The briefing was at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, near FutureFlight Central, a simulator that can represent the busiest U.S. airport towers in size and capability and can house as many as a dozen air traffic controllers. This is part of our continuing commitment to deploy the appropriate technology advances to address our rising air passenger levels, decrease delays and decrease noise levels. The simulator's artificial world changes in real time.
Scenes evolve in the same manner that real-world changes occur.
In the computer world, airplanes not only come and go, but weather changes. Consoles at each controller's location show radar, weather maps, runway lights and touch-screen controls, as well as other readouts. We are able to represent any airfield in existence or as planned for the future. We can measure the impact of a change on the airport's capacity, and let the controllers try it firsthand, all before anything is built.