Air Traffic Control
More about the Air Traffic Control mission
- Program overview
- Accomplishments over the past year
- Future outlook and focus for upcoming year
Technical Groups
See descriptions of the two technical groups contributing to the Air Traffic Control mission area, the Surveillance Systems Group and the Weather Sensing Group. Descriptions of all technical divisions can be found on the Organization of Technical Divisions page.
Corridor Integrated Weather System
The Corridor Integrated Weather System (CIWS) is now in use at eight en route centers in the northeast U.S., six major terminal control areas, and the Aviation Research System Command Center. The CIWS integrates data from national weather radars with thunderstorm- forecasting technology, and aids analysis of airspace congested by convective weather, the largest cause of air traffic delay in the National Airspace System. Ongoing software engineering efforts to restructure the CIWS prototype will enable coverage of the continental United States.
Since 1971, Lincoln Laboratory has supported the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the development of new technology for air traffic control. This work initially focused on aircraft surveillance and weather sensing, collision avoidance, and air/ground data link communications. Today, the program has evolved to include a rich set of safety applications, decision support services, and air traffic management automation tools. A focus of the current program is support for the FAA's Next Generation Air Transportation System. Key activities include the operation of a national-scale integrated weather-sensing and decision support prototype, testing and technology transfer of a runway incursion prevention system, development of a future air traffic control tower automation platform, and the development of a net-centric, system-wide information management system.
To help the FAA alleviate weather-related delays, Lincoln Laboratory is developing systems that will be incorporated into the Traffic Flow
Management System, assisting in arrivals such as that shown above at New York LaGuardia Airport.Leadership for Air Traffic Control
Dr. Mark Weber
Mr. James Flavin
Dr. Marilyn Wolfson
Dr. James Kuchar
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