Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) - Cockpit Display of Traffic Information (CDTI) Investigation. Phase 1. Feasibility Study

The possibility of the TCAS traffic sensor and display being used for meaningful CDTI applications has resulted in the Federal Aviation Administration initiating a project to establish the technical and operational requirements to realize this potential. This report is the summary of Phase I of this project. Phase I has been organized to define specific CDTI applications for aviation safety in the terminal area, to determine what has already been learned about CDTI technology relevant to these applications, and to define the engineering required to supply the remaining TCAS-CDTI technology for capacity benefit realization. The CDTI applications examined have been limited to those appropriate to the final approach and departure phases of flight. With the advent of the TCAS II airborne collision avoidance system, an airborne display of surrounding aircraft traffic is about to become generally available in the cockpit. It has been proposed that this cockpit display of traffic information provides the mechanism whereby flight crews can assist the controller in tightening the spacing tolerances that are maintained between adjacent aircraft for many phases of flight.