Several years ago, someone paid for my trip across the pond and I had the unique opportunity to witness and evaluate the development of a future ANS system.
An outfit in Amsterdam, with cooperation from London and Paris, was looking into developing something for the year 2015. The premise is the introduction of the "fourth dimension" (time) into ATC. We already use time, but they are talking precision....any fix within 3 seconds! Even had a Ba11 go from London/Paris, and with the required on-board equipment, this thing could be at ANY fix with a 3 second window!
So imagine a terminal airspace: Times (in seconds) are issued for succeeding aircraft at the bedposts, then the 10-mile fix, then the outer marker, finally the runway. A mega-computer figures all this out, we just watch. An en-route application would be the reduced time required for aircraft climbing through another's altitude.
And did it work? Not really. Although the BA11 and the Citation did real good, the computer 'jammed', integration of departures/arrivals was a nightmare, and the whole thing seemed (at least to me) to be light-years away. Great idea, however, not in my foreseeable future.
Last edited by Canoehead; 27th Sep 2003 at 01:15.