Configurable Complex Track Data Tag Formats in STARS/ERAM Applications

Kongsberg Geospatial's I-SIM Air Traffic Control Simulation product includes high-fidelity replicas of the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Terminal (STARS) and Enroute (ERAM) controller displays using TerraLens for all graphical display components.

The FAA Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) required configurable STARS and ERAM data blocks for human factors research purposes. Using TerraLens highly adaptable data block layout features, we were able to develop a completely editable data block layout defined using an XML file.

The XML layout supports the complex FAA ERAM and STARS data block formats that include features such as timesharing of multiple data items in a single data field, priorty ordering of multiple data items in a single field, alert fields and unique symbology.

This allows FAA CAMI to research various changes to the data blocks to help controllers minimize distractions and clutter, maximize important data content and improve the controller's overall performance.

The attached screenshots show a sample ERAM data block with Controller Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC) symbology and some sample data block layout XML showing how the timesharing and priority data field groups are defined.