Innovative System Design for Remote Air Traffic Control Simulation Training

Conventional ATC simulation training is practice-based training that aims to teach students hands-on experiences before handling real traffic situations in a stressful environment. However, COVID 19 has profoundly affected society and higher education in Australia. It brings enormous challenges to delivering this hands-on practical face-to-face training for students in a typical way. Hence, remote ATC simulation training is emerging in aviation education during COVID. This paper will present an innovative system design for remote ATC simulation training at an Australian university. Firstly, infrastructure upgrading of hardware and software from an existing stand-alone system to a remote network is discussed in detail with consideration of costs, cyber security, system compatibility with the university-wide network; Secondly, preliminary experiment results about the quality of remote ATC simulation training is present by compared with traditional face-to-face training to validate the whole system design; Last but not least, the enhancement of the current remote training system beyond COVID-19 regarding reliability and capacity is listed for future development. This foundation paper will support an understanding of how digital technology can transform STEM practical education during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, thereby providing an excellent example for the rest of the world by its leading role in developing advanced ATC training systems for application at a global level.