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 User Request Evaluation Tool Advances Air Traffic Control By C. Vanessa Fong 
It took almost 25 years for the User Request Evaluation Tool (URET) to evolve from an idea into the fully operational system used today in six Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Air Route Traffic Control Centers. URET provides automated decision-support capabilities that enable air traffic controllers to better track en route aircraft and to predict air conflicts up to 20 minutes into the future. This tool gives pilots and controllers more flexibility to manage air traffic efficiently without compromising safety. MITRE estimates that nationwide deployment of URET will save airspace users about $190 million per year because of increased route efficiency. MITRE's Center for Advanced Aviation System Development has been involved in developing and implementing URET every step of the way. The concept came out of a MITRE research project in the 1980s. Since then, MITRE has worked closely with aviation stakeholders to create a system that could best meet their needs. Our work has included understanding the system requirements, validating the accuracy of the information going to the controllers, and ensuring URET's interoperability with other systems and procedures. We have worked closely with our sponsor to test and refine URET in an
operational environment. In 1996 we began field evaluations at the Indianapolis
Air Route Traffic Control Center. By mid-1997, when URET was being installed
in the Memphis Air Route Traffic Control Center, the FAA was sufficiently
convinced
MITRE staff worked in full partnership with Lockheed Martin for more than four years. One of our first acts was to give Lockheed Martin a comprehensive set of operational concept documents, system requirements, algorithmic analysis tools and results, and operational training materials as the foundation for the transfer. During the first two years of the transfer, MITRE conducted numerous technical exchanges with Lockheed Martin's staff and trained them in the URET concept and functions. A MITRE engineer co-located with Lockheed Martin's URET development team for a year, and our staff served as consultants while Lockheed Martin defined, designed, and developed its software requirements. In addition to providing the prototype software, we set up a URET system at Lockheed Martin's Rockville development and test facility and continued updating it with every URET prototype MITRE released throughout the technology transfer period. This step was important because we continued to provide research and operational data throughout the technology transfer process. While Lockheed Martin was developing the production URET system, MITRE's prototype was in daily use in the field—continuing to provide valuable data to the developers. When Lockheed Martin deployed its extensible, integrated production version in January 2002, our URET prototype was retired. But even that milestone did not complete the transfer process. As the FAA extends URET to the remaining 14 Air Route Traffic Control Centers in the continental United States, we continue to work with the FAA and Lockheed Martin to capture new requirements, for example, in those parts of the national airspace without conventional radar coverage. MITRE will not consider the technology transfer process complete until URET technology can deliver tangible benefits throughout the country. As aviation safety issues are global, we were also interested in transferring the technology to other countries. Lockheed Martin was also interested in commercializing URET technology for its overseas business interests, so we negotiated an international commercial licensing agreement with Lockheed Martin that will generate ongoing benefits to the FAA, global aviation, and the American economy. |
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The
FAA directed MITRE to transfer the technology to Lockheed Martin. At the
same time, the FAA and MITRE would continue to develop the URET technology
and bring it to maturity through operational use. In accordance with the
regulations of government-directed technology transfers, Lockheed Martin
was to receive the URET technology as a "specified agent"
of the government, solely to serve the government. But technology transfer
does not usually end with the handing over of a CD full of software. However
straightforward a government-directed transfer may be, systems such as
URET require a collaborative approach and a significant investment of
time and resources to ensure that the transfer is effective.