Australian ATM Strategic Plan

What is DOTS+

Dynamic Ocean Track System (DOTS+) from the FAA is the software to be used by Airservices Australia in the delivery of Flex Tracks.

The decision to use DOTS+ was made after extensive trials and facilities testing locally and abroad.

For Airservices Australia this included:

• Providing appropriate Australian data for use to evaluate DOTS+.
• Participating in Australian data preparation and validation.
• Analysing the data received from DOTS+ and participating airlines.
• Providing specialists to train on DOTS+ and prepare organised track structures for the trial period.
• Providing the FAA a list of issues identified during the organised track structure demonstration and analysis.

It also involved essential assistance from key airlines; Qantas, Air New Zealand, Emirates and Singapore Airlines who provided flight planning data of time and expected fuel usage

If acquired, DOTS+ will be used to create AUSOTS for traffic flows between Singapore (area) and Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. This will likely be achieved through three possible gate clusters:

• Jakarta area
• Bali area
• KIKEM in the Indonesian archipelagic region

Negotiations are currently underway with the United States’ Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), who own the software and who are successfully using it to manage air traffic in the North Pacific.