LAUSR

Abstract To address concerns about anticipated increases in air traffic, leverage the capabilities of new technologies to enhance service, and accommodate new classes of airspace users, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and its partners embarked on a modernization effort known as the Next Generation Air Transportation System, or NextGen. NextGen encompasses a wide-range of improvements in communications, navigation, surveillance, and Air Traffic Management (ATM) automation systems. NextGen also includes many procedural improvements to leverage new technologies and advances in the science of ATM. This article describes the vision for NextGen, discusses the planning framework (including the business case for the investments), enumerates the major implementations to date, and describes the implementation challenges. Finally, the article discusses the future direction of NextGen.