Students using Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach, Florida campus air traffic management labs are learning on new consoles and simulation software that mimics equipment used in real-world ATC facilities, giving them an even stronger foundation to help them land jobs as controllers.
Embry-Riddle earlier this year purchased the state-of-the-art hardware and software for its en route and terminal radar labs. The I-SIM modeling and simulation software, provided by Kongsberg Geospatial, can mimic all ATC systems and deliver realistic en route and terminal scenarios. It is the same software FAA uses for airspace design and analysis work.
“The I-Sim air traffic management (ATM) simulator provides the most realistic opportunity for our students to experience what it’s like to work traffic in an en route or terminal radar environment,” said William Coyne, Embry-Riddle professor and program coordinator for ATM.
An added bonus is the equipment's capability to conduct research with the industry on areas such as unmanned aircraft systems, as well as airspace modeling and design. Several hundred students have used the equipment, the school said. Future plans include adding new equipment to the lab's control tower module.
The enhancements are part of Embry-Riddle's efforts to address the U.S.'s looming controller shortage. During the next decade, 85 percent of U.S. controllers will be eligible for retirement, creating a need for about 14,000 controllers, the university noted, adding that its students are stepping in.
Citing "anecdotal evidence," Coyne said most of the ATM program's graduates move on to initial air traffic training with the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City.
The school's program makes it is one of a small number of colleges and universities granted FAA designation as a Collegiate Training Initiative (CTI) institution. Graduates of ATC CTI programs can bypass initial FAA Academy training.