DATA-LINK COMMUNICATION BETWEEN CONTROLLERS AND PILOTS: A REVIEW AND SYNTHESIS OF THE SIMULATION LITERATURE.

Under its National Airspace System Modernization Plan, the Federal Aviation Administration intends to introduce digital data communication as a means of exchanging information between aircraft and ground-based facilities. Research on operational use of data-link technology has been underway for well over 10 years. From this work, potentially useful data exist that remain largely unexploited for purposes of operational development. This article reviews the simulation literature on data-link communication between controllers and pilots to synthesize a base of useful, generalizable knowledge. General effects of the data-link technology on the volume, speed, and timing of air traffic control communications are analyzed for their operational significance. The analytic framework depicts data-link effectiveness as interdependent with operational context, procedures and applications, and human-interface design. Current research leaves many questions unanswered but consistently indicates that the combination of vo...