Emerging Technologies in Transportation: The Simulated Air Traffic Control Environment (SATCE) case study

Abstract

SATCE (Simulated Air Traffic Control Environment) is a system that simulates air traffic control scenarios for training purposes and improves effective and efficient communication. SATCE implementation in aviation training provides a more realistic and immersive training environment (use of AI in communication needs of training with controlled traffic volume and events), offering Competency Based Training & Assessment (CBTA) features in phraseology and procedures. Purdue - ASTi research case study of SATCE enables aviation SMEs to enhance their knowledge and practice their skills in a realistic and immersive environment. Another potential use case for digital twins in SATCE is to simulate different aircraft types and scenarios. Purdue team projects aim to research the behavior and performance of different training scenarios under SATCE, design, test, and certify the implementation – use of different flight devices in existing airspace classification environment. Purdue – SATT approach for SATCE focuses on the potential to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of aviation training programs (CBTA globally) by providing a more realistic and immersive learning experience (lean process for training/certification, transition to AI - AAM environment). Moreover, this research focuses on mitigating residual risk in the 'AI black box', focusing on aviation ecosystem operations under SATCE – facilitating different aircraft types, airspace, and implementation of AAM. Results aim to analyze and evaluate the Artificial Intelligence (AI) certification and learning assurance challenges under the SATCE aspect.