Airborne Collision Avoidance System X

Since the 1970s, Lincoln Laboratory has participated in the development, implementation, and improvement of an onboard collision avoidance system on behalf of the Federal Aviation Administration FAA. The current Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System II TCAS II, mandated worldwide on all large commercial aircraft since 2000, has proven to be highly effective in preventing mid-air collisions. But major transformations to the National Airspace System are being implemented through the FAA s Next-Generation Air Transportation System NextGen. With the goal of reducing gridlock in the sky and at airports across the United States, NextGen is leveraging new surveillance and navigation capabilities and adopting new technologies and procedures that will enable planes to fly closer together, follow more direct routes, and better coordinate takeoffs and landings. TCAS II would be unable to support these NextGen operations without undergoing significant costly and time-consuming modifications.