Self-Contained Navigation Aids and the Common System of Air Traffic Control

The capability of aircraft to navigate through space and to adhere to prearranged schedules directly determines the nature of the air traffic control system and the ability of this system to keep high density traffic moving safely and expeditiously. In turn, air traffic control concepts and practices can be revolutionized by increased use of new navigation techniques. Such a profound effect on the future system can be affected with automatized airborne deadreckoning equipment with or without the use of advanced techniques such as Doppler or inertial sensing. Properly applied, these aids will help to provide a growing ability to handle the increasing traffic load and at the same time maintain for all users of the airspace a highly desirable freedom and flexibility of movement. The relationship of self-contained aids to other navigation aids, to communications, and to the other elements of the common air traffic control system is treated in this paper. Also discussed are some of the problems involved in the integration of this technique in the over-all system.