As the FAA accelerates modernization through the Brand-New Air Traffic Control System (BNATCS), artificial intelligence (AI) offers powerful opportunities to enhance safety, efficiency, and resilience across the NAS. This panel will bring together FAA leaders, air traffic control integrators, and AI innovators to explore how AI capabilities can be evaluated, integrated, tested, and deployed responsibly within operational environments. Discussions will highlight practical approaches to leveraging AI in decision support, automation, and anomaly detection while addressing technical, operational, and governance challenges. Attendees will gain insight into how structured, yet agile AI integration can support BNATCS objectives and improve NAS performance.

Accelerating delivery of complex NAS capabilities under BNATCS requires an adaptive approach to testing, validation, and learning. This panel will examine the evolving role of test and evaluation in agile acquisition, where early experimentation, continuous validation, and iterative development guide system maturation. Panelists from defense, research, and aviation operations will share perspectives on implementing a verification and validation (V&V) continuum to support rapid, informed deployment decisions. Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of how agile test and evaluation practices can reduce risk, accelerate readiness, and improve BNATCS outcomes. 

Modernizing the NAS with advanced automation is central to the success of BNATCS. This panel will explore how automation improvements are being implemented to enhance resiliency, optimize performance, and maintain safety in a more complex and diverse airspace. Panelists will discuss deployment strategies, system interoperability, and how government and industry collaboration is shaping the future of automated air traffic services. Attendees will gain insight into how automation is being integrated across the NAS to support BNATCS goals and improve airspace operations.

As the BNATCS advances toward greater automation and digitalization, the role of air traffic controllers is evolving from real-time execution to strategic oversight of complex, hybrid human-automation systems. This panel will explore the human performance and human–system integration challenges associated with this transition, including the preservation of situational awareness, dynamic workload management, effective interface and system design, and the development of training approaches that sustain proficiency in evolving operational environments. Panelists will explore strategies to optimize human–system integration to ensure safety, efficiency, and resilience in the increasingly digital NAS. Attendees will gain actionable insights into designing, implementing, and sustaining human-centered automation that supports controller performance and mission success in the context of BNATCS modernization.

BNATCS represents more than a technology upgrade, it demands a broader digital transformation across the FAA’s air traffic mission. This panel will explore how digital tools such as AI, edge computing, cloud infrastructure, extended reality, and low-code platforms are being applied, and how a shift in culture, operations, and service delivery is essential to realizing their full value. Panelists will share examples of transformation in action and discuss how to overcome barriers to adoption. Attendees will gain a clearer understanding of what digital transformation means for BNATCS and how to lead change in complex mission environments.

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BNATCS relies on timely, high-quality data to drive predictive analytics, risk mitigation, and operational decision-making. This panel will explore how aviation data, from flight plans and surveillance to weather and safety reports, is being transformed into actionable intelligence. Panelists will discuss the expanding use of real-time data exchange, collaborative platforms, and advanced analytics, as well as the ongoing challenges in data integration and governance. Attendees will gain insight into how data-centric strategies are enhancing NAS decision-making and enabling the BNATCS vision.

Cloud technologies are enabling the FAA to modernize NAS infrastructure with greater speed, flexibility, and resilience, core goals of BNATCS. This panel will examine how cloud-native services, infrastructure-as-code, and zero trust architectures are transforming system delivery and operations. Panelists will discuss strategies for integrating legacy systems, securing data, and scaling services to meet evolving mission needs. Attendees will gain practical insights into how cloud collaboration is accelerating BNATCS implementation and enhancing operational outcomes.

As BNATCS advances the FAA’s vision for a fully connected, digital NAS, the cybersecurity threat surface expands in parallel. This panel will examine how increased connectivity, cloud services, Internet-of-Things sensors, and AI introduce new risks and demand robust, adaptive security strategies. Experts from the FAA and industry will discuss emerging threats, defense architectures, governance models, and joint practices to safeguard mission-critical systems. Attendees will gain insight into how cybersecurity is being integrated into BNATCS planning and how to build resilience into the connected NAS ecosystem.