NextGen today and tomorrow

The FAA has reached a major milestone on the Next Generation Air Transportation System initiative to modernize America's National Airspace System.

With demonstrations of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) technology successfully completed at four U.S. airports in the last quarter of 2010, the FAA has cleared prime contractor ITT to complete the rollout of ADS-B ground stations nationwide.

Achievement of the so-called In Service Decision for ADS-B sites in Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico, Louisville, and Philadelphia marks a major milestone on the FAA's overall Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) initiative to modernize America's National Airspace System (NAS). Because of its importance in the development of free flight, the FAA has kept the ADS-B program on track to complete the construction of all planned 794 ADS-B ground stations by 2013. Three-hundred-plus installations had already been completed as of the beginning of 2011.