after clicking ‘Preview’.
When everything is configured as planned, each uplink can be formatted with its proper model and the
preview is just a formality. All the messages generated (one per aircraft) can be browsed by the
‘Previous’ / ‘Next’ and ‘First’ / ‘Last’ buttons at the bottom of the preview panel. One page is generated
per uplink with the formatting specific to each aircraft. Messages to copied users are not previewed;
each copied user receives a copy of each uplink message sent. If everything is correct, click ‘Send’ and
the uplinks will be queued for the server to transmit them.
However, if ever a configuration is missing for an aircraft or the system cannot format one or many
messages for any reason, an error (red) message is given to the user just above the previewed message
text for each message having a problem and the preview panel shows the first message in error (see
Figure 3-10). In some circumstances, such as due to model properties constraints, messages can be
formatted, but a warning (yellow) message is given to the user indicating that something has affected
the message formatting.
Messages with warnings can be sent, although it is recommended to review them before, while messages
with errors cannot be sent because the formatting completely failed. If all messages get errors, then
nothing can be sent. If both errors and warnings or only errors exist, the first message in error is
displayed, while if only warnings exist, the first message with a warning is displayed. The bottom right
corner of the preview display shows the errors and warnings count as soon as there is at least one.
In addition to the error/warning display per message, a warning dialog shows up immediately on preview
to tell about the presence of errors and/or warnings and suggests reviewing these messages. These
dialogs can be set to “do not display next time”, which is preserved for the full current Client session.
Only a serious preview error could cause the preview to be aborted and in this case, the dialog specifies
the reason and it cannot be set to “do not display next time”.
Figure 3-10: Message Preview Errors and Multi-Parts Message
Summarizing, a warning associated to a message does not prevent the message to be sent. A message
with error cannot be sent, but it does not prevent other messages that could be generated to be sent.
Clicking ‘Send’ at this point will therefore send the messages that could be formatted and will leave
aside the messages in error. You can confirm that by looking at the messages in the mailbox “Outbox”
folder, looking at the messages queued for the aircraft.
Long messages can be split using the model properties split option (similar as for ground messages) and
be sent in separate messages. When the message generated using the model associated to the selected
aircraft is longer than the model’s maximum length (a single uplink message free text cannot exceed
3520 characters), the message is split by AIRCOM Server and each part is sent sequentially. Each part is
sent when the previous part has been successfully sent. Previewing a message that has been split looks
like above: one message previewed with each part separated by a red line. Each part is a fully formed
uplink message and the uplink message is successfully sent only when all parts have been successfully
sent.
3.2.2 New Ground Message
The ‘New Ground Message’ window is based on the same window as the ‘New Uplink Message’ and so
its usage is very similar. Among the differences is the destination list that contains only users and
groups and the fields specific to uplink messages that are not present at the bottom of the window. The
rest works almost the same way so, for any details on how to send ground messages, refer to the previous
section “New Uplink Message” and simply consider that the destinations are not aircraft but users.
Choosing to send a ground message as a group has three impacts: (1) all members of the group will get
a copy of the generated message, (2) the logged user has access to templates allowed by the group’s
privileges which most certainly differ from the individual privileges (see ground template permissions),
and (3) the originator (if the message is of Type B format) will be the group’s Type B address if the
destination user configuration allows to regenerate the message’s Type B header.
The only other noticeable difference with uplinks is related to model selection. For uplink messages,
each aircraft is pre-configured with the proper model for each available template (via uplink distribution
configuration). Hence by selecting an aircraft and a template, the uplink gets formatted properly using
the appropriate model for each aircraft. For ground messages, there is no user distribution
configuration for templates “from local user” (i.e. the templates used in the New Ground window).
Therefore, the process consists of (1) selecting the destination users, (2) selecting a template and (3)
selecting a model. All users will then receive the message reformatted using a single model.
When previewing generated ground messages, one message per user that will receive the message is
previewed. Groups have been resolved into individual users and duplications avoided. The number of
previewed messages represents the real number of messages that would be sent, except if some messages
are split in parts. Split messages appear with red lines separating each part of the message. Each
separated part is sent as an individual message to the intended destination. A split message is always
associated to a corresponding warning to alert the user about the split condition.
In general, previewed ground messages can have associated warnings or simply display an error exactly
as for uplink messages.
Because there is no distribution configuration, all templates allowed for the “Send As” selection (either
the logged user or a group to which it belongs) are always available, no matter the selection of
destination users.
Figure 3-11: New Ground Message Window
3.2.3 New Message Accessibility
The new message window allowing writing new uplink and ground messages, as well as allowing to
reply to and acknowledge downlink messages is accessible according to specific user rights.
New uplink, reply and acknowledgement all fall under the uplink context user rights while new ground
fall under ground context user rights. To have access to the window in any of the contexts and from any
of the access points (e.g. main window, user mailbox), at least one among the logged user and the groups
it belongs to shall have the send uplink messages or send ground messages user right.
Once the new message window is opened in the corresponding context, the “Send as” list contains only
these entries that have the proper user right. In other words, the ‘(private)’ entry is available only if the
logged user has the proper user right, while each group the logged user belongs to is listed if it has the
same user right.
3.2.4 Configuration Impacts on Type B Message Header
When sending a new message, the generated message can end up in different formats due to message
reformatting (see templates and models). For sure, an uplink message is always a Type B message,
while ground messages can be Type B messages or not.
The message destination also influences the message format. An uplink being always sent to aircraft has
to be of AEEC 620 format (a specialization of Type B), and therefore uplink copies to ground users are
of the same format. Ground messages can either be sent to Type B users or to any other types of user. If
the message is already of Type B format, it can be distributed to any users, while if the message is not of
Type B format, it will have to be encapsulated into a Type B format when sent to Type B users (add a
Type B header to the original message, i.e. a destination and an originator Type B addresses).
Now, what is the impact of the various configurations on the Type B header of these Type B messages?
Here are the configuration items2 that influence the Type B header:
 The model used for reformatting.
 The destination user “Do not regenerate Type B header” setting.
 The New Message window “Send as” selection.
 The sender user “Send ground Type B messages as” setting.
The ground models allow specifying a hard coded Type B header, or a dynamic one that can use the
AIRCOM Server and/or user Type B address as the originator and destination. The uplink models are
always regenerated by the Server to set the destination as the DSP Type B address and the originator as
AIRCOM Server’s address.
Then, the destination user “Do not regenerate Type B header” setting (the default is regenerate Type B
header) tells whether the model’s header is kept unchanged or is regenerated. For uplinks, headers of
messages to aircraft are never regenerated, only the uplink copies sent to ground users can be.
By default, a regenerated Type B header includes the user’s Type B address as destination and the
originator depends on the sender’s user settings. If the message is sent as ‘(private)’, it is the logged user
“Send ground Type B messages as” setting that is considered, while if sent as a group, it is the group’s
setting. This setting indicates whether to set the originator as AIRCOM Server’s address or the user’s
(or group) own Type B address. It is worth noticing that uplink copies are considered ground messages
and therefore the “Send ground Type B messages as” of the sender applies.
An exception to the above is if the destination user is a Type B user. In this case, the Type B header has
to be regenerated for the message to be properly routed to the end user; the “Do not regenerate Type B
header” setting does not exist for Type B users.
When the message is sent from an external user rather than from the Client New Message window, the
configuration settings that apply are:
 The model used for reformatting (if a model is used).
 The destination user “Do not regenerate Type B header” setting.
 The sender user “Send ground Type B messages as” setting.
The model effect is the same as if the message were generated from a local user.
The destination user “Do not regenerate Type B header” setting also has the same effect as if the
message were generated from a local user.
2
To perform this configuration, refer to document [S5].
The sender “Send ground Type B messages as” setting also has the same effect as if the message were
generated from a local user. However, it is worth knowing that only Type B users have the option to
send as themselves; all other types of external users are forced to send as AIRCOM Server when the
Type B header is regenerated.
Type B users also have an extra option to their “Send ground Type B messages as” setting: normally, all
messages from external users are addressed to AIRCOM Server, but Type B users may be allowed to
address messages directly to an end destination different from AIRCOM Server (called direct
addressing). Direct addressing must be authorized per user via a specific user right, hence Type B users
may be configured to “Send ground Type B messages as” themselves (originator) only when doing direct
addressing and send as AIRCOM Server otherwise.
3.3 Forward Window
The forward function available from the mailbox and traffic log opens the window presented below.
When forwarding a single message, it is possible to edit the message before sending it. A standard
forward header has been automatically generated for user. It is always possible to forward the original
message without any changes by checking the “Forward selected message(s) without change”. If this
option is selected, there is no user text and no forward header anymore.
Selecting destinations is the same as for a New Ground message. It is possible to forward to any
configured AS users and groups, and to additional non-configured Type B addresses.
Figure 3-12: Forward Window – Single Message
When forwarding more than one message, it is not possible to edit the messages; they will all be
forwarded without changes. The selected messages to forward are presented sequentially and separated
by red lines for reference. However, each message is forwarded separately to each user. If so many
messages are selected that they cannot all fit into the user text field, the note “(more messages not shown
here)” is appended at the end. In any case, the tab caption shows the number of selected messages.
Figure 3-13: Forward Window – Multi-Messages
If the selected messages have been reformatted, external users will get the reformatted message only
while local users will get both the raw and reformatted messages (if applicable).
3.4 Reprocess Window
The reprocess function available from the traffic log opens the window presented below.
The Reprocess window allows a user to re-inject incoming messages back into the system using some
reprocessing options to decide how the reprocessed messages affect the live tracking data and how they
should be distributed.
Figure 3-14: Reprocess Window – 4 Messages Selected
Reprocessing can be useful if a message was not processed the first time it was received (because a user,
template or something was not defined properly) and you want to process it properly after having made
configuration changes. It will be reprocessed according to the new configuration and can match a
different template if changes have been made there before reprocessing. Because of that, the reprocess
can also help testing new templates with a controlled distribution to validate that the right format is
generated. The ability to modify the contents of a message to reprocess helps testing different scenarios.
The 3 reprocessing options at the top of the window allow you to decide if the live tracking data should
be affected or if recipient users should receive a distribution of the messages. These options apply to the
reprocessing of all messages in the reprocessing batch. Message can then be modified separately, as
needed.
The originator of a reprocessed message generally does not change; it is the same as for the original
message. The exception is for Type B messages which can match a different Type B originator if its
originator address was modified before being reprocessed. Reprocessed messages are identifiable in the
Traffic Log by their direction which is "Re Down/Up/Gnd" instead of "In Down/Up/Gnd".
The distribution of a reprocessed message, if the "distribute" option is used, is always the one configured
for the template matching the reprocessed message as if the message had been received again from its
original user or application.
Be careful with the reprocessing of messages. These are reprocessed as if they were new incoming
messages from the network and, based on the options selected, can affect the live aircraft tracking data
and be distributed to users. Also, the reprocessing task is executed immediately after "Send" has been
clicked and ahead of the incoming traffic which will be queued up until the completion of the
reprocessing task. Based on the speed of the message processing, this might create visible delays in the
normal processing of traffic.
3.4.1 Toolbar
Send button Sends the selected messages for reprocessing with the options selected. The window will
remain open and a progress bar at the bottom of the window will indicate the progress of the
reprocess task until it finishes.
Cancel button Enabled only after the messages have been sent for reprocess, the ‘Cancel’ function can be
used to terminate the reprocessing task wherever it is at. This will not recall the messages
already reprocessed but will stop the upcoming ones from being reprocessed. The operation
may take some time to complete based on the number of messages to cancel.
Close button Closes the Reprocess window. If no reprocess task has started, no message will be sent for
reprocess. If the task has started, closing the window will not interrupt the reprocessing.
3.4.2 Data and controls
Data Description
Update Date Time Sets if the DTG of the type B header, if any, should keep its original value or be updated to the
Group (DTG) to now current date and time before being reprocessed.
checkbox
 When unchecked (default), the original DTG is preserved without change.
 When checked, the DTG takes the date and time of the moment when the message is
reprocessed, as if it had just been sent by the original user or application.
This however affects only the DTG in the Type B header and not the values within the DT line
of the 620 header or those inside the freetext of the message -- for that the message content
must be modified.
Data Description
'Update aircraft Sets if the reprocessed messages should update the tracking data of the aircraft for which the
tracking data with messages are reprocessed.
values from the
message(s)'  When unchecked (default), the tracking data of the aircraft remains unchanged as if the
checkbox message had not been received. This is usually the wanted option since messages
containing old data should generally not update the live tracking of aircraft. Note however
that the values for predefined and custom fields used in the models will be taken from the
live tracking data for the related aircraft, most likely different from the time when the
original message was first received.
 When checked, the reprocessed messages will update the tracking data as if received once
again. This will therefore update the live tracking data of all aircraft for which messages
are reprocessed with the values obtained from the template matching the messages. This
option must be used carefully, usually with messages that are not too old.
Distribute to normal Sets if the reprocessed messages should be distributed normally or not at all
template recipients
checkbox  When checked (default), the reprocessed messages shall be distributed to their normal
recipient users or aircraft according to the distribution rules configured for the selected
template. For downlink and ground messages, this means distributed to recipient users; for
uplink messages it means distributed to the destination aircraft.
 When unchecked, the reprocessed messages will not be distributed at all, not to users and
not the aircraft. If some event handling triggers notifications to users, these distributions
will be prevented also.
<Template name> from At the top of each reprocessed message is the name of the original template it matched with
<user type>: <address> user type and the address from which it was initially received. This is for reference only. The
heading template and originator user may change if the message text was modified of the configuration
affecting the reprocessed message.
Wrap Text option When checked, wraps the text of long lines so that no horizontal scrolling is needed. This is
just a display setting; it does not add actual line breaks to the reprocessed messages.
Message text box The text of the original message that can be modified as needed. In this case, a "Message was
modified" note appears at the bottom of the message with an 'undo' button allowing the
message to be reverted to its original form.
First, Previous, Next, The "VCR" buttons below the current message allow the browsing through the reprocessed
Last buttons message.
Undo button The "Undo" button is enabled only if the current message has been modified and allows you to
revert to the original message text. This affects only the current message; changes made in
other messages are preserved.
3.5 My Flights
This window is available directly from the main menu next to the Messages menu when the logged in
user or a group the user is part of is flagged as being either a responsible office, master office, or the
default master office regarding flight dispatch assignments. Hence, this window is dedicated to flight
dispatchers to help them monitor their current flight assignations or to have an overview of all
assignments.
Dynamic flight assignments are generated by sending messages to AIRCOM Server that match a ground
template of category “Dynamic Flight Assignments”. These messages create the assignments shown
below and AIRCOM Server attaches these flights to tracked aircraft based on the flight number, origin,
destination, and date of operation. So normally, no user action is required.
However, various events may require manual corrections or interventions, such as flights that may need
to be cancelled for a specific day because it will not be flown, or AIRCOM Server that would have
attached the wrong aircraft to a flight due to a delayed flight close to the day of operation cross over time
(time at which a day of operation starts, typically midnight UTC).
In any case, dispatchers can attach or detach an aircraft from the list of currently tracked aircraft to/from
a flight assignment and they can cancel a flight. Attaching and detaching aircraft may also be useful to
quickly switch a flight from one responsible office to another.
The user sees in light yellow all assignments that have changed since he last opened or refreshed the
window. Also the window icon in the main menu changes from cyan & black to yellow & red to
indicate there are new changes to be seen.
Figure 3-15: My Flights Window

Current flight assignments: The list of flight assignments received via dynamic flight assignment
ground messages. Only the status and aircraft columns are set by AIRCOM Server. The possible
statuses are:
Scheduled: Status of a planned flight; this is the status when received from dynamic flight
assignment ground messages.
Delayed: The flight has been delayed. It occurs when an assignment has not been attached
Scheduled (R): Scheduled repeated, means the assignment does not exist for the current day so it
gets repeated from yesterday’s assignments automatically by AIRCOM Server
(this behavior is configurable).
Active: The flight is attached to an aircraft and is about to or is being flown.
Cancelled: The flight will not be flown for a specific day.
Completed: The flight has completed.
Completed?: The flight is assumed completed based on the flight tracking parameters, but an
ON or IN message was not received.
Detached: An aircraft has been detached from the flight (this is a manual operation).
Tracked aircraft not currently attached to a flight assignment: List of aircraft currently tracked by
AIRCOM Server that a not currently attached to a flight.
Office filter: List of responsible offices configured in the Users window, plus two entries “My Flights”
and “(All)”. Selecting a filter displays the corresponding assignments. For a specific office, it shows all
assignments having that office as responsible or master office. For “My Flights”, it shows all
assignments matching the logged user account dynamic assignment office and those for the offices of
groups he belongs to. All is showing all assignments in the system. When opening the window, “My
Flights” is selected by default. If the logged user is the default master office (with no specific dynamic
flight assignment) the “My Flights” list will be empty.
Refresh (F5): Reloads all assignments and available tracked aircraft. Any changes since the last refresh
will show up as light yellow and the main menu icon will turn back to regular display.
Lock Sel. (F6): The selection of the currently selected assignment and aircraft turn red and it means that
on refresh, these specific entries will stay selected (unless they do not exist anymore after refresh) and
the current sort order stays unchanged. This toolbar button is a toggle button, meaning it stays in when
in “Lock Sel.” mode, and out when not in “Lock Sel.” It may occur that one of the two (assignment and
aircraft) cannot be locked anymore but the other can; the “Lock Sel.” button stays in and only one of the
two items stays highlighted in red.
Attach aircraft: The aircraft is removed from the bottom list and attached to the selected assignment
and the status changes to “active”. Disabled when there are no aircraft or no assignments listed or when
the current assignment is already attached. It requires a confirmation when the assignment is in status
“completed”, “assumed completed”, or “cancelled”.
Detach aircraft: The aircraft attached to an assignment is removed from the assignment and put back
into the list of available tracked aircraft and the status changes to “detached”. Disabled when there are
no assignments listed, when there is no aircraft attached to the current assignment, or when the current
assignment is in status “cancelled”. Requires a confirmation when the assignment is in status
“completed”, or “assumed completed”.
Cancel assignment: The status of the selected assignment(s) changes to “cancelled”, and if an aircraft
were attached, it gets automatically detached. Disabled when there are no assignments listed or when
the current assignment is in status “completed”, “assumed completed”, or “cancelled”. Always requires
a confirmation. When a multiple selection is performed, as soon as one of the selected assignments
allows cancelling, the cancel option is available.
Next change (F3): Allows navigating to the next change highlighted in light yellow in the list of flight
assignments. It is disabled if there are no changes listed.
Close (Esc or Ctrl-L): Closes the window.
4 Aircraft Tracking & Flight Monitoring
4.1 Aircraft Tracking Window
The Aircraft Tracking window is available through the Main window ‘Aircraft’ dropdown button and
via the Operations menu. Figure 4-1 illustrates the Tracking window within the Client environment.
It allows viewing the status of all currently active aircraft, upcoming and planned flights, all currently
active and queued uplink messages, all reported aircraft faults and their notification/escalation status,
tracked values for configured custom fields, currently active sequences (requires the Sequencer license –
refer to Document [S5] for more details on the Sequencer feature) and flight & fuel analysis data
(requires the FCM license).
The window opens showing a progress bar during the operation. If ever the base service (refer to the
main window status bar indicators) is not available, the window will not open, but a message will let the
user know why. Otherwise, the window opens as shown below (or according to your personal saved
layout).
Figure 4-1: Aircraft Tracking Window – General Tracking Data
In addition to tracking active aircraft, it is also possible to track upcoming and planned flights (displayed
with Special Conditions as “Awaiting flight”). This occurs in any of three situations:
(1) A flight plan was received for a specific flight and/or aircraft but has not yet been matched to a
flying aircraft (associated when the OFF is received, if the FI, origin, destination and ETD
match).
(2) A FI-only uplink was sent (meaning that the uplink specifies only the destination flight identifier
– FI), and AIRCOM Server identifies the aircraft flying with that FI. When an FI-only uplink is
processed, it is possible that none of the currently tracked aircraft match the provided FI so the
uplink is kept waiting. The uplink is associated with an aircraft as soon as an aircraft reports
itself with the corresponding FI.
(3) A FI-only uplink message was sent to AIRCOM Server with additional sending conditions
(flight origin, destination and/or ETD) and no flying aircraft matches all those conditions. The
uplink is associated with an aircraft as soon as one reports itself with the corresponding FI and
the same additional sending conditions. Many messages with the same FI may be waiting at the
same time if waiting for different sending conditions. One entry per unique set of FI + conditions
is shown in the tracking table.
4.1.1 Toolbar
Refresh (F5) Allows manually forcing a refresh.
Automatic Refresh
The tracking data gets automatically refreshed every 30 seconds by default. This auto-refresh
period is configurable via the System Parameters under the Tracking section (see document
[S5] for details). The window has its own status bar and at the bottom-right it shows the last
update time. When a refresh occurs, a refresh indicator shows up during the refresh to show
that something occurs in the background.
Stages The dropdown allows selecting which stages are included or not, thus
filtering the aircraft/flight list by flight stage.
My Flights (F10) Show all flights or only my flights, which are the flights having the logged user as responsible
office or the flights for which the responsible office is a group the logged user is part of. For
more details, refer to the “Dynamic flight assignment office” user setting and the flights’
“Responsible Office” that is set via dynamic flight assignments in document [S5].
Preferences (F8) Show or hide the Preferences panel to the left of the window. See section 4.1.9 for more
details.
Find (Ctrl+F) Show or hide the Find panel at the top of the window. See section 4.1.8 for more details.
Send Uplink… (Ctrl-U) A dropdown with two options: send uplink message and request position. Clicking the button
and drops down the options for the user to select.
Request Position…
(Ctrl-P) Send uplink message: Allows sending an uplink to an active aircraft via the New Uplink
Message window. Only the valid* selected aircraft are listed as destinations.
Request position: Allows automatically sending a position request uplink to the selected
aircraft. This requires the predefined uplink template “Position Report Request” to be
properly configured in the Aircraft Distribution window with a valid model for the aircraft in
the destination list (refer to document [S5] for distribution configuration details). Sending a
position request does not require any other user intervention – the New Uplink Message
window opens, the preview & send is automatically done and a confirmation message is shown
once the send has been performed. After closing that message box the window closes
automatically.
These functions require the “Send uplink messages” user right. If you do not see the “Send
Uplink” button, you may contact your system administrator to discuss your access right to this
function.
* The selected tracking entries must contain at least an active flight (not planned or
upcoming), an aircraft must be associated to the flight and the aircraft must be ACARS
equipped (VHF, SAT and/or HFDL). If no valid aircraft are selected, the “Send Uplink”
button is disabled.
SATCOM… (Ctrl-D) This button is only visible if the user has the “Use SATCOM” user right. If you do not see the
“SATCOM” button, you may contact your system administrator to discuss your access right to
this function.
To be enabled, the tracking entries selection must contain at least one active flight (not
planned or upcoming) with an associated aircraft and that this aircraft has an Aircraft Earth
Station Identifier (AESID) defined.
Refer to section 4.5 - SATCOM for more details.
Modify… (Ctrl-M) Opens a window allowing manually modifying a series of key aircraft tracking parameters as
well as any defined custom field (refer to document [S5] for more details on custom fields).
However, before allowing the editing of tracking data, a confirmation is always required to
make sure the user does not perform tracking data changes without knowing about the
potential consequences this may have.
Refer to section 4.1.10Error! Reference source not found. for more details about manual
tracking data modification.
This function requires the ‘Aircraft & uplink tracking’ management user right.
Close (Ctrl-L) Closes the Aircraft Tracking window.
Splitter Explore the horizontal splitter between aircraft grid at the top and the data panels at the
bottom, as well as those in the data panels Aircraft & Flight, Queued Uplinks, Monitored
Faults and Sequences.
Table 4-1: Aircraft Tracking Window Functions
When a button is not allowed due to a lack of appropriate user rights, it is not visible (e.g. Modify).
However, buttons may sometimes be grayed out (disabled) due to various reasons. One of them being
that the base service is unavailable, thus some operations cannot be carried out, or for example, a
completed uplink cannot be cancelled. In addition to toolbar buttons, the visibility and disabling of
options also applies to all context menu options that you will discover further down.
4.1.1.1 Hotkeys
This is a summarized view of all the hotkeys used in this window.
Hotkey Action
F3 Find next when a find criteria has been set – the Find panel needs to be opened
F5 Refresh
F8 Toggle preferences panel visibility
F10 Toggle My Flights on and off
F12 Show current flight
Ctrl+D Perform a SATCOM call to the selected aircraft
Ctrl+F Toggle the Find panel visibility
Ctrl+L Close the window
Ctrl+M Open the Modify tracking data dialog
Ctrl+P Request a position from the selected aircraft – automated process if all is properly configured
Ctrl+U Send an uplink to the selected aircraft – opens the New Uplink window
Table 4-2: Aircraft Tracking Hotkeys
4.1.2 Aircraft List
The following tracking information is available for all tracked aircraft and flights via the aircraft list at
the top of the window.
The table below presents the columns that can be shown. By default, only a subset is displayed, but
many more columns can be shown in the tracking grid. Some show data that is also available in the
panels located at the bottom of the window. Explore these columns using the Preferences panel,
“Aircraft List” columns. You may pass the mouse over each column to get a short description of that
column in the window’s own status bar and refer to further down descriptions in this document. Then
you may customize the grid to show what you prefer to view for all aircraft at once (refer to the Aircraft
Tracking Preferences for more details). At any time you may return to the default column settings using
the action “Restore factory preferences” in the preferences panel.
Data Description
Last upd The number of minutes since the tracking entry has been updated. If the value is bold and red,
it means that no update occurred for the period that is configured in the system parameters
(“Highlight aircraft after xx min of inactivity”, refer to document S5 for more details on system
parameters). However, this bold & red highlight is only performed when in flight, that is for
entries with flight stage from “Init” to “On”.
Additionally, if a hand-like icon displays in this column, it means a manual tracking data update
has been performed for this tracking entry. To know which data element(s) has/have been
modified, search for the same icon in the fields displayed in the detailed panels at the bottom of
the window.
Data Description
When leaving the mouse over this icon, a tooltip shows some details about the manual change.
Aircraft The aircraft registration number (tail number or AN), or the aircraft nose number, depending on
the “Aircraft Display” setting in the user’s preferences. FI-only uplinks and unassociated flight
plans are displayed with a blank Aircraft.
Flight The currently active flight identifier (flight number or FI) reported by the aircraft.
Call sign The call sign used by the aircraft for the currently active flight. This column is only displayed
when the FSD license is installed and the Use call sign checkbox is checked in the Third
Parties tab, FSD section of the System Parameters window (refer to document [S5]).
Aircraft type The type of aircraft as per the aircraft fleet configuration; see to Fleet Configuration, document
[S5].
Origin The origin or departure airport ICAO code as reported by the aircraft.
Dest The destination or arrival airport ICAO code as reported by the aircraft.
Alt dest The alternate destination or arrival airport ICAO code as reported by the aircraft.
Flight stage The Out-Off-On-In-Summary flight stage the aircraft has last reported.
EOBT Estimated Off-Blocks Time for the flight, displayed as day, hours and minutes. Refer to the
Aircraft Tracking Preferences to show this column.
(ETD) / ATD Estimated or Actual time of departure, expressed as day + UTC time of departure. Value is
estimated when in parenthesis, otherwise actual, using the time from the OOOI OUT message.
(ETA) / ATA Estimated or Actual time of arrival, expressed as day + UTC time of arrival. Value is estimated
when in parenthesis, otherwise actual, using the time from the OOOI IN message.
Out / Off / On / In time Lists the movement time (UTC) for each flight stage (OUT to IN) as it were received from the
aircraft (or from Ground Movement Advisory messages). A time in parentheses means it is
estimated (OUT stage ETD and IN stage ETA). When displayed without parentheses, it is an
actual reported time, like OUT stage ATD and IN stage ATA. When a time value is blank, it
means the corresponding stage has not been completed, while unknown values for a stage that
has been completed are shown as ‘---’.
Out / Off / On / In fuel Lists the movement fuel on-board (FOB) for each flight stage (OUT to IN) as it were received
from the aircraft (or from Ground Movement Advisory messages). When a fuel value is blank,
it means the corresponding stage has not been completed, while unknown values for a stage that
has been completed are shown as ‘---’. The fuel values may be displayed in different units;
refer to document [S5] - System Parameters, General tab section.
Reserve fuel The flight planned reserve fuel (expressed in the units selected for fuel display in System
Parameters, document [S5]). The current units can be seen from the Aircraft & Flight tab,
Flight Information panel, under Flight Plan data.
Last DSP The last service provider used by the aircraft for its downlink message transmissions.
SITA & ARINC SITA & ARINC uplink route statuses (ability to deliver an uplink to the aircraft). Can be:
Unknown: Uplink route to aircraft is unknown typically because it has never been used.
Normal: Uplink route to aircraft is presumed normal and usable for the DSP.
Degraded: At least one uplink has failed to be delivered, check the number of retries.
Failed: Exhausted the number of retries, route is considered unusable.
SITA & ARINC retries If the uplink route status is degraded or failed (for SITA or ARINC), this is the number of times
uplink messages had to be retransmitted. A value of zero means no message retransmissions
were necessary.
Pos method The method used to set the position of the aircraft displayed below. There are five possible
Data Description
positioning methods, used in the following order of precedence:
 Last Reported Position: Precise position as reported the aircraft.
 Flight Plan Extrapolation: Estimated position along the flight plan, when available,
based on the ETA of each waypoint (recalculated relative to the flight OFF time).
Used after the “Estimate position after” delay (in System Parameters) is passed since
the aircraft last reported position.
 Last Station Position: Estimated position on the last RGS used for downlink
transmission (range up to 300 nm). Used after the “Estimate position after” delay is
passed since the aircraft last reported position, when flight plan available.
 Airport Position: Estimated position on the departure or arrival airport. Used when
the aircraft is on the ground (flight stages other than in flight or OFF), except if GMA
position reports are sent while on the ground, which then becomes a reported position.
 No Position Report: No positioning information available for the aircraft.
Last pos time Time at which the last position was reported or processed.
Lat / Long Reported or estimated latitude and longitude of the aircraft (in degrees and decimals, positive
sign is N or E), depending on the positioning method used.
Alt Reported or estimated altitude of the aircraft (in feet), depending on the positioning method
used.
Special Conditions A combination of particular conditions for an aircraft entry. Can be one or many of:
 Hold Px-Py or all: A hold condition is active for the uplinks of the listed priorities (e.g.
Hold P3-5 prevents all uplinks of priority “P3 – Low” to “P5 – Normal” to be transmitted
to the aircraft). The held uplinks will be reactivated when the hold condition is stopped.
 No Route: No route is available to send uplinks to the aircraft (the SITA & ARINC
routes are either failed or cannot be used for being inactive).
 Mute?: In-flight aircraft is suspected mute after no downlinks has been received since the
time configured as “suspected Mute Timeout” in the System Parameters.
 Deaf?: Aircraft is suspected deaf after the route to the aircraft is declared failed because
the aircraft did not positively acknowledged the uplinks sent to it.
 Awaiting Aircraft: FI-only uplinks or unassociated flight plans waiting to be associated
with an aircraft that will match the wanted FI and applicable origin, destination and ETD.
Qu’d up The number of queued uplinks for the aircraft. Only one uplink is sent to the aircraft at a time,
ordered by priority and the time at which they have been received.
All up The number of uplinks for the aircraft in the current flight, including currently queued and
completed/cancelled uplinks.
Flight plan Flag indicating whether or not there is a valid flight plan available for the aircraft. The flight
plan overlay and related flight plan data is displayed in the FlightMonitor and Flight Sentry
Display (FSD).
Resp off Responsible office assigned to this flight. This identifies a configured user’s “Dynamic flight
assignment office” that has been assigned to the flight being tracked. This is done via
“Dynamic flight assignment” messages received in AIRCOM Server from flight operation
systems. Refer to document [S5] for more details on “Distributing messages based on dynamic
flight assignments”.
DFM The DFM status, one of:
Inactive
Active
Warning
Stopped
Data Description
Failed
This column is only displayed when the DFM license is installed.
AFDAS severity Priority indicator for the highest active fault for the aircraft. It corresponds to the highest
severity among all reported faults. Refer to AFDAS Fault Management, document [S5] for
details.
This column is only displayed when the AFDAS license is installed.
Active faults The number of faults that reached either a notification threshold or an escalation threshold as
per fault configuration. Refer to AFDAS Fault Management, document [S5] for details.
Mon’d faults The number of currently monitored faults reported by the aircraft.
Running seq The number of running sequences for the aircraft. For more details on sequences, refer to
document [S5].
This column is only displayed when the Sequencer license is installed.
All seq The number of sequences for the aircraft in the current flight, including currently running and
completed/cancelled sequences.
This column is only displayed when the Sequencer license is installed.
Custom fields The number of custom fields for which values are currently tracked for the aircraft in the
current flight.
This column is only displayed when there is at least one custom field configured in the system.
Refer to document [S5], Custom Fields window.
Dep gate The aircraft departure gate.
Table 4-3: Active Aircraft Tracking Information (Aircraft List)
4.1.3 Grouping and Sorting
Grouping is possible in three data display grids: aircraft/flight list, uplinks and monitored faults.
Grouping consists of selecting one or more columns to group the data by. When grouped, the grid
presents a hierarchical view of the data, allowing expanding and collapsing each group.
More than one level grouping is possible as shown below, and when grouping is performed, a few
context menu items are added to expand/collapse all groups and to bring into view the current flight
selection.
Figure 4-2: Aircraft Tracking Group By
Sorting is performed by clicking on a column’s header and the sort direction is indicated by an icon in
the header. Multiple columns sorting is also possible as shown above by holding the Shift key when
clicking on the column headers.
4.1.4 Data Panels
4.1.4.1 Aircraft & Flight Panel
Figure 4-29: Aircraft Tracking Window – Aircraft & Flight
The Aircraft & Flight panel at the bottom of the window shows the essential aircraft and flight
information. It is the default panel when the window opens and, although it presents some of the
information that can be seen from the list of aircraft, it also presents more detailed information that does
not fit in a list. Below is the description of what differs from the aircraft list.
Aircraft Information
Aircraft reg: The aircraft registration number (tail number or AN). For FI-only uplinks and
unassociated flight plans, the Aircraft field is left blank.
Nose: The aircraft nose number. If there is no nose number configured (via Fleet Configuration,
document [S5]), the Nose field is left blank.
Aircraft type: The type of aircraft as per the aircraft fleet configuration; see to Fleet Configuration,
document [S5].
Uplinks hold: Indicator for the current “uplink hold” status. “Inactive” means no hold and all uplinks
are transmitted. “Active” tells that a hold is currently taking place until a specific flight stage or until a
specific delay has passed. The priority of the affected uplinks is described in the “Special Condition”
value in the top aircraft list.
Last position method: The method used to set the position of the aircraft displayed below. There are
five possible positioning methods, used in the following order of precedence:
1. Last Reported Position: Precise position as reported by the aircraft or by radar or ADS-B.
2. Flight Plan Extrapolation: Estimated position along the flight plan, when available, based on
the ETA of each waypoint (recalculated relative to the flight OFF time). Used after the “Estimate
position after” delay (in System Parameters) is passed since the aircraft last reported position.
3. Last Station Position: Estimated position on the last RGS used for downlink transmission
(range up to 300 nm). Used only when no other tracking information is available (typically when
the aircraft is on the ground, soon after boot up). As soon as a reported position or an OOOI
message with origin and destination information is received, this positioning method is not used
anymore. Therefore, the station range uncertainty is not significant most of the time because on
the ground, the aircraft is never very far from the station.
4. Airport Position: Estimated position on the departure or arrival airport. Used when the aircraft
is on the ground (flight stages other than in flight or OFF), except if GMA position reports are
sent while on the ground, which then becomes a reported position.
5. No Position Report: No positioning information available for the aircraft.
Last position time: Time at which the last position was reported or processed.
Last position lat/long: Reported or estimated latitude and longitude of the aircraft (in degrees and
decimals, positive sign is N or E), depending on the positioning method used.
Last position alt.: Reported or estimated altitude of the aircraft (in feet), depending on the positioning
method used.
SAT and HF (status): Indicators for the satellite and HFDL coverage (green: active, gray: unknown or
inactive).
ACARS Route grid:

Data Description
Last downlink Time of last downlink message received by each service provider (UTC).
DSP DSP ID used for the last downlink message received by each service provider.
Originator The address over which the last downlink message has been received
Uplink route SITA & ARINC uplink route statuses (ability to deliver an uplink to the aircraft). Shows the same status
as in the SITA and ARINC columns of the aircraft list.
Retries If the uplink route status is degraded or failed, this is the number of times uplink messages had to be
retransmitted. A value of zero means no message retransmissions were necessary.
Table 4-4: Active Aircraft Tracking Information (ACARS Route Grid)
Last downlink type: Type of the last downlink message received by each service provider, typically the
name of the message template that matched the received message. The value changes according to the
current selection in the ACARS Route grid.
Station used: Medium or Ground Station (RGS or GES) from which the last downlink message was
received for each service provider. The value changes according to the current selection in the ACARS
Route grid.
Flight Information
Departure: ICAO code and name (from the ICAO lookup table) of the origin airport for the current
flight. The code is the same as in column "Origin" of the aircraft list.
Arrival: ICAO code and name (from the ICAO lookup table) of the destination airport for the current
flight. The code is the same as in column "Dest" of the aircraft list.
Alternate: ICAO code and name (from the ICAO lookup table) of the alternate destination airport for
the current flight. The code is the same as in column "Alt dest" of the aircraft list.
Departure gate: The aircraft departure gate.
Responsible office: Responsible office assigned to this flight. This identifies a configured user’s
“Dynamic flight assignment office” that has been assigned to the flight being tracked. This is done via
“Dynamic flight assignment” messages received in AIRCOM Server from flight operation systems.
Refer to document [S5] for more details on “Distributing messages based on dynamic flight
assignments”.
Movement Times and Fuels grid: Lists the movement time (UTC) and fuel on-board (FOB) for each
flight stage (OUT to IN) as it were received from the aircraft (or from Ground Movement Advisory
messages). A time in parentheses means it is estimated (OUT stage ETD and IN stage ETA). When
displayed without parentheses, it is an actual reported time, like OUT stage ATD and IN stage ATA.
When a time or fuel value is blank, it means the corresponding stage has not been completed, while
unknown values for a stage that has been completed are shown as ‘---’. The fuel values may be
displayed in different units; refer to document [S5] - System Parameters, General tab section.
En-route time: Flight's en-route duration, from takeoff to the current time, or to landing when the flight
has landed.
Total time: Flight's total duration, from gate out to the current time, or to gate in when the flight is
completed.
Flight plan identifier: Unique flight plan identifier (also known as "retrieval code"). Up to 50
characters is supported in AIRCOM Server, but only identifiers of a maximum of 5 characters are
allowed to be displayed in the Flight Sentry Display (FSD).
Flight plan STD: Flight's scheduled time of departure. This value is not expected to change; it is the
flight's reference departure time. To get this value, use the field type "FP - STD" in the uplink templates
of category "Flight Plan" used to obtain the information.
Flight plan STA: Flight's scheduled time of arrival. This value is not expected to change; it is the
flight's reference arrival time. To get this value, use the field type "FP - STA" in the uplink templates of
category "Flight Plan" used to obtain the information.
Flight plan ETD: Flight's estimated time of departure. This value is typically updated with flight
departure delays. As opposed to the aircraft list (ETD)/ATD column, this value is always showing the
flight plan's ETD without parentheses. To get this value, use the field type "ETD" in the templates used
to obtain the information.
Flight plan ETA: Flight's estimated time of arrival. This value is typically updated with flight delays all
along the flight. As opposed to the aircraft list (ETA)/ATA column, this value is always showing the
flight plan's ETA without parentheses. To get this value, use the field type "ETA" in the templates used
to obtain the information.
Flight plan total fuel: The flight's planned total loaded fuel, expressed in the units configured in System
Parameters (see document [S5]). To get this value, use the field type "FP - Total Loaded Fuel" in the
uplink templates of category "Flight Plan" used to obtain the information.
Flight plan reserve fuel: The flight's planned reserve fuel, expressed in the units configured in System
Parameters (see document [S5]). To get this value, use the field type "Reserve Fuel" in the templates
used to obtain the information.
Flight plan route: Shows the list of flight plan waypoint names separated by doubled colons ("::") as
they are shown in the Flight Sentry Display (FSD).
4.1.4.2 Queued Uplinks Panel
Figure 4-29: Aircraft Tracking Window –

Queued Uplink Messages
The number indicated in parentheses in the tab label shows the current number of queued uplink
messages, that is: those that are waiting or queued for delivery to the aircraft.
By default, only waiting and queued uplink messages are displayed in the list of uplinks for the selected
aircraft. However, if the "Show completed uplinks" option is checked from the uplinks list's contextual
menu, all uplinks for the aircraft, delivered or expired, are displayed.
The following describes the active uplink messages tracking information.
Data Description
Queued Uplink Messages List
Priority (P) Priority of the uplink as defined in the Uplink Template window.
(None) P5 - Normal
P4 - Note
P3 - Low
P2 - Medium
P1 - High
Creation Date and time of the moment at which the uplink message was created for the AIRCOM Server
to process (for example, after the sending user clicks 'Send' in the Uplink Message Generation
window). If the uplink is not waiting to be retransmitted, this column is equal to Last/Next
Transmission column.
Last trans In the case an uplink message needs to be retransmitted at a later time (according to a
determined wait timer), this is the time at which AIRCOM Server will retransmit, or it shows
the time at which it was last retried depending on the message status.
Queuing time Same as described in details section below.
Validity Same as described in details section below.
Max wait Same as described in details section below.
Status Shows the pending uplink message status (in progress, stalled, etc.) the same way it is displayed
in the User Mailbox (see Table 3-3).
Uplink type Typically, the name of the template that matches the message contents or that has been used to
build the message. If a model was used to reformat the message, the model name is appended
to the message type.
SMI Standard Message Identifier of the uplink message.
Sender Display name of the user who sent the uplink message to the aircraft.
Transac Transaction number associated to the uplink message (among others, it is referred to in the
traffic log viewer).
MA # Message Assurance sequence number.
DSP Last service provider (DSP) that responded with a Message Assurance acknowledgement to
AIRCOM Server for this uplink.
Identifier Allows identifying and acknowledging uplinks with an ID.

· A new field type "Uplink ID" can be used to define fields in uplinks from external users.
The value can take up to 50 characters.
· It is then available as {@Uplink ID} in uplink and uplink acknowledgement models so
that the ID identified in the incoming uplink can be used back in successful or failed
uplink acknowledgement to the originator or other users.
· If the "Uplink ID" has not been defined in the incoming template, then it uses the same
value as the "Uplink /MA".
· If there was no /MA in the original uplink, then the "Uplink /MA" is set to the one that was
used by AS to send the uplink.
Details for the currently selected Uplink Message
Current status Same as in the Active Uplink list above.
Queuing time The time spent in queue, waiting to be processed since message creation. When retransmissions
are tried and fail, the queuing time is not reset.
Validity time Time during which the uplink message is considered valid (in minutes, from the time the uplink
was created or when it leaves the “UP: On-Hold” status).
Max wait time Timeout after which, if the message was “on-hold” and was not reactivated (i.e. did not leave
the “UP: On-Hold” status), the message expires, and the system will process it as an expired
message, and send the appropriate notification back to the originating user.
Uplink type Same as in the queued uplink messages list above.
Message The uplink message as it is sent. If an uplink comes from an external user, it may require
reformatting to a proper uplink format before it can be sent, and the latter is displayed here.
Double-clicking or pressing the Enter key while on the Message text area opens the message
into a larger message viewer, which allows printing and/or saving to file.
Hex view When selected, displays the message in hexadecimal representation.
Encrypted When selected, displays the encrypted equivalent of the uplink message. This check box is
available only with one of the possible encryption license options, and when available, it is
enabled only when an encrypted version of the message exists.
Table 4-5: Active Uplink Messages Tracking Information
4.1.4.3 Flight Analysis (FCM) Panel
Figure 4-29: Aircraft Tracking Window – Flight Analysis
This panel is available only with the Fuel Conservation Monitoring (FCM) license option. It presents
key flight timeline data to quickly view where the flight in terms of flight phase and what are the
planned, actual, and delta times for each of these phases. In addition to critical phase times, engine and
APU run times are also presented per phase. A flight's time breakdown is a key element to the
evaluation of how fuel is burnt and potential areas for fuel economy.
The data is available for viewing currently tracked flights, and when a flight is cleared from tracking, the
flight history is transferred to a flight log. It is possible to perform post-flight analysis on this data using
custom Crystal Reports. The flight log gets purged as part of the Purge & Archiving Job configured via
System Parameters (refer to document [S5]).
The current flight progression is displayed by a blue progress bar just below the flight phase labels. The
progression is only showing that the current flight stage has started, it does not show a relative
progression within that specific stage (e.g. it would show a flight is Off or took off, but the progress will
stay at Off until the flight lands, and only then it will progress to On).
 Pre-flight or Init Phase: For this phase, data is displayed from the flight initialization to the current
time or to the gate out event if the aircraft left the gate.
 Taxi-out Phase: For this phase, data is displayed from the flight gate out event to the current time or
to the takeoff event if the aircraft took off.
 En-route or Off phase: For this phase, data is displayed from the flight take off to the current time
or to the landing event if the aircraft landed.
 Taxi-in Phase: For this phase, data is displayed from the flight landing to the current time or to the
gate in event if the aircraft reached the gate.
 At gate or In Phase: For this phase, data is displayed since the flight gate in event.
Data Description
Departure location: The ICAO code of the departure airport is displayed next to the "Init" label.
Arrival location: The ICAO code of the arrival airport is displayed next to the "In" label.
Flight initialization date & time: Under the "Init" label, the date & time at which the flight started to be
tracked within AIRCOM Server, no matter if a message initiated or not the INIT stage (refer to OOOI
messages and templates). Indeed, if an aircraft starts to be tracked 10 minutes before a message
effectively sets the INIT stage, this date & time still represents the moment when the aircraft was first
tracked, 10 minutes ago.
Actual time (out, off, on, in): The actual time at which the flight phase started (gate out, take off,
landing, gate in).
Scheduled time (out and in): The scheduled time at which the flight leaves the gate (Out), and at which
it enters the gate at destination (gate in). These correspond to the STD and STA if provisioned via the
flight plan (field type "FP- STD" and "FP - STA" in flight plan template), or to the original ETD and
ETA, i.e. the first value provided for the estimated times; even though these change afterwards, it is the
original value that is displayed as the scheduled time.
Actual VS Scheduled time difference (out and in): The difference between the actual and the
scheduled flight phase start time. Thus, a delayed flight is indicated by a positive difference.
Actual duration: The current actual duration of the current flight phase.
Nominal duration (out and on): The nominal (typical, considered normal) flight phase duration. This
is used as the reference to detect exceeded taxi times. The nominal values are unique (one for taxi-out
and one for taxi-in) and configured via System Parameters (refer to document [S5]) - "Long taxi-out
threshold" and "Long taxi-in threshold".
Actual VS Nominal taxi time difference (out and in): The difference between the actual and the
nominal taxi time. Thus, a taxi time that exceeded the nominal value is indicated as a positive
difference.
APU run time: The time the APU has run in the current flight phase and the percentage of time it ran
compared to the current actual flight phase duration. The percentage is shown as a progress bar and the
actual time of reference is displayed in the "%" column's label.
Engine run time: The time each engine has run in the current flight phase and the percentage of time it
ran compared to the current actual flight phase duration. The grid shows as many engines as configured
for this aircraft type (refer to Aircraft Type in document [S5]). Engine time is monitored for taxi and en-
route flight phases. The percentage is shown as a progress bar and the actual time of reference is
displayed in the "%" column's label.
4.1.4.4 Fuel Analysis (FCM) Panel
Figure 4-29: Aircraft Tracking Window – Fuel Analysis
This panel is available only with the Fuel Conservation Monitoring (FCM) license option. It presents
key flight's fuel usage data to quickly view where how fuel is burnt and potential areas for fuel economy.
The data is available for viewing currently tracked flights, and when a flight is cleared from tracking, the
flight history is transferred to a flight log. It is possible to perform post-flight analysis on this data using
custom Crystal Reports. The flight log gets purged as part of the Purge & Archiving Job configured via
System Parameters (refer to document [S5]).
Fuel reported VS flight plan grid: For each of the four out, off, on, and in flight stages, the grid
presents the actual fuel reported and the flight plan corresponding planned fuel. Thus, the difference is
positive when more fuel has been actually burnt than it was planned. Note that all fuel values are
displayed in the units configured via System Parameters, General tab (refer to document [S5]). The
configured unit used is displayed below the grid.
For the flight plan values to be available, essentially, the following field types should be used in the
uplink template of category "Flight Plan" used to obtain the information: "FP - Total Loaded Fuel", "FP -
Take Off Fuel", "FP - Landing Fuel", and "FP - Gate Arrival Fuel".
If the Take Off fuel is missing from the flight plan, it gets calculated as follows: Total Loaded Fuel -
Taxi Fuel ("FP - Taxi Fuel").
If the Landing fuel is missing from the flight plan, it gets calculated as follows: Take Off Fuel - En-route
Fuel ("FP - Enroute Fuel").
Actual fuel burn: The taxi-out actual fuel burnt is the fuel difference between the actual OUT fuel and
the actual OFF fuel. Similarly, the en-route actual fuel burnt is the difference between the actual OFF
fuel and the actual ON fuel, the taxi-in actual fuel burnt is the difference between the actual ON fuel and
the actual IN fuel, and the total actual fuel burnt is the difference between the actual OUT fuel and the
actual IN fuel.
APU run time information: A LED is displayed for the APU and one per engine configured for the
aircraft type being tracked (refer to Aircraft Type in document [S5]). The LED is gray when the current
status is unknown or not running, while it is green when currently running. Just below the status
indicator, the time at which the APU or engine was last started is shown.
The actual time the APU has run in each flight phase, the nominal APU run time at gate (i.e. for the Init
phase and At gate) configured via System Parameters (refer to document [S5]) - "At gate APU usage
threshold"; thus the difference applies only to the Init phase and At gate, and a positive difference
indicates the APU has run longer than the nominal time.
Engines run time information: Engine run times are displayed for the taxi-out and taxi-in phases. The
phase actual duration is shown between parentheses below the phase label. The actual engine run time is
displayed and the percentage of time it ran compared to the current actual phase duration is shown just
below the actual time. The grid shows as many engines as configured for this aircraft type (refer to
Aircraft Type in document [S5]).
4.1.4.5 Monitored Faults (AFDAS) Panel
Figure 4-3: Aircraft Tracking Window – Faults (AFDAS)
Figure 4-4: Aircraft Tracking Window – Faults Hierarchical View
The number indicated between parentheses in the panel label shows the current number of monitored
faults. To view this panel requires the “AFDAS” license.
As shown above, faults can be presented into two different layouts: 1) monitored faults with their
associated fault occurrences as children in a tree view display, or 2) monitored faults and linked
occurrences in two lists (this is the default). To toggle between one and the other, use the preferences
settings, “Monitored Faults Panel” section.
The current AFDAS system supports faults reported by Boeing aircraft only, following the FDE/CMC
schema. Here is a summary of how the system is used.
The system requires defining faults that are associated to a fault group (e.g. Boeing 747). Each aircraft
type is associated with one of the configured fault groups. More than one aircraft type referring to the
same fault group may exist (e.g. different variant of aircraft types such as "B747-200" and "B747-400"
would refer to the same fault group "B747").
Each fault definition includes thresholds values for notification and escalation (e.g. 2 fault occurrences
in 48 hours raise a fault notification). When occurrences count of the same fault reach either threshold
within the configured time period, users can be warned as "notification" or "escalation" levels. Use the
Fault Notification window to configure who is notified upon notification and/or escalation thresholds
(see document [S5]).
When the aircraft reports faults, they are matched to their corresponding definition and tracked via the
“Monitored Faults (AFDAS)” panel in the Aircraft Tracking window. The reported faults occurrences
are tracked so that new occurrences of the same fault within that period may “activate” the fault and
have the system send appropriate notifications. Monitored faults are cleared when no more fault
occurrences are tracked, and fault occurrences are cleared after the maximum of their notification and
escalation periods. Note that fault occurrences are tracked for at least one hour, even when their
occurrence time is much in the past (more than the notification or escalation time) at the moment they
are received. Faults that are not configured for notification or escalation (identified as 0/0 in the Faults
Management window) are not tracked at all and will not show in the Aircraft Tracking window.
The following describes the AFDAS faults monitoring information displayed in the Aircraft Tracking
window.
Data Description
Monitored Fault List
Severity The fault severity, one of:
(blank) No severity
Take note
Low
Medium
High
First Fault Time The date and time at which the aircraft first reported the fault.
Fault Code The fault unique identifier; see AFDAS Fault Management, document [S5].
Type The fault type, i.e. either Flight Deck Event (FDE) or Central Maintenance Computer (CMC)
faults.
Description The fault description; see AFDAS Fault Management, document [S5].
Active Indicates whether a fault is active or not. Active faults are those that reached either a
notification threshold or an escalation threshold as per fault configuration (see AFDAS Fault
Management, document [S5]).
Comments The currently selected monitored fault comments as configured in AFDAS Fault Management
(see document [S5]).
When a comment is configured for a fault, it shows as a comment idon and moving the mouse
over the icon displays the comment into a tooltip. The comments tooltip caption identifies to
which fault the comments apply.
Lev(el) 1 Indicates whether or not at least one user has been notified of the fact that the fault reached the
notification threshold.
Lev(el) 2 Indicates whether or not at least one user has been notified of the fact that the fault reached the
escalation threshold.
Lev(el) 1 time Indicates the moment at which fault notification occurred.
Lev(el) 2 time Indicates the moment at which fault escalation occurred.
Count The number of faults occurrences that raised the currently monitored fault. Here is what
happens for the two fault types that can be monitored (FDE and CMC):
FDE: An FDE fault is typically accompanied by multiple CMC faults, called correlated CMC,
and each time an FDE fault is reported, all the correlated CMC are listed as fault occurrences,
but only one (the most recent) is considered having raised the FDE. Therefore, the FDE
occurrence count is incremented by one no matter the number of correlated CMC.
CMC: A standalone CMC fault, also known as non-FDE fault, always raises itself, meaning
there is a one to one correlation between the monitored fault count and the number of
occurrences listed.
Data Description
Notif The fault configured notification threshold. The number of occurrences of the fault that need to
occur within the specified time period (expressed in hours) in order to trigger a notification
action and set the fault as active.
Escal The fault configured escalation threshold. The number of occurrences of the fault that need to
occur within the specified time period (expressed in hours) in order to trigger an escalation
action and set the fault as active if it were not already. Typically, the criticality level of an
escalation is considered higher than a notification.
As an example, it is possible to have a notification threshold of 2/10 (2 occurrences in 10 hours)

and an escalation of 3/48. Let’s say the fault occurs three times at twelve hours intervals, the
notification threshold is not reached, but the escalation is.
Fault Occurrences List
Occurrence Time The date and time at which the CMC fault occurrence occurred.
Flight The flight identifier valid at the time the fault occurred. Since a flight may have many flight
legs, each occurrences of the same fault are from different flight legs, hence having different
flight identifiers. Note that if a fault occurs more than once on a same flight leg, only the first
occurrence is considered, hence occurrences count increases only if the fault occurs again in
another flight leg.
Occurrence time The moment at which the CMC fault occurrence occurred.
CMC Code The fault unique identifier; see AFDAS Fault Management, document [S5]. Note that faults
listed in the fault occurrences grid are only faults of the CMC fault type. This is because the
occurrences of a FDE fault refer to its correlated CMC faults. Remember that only one CMC
correlated fault per FDE fault occurrence is considered to have raised the FDE fault.
Type This is not the fault type (FDE or CMC). It is a mix of flight phase (e.g. PO = Power On, ES =
Engine Start) and intermittence (e.g. H = Hard, I = Intermittent, M = Mode dependent).
Description The CMC fault description; see AFDAS Fault Management, document [S5].
Raised Indicates whether or not the current CMC fault occurrence is the one that raised the monitored
fault. For a non-FDE fault (i.e. CMC), each monitored fault is associated to one fault
occurrence (i.e. the same fault); hence all occurrences are marked as raised. For FDE faults, if
there are more than one correlated CMC faults for one FDE occurrence, then all correlated
CMC faults are listed as fault occurrences for that FDE fault, but only one is marked as raised
(the most recent of the group).
Comment The currently selected fault (either FDE fault or CMC fault occurrence) comments as
configured in AFDAS Fault Management (see document [S5]).
When a comment is configured for a fault, it shows as a comment idon and moving the mouse
over the icon displays the comment into a tooltip. The comments tooltip caption identifies to
which fault the comments apply.
Sector The flight leg indicated in the fault report for the current fault occurrence, typically represented
by the ICAO codes of the origin and destination airports for the flight leg (e.g. WSSS/LSZH).
Clear time Indicates the moment at which the fault will be cleared.
Table 4-6: Faults Monitoring Information
4.1.4.6 Dynamic Frequency Management (DFM) Panel
To view this panel requires the “DFM” license.
Figure 4-5: Aircraft Tracking Window – DFM
The following describes the DFM information displayed in the Aircraft Tracking window.
Data Description
DFM status The DFM status, one of:
Inactive
Active
Warning
Stopped
Failed
DFM route The route currently being flown by the aircraft
Current scan table The name of the last scan table frequency sent to the aircraft (refers to the name of a frequency
set definition).
Current scan table The delivery status of the last scan table frequency sent to the aircraft: Pending, In Progress,
status Successful or Failed.
Current auto-tune The name of the last auto-tune frequency sent to the aircraft (refers to the name of a frequency
set definition).
Current auto-tune status The delivery status of the last auto-tune frequency sent to the aircraft: Pending, In Progress,
Successful or Failed.
Table 4-7: DFM Information
4.1.4.7 Custom Fields Panel
The number indicated between parentheses in the panel label shows the current number of custom fields
for which values are being tracked.
Figure 4-6: Aircraft Tracking Window – Custom Fields

To view this panel, there has to be at least one custom field configured in the system (refer to document
[S5] for more details). Having a custom field defined does not mean however that you will see tracked
values for it for some aircraft. To be able to track custom field values, they must have been included in
some message templates to be extracted from the messages sent by the aircraft, and then you will start to
see values for these custom fields listed in this grid.
The grid presents the custom field names for which values are being tracked. The current value
represents the last tracked value for that field and aircraft and the last update column indicates when
that last update occurred. The last column allows viewing the custom field configured description by
moving the mouse over the comment icon; a tooltip shows the description. If there is no description for
a field then there will not be any icon in the last column.
4.1.4.8 Sequences Panel
To configure sequences and learn how these work, please refer to document [S5]. To view this panel
requires the “Sequencer” license.
The number indicated between parentheses in the panel label shows the current number of running
sequences.
Figure 4-7: Aircraft Tracking Window – Sequences
This panel allows monitoring the evolution of any running or completed sequences for the selected
flight. The left-most part lists the sequences. They are identified by their name (Sequence column). By
default, only the running sequences are displayed (see the Status column), but using the context menu
and checking the “Show completed sequences” allows viewing both running and completed sequences.
The last column allows viewing the sequence configured description by moving the mouse over the
comment icon; a tooltip shows the description. If there is no description for a sequence then there will
not be any icon in the last column.
The right-most part shows the sequence progress presenting a log of activities that occurred or that are in
progress for the currently selected sequence.
Each sequence step is identified by its step number and a summary of that step. The status,
completion time (Completed column) and result of each step are available to the right of the list.
Additionally, if a status is accompanied with an error, a red indicator shows up next to the status and a
tooltip presenting the error text can be shown by moving the mouse over the indicator.
Using the context menu over the sequence list (left-most list) allows viewing the selected sequence or
simply opening the Sequencer window to view the sequence details, but his requires the “Sequencer”
management privilege. Also, it may happen that the sequence that has run or that is currently running is
different than the latest saved sequence settings; this can occur if configuration changes are performed
after a sequence started running. If this happens, a note shows up below the sequence progress list
indicating that the displayed tracked sequence is different from the latest configuration. Also, in this
case, if the user tries to view the sequence, a dialog message will warn the user about that condition. In
the end, the sequence configuration that user will see in the Sequencer window is not necessarily what it
was when the sequence started.
4.1.5 Status Bar
The status bar presents a few panels.
Figure 4-8: Aircraft Tracking Status Bar
To the left are the four most significant counts.
Listed flights: This is the number of flights that are visible in the list as per the chosen filter criteria:
flight stage(s) and "My Flights" selection. Flights are anything that AS tracks: planned flights, active
flights and flights for which uplinks are queued but that are not yet flown.
Active: This is the total number of flights that are currently active in the system (independent of the filter
used). An active flight is a flight in any stage passed init, that is: init, out, off, on, in and summary (as
opposed to stage (none), planned or upcoming).
Upcoming + planned: This is the total count of flights that are being prepared but that are not yet active
(independent of the filter used). Planned flights are those for which a flight plan has been received.
Upcoming flights are those for which uplink messages other than flight plans have been received. These
are messages using FI, departure airport and ETD that don't match those of currently tracked aircraft.
Aircraft in flight stage (none) are considered to be waiting or shutdown between flights and are not
counted as part of the active, upcoming or planned flights.
All queued uplinks: This is the total number of uplink messages currently queued by the system, for all
aircraft, active or not. Queued uplinks are those waiting to be transmitted or being transmitted but that
are not yet delivered, cancelled or expired.
Next to the counts, a dynamic panel is used to display transient information, such as a short description
of grid columns when moving the mouse over the list of columns in the Preferences panel.
The right-most part of the status bar shows a 'rotating arrows' icon when an update of the tracking data is
taking place, a 'green check' when the tracking data is up to date and a 'red X' when the last update could
not complete because of a communication problem with the base service. Right next to the icon is the
last update time, which is the last time the tracking data has been refreshed.
4.1.6 Context Menus
Right-clicking in any of the data grids will show contextual options that will vary from one grid to the
other, but also from one area of the grid to another (header, group by region, data area). The user must
however possess the “Aircraft & uplink tracking” management privilege to have access to the menu
items that may alter data, like cancel uplink or modify. Also, other menu options like “Send uplink
message” are available only if the user has the corresponding operation user right. Similarly, options
leading to consulting configuration data like “Open Sequencer” are available only if the user has the
corresponding management user right.
The following present all possible functions for each grid:
4.1.7 Tracking Grid Context Menu
This is the context menu when right-clicking over the data area when not
grouped by one or more columns.
This is when over the data area when grouping

by one or more columns.
This is when over

the group when
grouping by one
or more columns.
Figure 4-9: Typical Tracking Grid Context Menus
Menu Function Description

Send uplink message… Same as the equivalent toolbar button.
Request position Same as the equivalent toolbar button.
Dial SATCOM… Same as the equivalent toolbar button.
Modify… Same as the equivalent toolbar button.
Cancel all uplinks Cancels all queued uplinks for the selected aircraft. If the first uplink has been
transmitted to SITA or ARINC and not yet acknowledged, it’s possible that the uplink is
still delivered to the aircraft. The acknowledgement will be ignored when it comes later.
This function requires the ‘Aircraft & uplink tracking’ management privilege.
Start uplinks hold period... Starts or re-starts an uplink “hold” for the selected aircraft. A hold period is used to
prevent uplinks of a certain priority and lower to be sent to the aircraft during critical
flight phases (clean cockpit). Hold periods are usually started on the reception of
specific downlinks (often OOOI) and end automatically after a certain period of time.
They can however be started or modified manually (without sending the held uplinks in
between) via this option. The possible choices are the following:
Figure 4-10: Start Uplinks Hold Period Window

Stop uplinks hold period Stops an uplink hold period, no matter how it was started, and begins sending the uplinks
that were held in their order of priority.
View messages… Opens the AS user’s mailbox with a preset filter on the selected aircraft (ONLINE view
for 2 hours, Aircraft Registration set to the selected aircraft).
View traffic log… Opens the traffic log with a preset filter on the selected aircraft (ONLINE view for 2
hours, Aircraft Registration set to the selected aircraft).
View in FlightMonitor Opens the FlightMonitor window with the same flight selected. For this option to be
window… available, it requires the FlightMonitor license option and the View FlightMonitor user
right.
Expand all / Collapse all These allow expanding or collapsing all the tree display items when a grouping is
performed.
Show current flight (F12) This option (or F12 keyboard shortcut) allows bringing the currently selected row into
view (the one for which details are displayed at the bottom of the window). The
currently selected row may get out of view for different reasons like collapsed groups. It
is not available when no grouping is performed because a click (left or right mouse
button) always performs the selection of a new current flight.
Table 4-8: Tracking Grid Context Menu
4.1.7.1 Uplinks Grid Context Menu
Figure 4-11: Typical Uplink Grid Context Menus

Cancel Uplink(s) Same as ‘Cancel all uplinks’ (see tracking grid menu) but only for the uplink(s)
individually selected.
View… Allows opening a separate viewer for the uplink message that provides a larger and
resizable area to view the message and that supports saving to file and printing.
The option is available only when an uplink is selected, and it is also available from the
context menu over the message display text area at the bottom of the panel.
Show completed uplinks Toggle button determining whether the completed uplink messages are displayed or not
in the Queued Uplinks panel. If not, only the queued uplinks are displayed.
Expand all / Collapse all These allow expanding or collapsing all the tree display items when a group by is
performed.
Table 4-9: Uplink Grid Context Menu
The below figure shows the uplink message viewer opened by the ‘View…’ menu option. Notice the
‘Save’ and ‘Print’ buttons to persist a copy of that specific message.
Figure 4-12: Uplink Message Viewer
4.1.7.2 Monitored Faults & Fault Occurrences Grids Context Menu
View fault management… ‘View fault management’ is available when a fault is currently selected and it will open
or the window with that fault preselected. If no fault is selected (e.g. right-click in the grid
Open Fault Management… header or an empty area), then the menu item is ‘Open Fault Management’ and opens
the window without trying to locate a specific fault.
This function requires the ‘AFDAS faults’ management privilege.

View fault notification… ‘View fault notification’ is available when a fault is currently selected and it will open
or the window with that fault preselected. If no fault is selected (e.g. right-click in the grid
Open Fault Notifications… header or an empty area), then the menu item is ‘Open Fault Notifications’ and opens
the window without trying to locate a specific fault.
This function requires the ‘AFDAS faults’ management privilege.

Expand all / Collapse all These allow expanding or collapsing all the tree display items when a group by is
performed.
Table 4-10: Faults Grids Context Menu
4.1.7.3 Custom Fields Grid Context Menu

View custom field… ‘View custom field’ is available when a custom field is currently selected and it will
or open the window with that field preselected. If no custom field is selected (e.g. right-
Open Custom Fields… click in the grid header or an empty area), then the menu item is ‘Open Custom Fields’
and opens the window without trying to locate a specific field.
This function requires the ‘Lookup tables and custom fields’ management privilege.
Table 4-11: Custom Fields Grid Context Menu
4.1.7.4 Sequences Grid Context Menu

View sequence… ‘View sequence’ is available when a sequence is currently selected and it will open the
or window with that sequence preselected. If no sequence is selected (e.g. right-click in the
Open Sequencer… grid header or an empty area), then the menu item is ‘Open Sequencer’ and opens the
window without trying to locate a specific sequence.
This function requires the ‘Sequencer’ management privilege.

Show completed sequences Toggle button determining whether the completed sequences are displayed or not in the
Sequences panel. If not, only the running sequences are displayed.
Table 4-12: Sequences Grid Context Menu
4.1.8 Find
Figure 4-13: Tracking Window Find

The find area shows up at the top of the window as indicated by the red frame in the above figure.
The left-most drop down lists all data columns which can be searched upon. The next drop down
presents the operators allowed according to the type of data being searched for, and the next area allows
entering the value to search (the type of user control adapts to the type of data, i.e. date & time, numeric,
text, true/false or predefined list of values).
The buttons allow searching for the next or previous item. The keyboard ‘F3’ key also allows
performing a find next. An indicator and the count of items found help knowing if results were found
and how many. The results are all highlighted in green for easy identification. Thus next and previous
navigates among these green items.
Hiding the Find area (press the Find button again or use Ctrl-F) automatically clears the search results.
4.1.9 Preferences
The preferences area shows up at the left of the window. It is composed of

the following areas:
Actions: The preferences related actions are save the current preferences,
restore the last saved preferences, and reset to factory preferences.
The settings managed through preferences are divided in three groups: 1) the
window layout, visible panels and docking of panels, 2) the grids columns
visibility, width and position and when possible, group by settings, 3)
aircraft filters (e.g. flight stages shown, show only my flights).
Each time one of these actions is performed, the Preferences and Find panels
hide themselves, back to regular operations. These panels state is not saved
as part of the layout; they are always closed by default and only open upon
user request.
Select visible panels: Each of the data panels at the bottom of the window
can be shown or hidden using these settings. Note that the Flight Analysis
& Fuel Analysis, Faults, DFM (Dynamic Frequency Management) and
Sequences panels may not be listed if the corresponding license option is not
available.
Restore Factory Layout button: As show in the figure, this button only
restores the panels’ layout & docking, as opposed to the “Restore factory
preferences” above which restores all preferences (including the panels
layout).
Figure 4-14: Preferences Panel
4.1.9.1 Panel Docking
Each of the bottom panels can be docked within the tracking window or outside. Use the top-right
controls ( ) and context menu over the panel title bar or tab area to control auto-hide and floating
options. Alternatively, you may double-click a panel tab to make it floating when not in auto-hide mode,
and double-click a floating panel (or press the button) to dock it back to its original location.
The pin button is used to toggle the auto-hide behavior for all panels at once. However, if a panel is
floating when you decide to set auto-hide, only the panels that are not floating will be auto-hiding, and if
you dock back the floating panel, it will temporarily be not auto-hiding like the others. Toggle the auto-
hide again to synchronize all panels in the same auto-hide mode. Also, when panels are auto-hiding, the
way to remove the auto-hide is to make one of them show up, move the mouse over any of the panels’
tab area, and click again on the pin button.
4.1.9.2 Aircraft Display Section
This section essentially specifies aircraft filter settings.
Each possible flight stage can be filtered out from the view.
The user can either show all flights or only his own flights using the “Show
my flights only” setting (refer to My Flights toolbar button description
above).
Note that each of these settings are always synchronized with the
corresponding options in the toolbar.
Figure 4-15: Tracking Window Preferences – Aircraft Display
4.1.9.3 Grid Preferences Sections
Each significant data grid available in the window has its own section. Essentially, it presents all
columns that can be listed in the data grid. Not all columns are shown by default, so it is recommended
to explore what is available.
Figure 4-16: Tracking Window Grid Preferences
Check or uncheck a column to make it visible or to hide it. You may also click a column name and drag
it to the grid to re-position it where you want. The list shows columns in their current position order at
all times. You may also reorder columns simply by clicking the column header directly in the grid and
dragging it where you want.
Move the mouse over each of these columns to see a short description in the status bar at the bottom of
the window.
The settings above the list of columns vary from one grid to the other as follows:
Allow group by: This setting applies to the Aircraft Tracking, Uplinks, and Faults grids.
Show completed uplinks: This setting allows saving the “Show completed uplinks” option available for
the context menu of the uplinks grid, such that the window opens and is already set to show not only the
queued uplinks (default behavior), but rather all uplinks for an aircraft. This setting is linked and
synchronized with the “Show completed uplinks” option of the uplinks grid context menu.
Show occurrences in same grid: This setting allows saving the faults related display option allowing
the user to view monitored faults and fault occurrences linked to the monitored faults either in separate
grids (default behavior) or as part of a single grid in a parent/child display.
Show completed sequences: This setting allows saving the “Show completed sequences” option
available for the context menu of the sequences grid, such that the window opens and is already set to
show not only the running sequences (default behavior), but rather all sequences for an aircraft. This
setting is linked and synchronized with the “Show completed sequences” option of the sequences grid
context menu.
4.1.10 Modify Tracking Data
The use of this window requires the “Aircraft & uplink tracking” management privilege and it must be
used with extreme care because it alters the flights data automatically tracked by the system. This user
privilege should be attributed with care. Any data alteration performed manually is logged to the AS
event log.
The purpose of this feature is typically to allow an administrator or flight dispatcher to correct wrong
data and/or add missing data (e.g. for non ACARS equipped aircraft). Although, the best recommended
solution is still to get the data input from the aircraft through proper template configuration as much as
possible. Manually modifying tracking data should be limited to exceptional cases.
Figure 4-17: Modify Tracking Data Window
The following describes the Modify Tracking Data window.
Fields above the spacer identified by the red arrow in the above figure are the fixed tracking fields for
which manual modifications are allowed. Any fields below that spacer are the custom fields configured
in the system.
The left column show the field name, then the current value for a field turns yellow background with a
red checkmark whenever the current value changes while the window is opened. The red checkmark
indicates the user shall acknowledge each changed value before being allowed to confirm and save any
changes. A tooltip over the each changed current value explains that it must be acknowledged.
The new value is where the changes are made. It shows as dimmed gray text when there have been no
changes to the current value. Depending on the data type of the field to edit, the new value cell will
show a specialized value editor. Whenever a change has been made, the background turns either green if
the value is valid or red if invalid. A mandatory value that would not have been specified would also
show in error with red background. Whenever a red background appears, move the mouse over the cell
and a tooltip will explain what the problem is.
There are columns with buttons that change according to the context: “Edit” or “Accept” in the first
column and “Undo” or “Delete/Clear” in the second column.
Edit/Accept: Entering in edit mode can also be achieved by simply clicking in a cell or pressing the F2
key. Accept allows confirming a change (if any) and exit edit mode for that field. It is particularly
useful for date & time fields. An empty date & time field is defaulted to the current time in UTC when
the user clicks on it and enters edit mode, but if the user clicks in another cell without changing the
value, the field returns to empty. However, clicking the “Accept” button does confirm that the user
wants to keep that default value as a change.
Undo/Delete: The undo action returns the value to the field’s current value. The delete/clear action
completely clears the value to empty, i.e. if it had a current value, changed or not, the new value
becomes blank. It indeed becomes a change in itself if the current value was not blank.
Clear flight: The “Clear existing tracking data before using the above values” setting will clear the
tracking data (start a new flight) before applying the new values provided. Of course, when checking the
option, the new values in this window are cleared if they had not been modified. This setting can also
get checked automatically when deleting one of these fields: FI, ETD, or Flight Stage. When doing so, a
confirmation message appears for the user to realize what the impact of changing that value is. After a
clear action has been performed, it can be undone by unchecking the clear check box. This will returned
the cleared fields either to the current value if it had not been changed (empty) or will leave any new
value that is different from the current value.
Since all changes you do here are effective only when clicking OK and confirming again that you really
want to apply these changes, you may safely experiment with different scenarios. Notice that the OK
button is available to be clicked only when it makes sense do to so, avoiding to click OK for nothing, or
by mistake. OK is not available any of the following conditions: no changes were performed, new
values are invalid (red background), current values changed and were not acknowledged, no reason has
been provided for the change, and in the case of the “Other” reason, details must also be specified.
Again, once the OK button is available and clicked, a confirmation dialog appears for the user to
confirm. Only then the changes are applied. At this stage, it may happen that during the time the user
reads and confirms the change dialog, again other current values may have changed in the background,
and if this occurs, the user is advised and will be returned to the Modify Tracking Data window to
acknowledge these changes.
4.2 FlightMonitor
The FlightMonitor will eventually completely replace the old ASD (referred as ASD Legacy – see
section 4.3)3.
It is a complete flight monitoring tool that displays flights over the world map provided by Google maps.
Many different layers can be overlaid on the map, including graphical static and animated weather layers
provided by Schneider Electric. Aircraft positions and tracking data can be enhanced by the addition of
ADS-B, radar and ATC feeds provided together by FlightAware. The data from the FlightAware feed is
merged with the data already tracked by AS which provides a more complete tracking of the flights.
The window is available through the Main window ‘Tracking’ dropdown button and via the Operations
menu.
The FlightMonitor is designed in a separate window, independent from the main AIRCOM Server Client
window, although it is still accessed from that main client toolbar and gets closed when the client session
is terminated. This way, the FlightMonitor can exploit the full screen real estate and can be moved to a
separate monitor, independently of the rest of the AIRCOM Server Client.
Figure 4-18: FlightMonitor Window
3
The legacy ASD and the FlightMonitor require separate license options. Please contact your SITA representative to obtain
the appropriate license to use the FlightMonitor or to upgrade to the FlightMonitor.
The FlightMonitor license defines an allowed number of FlightMonitor seats, and when this number is
exceeded, the user will be advised and the window will not open. The number of used seats corresponds
to the number of FlightMonitor windows opened by all users.
The FlightMonitor user interface is very close to the look and feel of the Aircraft Tracking user interface.
Essentially, the flight related data is presented the same way as in Aircraft Tracking but with the
emphasis on geographical data like airports, flight plans, positions, navigational data and weather.
This section presents every option and action differing from the Aircraft Tracking window presented in
section 4.
4.2.1 Toolbar
The FlightMonitor toolbar offers a set of operations common identical to those available in the Aircraft
Tracking window (refer to Table 4-1: Aircraft Tracking Window Functions). The table below describes
only options specific to the FlightMonitor.
Note that some of these operations are also available from the various context menus.
Toolbar Button Description

Refresh (F5) Refer to Table 4-1: Aircraft Tracking Window Functions
Stages The dropdown allows selecting which stages are included or not, thus
filtering the aircraft/flight list by flight stage.
The differences with Aircraft Tracking are the presence of colored icons
to be able to identify the stage of an aircraft on the map, and the fact that
upcoming flights are not shown in the FlightMonitor, they are only shown
in Aircraft Tracking. However planned flights, having an associated
flight plan, are shown in FlightMonitor. Typically, a flight having its
flight plan ready is very close to flight time.
My Flights (F10) Refer to Table 4-1: Aircraft Tracking Window Functions

Find (Ctrl+F) Refer to Table 4-1: Aircraft Tracking Window Functions
Preferences (F8) Refer to Table 4-1: Aircraft Tracking Window Functions
Views Show or hide the Views panel to the left of the window which
allows views to be created, saved and managed. Views include
map display options (map mode + map elements) and layers
overlaid on top of that map.
Saved views are listed in the dropdown menu to allow quickly
changing the displayed view.
See section 4.2.5 for details.
Map Area Default map area: Applies the map area saved as the default
one (zoom level and center); the same as when the window is
opened.
World to Pacific ocean: A set of predefined views that can be
applied.
Save as default map area: Saves the current area settings as the
default one.
Full screen (F11): Toggles the window display between regular
size and full screen mode, i.e. maximized with toolbar and task
bar hidden. In full screen mode, the toolbar can be shown by
moving the mouse to the top of the screen.
Send Uplink… (Ctrl-U) Refer to Table 4-1: Aircraft Tracking Window Functions.
and
Request Position…
(Ctrl-P)
SATCOM… (Ctrl-D) Refer to Table 4-1: Aircraft Tracking Window Functions.
Tools Select radius: Select this tool, click on the map and drag to form a
circle that extends from its center. When released, all aircraft in the
circle are selected.
Select rectangle: Similar to the radius tool, click and drag to draw a rectangle, and when
released, all aircraft in the rectangle are selected.
Range & bearing: Select the tool, click on the map at a starting point A and drag the line to
another point B. A small label indicates the distance in kilometers and the bearing in degrees.
Notice that the tool’s line forms a great circle arc.
Modify… (Ctrl-M) Refer to Table 4-1: Aircraft Tracking Window Functions
Options Opens the FlightMonitor Display Options dialog allowing configuring options like icon and
other map elements colors, aircraft clusters, map brightness, and center longitude. This button
is only available to administrators having the System Parameters user right. The Display
Options dialog is described in document [S5].
Close (Ctrl-L) Closes the FlightMonitor window.
Splitter Explore the horizontal splitter between the map and the data panels at the bottom, the vertical
splitters between the map and the Aircraft List panel to the left, and the Flight Plan / Positions
/ Legend panels to the right of the window, as well as those splitters in the data panels Aircraft
& Flight, Queued Uplinks, Monitored Faults and Sequences.
Table 4-13: FlightMonitor Window Toolbar
4.2.1.1 Hotkeys
The hotkeys used in the FlightMonitor are essentially the same as in Aircraft Tracking – refer to Table
4-2: Aircraft Tracking Hotkeys for the complete list.
However, there is an additional hotkey used in FlightMonitor shown below.
Hotkey Action
F11 Toggle full screen display mode
Table 4-14: FlightMonitor Hotkeys
4.2.2 Map
The FlightMonitor is using Google maps for its map and overlays aircraft positions, flight plans,
airports, weather and lots of added-value data.
Google maps are using a "Spherical Mercator" projection designated as EPSG:3857. It has the
advantage of presenting latitude and longitudes at right angles no matter the zoom level or location of
the world. However, it distorts the world at higher latitudes and cannot represent latitudes higher than
85° N and lower than 85° S. Aircraft and flight elements above those latitudes can still be represented
but will not overlay a map.
Several map display options are available and are described in the below sections. The representation of
the map itself can use either one of modes: Map, Terrain and Satellite.
No matter the map selected, various map elements like countries, cities, roads and airports can be
selected to be displayed or hidden.
4.2.2.1 Map Functions
Zoom bar: In addition to zooming in and out with the zoom bar, the mouse wheel also allows zooming
when the map has the focus.
Map display mode: Available by right-clicking over the map, a context sub-menu allows toggling
between terrain view, map view, and satellite view.
Map tools: These tools are available through the map context menu and from the toolbar’s Tools
dropdown menu. They consist of selection tools (radius and rectangle) and of a range & bearing
measurement tool.
Figure 4-19: Map Tools: Select radius, Select rectangle, Range & bearing
Views: The views combine the ability to set map display options together with overlaid navigational and
weather layers. Views can be created, managed and saved, per user, for a quick access later.
Map Areas: Different predefined areas of the world or the user-definable default view, for a quick
switch between different areas of the world.
4.2.2.2 Aircraft Symbols
Figure 4-20: FlightMonitor Map Flight Plan Display
Aircraft are represented by round icons with the aircraft silhouette

pointed in the estimated direction of the aircraft.
The icons colors represent the flight stage in which each aircraft it, as
per the administrator's configuration the FlightMonitor Options. Those
colors are listed in the Legend Panel on the right of the FlightMonitor
window.
When an aircraft symbol is surrounded by a dotted line circle

of the same color as the aircraft icon (color of the flight stage),
it means the aircraft position is currently estimated.
When an aircraft symbol is surrounded by a red dotted line Figure 4-21: Legend showing
circle, it means the aircraft did not report any position for a flight stages and positions colors
period greater than the configured system parameter “Highlight
aircraft after … without positions on map”, located in the
Tracking tab of the System Parameters window (document [S5]).
4.2.2.3 Flight Plans and Reported Positions
The above figure also shows a flown route with the red line (using reported positions), its extrapolated
position in gray and the corresponding flight plan route with a regular blue line from departure to arrival
airport. The zoomed-in version then shows the reported positions as different colored points, also listed
in the legend, and flight plan waypoints as white dots. Moving the mouse over a waypoint symbol or
reported position shows a tooltip with the waypoint name. When there is no associated flight plan, a thin
great-circle line is drawn from the departure to the arrival airport using the same color as for a flight plan
route display.
The blue square represents the flight’s origin airport, the blue circle the destination airport and the blue
triangle the alternate airport. These symbol colors as well as the flight plan and flown route line colors
can be configured by a system parameter administrator using the Display Options dialog, see document
[S5].
A flight plan can be used to extrapolate the aircraft position using the flight plan’s waypoint ETAs
recalculated from the OFF flight stage. This is done if no position has been reported for a delay higher
than the system parameter “Estimate aircraft position after”, located in the Tracking tab of the System
Parameters window (refer to document [S5] for details). When an extrapolation is performed, the
displayed flown route has its last line segment in gray, from the last reported position to the extrapolated
aircraft position.
4.2.2.4 Ground Movements
The View GMA menu for a particular airport option allows viewing the aircraft over the map in satellite
display mode, zoomed in to the airport such that the airport runways are visible. In this display, the
aircraft’s ground positions obtained through ground movement advisories can be observed. They are
shown as positions of source "ACARS (G)" or "ADS-B (G)" and the route display line is shown with a
thinner line than regular in-flight ACARS positions.
Figure 4-22: View GMA
4.2.3 Aircraft List
This panel can be docked and viewed in three different modes: details, short label and long label. To
change the view mode, use the View dropdown menu located at the top right of the panel.
Figure 4-23 - FlightMonitor Window– Aircraft List Panel
The details view is a grid like display similar to the list in Aircraft Tracking, but with a smaller list of
visible columns by default.
The short label view is limited to one line only and an aircraft icon is added to the left of the label with
the proper flight stage coloring and the latest heading of the aircraft.
The long label can span on multiple lines, and the same aircraft icon as for the short label is added to the
left of the text. Below the label a flight progression bar is shown. There are two dots in front of the bar
to tell if the INIT and Out flight stages have been reached, then the bar itself shows the OFF stage
progression, and three other dots to the right of the bar indicate if the On, In and Summary stages have
been reached.
4.2.3.1 Grouping and Sorting
Grouping and sorting works the same as in Aircraft Tracking for uplinks and monitored faults, but for
the aircraft/flight list, it is slightly different.
Because the list can be displayed in three different modes (details, short, or long label), sorting by one
column has been extracted in a dropdown list above the list and grouping is limited to one level and
performed by checking the Group check box. It then groups by the column selected in the sort drop
down.
Figure 4-24 - FlightMonitor Window– Aircraft List Group By & Sort

Multiple columns sort is still supported but it can be performed only in the details view using the Shift
key and column headers, and this sorting is preserved when changing to the label view modes.
However, as soon as the sort dropdown is used again, any applied multiple columns sort is reset to that
single column sort. Notice that in a multiple columns sort, it is the first sort column that is shown in the
sort dropdown.
4.2.4 Data Panels
4.2.4.1 Aircraft & Flight Panel
Figure 4-25: FlightMonitor Aircraft & Flight Panel
All data panels available in Aircraft Tracking are also available in FlightMonitor but their default
visibility is different. Refer to Panels & Layout section of the preferences panel to see all available
panels and make them visible or not.
However, there is one panel that shows slightly different content than in Tracking, the Aircraft & Flight
panel. Essentially, it does not show flight plan information because flight plan display has a dedicated
panel in the FlightMonitor and it does not show ACARS route information which is left to the Tracking
window only. This allows having a smaller bottom panel area maximizing the map area.
4.2.4.2 Flight Plan Panel
When an aircraft has a flight plan associated, it is displayed in

the Flight Plan panel..
The information shown is the flight plan’s STD/STA (scheduled

times), ETD/ETA (estimated times) for the departure and arrival
airports, which are identified by their ICAO code, the flight plan
identifier and its list of waypoints. Each waypoint has an ETA
(Estimated Time of Arrival), a waypoint name, latitude, and
longitude.
When flight plans are received directly from an ATC feed

provider like FlightAware, if you have the option, the waypoint
ETAs and names are sometimes unknown. If you see a flight
plan with all the lat/long but blank ETA and waypoint values,
you know the flight plan has been provided by the ATC feed.
You might want to check if your flight planning application is
providing its flights plans in time to AIRCOM Server. Figure 4-26: Flight Plan Panel
4.2.4.3 Positions Panel
Reported aircraft positions are shown in the Positions panel.
The positioning methods the system can use to position the

aircraft are described in section 4.1.4 under Aircraft & Flight
Panel, Last position method.
When the position method used is reported position, it

corresponds to a position listed in the Positions panel. Each
reported position has a time, latitude, longitude and source.
Possible sources are:

 ADS-B or Radar: Position from an ADS-B antenna or
radar from an ATC feed such as FlightAware.
Ground positions are suffixed with "(G)".
 ACARS: Position from the aircraft over ACARS.
Ground positions are suffixed with "(G)".
Figure 4-27: Positions Panel
 Transoceanic: ATC report when crossing oceans.
 Estimated: Estimated position along the flight plan, when available.
 Airport Position: Estimated position at the flight departure or arrival airport if no ground
positions provide a better position.
4.2.4.4 Legend Panel
The map legend panel is a centralized location where all map legends
that apply at any time are displayed.
The content of the panel is dynamic and depends on the layers that
are currently displayed. Each legend’s content varies according to
the objects they describe.
For example, for coverage layers, the colors are used as the
background color of the covered area and each color is associated to
either a frequency for VHF/VDL coverage, or to a region for satellite
coverage.
The figure shows an example of many legends simultaneously

displayed. Each legend is identified by a title and can be collapsed or
expanded as desired.
When a display option change is applied, like the color associated to

a flight stage, it is immediately updated in the legend panel.
Figure 4-28: Map Legend Panel

4.2.5 Views Panel
The views combine the ability to set map display options together with
overlaid navigational and weather layers – they do not include map areas;
these are managed independently with "Map Areas". Views can be
created, managed and saved for a quick access later. The views are
managed individually per logged user. Each one can create its own set.
Map display options lets the user choose what map mode he wants to use
as well as what map features (boundaries, names, roads, …) are to
display on it.
The layers that can be overlaid to the FlightMonitor map are multiple:
there are 4 navigational layers, 4 data coverage layers and more than
1500 weather layers provided by Schneider Electric. But one does not
need to worry about 1500+ layers; all these layers are actually combined
in only 75 smart layers presented in 20 logical groups. To achieve that,
layers for different regions are presented as a single world region, flight
levels are easily selectable for applicable layers, the right units are
already pre-selected by the administrator and time-bound layers are
presented together as one animated layer controlled by a simple yet
powerful "time bar" at the bottom of the map.
Layer groups that animate are designated with a "play" icon on their title.
When selected, the control of the animation will be passed on to the
time bar to play and pause the animation or move to a specific time.
Only one animated group can be checked and displayed at a time.
Figure 4-29: Views Panel
4.2.5.1 Views Functions
Views selector: All views created by the user are selectable here and in the dropdown portion of the
"Views" toolbar button. When a view is selected, all the groups that were checked for it are loaded and
displayed on the map with the layers that were checked within.
New: Creates one new named view with the default map options and no selected layers. The view can
then be arranged as wanted and re-saved.
Save: Saves the currently selected view with the set map options and selected layers. This does not
allow one to rename the existing view or create a new one; for that, use the dropdown for "Save As".
Save As: Saves a new named view with the current map options and currently selected layers.
Manage: Allows the user to manage its existing views: change the order in which they're displayed,
rename them, deleted them and choose the default view (the one that is selected when opening the
FlightMonitor).

4.2.5.2 Layers Functions
Map options and the available layers are all presented in the Views panel opening on the left of the
FlightMonitor window. Related layers and their options are presented in groups that expand or collapse
when their title is clicked. Layers within can be checked and unchecked individually to be displayed on
the map.
These are the functions available with the map options and layers groups:
Apply: Apply the view that is the display chosen map options and the selected layers on the map.
Close: Apply and closes the Views panel.
Clicking a group: Clicking a group’s title expands or collapses the group and reveals or hides its layers
and their options. Only one group can be opened at a time so other open groups will close automatically.
Checking a group: Checking the check box for a group will display, on the map, the layers that are
already checked inside that group, once the view is applied. If no layer is already checked inside the
group, it will expand to let the user check the layers he wants to see. If some layers are already checked
within the group, the checks will be preserved but the group will not open. It is therefore easy to check
groups on or off once layers have been selected inside.
When an animated group is checked, other animated groups are unchecked since the layers of only one
animated group can be displayed on the map at once. Animated layers can however be displayed with
other static layers; that is, layers that do not animate.
A group checkbox is displayed in a 3rd-state when not all layers under it are checked and as a real
checkbox only when all layers are checked at once. Exclusive layers are counted together as one.
Checking a layer: Checking the check box for a layer inside a group will display that layer on the map
(if the group is also checked), once the view is applied. If the parent group is not already checked it will
be checked automatically. Unchecking a layer will hide that layer when the view is applied.
There are layers within given groups that are exclusive of one another; generally because they show data
in similar ways and would be confusing if displayed at the same time (like "temperatures" and "dew
point" layers; both show numerical values on the map). These exclusive layers are listed in italic and
will allow only one of those to be selected at a given time.
Changing flight level: For groups that contain layers bound to flight levels, the wanted level can be
selected from a dropdown list or using the up/down arrows. Flight levels have the following meaning:
 0 to 530: Flight levels in 100-feet of altitude;
 LOWER: Flight levels from 0 (surface) to FL240;
 UPPER: Flight levels from FL240 to FL530;
 MAX: Maximum value for the measured value across all flight levels.

Changing transparency: Changes the transparency of the selected layers. This is the only setting that
does not need to be applied; it has an immediate effect on the layers if they're already displayed.
4.2.6 Layer Groups
All available layers are displayed in groups selectable as groups and then as individual layers. Only the
Map Display Options group cannot be hidden since it defines how the map itself is displayed.
4.2.6.1 Map Display Options Group
Allows you to set up what features you want to see on the map.
Map modes Map, Terrain and Satellite are the three ways of displaying
the map itself:
 Map: The "classic" map with a colored representation of land, water
and geographical features;
 Terrain: The same map with an emphasis on terrain relief;
 Satellite: The satellite view world, with real colors.
Two color schemes are also available for when the map is displayed as map
or terrain: Figure 4-30: Map Display
Options Group
 Inverted colors: Reverses colors to their opposite and in particular
light colors to dark colors and vice-versa;
 Monochrome: Removes all colors from the map and displays everything in grayscale; this is useful
to make colorized aircraft items and layers stand out better on top of the map.
Monochrome and inverted colors can be used separately or together.
Administrative lines and names can be displayed on the map by countries (names and internal
boundaries), provinces or states (names and internal boundaries), cities or localities (names only) and
neighborhoods (names only).
Map features can then be overlaid to all that:

 Roads: Colorized roads and train tracks, based on the map zoom level;
 Parks: Parks and green fields areas displayed in light green (except in satellite);
 Airports: Airport fields displayed in gray (except in satellite);
 Labels: Labels for all roads, tracks and parks if selected above; airport names can be obtained from
the "Airports" layer under the "Navigation" group.

4.2.6.2 Navigation Group
This section provides a list of useful navigational overlays.

 Airports: This layer presents all airports which host a SITA or partner
VHF/VDL station plus any other airport with a documented longest
runway of 6,000 feet or more.
Each airport is represented by a blue circle, and when moving the
mouse over the symbol, the airport identification is shown as a tooltip. Figure 4-31: Navigation Group
 Grid Lines: This is a grid display that presents grid lines at every 10
degrees both in longitude and latitude directions. The grid line color can be adjusted through the
Display Options dialog.
 FIR / UIR: The Flight Information Region and Upper Information Region layers are provided as
built-in layers. Each region is not identified directly on the map to avoid cluttering the view with
names, and because some regions do overlap and it gets hard to display properly. Instead, by right-
clicking on any area, the context menu presents a list of the areas present at the position of the mouse
where the right-click occurred, identifying these regions (can have more than one), and allowing to
select all aircraft within each region.
Figure 4-32: FIR / UIR Context Menu
4.2.6.3 ACARS Coverage Group
This group represents the areas of ACARS coverage from SITA & partners antennas and satellites.
 VHF / VDL coverage: These two layers present a set of coverage circles around the location of each
SITA or partner station contained in the system’s Station Configuration (refer to document [S5] for
more details). The VHF and VDL (VHF Digital Link) stations are presented in two different layers,
and each frequency is identified by a specific color (see section 1.1.1).
The coverage circle size is determined by the station’s range (in nautical miles) specified in the
system’s Station Configuration, and if not specified per station, it uses the default station range for
each associated DSP. This coverage is a best approximation of the real coverage of each station,
because in reality, the coverage area is determined by parameters like the aircraft altitude and the
physical terrain obstacles surrounding the station.
The station location is depicted by a small triangle, and when moving the mouse over that icon, the
station identification is shown as a tooltip.

 Satellite coverage I3 / I4: These depict satellite coverage for two generations of satellites. Each
region is identified by a specific color (see section 1.1.1).
Each satellite area is represented by a satellite symbol at latitude 0 in the center of the coverage zone,
and when moving the mouse over the satellite symbol, the satellite zone identification is shown as a
tooltip.
4.2.6.4 Weather Groups
The other layers available in the FlightMonitor are the weather layers,
grouped by similarities.
These layers are listed under the following conditions:

 your airline has purchased a weather package, basic or premium,
through SITA for layers provided by Schneider Electric;
 you have the right to use weather data on the FlightMonitor, as
configured by your administrator;
 you have taken an available weather seat when you opened the
FlightMonitor (weather seats are limited and purchased through
SITA).
When you have got that, all the groups and layers that you can use are
listed in the Views panel.
Figure 4-33: Weather Groups
Weather layers are self-descriptive. Just move the mouse over the groups and layers to get a description
of their meaning. Some layers are available for some regions of the world only so pay attention to the
"Area:" for them.
Whenever selected and displayed on the map, the weather layers have
their associated legend show up in the Legend panel, usually on the
right of the FlightMonitor window. Legends for all selected layers are
shown there for reference.
Figure 4-34: Legend Panel

with Weather Info

4.2.7 Time Bar
The time bar is the controller for the display of the weather layers that use animation. Some time-bound
layers such as observed satellite images, radar or forecasted turbulences are best represented as
animating over time. For those layers, a special time bar control shows on the map and allows the
animation span to be represented and controlled.
Figure 4-35: Time Bar with Radar Layer Animating
4.2.7.1 Time Bar Elements
The time bar represents the time span of the animating layers selected. Animated layers are grouped per
category and time spans. As not to mix spans, layers from only one group at a time can be displayed.
The animating layer group name is always shown on the time scale with its span (last x hours or next
y hours); it applies to all layers checked within that group.
Time scale: The animating layers are either "observed" therefore representing data in the past, or
"forecasted", representing future predictions. The present time is indicated with a black vertical bar,
separating time in the past, in blue, from time in the future in white.
The UTC hours on the time scale indicate how long the layers span is, as provided by Schneider Electric.
Some layers span 1 hour, others 24 hours. Layers have varying number of frames (timed images), each
represented by a small vertical bar on the scale.
The time scale is adjusted to the span of the selected layer group and related to the present time. As time
progresses, the present time indicator moves towards the right on the time scale. When a new weather
frame becomes available for the selected layers, the new frame is automatically loaded and the time bar
scale readjusted.

Time cursor: The cursor on the bar represents the reference time for which the animated layer is
displayed as well as the selected aircraft's position (see below). The corresponding time in UTC is
shown at the right of the time scale.
Estimated aircraft position: Even while animated weather layers are on the map, the displayed
aircraft's positions are those of the present time (the latest reported or estimated), they do not move with
animation. However, the currently selected aircraft has an additional position displayed in addition to its
present position: it is the estimated position of the aircraft at the time of the cursor. This estimated
position, represented by a blue hollow circle, is either interpolated in the past from reported positions or
extrapolated in the future on its flight plan. This helps relating the aircraft to weather conditions at the
time they have or will happen.
4.2.7.2 Time Bar Functions
Play/Pause: The play/pause button starts or stops the weather animation. When an animating layer is
selected and loaded, the animation starts automatically. However it can be paused on a frame and
moved using the time cursor at specific times.
Time cursor: When the animation is paused, the time cursor can be moved across the time scale to view
certain weather events in relation to the selected aircraft's estimated position.
Animation limits: At the ends of the time scale are two small arrow pointers which can be moved onto
the scale as to limit the animation to a specific period, shorter than the full scale.
Animation speed: Under the play/pause button is a small 4-step controller of the animation speed. By
default, the speed is at 3/4 of its full animation speed, which is appropriate in most conditions. However
the speed can be changed by clicking on the controller, changing the speed from 1 to 4 and back. Slower
animation is useful over a remote desktop connection while faster animation displays a more continuous
flow. The animation speed selected is saved with the user's preferences.
4.2.8 Status Bar
The FlightMonitor status bar is very similar to the Aircraft Tracking one (refer to section 4.1.5).
In addition, it displays the currently selected view as well as the latitude / longitude of the mouse
position over the world map.
Also note that since the FlightMonitor, as opposed to Tracking, does not show upcoming flights but only
planned ones, the left portion of the status bar only presents the total of active flights and the planned
flights. The sum of these two values is equal to all flights that can be seen in the FlightMonitor. When
no filtering is applied (that is all flights of all stages are displayed), the number of filtered aircraft is
equal to the sum of active and planned flights.

4.2.9 Context Menus
The context menu obtained by right-clicking over the aircraft/flight list is similar to what can be
obtained in the Aircraft Tracking window, with the addition of the following options.
The aircraft is identified as a title to the menu.
An option to pin a label along with the aircraft icon on the map is
available. The aircraft label is the same as the short label that can be
configured via the Preferences panel, Aircraft List section. When this label
is pinned to the map, it is always visible, next to the aircraft icon, and
moves along with the aircraft.
The current aircraft sub-menu (shown here) allows

setting a series of options also available in the
Aircraft Display section of the Preferences panel.
“View in Tracking window” opens the Aircraft Tracking window with the
same flight selected. For this option to be available, it requires the View
aircraft tracking user right.
Figure 4-36: Aircraft List Context Menu
Over the map, the context menu is contextual to the selected object, if any, and when right-clicking over
on an aircraft, the menu is the same as over the aircraft list (except for expand/collapse options).
Other map context menus of interest are described below.
Context Menu Description

Selected aircraft No matter how many selected aircraft there are (in this example 3), the current aircraft tail number is
menu shown and the number of other selected
aircraft is indicated. This Aircraft sub-
menu is available whenever right-clicking
anywhere except on an aircraft icon.
The current aircraft is the last one selected,

in dark blue, which has its data displayed in
the window panels.
The associated sub-menu is almost

identical to the one you get when right-
clicking over the aircraft list (see above).

Airport menu When right-clicking over an airport in the airport layer or over one of the origin, destination or alternate
airport of a flight, this sub-menu becomes available.
Send ground message: Opens the send

new ground message window with
destinations preselected to the airport
distribution configuration (refer to
document [S5] for details) for this
airport’s ICAO code.
View GMA: Automatically zoom in on

the airport and change the map display
mode to satellite view such that a view of
the airport runways is visible.
Select flight to/from here: All aircraft/flights either flying to or from this airport
View VHF/VDL station: Opens the Station Configuration window with the first station corresponding
to this airport pre-selected.
Map display This sub-menu is available when right-clicking over any map area other than an aircraft icon.
mode menu
& It allows changing the map display mode to terrain,
Map tools map or satellite view.
Map tools – select radius, select rectangle and range

& bearing – are also only available when right-
clicking over any map area other than an aircraft
icon. Refer to Table 4-13: FlightMonitor Window
Toolbar for a description of the tools.
Cluster menu The context menu over a cluster of aircraft varies just by its header and
the first option, which allows selecting all aircraft in the cluster.
Table 4-15: FlightMonitor Context Menus

4.2.9.1 Preferences
Compared to the Aircraft Tracking, this section of the FlightMonitor preferences presents four new
options that are described below: Aircraft List, Flight Plan, Positions and Map Layers & Legend.
However, in the Aircraft Display section, there are a few options added for the FlightMonitor.
These provide options to customize how the current

aircraft is displayed on the map and what information
is shown over the map regarding the current aircraft.
Bring on top is used when the current aircraft would

be hidden into a cluster of aircraft. When checked, it
allows seeing a separate icon only for the current
aircraft on top of the cluster icon even if normally it
should be part of the cluster.
Center view on aircraft makes the map center on the aircraft icon when
selecting a new current aircraft in the aircraft list.
Orig / des / alt airports shows the square, circle and triangle icons on the map
where each airport is located. These symbols can be seen and their color
customized in the Display Options.
Aircraft label is a floating or pinned small window showing essential aircraft

information. What is displayed in this label is the equivalent of the short
label that can be customized through the Aircraft List section of the
Preferences panel.
Positions and flight plan decide whether the reported positions and/or the
flight plan are displayed or not as a colored line for the current aircraft. The
display color for these two overlays can be customized via the Display
Options dialog.
Figure 4-37: Window Preferences Panel

4.2.9.2 Aircraft List Section
This panel, as opposed to Aircraft Tracking does not present an “Allow group
by” option because it is automatic.
Another particularity of the FlightMonitor is that is allows showing the list of

aircraft/flights in three different view modes: details, short label and long
label.
The details view is a grid like display similar to the Aircraft Tracking window,
but in a panel that can be docked. By default, the details view presents a
smaller set of visible columns compared to tracking, but these can be
customized like in tracking.
The short and long label views (described in section 4.2.2) show a label for
each aircraft/flight in the list. This preferences section is where the content of
these labels is decided. Essentially, it is a mix fixed text and fields
(predefined or custom fields) that form the label, but that text can be
formatted. To edit these labels, click on the Edit button next to each of them
and refer to section 4.2.9.3 for more details about the Label Editor.
Notice that the list of columns is disabled when the current view mode is
either short of long label, because these columns only apply to the details, grid
like, view mode.
Figure 4-38: Window Preferences – Aircraft List
4.2.9.3 Label Editor
The label editor allows preparing what will be shown in the aircraft list when viewing in label modes.
The user can define the content using fixed text typed directly in the editor, or predefined fields and
custom fields inserted from the list to the right of the editor using drag & drop or double-click.
Fields inserted in the editor form a block that can be selected or deleted all at once. Formatting (bold,
italic, underline, font, and font size) can be applied using the toolbar just above the editing area. The
button to the right of the font size is used to clear any currently applied formatting to the selected text.
Note that the short label only allows one line of text, while the long label allows multiple lines.
The preview button allows seeing what the changes would look like if they were applied without closing
the editor and without saving these changes. The preview is performed on the aircraft list itself and is
temporary until OK or Cancel is hit.

OK applies the changes, closes the label editor and switches the current view mode to either short or
long label accordingly.
Cancel closes the editor and ignores any changes performed since Edit was clicked.
Figure 4-39: Short Label Editor
Figure 4-40: Long Label Editor
When a field of type date & time is added (e.g. ETD or ETA), selecting and right-clicking on the field
would present a context menu option called Edit format. This opens a format dialog allowing providing
a format or editing an existing one.
Figure 4-41: Date Time Format Editor

4.3 Legacy Aircraft Situation Display
This Aircraft Situation Display (ASD) window is still available to customers having a valid ASD legacy
license (from now on referred to as ASD Legacy license), but it is a legacy function. The FlightMonitor
described in section 4.2 replaces this legacy ASD, which will eventually be decommissioned.
The Legacy ASD window serves to visually monitor each active aircraft on the world map and display
analyzed positioning and tracking data about them. The data shown on the window is the result of
messages received by AIRCOM Server about the aircraft (downlinks or uplinks) and is updated
periodically as to be up to date with every aircraft movement.
Figure 4-42: Legacy Aircraft Situation Display Window
The ASD window is used to display tracked aircraft geographically across the world and their tracking
information. The Server acquires the data used to position each aircraft by extracting the flight stage and
positioning data out of the downlinks configured with such information. The system administrator
should do this configuration work before anything is available in the ASD. Flight planning data can also
be extracted from uplink messages if provided by SITA Flight Operations and for which a proper
template has been configured.
As downlinks are received from the aircraft, the Server updates the positioning data of each and, under
certain conditions, extrapolates positions. The data in the ASD window is automatically refreshed based
on a configurable time period set by the system administrator, or can be triggered manually. A series of
functions described in the following sections also facilitate the complete fleet tracking.
The ASD functions are all available through the toolbar and/or the map’s contextual menu (obtained by
right-clicking over the map). First, let’s look at the toolbar.

The toolbar is in fact broken down into 5 sub-toolbars: General, Tools, Aircraft, Static Data, and Panels.
If the window is not wide enough, some sub-toolbars may wrap to a second toolbar row. To allow all
toolbars to use a single row, increase the window size.
General: It offers the core functions, like refresh and close.
Refresh (F5): Refresh the aircraft list and the map display (aircraft positions, route display, etc.),
or use the keyboard F5 key. An automatic refresh is also performed at a frequency defined by an
administrator in the System Parameters window. While refreshing the map, a temporary status
bar shows up at the bottom right corner of the window to indicate that a refresh activity is taking
place. This is particularly useful for auto-refresh or for slower computers, because refreshing
temporarily locks other tasks.
Display Options: Open a dialog allowing each user to customize what is currently displayed
over the map. These settings can be saved as the user’s preferences and are used as the ASD
default display when the user opens the window. The available display options are grouped as
follows: data panels, toolbars, aircraft data, and static data.
Figure 4-43: ASD Display Options Dialog
Except for toolbars display settings, all these settings are also available through the
corresponding toolbar, Aircraft, Static Data, and Panels described below. All sub-toolbars except
this one (General) can be showed or hidden. The default is to show all toolbars.

Layer Control: Only available to administrators to customize the map for all users running the
Client on a specific computer. Refer to the Administrator Guide (document [S5]) for more
details.
SATCOM: Refer to section 4.5 for details.
New Uplink: Bring up the New Uplink Message window to generate an uplink to the one or
many selected aircraft. The usage of the window is described in sections 3.2.
To select multiple aircraft, the rectangle or circle selection tools must be used. The uplink
function is enabled if at least one aircraft is selected.
Close: Closes the ASD window.
Tools: It offers map navigation and exploration tools. The buttons from the first separator to the end of
the toolbar form a group within which there is always one and only one selected at any given time. Each
tool provides a way to view and explore the map.
View entire map: Reset the map zoom level as to display the whole world map within the
window.
Previous view: Set the map zoom level and center position to the values of the previous view.
The view is changed anytime the zoom level and/or the map center changes.
Default view: Set the map zoom level and center position to the values of the current user’s
default preferences. These preferences can be saved anytime via the save view as default
button.
Save view as default: The map view is defined by the current map zoom level and the map
center longitude and latitude in degrees. These settings get saved as the user’s preferences and
are used as the ASD default display when the user opens the window and when using the default
view function.
Many tools affect either the zoom level or the map center position. For example, panning the
map changes the center position, and using the view entire map function changes the zoom level
and the map center.
Center map on aircraft: Set the map center position such that the currently selected aircraft gets
centered on the map or at least it gets brought into view**. The same function is available
through a context menu over the list of aircraft (right-click).

** Note that due to map boundary automatic optimization (see below, after the toolbar
descriptions), it may occur that the aircraft will not get centered, but it will for sure get visible if
it were hidden.
Full screen: Toggle this function to show or not the ASD window in full screen mode, or use the
keyboard F11 key. The full screen mode maximizes the area for the ASD usage, hiding the
Client’s and window title and status bars and the Windows taskbar, while keeping the ASD
toolbar and all its functions.
Zoom in/out: Allow zooming in or out the map. When clicking, the map is zoomed in or out
around the selected point. Alternatively, holding the left mouse button and dragging draws a
region around which the zoom occurs. Note that the mouse wheel can be used to zoom with any
of the tools and while one of the two zoom tools is selected, holding the Ctrl key down shifts to
the opposite tool (i.e. Zoom In tool + Ctrl key = Zoom Out). Also, the keyboard + and – keys
allow zooming in and out respectively.
Center: Re-center the map around the selected point, expressed in latitude and longitude
coordinates.
Pan: Use the tool to move the map. Grab the map by left clicking and dragging it around. This
changes the map center position. Also, the keyboard arrow keys allow panning in fixed
directions.
Select: Allow selecting an aircraft on the map and its corresponding entry in the aircraft list (data
panel #1). The other data panels are also updated with the data for that aircraft. The opposite is
also true: selecting an aircraft in panel #1 selects the corresponding aircraft on the map. The
select tool could also be used to select any other map objects in any data layer if these had their
selectable property set. By default, only the aircraft layer has selectable objects – the aircraft
themselves and this behavior can only be changed by a system administrator.
Select rectangular/circular region: The two dotted line buttons are tools used to select multiple
aircraft within a certain region, definable by a rectangular or a circular area. Click on the map
and drag to generate the selection area. This can be used, as an example, to send an uplink to all
aircraft located in a region at once.
Distance between points: The ruler tool measures the distance between two points on the map
in both kilometers and miles. Click on the map to mark the start point and drag to the end point;
the distance is then calculated in a straight line between the two points and displayed in a dialog.
Point coordinates: The pointing tool is used to get the latitude and longitude coordinates of
specific points on the map. Click on the map to get the coordinates of that point. The current
mouse position in latitude and longitude coordinates is also always available at the bottom right
corner of the window, as long as the mouse is over the map.

Aircraft: It offers all aircraft related display options.
---/Out/Off/On/In/Summary stages: From left to right, the buttons allow displaying or hiding
tracked aircraft in each flight stage and are used to filter the aircraft displayed on the ASD map.
When a button is pushed in, the aircraft in the corresponding flight stage are shown on the map
and listed in data panel #1. More than one button can be pushed in.
 White: No stage (typically between two flights) and/or INIT stage

 Green: OUT stage
 Cyan: OFF stage (can also be light gray, see note **)
 Blue: ON stage
 Magenta: IN stage
 Red: SUMMARY stage
** NOTE: The icon colors for each stage correspond to the colors of the aircraft icons displayed
on the map. There is however one exception: an aircraft in the OFF stage can also be displayed
in light gray if its position is extrapolated on the map – see section 4.3.3, Aircraft Positioning
and Extrapolation for details.
Select one: When pushed in, show only the selected aircraft on the map, hiding the others.
Otherwise, the aircraft listed are those matching the flight stages settings. If one of the display
stage buttons is pushed in, the select one button is automatically pushed out to show the new set
of aircraft.
Route display: Display on the map the route data for the selected aircraft. Shows the route
traveled by the aircraft (solid red line) up to its current position, along with the origin and
destination airports. Positioning data typically comes from downlink messages received from the
aircraft and is available through the data panel #3.
Flight plan display: Display on the map the flight plan data for the aircraft. It shows the flight
plan of the aircraft (dashed blue line) along with the origin, destination, and alternate destination
airports. The flight plans are received by AIRCOM Server through uplink messages and flight
plan data is available through the data panel #3.
The availability of the route and flight plan data depends on the aircraft equipment (ACARS
equipped or not), the messages received and the templates configured by the administrator to
read and decode such messages. See sections 4.3.1, Aircraft Route Display and 4.3.2, Flight
Plan Display for more details.
Both route and flight plan displays are available only when at least one aircraft is listed/displayed
on the map.

Aircraft label**: Display or hides the aircraft identification labels for all aircraft shown on the
map. The aircraft labels include the aircraft identification and its flight identification. Aircraft
labels are available only if at least one aircraft is displayed on the map. More information about
the aircraft is shown via its tooltip: origin/destination airport ICAO codes, current flight stage,
latitude, longitude and altitude. If more than one aircraft is located at the mouse position then the
tooltip shows a list of aircraft and flight identifiers.
Route label**: Display the reported position point index that can be found in the list of reported
positions in panel #3. A tooltip for each position point shows the time (ATA), latitude and
longitude of the reported position. If more than one position is located at the mouse position then
the tooltip shows a list of points with their index and time. The origin and destination airports
tooltip is identical to the tooltips found when displaying the airports layer.
Route labels are available only if at least one aircraft is displayed on the map and the route is
displayed.
Flight plan label**: Display the flight plan waypoint index that can be found in the list of
waypoints in panel #3. A tooltip for each waypoint shows the time (ETA), waypoint name,
latitude, longitude, altitude, remaining fuel and weight planned at that waypoint. If more than
one waypoint is located at the mouse position then the tooltip shows a list of points with their
index, time and waypoint name. The origin and destination airports tooltip is identical to the
tooltips found when displaying the airports layer.
Flight plan labels are available only if at least one aircraft is displayed on the map and the flight
plan is displayed.
** NOTE: There may be some labels that have been hidden to prevent information overlapping.
The missing labels will show up if sufficiently zoomed in.
Static Data: It offers static data display options.
Grid: Display a 15 degrees resolution light gray grid helping to judge distances in terms of
latitude and longitude.
Airports: Display airport icons all over the map when pushed in and removes the icons when
pushed out. Each airport has its ICAO code set as label (not visible by default). For the airport
labels to be displayed, the airport layer’s automatic label property must be set. This can only be
changed by a system administrator. However, for each airport, a tooltip shows its ICAO and
IATA codes, full name, latitude and longitude. If more than one aircraft is located at the mouse
position then the tooltip shows a list of airport ICAO and IATA codes.
VHF coverage: Display SITA VHF coverage through circular regions of 200 nautical miles
around each SITA and partners VHF stations. This coverage is a best approximation of the real

coverage of each station, because in reality, the coverage area is determined by parameters like
the aircraft altitude and the physical terrain obstacles surrounding the station. Each region color
represents a communication frequency and the color – frequency legend is available in the
Display Options dialog.
VDL coverage: Display the coverage of the VHF stations that specifically communicate through
VHF Digital Link (VDL).
SAT coverage: Display the satellite global beam and spot beam coverage. Data link
communications only occur through the global beam coverage while the spot beam coverage is
used for better voice communications and to enhance the satellite communication bandwidth.
FIR: Display in purple the Flight Information Regions identified with a label. This is an optional
layer. Please contact your SITA representative to know how to get this layer.
UIR: Display in red the Upper Information Regions identified with a label. This is an optional
layer. Please contact your SITA representative to know how to get this layer.
Panels: It offers the possibility to show or hide the available data panels located at the edges of the
window.
These buttons toggle the display of the data panels associated with each icon. Only panels #1 &
#2 are displayed by default, but this default can be customized via the Display Options dialog.
 Panel #1: Aircraft list panel
 Panel #2: Aircraft tracking information panel
 Panel #3: Position reports and flight plan panel
In addition to the toolbar, the map’s contextual menu offers a quick access to some functions typically
used more often than others: select, zoom in/out, pan tools, view entire map, previous view and default
view, save as default view and access to the Display Options dialog and the Layer Control (system
administrators only) dialog. Exception: when the mouse is over a stack of aircraft very close to each
other, instead of showing the regular map context menu, a special menu lists all stacked aircraft and
flight identifiers such that the user can identify and select a specific aircraft in the stack directly from the
map.
Automatic boundary optimization: This feature allows the map to automatically reposition itself to
avoid showing meaningless areas outside of the world map area (-180 to 180 degrees of longitude). The
auto-correction depends on the current zoom level. If zoomed out, the world surroundings may not be
stripped out completely, but when zooming in, the map may be panned enough to bring the edge of the
map with either the east or west world boundary. This has the effect of sometimes not centering the map
as chosen (e.g. center map on aircraft), but it maximizes the useful areas visibility without altering the
zoom level.

Aircraft List Panel
Panel #1, like all others, is updated at every refresh and shows the aircraft that are active in the system as
filtered by the selected flight stage display options (see Aircraft toolbar).
The aircraft list shows the identification of each aircraft (or tail number) as well as their flight
identification, flight stage and the time elapsed since their last position report was received. This time
indicator turns to red and is displayed in bold when it exceeds the No Position Report Timeout value
configured in the System Parameters window. This is an indication that the aircraft positioning is not
accurate anymore or outdated. As a result a larger icon represents the aircraft on the map.
A context menu (right-click) allows centering the map on the selected aircraft or at least bringing the
aircraft into view.
Aircraft Tracking Information Panel
Panel #2 lists tracking data for the currently selected aircraft.
Aircraft: Aircraft identification (also known as tail number).
Nose: Up to 10 characters alternate aircraft identification code.
Flight: Flight identification.
Flight stage: Last reported flight stage (---, OUT, OFF, ON, IN, SUMMARY)
Positioning info frame: This frame contains the last reported or estimated position of the aircraft
(latitude, longitude and altitude) and the time at which the position was calculated. Different methods
can be used to position the aircraft and the frame title changes to indicate the method used (in this
example, by Last Station Position). See section 4.3.3, Aircraft Positioning and Extrapolation for
details about this feature.

Origin and destination airports: ICAO code and resolved name of the origin or destination airports, as
reported in the last received downlink that contained those parameters (typically a flight stage message).
Currently active DSP frame: Shows the info about the last data service provider (DSP) used by the
aircraft (from which a downlink was receive) and the last VHF ground station used for that message.
Last message data frame: Displays the time (UTC) when the last downlink was received for this
aircraft and its type (the template associated with it), no matter if this message contained tracking
information or not.
Movement time and FOB grid: Lists the movement time (UTC) and fuel on-board (FOB) for each
flight stage (OUT to IN) as it were received from the aircraft (or from Ground Movement Advisory
messages). A time in parentheses means it is estimated (OUT stage ETD and IN stage ETA). When
displayed without parentheses, it is an actual reported time, like OUT stage ATD and IN stage ATA.
When a time or fuel value is blank, it means the corresponding stage has not been completed, while
unknown values for a stage that has been completed are shown as ‘---’. The fuel values may be
displayed in different units; refer to document [S5] - System Parameters, General tab section.
Reported Positions / Flight Plan Panel
The Reported Positions list is one of the two lists that can be displayed in panel #3, when selected by
the corresponding option button at the top of the panel.
This list presents all longitudes and latitudes that were reported by the currently selected aircraft and the
time at which they were received. The list is built starting at the OFF stage and is cleared either at a
sequence break (out of sequence stage message received) or when the aircraft is not tracked anymore (no
activity for a configurable period of time). The indexes at each position correspond to the route points
traced on the map, when displayed with the route labels.

The Flight Plan list is the other list that can be displayed in panel #3, when selected by the
corresponding option button at the top of the panel.
When a flight plan is available for the selected aircraft, this panel presents the information extracted
from the uplink containing flight planning information, as configured by the appropriate template. The
top section of the panel displays the estimated time of departure and arrival (ETD and ETA) as well as
the expected aircraft weight at each stage. The zero-fuel weight indicator is also shown if provided in
the received flight plan.
The bottom list shows the waypoints of the flight plan with the estimated time of arrival at each
waypoint and the latitude and longitude of the point. The indexes at each position correspond to the
flight plan points traced on the map, when displayed with the flight plan labels. Waypoint names, ETA,
fuel, weight and altitude information is also shown with the points on the map.
More details about the route and flight plan tracing, as well as positioning calculations are covered in the
three following sections.

4.3.1 Aircraft Route Display
The aircraft tracking function is the main purpose of the ASD window. The ASD can display
positioning information for each active aircraft (an active aircraft is one that sends downlinks) of a
known flight stage. All active aircraft are displayed in the Aircraft List part of data panel #1 with their
flight identifier, stage and time since the last received position report. The route tracking of the selected
aircraft and its flight plan (if any) can also be displayed visually on the world map. This section covers
the details about the route tracking process and how to understand the associated data.
When the Route Display button is pushed in, the route history of the selected aircraft is displayed on the
map.
Figure 4-44: Aircraft Route Display on the Map
The important elements of the route display for the selected aircraft are the following:
The two yellow circles represent the origin and destination airports of the flight, if known from the data
extracted in the received downlinks.
The solid red line to the aircraft traces the route from its origin station to its last reported position, with
red dots indicating the individual position reports. The route is displayed if at least one position report
has been received for the aircraft (providing a valid set of longitude and latitude coordinates) and is
formed of all intermediate positions reported by the aircraft as it progresses in its flight.
A dashed gray line can also be displayed to complete the aircraft route if its last position has been
extrapolated by the system. Extrapolation conditions are discussed in more details in a following
section.
The aircraft and flight identification are shown next to all aircraft if the Aircraft Labels button is
pushed in.
Similarly, labels corresponding to the origin and destination airports are displayed next to the
corresponding airport if the Route Labels button is pushed in. Under the same condition, indexes for
the reported positions along the route are displayed, each corresponding to one entry in the Reported
Positions list in data panel #3. There may be some labels that are hidden to prevent the information
overlapping, but the missing labels will show up if zoomed in sufficiently.
Additional information is available via tooltips for the aircraft, airports or reported positions.

4.3.2 Flight Plan Display
The flight plan display function works in a manner very similar to the route display described in the
previous section. The flight plan, when available, shows the planned route from origin to destination for
the selected aircraft if in the OFF stage.
Flight plans must be read and decoded using uplink templates configured by the system administrator.
The flight plan feature of AIRCOM Server has been built to support SITA Flight Operations flight plans
only. Other flight plan formats may however be supported too if all data fields needed to read a flight
plan can be identified using the existing flight plan template category.
A flight plan received for a specific flight is not associated with its corresponding aircraft until an OFF
message is received for it. When the OFF message is received for an aircraft (or if the aircraft is already
OFF when the flight plan is received), the system validates the origin/destination with the flight plan and
approves or rejects it. If approved, the system recalculates the ETA at each waypoint. It converts them
to absolute time values based on the received OFF time. Once approved and associated to an aircraft,
the flight plan will be visible in the ASD window. On the opposite, if errors are encountered when
decoding the flight plan, the system will discard the flight plan and log an appropriate event.
The flight plan can be displayed on the map, independently of the route, when the Flight Plan Display
button is pushed in.
Figure 4-45: Aircraft Flight Plan Display on the Map

The important elements of the flight plan display are the following:
The two yellow circles represent the origin and destination airports for the flight, as read from the flight
plan. The yellow square(s) indicate alternate destination airports for the flight.
The dashed blue line shows the whole flight plan, with blue dots indicating each waypoint.
Labels identifying the origin/destination airports of the flight plan are displayed when the Flight Plan
Labels button is pushed in, along with each waypoint index for correspondence with waypoints in the
Flight Plan list in data panel #3. Additional information is available via tooltips for each waypoint:
the waypoint name, the ETA at the waypoint, latitude, longitude, altitude, remaining fuel and weight.
As for the route display, some labels may be hidden to avoid information overlapping, but the missing
labels will show up if zoomed in sufficiently.
Additional information is available via tooltips for the aircraft, airports or planned waypoints.
4.3.3 Aircraft Positioning and Extrapolation
Several rules are used to determine where and how to display each aircraft on the map, using a
combination of reported positions (from the downlinks received) and position estimation. Every time
the ASD window is refreshed, the aircraft positions are updated from the data calculated by the Server in
the background. When the position is given by a position report downlink, the aircraft is displayed in
cyan (OFF stage). When it is estimated, it is in gray. If no position reports have been received for more
than the configured timeout period, the aircraft is displayed larger and the ‘Last’ time indicator in the
Aircraft List turns red and is displayed in bold.
There are different methods to position an aircraft on the map and the most appropriate method is
reevaluated at each new refresh. The positioning method is displayed, for the selected aircraft, in data
panel #2, the Aircraft Tracking Information and by the color of the aircraft icon on the map (cyan =
reported position; gray = estimated). For a given aircraft the positioning method is determined on the
data available and can be one of the following (in order of priority):
Figure 4-46: Positioning Data from Flight Plan Extrapolation

Reported Position: An aircraft is positioned with Reported Position at its origin airport while in the
OUT stage (green) and its destination airport when ON (blue) and IN (purple). While in the OFF stage
(cyan), the aircraft is positioned at its reported position every time a valid position report downlink is
received from it. This is the preferred positioning method.
Flight Plan Extrapolation (aircraft gray): The flight plan extrapolation is used if a flight plan is
available for the aircraft, when no position reports have been received for a predefined timeout period
(the flight plan extrapolation parameters are configurable in the System Parameters window). With
this method, the aircraft is positioned on the last waypoint that it should have crossed based on the
ETA of each point. As an example, if waypoint #19 is “VIXUN | 18:19” and #20 is “E.ENT | 19:06”, the
aircraft will be shown on waypoint #19 from 18:19 to 19:05 and on waypoint #20 from 19:06 until the
next waypoint. Unless a position report downlink is received in the meantime, in which case the
positioning method will revert to the first one.

Station Position (aircraft gray): The VHF station positioning is used only when no position updates
have been received since the OFF message of an aircraft. If some position updates have been received
anywhere during the flight, this method is not used, even after long periods without position reports.
No Position Available (aircraft not shown): When no data allows for an aircraft to be positioned, the
aircraft is still shown in the Aircraft List of data panel #1 but not on the map as the system does not
know where to display it. The Positioning Method frame in data panel #2 says No Position Available
and is left empty.

4.4 Flight Sentry Display (FSD), powered by Flight Explorer
The Flight Sentry Display increases the flight operations and flight following capabilities of AIRCOM
Server. AIRCOM Server and the FSD powered by Flight Explorer integrate seamlessly to extend the
AIRCOM Server’s airline operations leadership with the rich interface and powerful geographic
information systems (GIS) capabilities of Flight Explorer.
Using a back-end feed, the FSD gets aircraft positions and flight plans from AIRCOM Server and adds it
to its own tracking data feeds from radars, voice-reported positions and others. The lot provides a
complete tracking of aircraft all over the world, to which is added weather data, Nav data, airports and
other features provided by Flight Explorer.
Figure 4-47: Flight Sentry Display Main Window

4.4.1 Starting the Flight Sentry Display client
The FSD is a licensed option so you must have purchased it to access it. Your user must also have the
right to “View aircraft tracking, Aircraft Situation Display & Flight Sentry Display”, as configured by
the system administrator.
The FSD runs as a separate program that can be launched by itself or through AIRCOM Server by using
the “Flight Sentry Display” item under the “Tracking” button from the main toolbar. If your AIRCOM
Server user is associated with a FSD user (“Users” window, “Advanced” tab) the login into FSD will be
done automatically. Otherwise, you will have to login manually using the FSD user & password
provided to you.
Once in FSD, you have access to all the functions from Flight Explorer that you have contracted for.
The description & usage of those functions is very well described in Flight Explorer’s online help.
4.4.2 Additional Functions from AIRCOM Server
In addition from the back-end feed provided by the AIRCOM Server, the FSD interface provides other
uplink and interfacing functions from within the FSD Client window (Overlays Menu). Those are
available from the contextual menu of a selected airplane or airport, as follows:
Figure 4-48: Plane Contextual Menu Figure 4-49: Airport Contextual Menu

If you don’t see the added functions, then make sure you have started the FSD from the AIRCOM Server
client. Also make sure that you are using Flight Explorer Professional, version 8.1 or beyond.
Otherwise, contact your system administrator.
AIRCOM Server Functions from the Plane Menu
View messages: Opens the AS user’s mailbox with a preset filter on the selected aircraft
(ONLINE view for 2 hours, Aircraft Registration set to the selected aircraft).
View traffic log: Opens the traffic log with a preset filter on the selected aircraft (ONLINE view
for 2 hours, Aircraft Registration set to the selected aircraft).
Dial SATCOM: Refer to section 4.5 for details.
Send uplink message: Opens the New Uplink window to prepare an uplink for the selected
aircraft. As for an uplink sent directly from the AS client, the templates displayed for the uplink
are only those configured for the selected aircraft and allowed to the user or selected group.
Request position: Automatically sends an uplink of type “Position Report Request” for the
selected aircraft which requests it to send its position via ACARS back to the ground. The
resulting message, once decoded by AS, will turn out as a position update in the FSD window.
The uplink is sent on behalf of the AS user, without actually presenting the user with the AS
client window. It’s equivalent to using the New Uplink window and sending an uplink with the
predefined uplink template “Position Report Request”.
AIRCOM Server Functions from the Airport Menu
Send ground message: open the New Ground window to prepare a ground-to-ground message
for a list of destinations related to the selected airport. The list is preset to the users and type B
addresses configured in the Airport Distribution window for the selected airport, if defined. In
any case, the user can add or remove ground destinations for message.

To understand how operations are passed from one client to another –and to understand what’s missing
in the event of an error– it’s useful to know the general steps taken by the AS to process an operation
initiated from the FSD client. For any of those operations, the same general steps are taken:
1. Check for a running client: the FSD client looks for the AS client and determines it is already
open. If so, the wanted operation is executed right away on the account of the AS user already
logged-in.
2. Open and login: if the AS client is not already started, FSD will start it and will attempt an
automatic login on the default database configured using Client Configuration. The automatic
login is possible when the user logged in FSD is associated with one AIRCOM Server user, and
only one. AS can then associate the FSD user with the corresponding AS user and proceed with
an automatic login. If no AS user is configured with the FSD user, or if more than one is
configured, the automatic login does not take place and the user must login in AS manually.
3. Check privileges: once the AS client is started and a user is logged in, the privileges of the
logged users are checked to make sure the operation is authorized. If it’s not the case, the
operation is refused and an appropriate message is displayed.
4. Convert airplane or airport code: Every operation called from FSD has the selected airplane or
airport code associated to in for AS to know what the operation applies to. The way FSD
expresses each code is often different from AS and so a translation must take place before the
operation takes place.
In the case of airplanes, the FSD tracks the Flight Id (FI) or call sign of individual flights whereas
AS works with aircraft registrations (AN). The provided FI therefore has to be translated to an
AN known by AS and that is done using the tracking data displayed in the Aircraft Tracking
window. If no tracked aircraft uses the wanted FI, the operation is failed and an appropriate
message is displayed. Also note that the flights tracked by FSD are expressed with ICAO codes
whereas those in AS use IATA codes. For the translation to work, both the ICAO and IATA
codes for the supported operators must be defined in the “Operator Codes” list, visible from the
System Parameters window.
In the case of airports, FSD can use the IATA or ICAO code when calling AS to execute a
ground message operation. To make sure the matching airport distribution is found when calling
“Send ground message”, always have both the IATA and ICAO codes configured for all airports.
5. Execute the command: After all the checks have been performed, AIRCOM Server executes the
wanted operation. If no user interaction is required from the AS client, the command is
confirmed right away within FSD (like requesting a position from the aircraft). Otherwise, the
AS client stays on top with the appropriate window opened.
6. Follow-up: If an uplink or ground message has been sent, it’s useful to check later if the message
has been properly delivered. This is available by looking at the status of the generated messages
in the “Outbox” folder of the user’s Mailbox.

4.5 SATCOM
The Dial SATCOM feature is used to establish a satellite voice communication call to a selected aircraft.
The function is available from the following locations: the Aircraft Tracking, the Aircraft Situation
Display, or the Flight Sentry Display. To be able to use SATCOM, only one aircraft must be selected,
otherwise the option will be grayed out.
The SATCOM requires the following in order to be used:

 The use must have the “Use SATCOM” operational use right. If you do not see the “SATCOM”
button, you may contact your system administrator to discuss your access right to this function.
 The selected aircraft’s Aircraft Earth Station Identifier (AESID) must be configured (see Fleet
Configuration in document [S5]).
 The SATCOM parameters in the System Parameters window (refer to document [S5] for details)
must have been properly configured.
 The Dial Engine Pro software product must be installed on the computer performing the
operation
 A modem and a phone are available on the computer placing the call.
Depending on the voice network access number configuration (System Parameters), you may be asked to
select the city to use as the dial access number or it may dial automatically to a pre-configured phone
number.
If everything is properly set, the Dial Engine Pro dials automatically and all you have to do is wait a little
and pick up the handset to talk to the cockpit once the connection is established.
In more details, when a SATCOM button or “Dial SATCOM” menu

option is pressed, dialing starts automatically and this window will show
up.
From this point, you may already pick up the handset. You will then ear the automatic dialing that is
going on. It will first contact the service and it should answer with an automated welcome prompt. If it
says the connection cannot be established, you should contact a system administrator to review and test
the SATCOM system parameters. When the window changes to the following, it means the connection
was successfully established with the service.
From this point, only listen to the voice prompts. Do not click OK yet
(otherwise it will drop the call), and do not enter any of the data
requested by the voice prompts, all these are automatically dialed for you
with appropriate delays between each operation.
You may click OK in the dialer window only when you get to the point
where it says: “Please wait while we are connecting your call.” Once the call has been connected, you
are in line with the aircraft cockpit.

5 Logs & Reports Viewing
5.1 Traffic Log Viewer Window
The Traffic Log Viewer window is available through the Main window Logs dropdown button, Traffic
Log option, and via the Operations menu. It allows any user with the log viewing right to view the
messages contained in the AIRCOM Server Traffic Log. The latter contains a copy of all incoming and
outgoing traffic relative to AIRCOM Server, regardless of the user configuration and recipients. This
window may also be used to identify downlink, uplink, or ground message types that have not been
configured correctly or not defined at all to allow the system administrators to fine-tune the system
configuration.
Figure 5-1: Traffic Log Viewer Window

In online viewing mode, the log entries are retrieved only from the online database while they may be
retrieved from both the online and/or archive databases when in historical viewing (if archiving is

5.1.1 Function Description
The following functions are available in the Traffic Log Viewer.
Refresh (F5) Allows manually refreshing the displayed message list using the same filter criteria as the last time the
filter was applied using either the filter dialog Apply button or using the filter dropdown. The only
element changing during a refresh is the time span in online filtering; allowing getting any new log
entries that could have been created. Upon Refresh, the sort order is set to Date descending, i.e. always
the most recent messages fitting the filter criteria, unless the “Lock Sel” option is used, in which case the
sort order is preserved. There is no automatic refresh.
Lock Sel. Toggle button determining whether the selection is locked to the current message or not:
 When pushed out (default), no lock on the selected message is made and so, any refresh will
reposition the selection at the top of the grid (first row) on the most recent log entry (according to
the current filter), with the default sort order.
 When pushed in, the selected message highlight in the grid is red and the current message stays
selected on each refresh and keeps the current sort order, even when new messages are logged. This
prevents losing the cursor position at every refresh, when reading logs. This may however prevent
from noticing that newer logs arrived in the meantime.
Filter Allows filtering traffic log messages using various search criteria. This is a dropdown button. The first
item "Filter…" opens the filter window with the currently applied filter selected. The other items list all
available filters and selecting one of them applies it without having to open the filter window. The
default filter is identified by a star next to its name; any modified filter is also identified with the
keyword “(modified)”.
Report Launches the report viewer with the traffic log report containing the data returned by the currently
applied traffic log filter.
Message: Brings up the New Uplink Message or New Ground Message window to send a message to any aircraft
New Uplink configured in the system’s fleet configuration (uplink) or to any configured user or non-configured Type
New Ground B address (ground).
Available to users with the applicable "send uplink messages" or "send ground messages" right.
Reply Brings up the New Uplink Message window to send a message as a reply to the aircraft that sent the
currently selected message provided that it is a downlink message.
Available to users with the "send uplink messages" right.
Forward Brings up the Forward window to forward the selected messages to any configured user or non-
configured Type B address as a new ground message.
Available to users with the "send ground messages" right.
Reprocess Brings up the Reprocess window to re-inject the selected incoming messages back into the system for
reprocessing as if they were incoming messages received again from the same originator. If a message
was not processed as wanted the first time it was received (because a user, template or something was not
defined properly) you can arrange the configuration and reprocess the same message once again. It will
be reprocessed according to the new configuration and distributed accordingly.
Available to users with the "reprocess messages from traffic log" right.

Template: Brings up the Downlink, Uplink or Ground Templates window, as selected, which presents the
Downlink information as follows:
Uplink  If no message is selected in Traffic Log or if the message has ‘(none)’ in the Message Type column,
Ground then the Downlink/Uplink/Ground Templates window shows up with a new template being defined if
the user is a Downlink/Uplink/Ground Templates administrator (with the message guide set to the
selected traffic log message) or shows up with no specific template selected for viewing if the user is
of operator profile (with log access).
 If a specific message is selected with a template already defined and that this template exists in the
system, then the Downlink/Uplink/Ground Templates window shows up with this template selected.
o If the Downlink/Uplink/Ground Templates window was not already opened or if it was but in
View mode (no ongoing editing), then the template of the message selected in the Traffic Log
window will be selected for viewing.
o If the Downlink/Uplink/Ground Templates window was already opened and in Edit mode, then
the message guide of the template being edited will be replaced by the message of the Traffic
Log if the user went to the Traffic Log window via the Template's browse button or it will
prompt the user to replace any existing message guide in any other case.
 If the Message Type one of the “(default …)” predefined templates, then the Templates window
shows up with a dialog asking the user whether to select the predefined template or create a new
template. This is done because if the default template is used, many non-configured templates will
default to this, but when it is time to use the feature to easily define new templates, one does not
necessarily want the default template to be systematically selected.
Close (Ctrl-L) Closes the Traffic Log window.
Hex View When checked, this option displays the logged message in its hexadecimal representation (see Figure
5-2: Traffic Log Viewer – Hex View). This is especially useful to diagnose some problems and to
identify non-printable characters that may be present in a message.
Encrypted When checked, this option displays the encrypted version of the logged message. The check box is
available only with one of the possible encryption license options, and when available, it is enabled only
when an encrypted version of the logged message exists.
Outgoing messages are always logged as-is. That is if they were sent out in an encrypted version, they
will be seen as encrypted without having to select the Encrypted check box.
It is only incoming messages to be encrypted (uplinks) or to be decrypted (downlinks) that are logged
with both their encrypted and decrypted versions. In these cases, the user views by default the decrypted
version of the message and can alternately view its encrypted equivalent by selecting this check box.
The Encrypted and Hex view check boxes can be combined.
Splitter Explore the horizontal splitter available between the top grid and the bottom log entry details.
Table 5-1: Traffic Log Viewer Functions
Figure 5-2: Traffic Log Viewer – Hex View

The user cannot modify, add or delete any messages from this log. The AIRCOM Server will
automatically clean it at the purge interval specified in the System Parameters window.

5.1.2 Data Description
The following information is available in the Traffic Log Viewer.
Data Description
Date The time in UTC when the message transited in or out of the system.
Transac(tion) The transaction number is given to each Traffic Log message and can be used to trace back an
event to the actual message that caused it.
Status One of the following message status at the time of the log entry:
Normal: Downlink, uplink or ground message has been processed normally.
Reprocessed Normal: Message has been reprocessed by a user.
Up Sent: An uplink message has been sent.
Up Retransmitted: An uplink that has been sent but not delivered is retransmitted again.
Gnd Sent: A ground message has been sent (distributed).
Gnd Direct Addr: A ground message has been sent by direct addressing.
The below 3 statuses apply with an extra level of logging for Type B messages as an addition
(not a duplication) to the normal logging done for distributed messages and provides
information on the links used to send Type B messages and their retries, if any. This low-level
logging is characterized in the Traffic Log by small black arrows.
Routed: A Type B message has been routed on its primary link.
Re-routed: A Type B message has been re-routed on a backup link after the
primary one has been determined unavailable.
Recycled: A Type B message has been attempted on all available links without
success and has been recycled (stored in a “trash” queue) for a later retry.
DTG Outdated: The date/time group value in the Type B header of the message is
passed by more than the tolerance configured in the “System Parameters” window.
DTG Invalid: The date/time group value in the message cannot be decoded.
Duplicated: The same downlink has been received twice (or more) from the same aircraft
and the duplicated message has been received via the same service provider (DSP) as the
original message. The comparison looks at the SMI, FI, and sequence number, in
addition to the DSP.
Duplicated DSP: The same downlink has been received twice (or more) from the same
aircraft, but the duplicated message has been received via a different service provider
(DSP) than the original message. The comparison looks at the SMI, FI, and sequence
number, in addition to the DSP.
Warning: A message has been received and processed in part but not all expected
operations could be performed with it. Look at the bottom of the window to see the
events explaining the cause for the warning.
Trashed: The message received could not be processed or distributed as expected – in
most cases, there will be an event logged at the same time to explain why it was trashed
(look at the bottom of the window).
Processing: A message is under processing. This state is temporary and should change
to another state quite quickly. It should not be seen very often.
Failed: A message failed to be processed; either because it caused the AS Message
Processor to restart after an unexpected condition, or because the database became
unavailable during a message processing, the corresponding entry in the traffic log gets
failed status.

Data Description
Abandoned: Message abandoned after reaching the maximum number of retries (3, by
default) meaning that it will not be processed again. Contact aircom.support@sita,aero.
For example, with the system configured to perform 3 retries, if a corrupted message
makes the AS Message Processor restart each time it is processed (or reprocessed), we
would end up having 3 log entries with a failed status and a 4th entry with the abandoned
status.
Looped Out: Message sent to a user of type loopback (see document [S5] for a
description of the loopback user type).
Looped In: Message received from user of type loopback.
Direction Indicates the direction relative to AIRCOM Server and the identified type of a message.
Direction:
 Incoming (In): Received from a user or application into AS;
 Reprocessed (Re): Re-injected as if received again like an incoming message;
 Outgoing (Out): Sent to a user or application by AS;
Type:
 Downlink (Down): Downlink message that came from an aircraft;
 Uplink (Up): Message that came from a user, application or AS (computer-generated)
and that is intended to be delivered to an aircraft.
 Ground (Gnd): Message that came from a user, application or AS (computer-generated)
and that is intended to be delivered to ground users or applications.
Message type Applies to any message direction and contains, when available, the matching message template
name. If this field is set to ‘(none)’, then there were either no corresponding message template
defined for this message or at least there were none when the message was logged.
In addition to the template name, extra information may be displayed such as the model name
used for a reformatted message, or specific message indications such as a “MAS-L (link ack)” or
“MAS-F (failed)”.
Aircraft The aircraft registration number for the aircraft that originated or is the intended recipient of the
currently selected message.
Flight The flight number for the aircraft that originated or is the intended recipient of the currently
selected message.
SMI The Standard Message Identifier extracted from the message header for AEEC 620 message
formats.
Medium When available, the medium used to deliver the message (RGS, GES). Additionally, the
associated city and country are added in standalone fields at the bottom left side of the window
for easier identification.
Application The internal component that received or sent the message (e.g. RELAY, NOTESCNX).
Source/destination Either a source (incoming messages) or destination (outgoing messages) address specific to the
Application that processed the message.
Machine The machine name of the computer where the process or program that wrote the log entry was
running. This is especially useful when running in cluster configuration to know from which
cluster node the log came from.
Length The length of the message from the first to last character, including the type B and 620 headers,
but excluding the Type B prefix (0D-0A-01) and suffix (0D-0A-03).
Message The complete text of the actual message to help the user identify invalid or incomplete messages.
Orig. DTG The date/time group value in the Type B header of messages; the message timestamp.
(Aircraft) Type The type of aircraft – if an aircraft has been logged. ‘(none)’ indicates that the aircraft has no
type defined (see Fleet Configuration in document [S5]) while empty means no aircraft is logged
for this traffic log entry.

Data Description
Related event(s) In the case where the traffic logged has a status different than normal, there are good chances
that events explaining the traffic log status exist. These related events are displayed at the
bottom of the window with proper color coding (trace, information, warning, alarm, and fatal).
The single and double arrows allow navigating through events when there is more than one.
Table 5-2: Traffic Log Viewer Data
5.2 Event Log Viewer Window
The Event Log Viewer window is available through the Main window Logs dropdown button, Event
Log option, and via the Operations menu. This window allows any user with the log viewing right to
view the event messages contained in the AIRCOM Server Event Log. The latter contains all system
and user events happening throughout the AIRCOM Server application components. Refer to document
[S3] for a complete list of Server events and their descriptions.
Figure 5-3: Event Log Viewer Window

In online viewing mode, the log entries are retrieved only from the online database while they may be
retrieved from both the online and/or archive databases when in historical viewing (if archiving is

5.2.1 Function Description
The following functions are available in the Event Log Viewer.
Refresh (F5) Allows manually refreshing the displayed event list using the same filter criteria as the last time the filter
was applied using either the filter dialog Apply button or using the filter dropdown. The only element
changing during a refresh is the time span in online filtering; allowing getting any new events that could
have been created. Upon Refresh, the sort order is set to Date descending, i.e. always the most recent
messages fitting the filter criteria, unless the “Lock Sel” option is used, in which case the sort order is
preserved. There is no automatic refresh.
Lock Sel. Toggle button determining whether the selection is locked to the current event or not:
 When pushed out (default), no lock on the selected event is made and so, any refresh will reposition
the selection at the top of the grid (first row) on the most recent log entry (according to the current
filter), with the default sort order.
 When pushed in, the selected event highlight in the grid is red and the current event stays selected on
each refresh and keeps the current sort order, even when new events are logged. This prevents losing
the cursor position at every refresh, when reading logs. This may however prevent from noticing that
newer logs arrived in the meantime.
Filter Allows filtering event log messages using various search criteria. This is a dropdown button. The first
item "Filter…" opens the filter window with the currently applied filter selected. The other items list all
available filters and selecting one of them applies it without having to open the filter window. The
default filter is identified by a star next to its name; any modified filter is also identified with the
keyword “(modified)”.
Report Launches the report viewer with the event log report containing the data returned by the currently applied
event log filter.
Hex View When checked, this option displays the associated traffic log message (if any) in its hexadecimal
representation (see Figure 5-2: Traffic Log Viewer – Hex View). This is especially useful to diagnose
some problems and to identify non-printable characters that may be present in a message.
Close (Ctrl-L) Closes the Event Log window.
Splitter Explore the horizontal splitter available between the top grid and the bottom log entry details.
Table 5-3: Event Log Viewer Functions
The user cannot modify, add or delete any events from this log. The AIRCOM Server will automatically
clean it up at the purge interval specified in the System Parameters window.
5.2.2 Data Description
The following information is available in the Event Log Viewer.
Data Description
Sv (Severity) The severity of the current event. The five severity levels are as follows:
[blank] Trace
Information
Warning
Alarm
Fatal
T The icon indicates that a transaction/traffic log message is associated to the current event.

Data Description
Date The time in UTC when the event occurred in the system.
Source The source application component that has raised the event (e.g. Client).
Class The event class helps classify events into significant topics and allows filtering on those topics.
The possible event classes are:
Traffic Event related to the traffic processing such as invalid or outdated messages,
template errors, out-of-sequence OOOI, distribution events, etc. Most of the time
associated with a Traffic Log entry.
Comms Event regarding communications to other systems (connection/disconnection ...).
System Server starts and stops events and application error or unexpected conditions.
Config Additions, modifications, or deletions of system configuration.
Security Anything with an impact on the security of the system, such as login/logout, failed
login attempts, account policies, disabled accounts, passwords, and user rights
modifications.
Tracking Event related to flight and aircraft tracking such as Sequencer activities related
events or events that affect or relate to tracking data.
Machine The machine name of the computer where the process or program that wrote the log entry was
running. This is especially useful when running in cluster configuration to know from which
cluster node the log came from.
Event (Code) The event code number associated to the event. This code will be required if you call SITA
helpdesk for support with a problem discovered in this log. This code may be an error code or
an information event code.
OS Code The System error code number associated to the event (if any). This code will be required if you
call SITA helpdesk for support with a problem discovered in this log.
Event Message The complete text of the actual event message. To see multiple line event messages, enlarge the
grid row height or go to the Message text box at the bottom of the window. In addition, the
message text box displays a colored background in accordance with the event severity (e.g.
yellow background = WARNING).
Note that scrolling, when enabled, will reveal more details about the event. Using the splitter
may also allow viewing more of the event message without scrolling.
Related Message In the case where the logged event was generated by a message traceable to the traffic log, the
(Traffic Log Message) corresponding message stored in the traffic log is displayed here.
Transaction The transaction number, when available, that is associated to the traffic log message linked to the
current event. A transaction number is assigned to each traffic log message and can be used to
trace back the event to the actual transaction that caused it (if applicable) – a transaction may
group multiple traffic log messages.
Table 5-4: Event Log Viewer Data
5.2.3 Event Log Operations Audit
All successfully saved New and Modify operations and all Delete operations on core data elements of
the system configuration are systematically logged as events in a uniform pattern. This provides a
complete trace or audit of any configuration changes in the system.

5.3 Reports & Report Viewer Windows
5.3.1 Reports Window
The Reports window is available through the Main window ‘Logs’ dropdown button, or its equivalent
via the Operations menu. It is available if the user has the View logs user right. The Reports window
provides browsing capability to find reports (Crystal Reports format with ‘.rpt’ extension). Favorite
locations can be stored for each user as well as a user default location. The view operation allows
viewing reports created in order to present data from the AIRCOM Server databases.
Figure 5-4: Reports Window – Local Access
However, if the Client is accessed remotely (i.e. via browser) the path is fixed, no browsing can be
performed and no favorites can be saved. For security reasons, the report path of the remote Client
installation will have been set to a specific path where remote access is allowed, and only there will you
be able to find reports to view, if any.

Figure 5-5: Reports Window – Remote Access
The following functions are available from the toolbar or keyboard.
View Enabled only when a report is selected. Tries to view the selected report. If the report is valid, the
Report Viewer window opens, displaying the report. Otherwise, a dialog advises that the report is
invalid. For a report to be valid, it must have been designed for the AIRCOM Server database.
Special behavior for the “Event Log.rpt” and “Traffic Log.rpt” reports: When these are viewed,
the corresponding filter dialog shows up, allowing to specify the time period and some filter criteria
that will be applied to produce the report. Also, once OK is clicked on the filter dialog, the data is
queried with the same efficiency as if the filter were applied with the corresponding log viewer, and if
for any reason getting the data is very long, it can be cancelled and the partial results that were already
obtained will be produced into the report.
Default Saves the current path as the default reports path for the currently logged user. There are three
possible default paths that can be loaded when opening the window, with the following precedence: (1)
the user default, (2) the application default, and (3) the application installation path. The user default
is set using the Default button and an administrator using the Client Configuration tool can set the
application default.
Favorites Dropdown options. The default action when clicking the button is to add the current path to the
favorites list by popping up a favorite name selection dialog. The other dropdown options are to
remove a favorite or to select a favorite. Selecting a favorite automatically selects the corresponding
path. The maximum number of favorites that can be stored is 15 and favorites are user specific.
Close Closes the Reports window.
F5 Function Key Refreshes the current path display and the list of reports for the current path.
Table 5-5: Reports Window Functions

5.3.2 Report Viewer Window
The Report Viewer window provides report viewing, exporting and printing capability. The printing is
the Crystal Reports viewer built-in print function (does not use the Print window).
Figure 5-6: Report Viewer Window – Traffic Log Report
The following functions are available from the toolbar.

Print’ button Brings up the print dialog, allowing printing the report. Please pay attention to the number
of pages of the report prior to print it; especially for log reports, the number of pages may
be very high.
Export’ button Brings up the Export dialog (see below) allowing the selection of the export format, such as
PDF, Excel, HTML, comma delimited, and many more. Once the format is acknowledged,
follow the steps specific to the selected format and choose the filename and location.
However, when accessing the Client remotely (i.e. via browser), you will not be prompted for
the format specific parameters (the default ones will be applied) and the report name and
location are fixed. The location is then the \Data\Reports folder of the server machine running
the Client application and the filename is the report name followed by the timestamp of the
export operation (e.g. Traffic Log_041202_034226.rtf, i.e. [name]_[ ddmmyy_hhnnss]).
Group Tree’ button When a report has been defined with more than one group, each group would be listed in the
group tree displayed or hidden by this button.
Zoom Factor’ field Selects the report display zoom percentage.

Page Navigation’ bar Allows easy page navigation through the report.
Stop’ button Enabled only during a report load operation. It will be enabled longer when viewing longer
reports. When clicked, it stops report loading to where it was.
Search Expert’ button Wizard used to perform a search with query criteria on the data available in the report. The
available data depends on the report design and may vary from one report to another. The
result is the first matching item being highlighted with a frame in the existing report results
(see Figure 3-34).
Search’ button Allows searching text values in the report content. If data is found matching the text search, it
gets highlighted with a frame around the data element.
Popup Menus Explore popup menus over the report elements to discover, for example copy capabilities.
Close Use the built-in window close function in the title bar.
Table 5-6: Report Viewer Window Functions
Viewing a report is driven by different rules depending if the user is logged into a production database or
an offline database. To decide against which type of environment the Client is running, the software
determines if the database connection user (at the database server level, not the Client logged-in user)
used to connect has read-only or write privileges. Write privileges indicate a production environment
while read-only privileges indicate an offline or backup database environment. The Database
Administrator sets these privileges. Refer to documents [S2] and [S5] for more details.
To protect against AIRCOM Server Message Processor locking due to possible huge queries originating
from report viewing accessing data where the server needs to write frequently (e.g. the Traffic Log), any
report for which the result size, in terms of number of entries returned, exceeds the “Logs and Mailbox
Maximum Entries” defined in the System Parameters window (refer to document [S5] for more details)
will be topped at that configured number of entries. This applies to reports viewed via the report viewer.
For reports viewed via the log windows, the filter has already been applied to limit the number of entries
and the report returns what is displayed in the window, with the same filter.
For an offline environment, no constraints exist. Hence, any report can be run and results will be
returned even if the result size is huge.

6 Miscellaneous
6.1 Filter Windows
The filter window is a standard dialog used in different windows to limit the amount of data listed, based
on relevant criteria for the window. The Mailbox, Traffic Log and Event Log windows have such a filter
function available. The window displays all saved filters and all available criteria to allow data filtering
for the corresponding parent window it applies to.
Figure 6-1: Mailbox Filter Window
Figure 6-2: Event Log Filter Window

Figure 6-3: Traffic Log Filter Window
Multiple filters can be managed using the select filter dropdown list. This list shows all existing filters
that can be selected and managed. The rest of the display presents the currently selected filter.
The default filter is identified by a star at the end of its name. Also, as soon as a filter is changed
relatively to its last saved state, the keyword “(modified)” is added at the end of the name; and it gets
removed when saved. These keywords are also visible from the context window filter dropdown menu
and status bar showing the currently applied filter such that the user knows which filter is default, and
which is modified, and knows in what state is the currently applied filter.

Each filter defines a viewing mode, the use of the '%' character and the individual data criteria to filter
on.
Data Description
Online Viewing This option filters log entries and keeps only those for the period specified. For example, if the
online period is set to 15 minutes and the filter is applied at 10:00, then results from 9:45 to 10:00
are returned. Then the user refreshes at 10:20, results will include data from 9:05 to 10:20. Then
the user changes slightly the filter (but keeps the period to 15 minutes) and reapplies it at 10:30, the
results are from 10:15 to 10:30.
In online mode, an auto-refresh occurs at regular intervals configured as the “automatic refresh”
user preference (only for the Mailbox) and messages are retrieved only from the online data
source, no matter if archiving is active or not.
However, if archiving is active and the time span of the filter exceeds the “archive after” period
defined as a system parameter, a warning shows up when applying the filter advising that the time
span of the data returned will not exceed the archive period.
Cumulate data since When this is checked, in online viewing mode, it means that data is kept back up to the time the
applied filter was applied (Apply button as opposed to refresh) minus the online period. For example, if the
online period is set to 15 minutes and the filter is applied at 10:00, then results from 9:45 to 10:00
are returned. Then the user refreshes at 10:20, results will include data from 9:45 to 10:20. Then
the user changes slightly the filter (but keeps the period to 15 minutes) and reapplies it at 10:30, the
results are from 10:15 to 10:30.
Historical Viewing This option filters messages that were received between specific dates and times. If this option is
selected, the user must supply ‘From’ and ‘To’ date and time boundaries, limiting the listed
messages to that period only.
In historical mode, messages may be retrieved from both the online and archive data sources (if
archiving is active) transparently, as needed depending on the time span.
Note that when an historical filter is applied, a distinctive icon is added in the status bar to better
emphasize that on refresh, no online live data is obtained (unless the ‘To’ date and time would be
in the future).
Use % As The “Use % as Character” option means that when the % character is used in the value of a text
filter criterion, it is interpreted as the percent character. The matching results must include % as
specified. For example, a value of “100% APU” would search for all result including “100% APU”
somewhere in the text, like “… the aircraft was using 100% APU during the taxi phase…”.
The “Use % as Wildcard” option means that when the % character is used in the value of a text
filter criterion, it is interpreted as a wildcard. For example, a value of “100% APU” would search
for all results including “100” followed by “ APU” further down the text, all of that somewhere in
the text, like “… the aircraft was not using 100% of its APU during the taxi phase…”. This would
not match with “100% APU” with the “Use % as Character”.
Note that all text based criteria are already searched for using beginning and ending implicit
wildcards, such that, for example, searching for the value “air” would return anything containing
“aircraft”, “airplane”, “airline”, and so on.
Table 6-1: Filter – Viewing Mode & Use of the '%' Character

The following window buttons are available in any Filter window.
OK Applies all current filter criteria (only if they have changed) and closes the filter window. In other
words, if the Apply button is enabled, clicking OK applies the filter; otherwise it only closes the
window.
Apply Applies all current filter criteria. Enabled only if criteria have changed. The other way to apply a
filter is to select it from the mailbox window’s filter dropdown menu.
Close Close the filter window without applying the filter, but does not cancel changes since last applied
or saved. You can reopen the filter window and unsaved changes are still available and you can
still save them. This allows performing temporary changes based on your favorite filters without
being forced to save them. However, when the mailbox window is closed, any unsaved changes
are lost.
Clears all filter criteria to blank, and the viewing mode to online 15 minutes for the current filter.
(Ctrl-Spacebar)
Clear current filter
This button is enabled only when the current filter is the one that was last applied. It is used to
(Shift-Ctrl-A) restore the filter as it was when it was last applied
Restore Applied Filter
Return the current filter, time and other criteria, to the last saved settings.
(Ctrl-Z)
Restore current filter
Same as Restore current filter, but restores all filters.
(Shift-Ctrl-Z)
Restore all filters
Save the changes to the current filter, except for the filter name and default setting which are
(Ctrl-S) handled by the Edit dialog (see below). The button is only enabled when there are changes to
Save current filter save; when the filter name is marked with the keyword “(modified)”.
Same as Save current filter, but saves all filters. The button is enabled as soon as any one of the
(Shift-Ctrl-S) existing filters is modified.
Save all filters
Add a new filter. Use the Edit filter dialog to enter the filter name and decide if it shall be the
(Ctrl-N) default filter. Once the dialog is closed using OK, the filter has been created and saved. It can be
Add new filter renamed or made as default later on using the Edit button, or deleted using the Delete button.
Rename a filter and set it as default filter, which is the filter applied when opening the mailbox
(Ctrl-M) window. Once the dialog is closed using OK, the changes are immediately saved.
Edit name and default
Delete the current filter. This button is disabled for the default filter (the one with a star at the end
(Ctrl-Del) of its name). To change the default filter, use the Edit dialog with another filter (select filter list)
Delete current filter to set it as default. Then you may return to the filter ad delete it.
The plus sign button adds a new blank value for that filter parameter, while the minus sign button
removes the value for that row.
Add / remove value
When a row of the filter criteria grid is selected, the Delete key on the keyboard can be used to
remove a value (delete the row) if it were an added value (i.e. with the minus button at the right
end side). However, if the row is the only value for the parameter (i.e. with the plus button at the
right end side), then the Delete key will only clear the content of the row but not remove it.
Filter criteria are searched for with a logical AND operator between each different criteria, but
with logical OR operators between each value of a single criterion.
Table 6-2: Filter Window Functions

A system default built-in set of filter criteria is attributed to any new user (Online – 15 minutes with no
other specific criteria) as part of the user’s preferences. When entering a window with a Filter function,
the default filter for the logged user is applied.
Whenever a filter is applied resulting in a large result (e.g. large number of messages or events), a
progress bar is displayed indicating progression. If this number exceeds a maximum value configured by
the system administrator (the value may differ depending on the viewing mode – online or historical), a
dialog tells the user that the result set is going to be truncated to the configured maximum size.
Applied filtering criteria (even if unsaved) stay active until the filtered window is closed. When closing
the window, any changes to filters that were not saved are lost.
Each criterion corresponds to a piece of data available in the filtered window, even if not always
displayed directly (like the ‘Aircraft type’ that can be filtered on although not visible). When aircraft
filtering is available, both the aircraft registration and the nose number are available to filter although
only one is displayed in the window based on the “aircraft display” user preference.
Regarding the ‘Message Type’ criterion, it has to be set via the following dialog:
Figure 6-4: Message Type Filter Value

The dialog allows selecting a template name of any type available and/or type in a custom text. In other
words, the filter value is anything between a template name and a custom text.
For any criterion, if the ‘Exclude’ column is checked, it indicates to the application to perform a negative
search on the specific criterion (i.e. aircraft registration “123” with exclude would return all messages
from or to aircraft that do not have the sequence “123” in their registration). However, ‘Exclude’ is not
allowed on an empty criterion. Also, the ‘Exclude’ setting is forced to be the same for all values of a
single filter criterion.
The ‘No Value’ column allows filtering on items that explicitly have no value. This is required because
a blank criterion does not filter for entries with no value, it is rather ignored.
The ‘Exclude’ and ‘No Value’ columns do interact, such that if both are checked and you uncheck ‘No
Value’, ‘Exclude’ is automatically unchecked since we cannot exclude an empty criterion. Similarly,
checking ‘No Value’ for a criterion that had a value defined will clear that value, and conversely, typing
a value for a criterion with the ‘No Value’ column checked will uncheck it automatically.

6.2 Print Window
When printing a message from the message viewer or new message window, this print window opens
with a preview of the content to print (only exception: report print). The print menu allows printing,
configuring the print setup and page setup properties through standard Windows dialogs, setting fonts
and some layout, or closing the print window. The toolbar allows navigating through pages, zooming,
and printing the content of the preview.
The fonts and layout properties can be changed using standard Windows dialogs. Depending on the
context from which one is printing, some of the font and layout options described below are available.
Figure 6-5: Print Font and Back Color Dialogs
Printouts from the AS Client (except reports) can be formed of the following sections:
 Document header: at the top of the printout
 Document footer: at the bottom of the printout
 Message header: a header identifying a message section
 Message section: a message typically handled by AS, the type of message found in the traffic log,
ACARS or not; there can be more than one message in one printout, like from the message
viewer where there is typically a reformatted and a raw message
 Regular text: Any text other than the header, footer and message sections

Font menu
Header & Footer Font: Applies to the document header AND the message header (when
applicable) and at the document footer.
Message Font: Applies to the message section. For example, printing from the Message Viewer
presents both messages and regular text data.
Regular Text Font: Applies to any type of data other than the messages themselves. For
example, printing a user’s definition comments is regular text.
Layout menu
Header Back Color: Applies to the document header AND the message header (when
applicable); does not affect the footer.
Message Back Color: Sets a background color just for the message section(s).
Header Border Style: Applies to the document header AND the message header (when
applicable); does not affect the footer.
Message Border Style: Sets a border (or frame) just around the message section(s).
The fonts and layout changes performed via the Print window are temporary, used only for the current
print job. Fonts and layout settings can be changed and saved permanently through user preferences;
hence they can differ for each AS Client user (see section 2.3.1).

Figure 6-6: Print Window

6.3 Reference Administration Data
Additional administrative data is available to non-administrator users for viewing only. These are
available through the Main window Downlinks, Uplinks, Grounds and Aircraft dropdown buttons.
They provide the following information:

 The list of downlink message templates and their associated models used for reformatting.
 The downlink templates acknowledgement setup.
 The list of uplink message templates used for manual uplink assistance, automatic
acknowledgement and air-to-air dynamic routing, and for reformatting incoming messages to be
sent out as uplinks to aircraft.
 The list of ground message templates and their associated models used for manual ground to
ground assistance and for reformatting incoming messages to be distributed as ground messages.
 The downlink, uplink and ground distribution rules and permissions.
 Airport distribution lists used for airport dynamic routing.
 The list of configured aircraft (fleet configuration), aircraft types, and ACARS MU.
 Dynamic frequency management configuration (flight routes event handling, FSD areas,
frequency sets).
 The aircraft fault monitoring configuration.
 Value lookup tables.
 The Sequencer.
This information is available as a reference for users to know what is available to them and possibly
request additions or modifications (e.g. missing templates or models) to their system administrator.
Window details for these functions are discussed in document [S5]. The same applies to log windows
(Traffic and Event) or report viewer window that may be available to a user having an operator profile
with the logs privilege, but they really are administrative windows and as such described in document
[S5].

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Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques

Airline Telecommunications and Information Services

THIS IS AN EXTERNAL DOCUMENT AND DATA PROTECTION DOES APPLY.

Last revision date: April 2, 2014

DATA PROTECTION STATEMENT

All rights reserved

SITA iii 2001VLLYSUM137

4.2.5 Views Panel...................................................................................................................................................... 101

Figure 4-34: Legend Panel with Weather Info ........................................................................................................................ 105

Table 4-10: Faults Grids Context Menu..................................................................................................................................... 81

SITA vii 2001VLLYSUM137

1.2 System Overview

The AIRCOM Server Client provides two major user profiles

1.3 Document Overview

This guide is divided in the following sections:

1.4 Terms and Acronyms

ACARS Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System

1.5 Applicable Documents

1.5.1 SITA Documents

[S1] AIRCOM Server Hardware and Software Prerequisites Installation Guide

[S2] AIRCOM Server Installation and Configuration Guide

[S3] AIRCOM Server Monitoring Guide

[S4] (This document)

[S5] AIRCOM Server Administrator Guide

[S6] AIRCOM Server Disaster Recovery and Mirroring Guide

[S7] SITA AIRCOM System Specification for the MIAM Connectivity

1.5.2 Non-SITA Documents

[E1] Air-Ground Character-Oriented Protocol Specification,

2.1 Login Window

Figure 2-1: Login Window

2.2 Main Client Window

Figure 2-2: Main Client Window (for an operator user)

Menu Functions Description

Menu Functions Description

2.2.1 Status Bar

First indicator: Shows the online database connection status.

Second indicator: Shows the archive database connection status.

Third indicator: Shows the base service connection status.

The status indicators are followed by two other panels:

Logged user display name:

Current date and time expressed in UTC:

2.2.2 Change Password

Figure 2-3: Change Password Window

2.3 User Preferences

Figure 2-4: Preferences Window – General Panel

Figure 2-5: Preferences Window – Notification Panel

2.3.1 General Preferences

This panel presents miscellaneous individual options. Those available are:

2.3.2 Notification Preferences

Figure 2-6: Visual Notification Dialog

3.1 User Mailbox Window

Figure 3-1: Main Status bar

Figure 3-2: User Mailbox Window

3.1.1 Mailbox Folders Section

Figure 3-3: Messages Summary Section

 GND: Forwarded Ground message forwarded to the current user

3.1.3 Message Preview Section

Figure 3-4: Downlink Message Preview Section

Figure 3-5: Uplink Message Preview Section

Figure 3-6: Ground Message Preview Section

3.1.4 Message Viewer Window

Figure 3-7: Message Viewer Window

3.2 New Message Window