FAA’s National Simulation Capability

Abstract

The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is beginning a major thrust to define and develop the 21st century aviation system for the United States. During the 1980’s the FAA began a major upgrade of the communication, navigation/landing, surveillance, and air traffic control (ATe) automation systems that make up the aviation system’s infrastructure. The National Weather Service has invested billions of dollars in ,upgrading its infrastructure and will, in partnership with the FAA, be able to provide much more timely and accurate weather data and forecasts to the aviation community in the years ahead. Satellite navigation and communication systems are coming into place and their use in aviation is predicted to increase dramatically by the turn of the century. Increasingly sophisticated avionics in the cockpit will lead to dramatic changes in the way aircraft interact with the rest of the aviation system. Finally, the ever increasing power of the computer will let us give the air traffic controller and flow manager of tomorrow more sophisticated tools to manage traffic more efficiently and to control the traffic with greater safety.

Significant progress has been made in testing new air traffic control (ATC) concepts through the use of rapid prototypes. These given us a better idea about how a particular new feature or system ought to be built and how the human operator (pilot, air traffic controller, air traffic flow manager, etc.) should interact with the feature. These prototypes of individual components of the ATC system of the 21st century do not give us an understanding, before a production investment decision is made, of how the new feature interacts with and affects the operation of the total aviation system. As automation complexity on the ground and in the air increases to achieve FAA’s vision of the 21st century, this need for hetter early understanding interaction is becoming more and more critical.

The FAA has established a National Simulation Capability (NSC) to study the horizontal integration of future system components during concept development and research stages. Horizontal integration brings together diverse ATC components (airport, terminal, en route, and oceanic automation; central flow control; flight management systems; cockpit presentations; etc.) in a flexible, real-time simulation environment. The feasibility of NSC has been demonstrated and initial experimental capabilities have been established at FAA laboratories at the Mitre Corporation and the FAA Technical Center. Experiments are being conducted to evaluate new operational concepts (safety enhancements, capacity improvements, productivity tools, changing pilot and controller roles, etc.), human computer interaction and failure modes in a realistic interactive ATC environment of the future.