Glossary

*nix

The term unix-like (sometimes shortened to *nix to circumvent trademark issues) is widely used to describe operating systems that share many of the characteristics of the original UNIX, which was written in 1969 by Ken Thompson at Bell Labs. GNU/Linux and BSD are amongst the unix-like family of operating systems.

Traditionally, users of *nix systems are very versed in the shell environment, a command line interface operated from keyboard only, hence the auxiliary origin of the ATC-NG game, which operates purely through keyboard input.

Airway

Airways are corridors of controlled airspace with a defined lower and upper base. In ATC-NG airways start/finish at the edge of the aerospace generating the so called gates. All aeroplanes that are not on ground must enter and exit the aerospace from them.

Call sign

In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign is a unique designation for a transmitting station.

in ATC-NG call signs are used for radio (console) communication. For example British Airways flight 1234 will identify itself as “Speedbird 1234”.

Flight level

In ATC-NG, a flight level is the standard nominal altitude of an aircraft above the sea level, expressed in hundreds of metres. For example FL 05 means “500 metres asl”.

Flight levels are the parameter for the ALTITUDE command.

Flight progress strips

A flight progress strip is a small strip of paper used to track a flight in air traffic control (ATC). The strip is placed with other strips in a ‘strip board’ which is then used as a representation of all flights in a particular sector of airspace or on an airport.

ATC-NG provides virtual strips on the left hand side of the game interface, that can be sorted using the /SORT game command.

Gate

Gates in ATC-NG are the entry/exit points for the aircraft. An explanation of how to instruct an aeroplane to use a exit through a gate is available here

Globbing

In computer programming, the verb glob or globbing is used to refer to an instance of pattern matching behaviour. The noun “glob” is used to refer to a particular pattern.

ATC-NG uses globbing for listing the available scenarios on the system. See the /LIST game command.

IATA

IATA stands for International Air Transport Association. IATA’s mission is to represent, lead, and serve the airline industry. IATA represents some 230 airlines comprising 93% of scheduled international air traffic.

ATC-NG uses the IATA airport designators, for example ARN for the Stockholm Arlanda airport and FRA for the Frankfurt Main one.

ICAO

ICAO stands for International Civil Aviation Organization. ICAO is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It codifies the principles and techniques of international air navigation and fosters the planning and development of international air transport to ensure safe and orderly growth.

ATC-NG uses the ICAO airline designators, for example SAS for Scandinavian Airlines or DLH for Lufthansa.

ILS

ILS stands for Instrument Landing System. ILS is a system that provides precision guidance to an aircraft approaching and landing on a runway, using a combination of radio signals and, in many cases, high-intensity lighting arrays to enable a safe landing.

ATC-NG simulates the presence of ILS at each runways of each airport on in the scenario. The AI pilots use the simulated ILS to touch down autonomously when instructed to land.

Markup language

A mark-up language is a modern system for annotating a text in a way that is syntactically distinguishable from that text. The idea and terminology evolved from the “marking up” of manuscripts. Markup is typically omitted from the version of the text which is displayed for end-user consumption.

ATC-NG uses two markup languages internally: reStructuredText for its documentation and YAML for its entities, although it should be mentioned that the latter is not a markup in the strict sense of the word.

reStructuredText

reStructuredText is an easy-to-read, what-you-see-is-what-you-get plain text markup syntax and parser system. reStructuredText is a revision and reinterpretation of the StructuredText and Setext lightweight markup systems. More info on the format are available on the reStructuredText website.

Runway

According to ICAO a runway is a “defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft.”

Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally one tenth of the magnetic azimuth of the runway’s heading: a runway numbered 09 points east (90°), runway 18 is south (180°), runway 27 points west (270°) and runway 36 points to the north (360° rather than 0°). If there is more than one runway pointing in the same direction (parallel runways), each runway is identified by appending Left (L), Centre (C) and Right (R) to the number.

ATC-NG models its airport on real ones, and therefore the size and naming of the runways is the real one. ATC-NG - though - doesn’t simulate Earth’s magnetic field, and thus the orientation of runways is relative to the geographical north.

Sprite

In computer graphics, a sprite is a two-dimensional image or animation that is integrated into a larger scene. ATC-NG uses sprites for all its moveable elements (aeroplane icons, flying strips, etc...).

TCAS

TCAS stands for Traffic Collision Avoidance System. TCAS is an aircraft collision avoidance system designed to reduce the incidence of mid-air collisions between aircraft. It monitors the airspace around an aircraft for other aircraft equipped with a corresponding active transponder, independent of air traffic control, and warns pilots of the presence of other transponder-equipped aircraft which may present a threat of mid-air collision.

ATC-NG simulates the presence of a TCAS on each aircraft in the game in the scenario. Whenever the player fails to maintain separation between two or more aeroplanes, the TCAS will instruct the AI pilots to steer away from each other.

YAML

YAML is a human-readable data serialization format (that is: a format for displaying computer-readable data which is nice to the eye of humans). YAML is a recursive acronym for “YAML Ain’t Markup Language”. Early in its development, YAML was said to mean “Yet Another Markup Language”, but was retronymed to distinguish its purpose as data-oriented, rather than document markup. More info on the format are available on the YAML website.