Air traffic control trainer software development: multi-agent architecture and Java prototype

This paper reports work on the development of a feedback system model for prototyping an air traffic control trainer (tATC). The feedback system itself represents a cleanroom engineering process designed as a closed loop containing decider, effector, and measure processes with reference values taken from a cleanroom plan and software engineering guide. The project-specific and atomic (task specific) models of a feedback system used to develop a tATC are described. Five concurrent processes (weather, airspace, aircraft, airport, and score) drive the scan subsystem of the tATC. Each of these process has an agent architecture. Each agent functions as an independent entity capable of interacting with other agents and the environment. A statechart describing the entire process structure of the tATC is given. This statechart is decomposed to reveal both the structure of subprocesses, the relationships between subprocesses of the tATC, and to provide a blueprint for tATC prototypes. The aircraft display process is described. The detailed design of the tATC is carried out with Java. The contribution of this paper is the presentation of a specific feedback system model useful in developing prototypes for a tATC.