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Meeting	ACGS Committee Meeting 99 - Boulder - March 2007
Agenda Location	8 SUBCOMMITTEE C – AVIONICS AND SYSTEM INTEGRATION 8.2 An Automated Airspace Concept for the Next-Generation Air Traffic Control System
Title	An Automated Airspace Concept for the Next-Generation Air Traffic Control System
Presenter	Todd Farley
Affiliation	NASA Ames Research Center
Available Downloads*	presentation
	Downloads are available to members who are logged in and either Active* or attended this meeting.
Abstract	The economic health and competitiveness of nations is dependent on the safe and efficient movement of people and goods, and a safe and efficient air traffic system is a critical part of this economic engine. To accommodate anticipated growth in demand for air transportation—and growth in the economy overall—aviation planners have called for increasing the capacity of our air transportation system by factors of two or three over the next 20 years. While the spatial capacity of our skies appears ample, the practical capacity of the en-route and transition (arrival/departure) airspace as presently operated is already near its operational limit and is routinely oversubscribed. The principal constraint on airspace capacity is the air-traffic-controller workload associated with monitoring and controlling the separation of aircraft from one another. Therefore, the key to increasing the capacity of this airspace is reducing controller workload. We propose to do so by automating the separation-assurance function currently performed by sector controllers and by using an air-ground data link to transmit necessary trajectory adjustments directly between ground-based and airborne computers. We call this concept the Advanced Airspace Concept. The Advanced Airspace Concept is presented from a system-safety perspective, focusing on the system architecture, its functional elements, and the operational concept. Results from a safety analysis and fast-time simulations are presented. Implications for pilots, controllers, and the traveling public are discussed.