Trajectory Specification for High-Capacity Air Traffic Control

The doubling or tripling of airspace capacity that will be needed over the next several decades will require that tactical separation guidance be automated for appropriately equipped aircraft in high-density airspace. Four-dimensional (4D) trajectory assignment (three-dimensional position as a function of time) will facilitate such automation. A standard trajectory specification format based on XML (Extensible Markup Language) is proposed for that purpose.