• "By 2015,it may be possible to achieve an arrival rate to closely spaced parallel runways of as many as 60 aircraft per hour under most poor weather conditions. p 48
• "... it appears that by 2010 the arrival capacity of the existing runway configuration might be increased to 45 aircraft per hour from the current 30 aircraft per hour...[in some poor weather conditions]" p 48
• "Most of the enabling technologies and airborne equipment are either already mature, or are in advanced stages of development." p 34
• "The Panel believes that SFO is in a strong position to take an active leadership role in the deployment of new air traffic management technologies, and that such actions will make a big difference in how quickly potential future changes become available." p. 53
• "While many of the technologies discussed in the studies will indeed take many years to put into operations, any runway reconfiguration is also many years away from being realized..." p 28

The Panel makes a distinction between enabling technology and the operating capability that the technology might give. An example would be that you might have a computer which could control the coffee machine but if you haven't hooked it up and written the software then you have the technology but don't have the operating capability.

One technology to reduce delays is already being installed at SFIA - Simultaneous Offset Instrument Approach. Learn about SOIA here.

The table below is Table 3-1 from the Independent Technology Panel report.
Required Enabling Technologies for Different Operating Capabilities

There are several "enabling" technologies that will transform Air Traffic Control - that's the alphabet soup in the middle column. Click here to see definitions not on this page( Hit your browser's back button to return to this page).Or see the FAA's Pilot/Controller Glossary

Many of the technologies are based on the Global Positioning System - GPS. If you want to learn more about GPS, check out the Smithsonian's web page and this Scientific American article. Another article on GPS that is very good is the IEEE Spectrum, X marks the spot, maybe, April,2000. Another good source to learn more about technology is NavSource.com, which is an industry-sponsored web page but it has some good stuff.

Augmentation

Because the GPS signals are very weak, and some other reasons, the signal needs to be augmented to increase the accuracy. My inexpensive GPS receiver can track my position to 20 feet or so and, while that's great for hiking, I'd rather have it more accurate for ATC applications. The augmentations do that; they can tell a plane's position to within one meter. The two primary augmentations are Local Area Augmentation System(LAAS) and Wide Area Augmentation System(WAAS).

LAAS would allow what the FAA calls Category III landings: "operations without reliance on visual reference for landing or taxiing." That means the pilot can't see the wings.

Iowa State University(go Cyclones!) has an extensive list of GPS sites as does Stanford on LAAS and WAAS. This aviation site(Landings GPS) has some links and info on GPS also. And Trimble, a company that manufactures GPS products has a Tutorial on GPS.

ADS-B

Another GPS-based technology that is already being implemented is ADS-B(Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast) With ADS-B, the GPS-derived position and velocity information are broadcast to other planes. This is like me using a radio to tell you where I am. My GPS position is very accurate but, unless I can tell you, you don't have a clue where I am. The FAA page on ADS-B is somewhat dated( much like the FAA). There is a program in Alaska(Capstone) testing ADS-B which is an FAA program.

In addition, there was a test in the Ohio Valley with ADS-B equipped planes in 2000. The results of that test are available at the ADS-B website as is other information.

Wake Vortex

The other capability that shows up often is WVAS - Wake Vortex Advisory System. One problem with airplanes is that they generate vortices in the air as they pass through. These vortices are powerful enough to flip following planes around; thus the FAA has separation rules. Planes can only follow another plane by some fixed distance. That distance is set by what the FAA believes a safe one. For example, a 747 can follow a 737 by three nautical miles but the separation has to be five nm if the planes are in the other order. This represents a problem for both controllers and pilots; you can't see the vortices so they must plan for the worst case. Being able to detect vortices or reducing them would allow more planes to land in a given time. The IEEE Spectrum has an article discussing AVOSS, a system to detect vortices.

Airborne Technologies

The airborne technologies include: Multi-Mode Receiver (MMR) with Differential GPS capability(DGPS is another way to increase the accuracy of GPS.); Cockpit Display of Traffic Information (CDTI) displays for enabling ADS-B; and flight management systems (FMS). "During a recent survey conducted at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, 82% of all commercial aircraft were equipped with FMS RNAV capability."

Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) is an airborne collision avoidance system now deployed on all commercial passenger jet aircraft.

Alaska Airlines proposed using RNP at SFIA some time ago but, as usual, SFIA management refused to consider it until recently. They are afraid they might find solutions that work but don't require concrete. You can learn more about RNP and RNAV here: (page down to RNAV/RNP)

EGPWS is Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning Systems and HGS is Heads-Up Guidance System.