The validation of fast-time air traffic simulations in practice

Computer simulation is an important tool in the development of air traffic control procedures and systems, ranging from fast-time simulations (requiring no manual intervention) through a variety of real-time, controller-in-the-loop simulations of increasing size and fidelity. This paper presents a case study of an airspace re-design project and uses this to illustrate a number of issues about the validation of fast-time simulations. The two principal observations are: (1) that there are specific circumstances when ‘seeing is believing’, that is, when it is appropriate to use visualisation of simulations as part of validation; and (2) that the distinction between validation activities and generating project results is not as sharp as descriptions in the literature typically show.