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First Air Traffic Control Tower Simulator Will Combat Potential Commercial Airport Traffic Problems

Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington, DC                        April 7, 1998
(Phone:  202/358-1726)

Michael Mewhinney
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
(Phone:  650/604-3937)

Les Dorr
Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, DC
(Phone:  202/267-8521)

RELEASE:  98-56

FIRST AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL TOWER SIMULATOR WILL 
COMBAT POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL AIRPORT TRAFFIC PROBLEMS

     NASA has begun construction of a full-scale air traffic 
control tower simulator that will provide -- under realistic 
airport conditions and configurations -- a facility that will test 
ways to combat potential air and runway traffic problems at 
commercial airports.

      Researchers will look primarily at the feasibility, safety, 
reliability and cost benefits of technologies prior to 
incorporating them into airports.  In addition, testing will 
provide information that may assist in developing proposed changes 
to airport ground procedures and on construction of new airport 
facilities.

     "This will be the only one of its kind in the world," said 
Stan Harke, project manager at NASA's Ames Research Center, 
Moffett Field, CA.  "It will allow the commercial aviation 
industry to study and correct potential problems in a safe setting 
before they become actual problems.  This will be as real as it 
can get," he added.

      Jointly funded by NASA's Advanced Air Transportation 
Technologies Office and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), 
the $9.3 million, two-story building, called the Surface 
Development and Test Facility, is being built at Ames. 

     "We will be able to simulate any airport in the world," said 
Nancy Dorighi, deputy project manager at Ames.  "The three-
dimensional visual database of the airport will be viewed through 
the 360-degree window of the simulator.  The visual scene, along 
with specific airport traffic patterns and operating procedures, 
will give us a very credible simulation capability."

     Computer software, provided by Raytheon Systems Co., 
Arlington, TX, will be integrated with the tower simulation 
hardware technologies at Ames to support both radar and out-the-
window visual simulation.  The facility's second floor is designed 
to replicate a typical air traffic control tower.  The tower cab 
will have reconfigurable site-specific displays, such as terminal 
area radar, surface radar and weather, installed based on FAA 
specifications.  Twelve rear-projection video screens will provide 
a seamless 360-degree high-resolution view of the airport or other 
scenes being depicted. 

     These image generators will provide a realistic view of 
weather conditions, environmental and seasonal effects and the 
movement of 200 or more active aircraft in the air or on the ground.

     The imaging system will be powered by supercomputers and the 
remainder of the simulation by approximately 100 Pentium 
processors.  Video cameras will record air traffic controllers' 
activities for human factors research and also provide visitors 
and researchers unobtrusive remote viewing of simulations in progress.

     Ramp controllers, airport operators, simulation engineers, 
software developers and researchers will be located in separate 
work areas on the facility's first floor.  Also located on the 
first floor will be a briefing room for simulation participants 
and visitors, as well as all the computers, displays and 
communication links necessary for a fully operational airport.

     "The principal value of this facility is risk mitigation.  We 
have no business introducing new functions into delicate 
environments like Chicago O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, 
New York or Atlanta, without first shaking them down with the 
actual users in an environment which very closely replicates the 
real world," said Dennis Lawson, FAA lead surface management 
advisor on the project.

     The facility is scheduled to begin testing operations in 
1999.  Project engineering for the facility is provided by the 
firm of Daniel, Mann, Johnson & Mendenhall, Moffett Field, CA.  
Project partners also include Oracle Corp., Redwood Shores, CA, 
and Silicon Graphics Inc., Mountain View, CA.  Representatives 
from the FAA's air traffic control supervisors committee and the 
National Air Traffic Controller's Association, as well as the Air 
Transport Association, participated in all phases of the 
facility's design.

     Images of the facility are available via the Internet at the 
following URL: 

       http://sdtf.arc.nasa.gov/sdtf/docs/op_environ.html

                           -end-