To deploy a new business service requires a SWIM service to be developed and placed in the SWIM registry. Service providers identify services and advertise them in the registry. It is like the internet but a managed and regulated internet with authorised users, validated services and proper security. An internet suitable for aviation.
That does of course mean that getting your service into the SWIM registry comes with suitable hurdles to protect the overall stability and security of the system. Clearing those hurdles means adhering to the underpinning standards for describing SWIM services:
- EUROCONTROL Specification for SWIM Service Description: These are the requirements for describing information services. They cover service consumers’ needs and consider services from a business, operational and technical point of view. The details of a deployed service such as behaviours, information provided, legal and security constraints are included and made available to consumers for a better understanding of what the service does and how it works. This helps users to assess the operational and technical data in terms of usage and quality. In support of business decision-making, the standard provides a list of general requirements and service interface requirements.
- EUROCONTROL Specification for SWIM Information Definition: The Information Definition standard on the other hand presents information definitions specifications, known as formal descriptions of the exchanged information that ensures a cleared and harmonised shared information. It aims at information to be clearly defined, understood and harmonised between stakeholders contributing to semantic interoperability. The specification enables the use of common data definitions as described in the ATM Information Reference Model (AIRM).
Where a SWIM service has a wide role requiring use by many users, it may help for the Service Description to be standardised (for example EUROCAE specification for the Extended AMAN Service), but well-formed service descriptions can be approved for use (and operationally validated in multiple environments) without this step. This may well be crucial for helping new entrants access the aviation and ATM data that best suits them – weather information at different altitudes, current usage of very low-level airspace or declaration of emergencies requiring short notice cancellation of planned missions. SWIM is not just about service providers defining the services, but also about the users helping to refine those services in line with their business needs. This is genuine interoperability, not harmonisation. Subtle flavours of the same basic service can exist to support specific requirements and it is this flexibility that will really help UAM and Space Tour operators access the data they need.