Validating a future operational concept for en route air traffic control

In an effort to accommodate the predicted growth in air traffic, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the aviation community have developed a concept of operations for the National Airspace System (NAS) called Free Flight. This operational concept has been developed for the midterm time frame (nominally a period of time that centers around 2005). The Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD) at The MITRE Corporation developed the concept and has conducted laboratory exercises to validate the portion of the concept that applies to the en route domain. The paper describes CAASD´s laboratory efforts to begin validating the en route portion of the concept by examining the operational issues associated with the concept and the functional issues related to its evolution to the midterm. The laboratory validation exercises described examine the functionality of possible capability enhancements, but do not address associated detailed human factors issues. Favorable results from CAASD´s initial qualitative validation efforts support the need for further quantitative validation activities that include more detailed analyses, further development of operational procedures and computer-human interfaces, and more rigorous exercises involving FAA field controllers