ERAM is an FAA

Federal Aviation Administration

The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...

 program designed to "allow faster processing of route requests and in flight route changes".

The En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) system architecture replaces the En Route Host computer system and its backup. ERAM provides all of today’s functionality and:

• Adds new capabilities needed to support the evolution of US National Airspace System
• Improves information security and streamlines traffic flow at US international borders
• Processes flight radar data
• Provides communications support
• Generates display data to air traffic controller
  Air traffic controller
  Air traffic controllers are the people who expedite and maintain a safe and orderly flow of air traffic in the global air traffic control system. The position of the air traffic controller is one that requires highly specialized skills...
  
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• The display system provides real-time electronic aeronautical information and efficient data management.
• Provides a fully functional backup system, precluding the need to restrict operations in the event of a primary failure
• The backup system provides the National Transportation Safety Board-recommended safety alerts, altitude warnings and conflict alerts.
• Improves surveillance by using a greater number and variety of surveillance sources

The open system architecture enables the use of future capabilities to efficiently handle traffic growth and ensure a more stable and supportable system.

Implementation

The FAA will deploy ERAM at 20 Air Route Traffic Control

Traffic control

Road traffic control involves directing vehicular and pedestrian traffic around a construction zone, accident or other road disruption, thus ensuring the safety of emergency response teams, construction workers and the general public....

 Centers, the Williams J. Hughes Technical Center, and the FAA Academy.

Step 1: 2006
Replace the current En Route computer backup system with Enhanced Backup Surveillance.

Step 2: 2007
Provide controllers real-time electronic access to weather data, aeronautical data, air traffic control

Air traffic control

Air traffic control is a service provided by ground-based controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and in the air. The primary purpose of ATC systems worldwide is to separate aircraft to prevent collisions, to organize and expedite the flow of traffic, and to provide information and other...

 procedures documents, Notices to Airmen

NOTAM

NOTAM or NoTAM is the quasi-acronym for a "Notice To Airmen". NOTAMs are created and transmitted by government agencies and airport operators under guidelines specified by Annex 15: Aeronautical Information Services of the Convention on International Civil Aviation...

, pilot reports

Pilot Reports

A pilot report or PIREP is a report of actual weather conditions encountered by an aircraft in flight. This information is usually relayed by radio to the nearest ground station...

, and other information with the En Route Information Display System.

Step 3: 2009
Replace the current En Route Host computer air traffic control with a fully redundant, state of the art system that enables new capabilities and requires no stand-alone backup system.

Update

As of September 30, 2011, ERAM is only being used at 2 Facilities, Salt Lake ARTCC and Seattle ARTCC. The project is over budget and behind schedule. The system is being used at the two low traffic centers with many work-arounds and has not been implemented at the rest of the ARTCC's. Testing continues but Lockheed Martin is struggling to make the system work, the original implementation dates have been pushed back several times. There is a current push to implement ERAM nation wide in 2011 because of a promised software update that will address the many problems that plague the current system.