The National Center of Excellence for Aviation Operations Research (NEXTOR) was established in June 1996 to serve the long-term research, education, and training needs of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the aviation community.
What is NEXTOR?
Over the past decade, through the award of grants and contracts, projects have been sponsored by various organizations throughout the FAA and other government organizations. The NEXTOR consortium has produced numerous papers, theses, and doctoral dissertations, and has engaged in formal knowledge and personnel exchange activities.
These initiatives have been instrumental in the successful transfer and sharing of new technologies, have enhanced our current scientific knowledge base within the FAA and throughout the aviation community, and have helped to educate and prepare the next generation of aviation professionals.
Areas of research
Based on the critical continuing needs of the aviation transportation community, the technical areas of NEXTOR research activities are identified as follows:
- Air Traffic Control
- Human-in-the-Loop Systems
- System Performance and Assessment Measures
- Flow Control, Scheduling, and Work Load Distribution
- Operations, Research, and Simulation
- Navigation, Communications, and Data Transfer
- Software Certification and Reliability
- Safety
- Information Dissemination Activities, such as workshops and training events
Key members of the team
Professor Cynthia Barnhart
Professor Arnold Barnett, abarnett@mit.edu, Co-Director
Dr. Peter P. Belobaba
Professor Mary L. Cummings
Professor Robert J. Hansman Jr.
Professor Amedeo R. Odoni
Dr. Charles M. Oman
Professor Ian A. Waitz
Professor Annalisa L. Weigel