Abstract
The Surface Management System (SMS) is an information and decision support tool designed for use by air traffic (AT) controllers and traffic managers. Developed by NASA and the FAA, the goals of SMS are to: 1) provide information and decision support for tactical and strategic air traffic control tasks to increase situational awareness of surface operations through knowledge of current and future demand; 2) maximize airport throughput and minimize surface delays by increasing efficiency and coordinating arrival and departure management; and 3) assist FAA controllers and traffic managers in handling surface operations by predicting and displaying future demand. To reach these goals, SMS provides flight-specific and aggregate demand and delay information on display interfaces including map displays, timelines, load graphs, and flight and status tables. The information presented on these displays and the display format has evolved through human factors demonstrations and evaluations during the SMS human-centered development process.
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