Next Generation Air Traffic Control - Term Paper Example

NextGen Air Traffic Control Outline NextGen Air Traffic Control This paper will cover the following areas: An overview of air traffic control An overview of NextGen and how it came in being The History of NextGen Air Traffic Control NextGen Air Traffic Today Operations Milestones NextGen Air Traffic Equipment Cockpit equipment Satellite-based Navigational Systems The automatic Dependent surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) Runway equipment and systems Training of Air Traffic Control personnel Air Traffic Control is a kind of service that is provided by ground based controllers who are responsible for directing aircraft both on the ground and in the air. The essential functions of the Air Traffic control is to separate aircrafts in order to prevent collisions, to organize and speed up the flow of traffic and to offer support services to the pilots such as extra information regarding weather, navigation and guidance during emergencies. Separation is a term that is used to mean the prevention of aircrafts from coming too close to each other in order to prevent collision. In order to do this, airports employ lateral, vertical and longitudinal separation and in some cases they have installed collision avoidance systems that act as backup to ATC (Mattson, 2006). The ATC services are availed to many users in most countries. There are two kinds of airspace, the controlled airspace and the uncontrolled airspace. In the controlled airspace the controllers are responsible for the separation of some or all aircraft. In the uncontrolled airspace, the aircraft is allowed to fly without the air traffic control system. Air traffic controllers in most cases only issue instructions or flight instructions which the pilots are expected to follow (Mattson, 2006). The instruction at times may not be followed by the pilots in the case of emergencies because the pilot has the final responsibility for the safety of any aircraft. NextGen came into existence in 2003 after The Vision 100- Century Of aviation Reauthorization Act was signed into law. In the next month following it’s signing the department of Transport (DOT) secretary announced plans to develop an airport transportation system destined for the year 2025 and beyond. The secretary then established a Joint Planning and Development Office at the Federal Aviation administration that comprised of members drawn from various departments including department of defense, homeland security, commerce, NASA, transportation and the white house office of science and technology Policy. These representatives from the various departments were supposed to come up and implement an integrated plan for NextGen. The following year in 2004, the department of transportation launched the integrated plan for the Next generation Air Transportation system that showed the goals, objectives and requirements that were necessary to come up with the NextGen System (Joint Planning and Development Office, 2007). Therefore NextGen is only a term used for describing the ongoing transformation of the National Airspace System (NAS). It represents an evolution from the current ground based system of air traffic control to a satellite based system of traffic management. This transformation is important in order to meet the future demand in the aviation industry and to avoid gridlock in the airspace and the airports. The new system as explained in the objectives is to open the nation’s skies to continued growth and to reduce the environmental impacts that are a result of aviation (FAA, 2011). The goals are set to be achieved through the use of existing, widely used technologies such as the Global positioning system (GPS) and various innovations in areas such as weather forecasting, data networking and digital communications. These will be used in along with new airport infrastructure and procedures. NextGen will allow for the accurate separation of aircrafts and thus allow them to fly close to one another together on more direct routes. This will reduce delays at the airports, reduction in aircraft emissions, fuel consumption and noise (FAA, 2011). NextGen concept of Air Traffic Control embodies so many things from the ground operations to the air operations. There are many equipment processes and procedures that NextGen proposes to be implemented. NextGen has seen the introduction of GPS-based tracking technology. This will allow planes to determine their own positions with greater accuracy and precision. The GPS technology will allow for a high rate of separation that will eliminate all possibilities of plane collisions. This will increase safety of planes and passengers. The GPS systems will be used together with more advanced communication systems that will allow for different types of data to be transmitted to air crafts as well as other control centers. The entire plan involves many control systems that work together to ensure the success of the entire project (Joint Planning and Development Office, 2007). Today NextGen is operational but on a low scale. The transformation is supposed to be carried out in phases until 2025 when it is expected to be complete. It already began with the improvement of the current airports by expanding them so as to increase capacity. Another issue is the building of aircrafts that support the proposed features. The current aircrafts do not have the capabilities to support the wide range of equipment that will be used on ground to control the aircrafts. Therefore stakeholders are working to ensure that the aircrafts have the necessary systems to support integrated data communications, Global positioning systems and other surveillance systems (FAA, 2011). The FAA has also implemented a number of critical NextGen milestones. They have initiated and expanded satellite based surveillance, they have also improved airport runaway access, they have increased safety and efficiency on the ground and lastly they have greatly participated in enhancing airspace safety and operations. Today NextGen technologies and procedures along with the gradual airspace redesign have enabled more direct routes and more efficient operations which have minimized fuel consumption and reduced carbon emissions (FAA, 2011). There are other improvements such as the use of Automatic dependent Surveillance Broadcast that is used to control air traffic at the Gulf of Mexico which is a sure sign of the success of the project. There are also other measures that have been put in place as part of the process and are contributing greatly to the success of NextGen and these include the continued deployment of surface safety technology for example the Surface Detection equipment which has helped to increase safety on the runways and also reduce delays (FAA, 2007). As mentioned above airspace redesign has already taken shape and performance based Navigation procedures have already been implemented and these are saving on fuel, reducing emissions and have also helped in noise management. At the international level the FAA is working with other stakeholders in the Aviation industry such as the European and Pacific Rim operators have aircrafts that are equipped with technology that supports and can take advantage of the various operational benefits in varying air traffic environments (Trinka, 2011). As expected, the transformation of the National Airspace system through NextGen has introduced so many new equipment and technologies that were not being used before. Some were in existence but they were not part of the aviation control systems. Other new technologies have been introduced that were not there before and these require training in order to effectively use them. The training has to start form the most basic functions gradually to the more complex procedures. All these require time and other resources in order for the project to succeed. The first equipment that are essential to the transformation according to the NextGen objectives are the cockpit equipment. These need to be designed in a way that enable them support the ground infrastructure. The cockpit equipment that includes integrated communication channels that are able to receive and transmit digital data to the control center is important to achieving NextGen’s objectives (Joint Planning and Development Office, 2007). This means that the pilots have to be trained on how to use these systems. The Training may involve going back to aviation institute to learn the basics of these systems. Alternatively they can be trained while on board on how these systems work so as to reduce the burden of having to go to school again. The second category of equipment is the satellite based navigational systems. These systems include the global positioning systems (GPS), wide area multilateration (WAM) and navigation systems such as RNAV. These systems provide a high precision and accuracy especially in dealing with aircraft separation and therefore require skilled people to use them. The GPS systems are used both by the pilots and the ground controllers to detect flight routes so as to prevent collision (Joint Planning and Development Office, 2007). The pilots require extensive training especially in this area because it is the core of operations. Without proper training in handling this equipment, it could lead to disasters because a small miscalculation will mean venturing into other routes that are being used by other aircrafts thus causing collision. The third equipment is the automatic Dependent surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B). This system enables both pilots and controllers to see radar-like displays of traffic. They update themselves in real time and are not affected by distance or terrain. This system will also give pilots access information regarding weather and other informational flight services. The benefits of this system are many as they provide air to air surveillance, provide surveillance to remote areas and provide real time information to the pilots in the cockpit. Such systems do not exist in the current ground based control system and therefore it will needs lots of training for pilots to be familiar with new these technologies (Joint Planning and Development Office, 2007). The fourth system is the equipment that will be used in controlling aircrafts at the airport especially on the runway before takeoff and after landing. The FAA has new regulations and procedures that have been put in place to govern runways at the airport. They must be fixed with equipment that will increase safety such as the Surface Detection equipment model –X. This equipment is essential to the ground operations and in ensuring the safety of the passengers and the pilots (FAA, 2011). The above mentioned list is not exhaustive and there exist other equipment that is used to support the work done by those mentioned above. These systems need people who are trained in the basic piloting skills so that they are able to control the flights and avoid accidents. FAA has not laid down the necessary training required for the flight controllers because the plan is still being implemented in stages until 2025. It has promised to issue training manuals and a list of regulations to govern the training on the use of these systems once the project is complete and in operation. References FAA. (2007, February 14). Fact Sheet-NextGen. Retrieved Septemeber 23, 2011, from http://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsid=8145 FAA. (2011, March). FAAs NextGen Implementation Plan. Retrieved September 23, 2011, from Federal Aviation Administration: http://www.faa.gov/nextgen/media/ng2011_implementation_plan.pdf Joint Planning and Development Office. (2007, February 28). Concept of Operations for the NextGen Air Transportation System. Retrieved Septemeber 23, 2011, from Joint Planning and Development Office: http://www.jpdo.gov/library/nextgenconopsv12.pdf Mattson, P. R. (2006). Air Traffic Control Career Prep: A Comprehensive Guide to One of the Best-Paying Federal Government Careers, Including Test Preparation for the Initial ATC Exams. Minnesota: Aviation Supplies and Academics. Trinka, J. (2011, March 24). Talking About Next Generation: NextGen ATC. Retrieved October 5, 2011, from Airport-technology: http://www.airport-technology.com/features/feature113056/ Read More