This document further defines a concept of operations for transmitting aircraft-derived meteorological data to enable a wide range of Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) and Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) applications in the areas of wake turbulence, air traffic management and meteorology. This concept was first published as informative appendices in DO-260B and DO-282B, Appendix V and Appendix S respectively (Ref 1, Ref 2).

The OSED takes a link agnostic approach and describes the information content necessary to support a broad range of applications without constraining the data elements or rates to stay within the limits of any specific link. A number of wake turbulence, air traffic management and meteorological applications are described that can benefit from the downlink and crosslink of these aircraft-derived data. The OSED describes the specific data to be transmitted, including bit count and timing; addresses acquisition of required data from standard data labels on standard aircraft data buses as well as provisions for participation by aircraft not equipped with data buses and/or flight management systems; discusses constraints under which the proposed service must operate; and provides an overview of potentially applicable performance standards, error handling, system safety and system security topics. Specific funded and/or planned projects and research in the areas of wake turbulence, air traffic management (ATM), weather situational awareness and meteorological applications that could benefit from the proposed data service are identified.