▸ Upper airspace · FL245–FL660 · Live prototype

Built by a controller.
For controllers.

A browser-based upper airspace simulator — and a rapid prototyping environment for the tools controllers wish they had.

Sector: TANGO / Stuttgart Upper
Replay data: 703 snapshots
Exercises: 9 scenarios

47.83°N → 49.35°N 8.60°E → 10.14°E MODE-S ENHANCED

00 · THE GAP

Innovation rarely reaches the controller's desk.

Air traffic control systems are certified, expensive, and closed. The people with the sharpest ideas — the controllers actually working the sector — have no way to try them. There is no sandbox. There is no shared lab.

01

Trainees can't practice from home.

When the simulator in the centre is locked, training stops. COVID made that painfully obvious — and nothing has really changed since.
02

Good ideas die in PowerPoint.

A controller sees a better way to handle a conflict, a label, a workflow. Without a prototype, it stays a slide. Nobody gets to feel it.
03

Browser-native upper airspace doesn't exist.

Approach-control sims are plentiful. A serious, playable upper-airspace environment in a browser — essentially zero. That's the gap.

01 · USE CASE

The simulator.

Work the sector like a real controller. Upper airspace, TANGO, real replay data from 9 scenarios, real separation rules, a proper label and right-click menu.

▸Share a link, open a browser, you're on position.
▸FL245–FL660, 5 NM lateral / 1000 ft vertical separation.
▸Assume, Send, Release workflow — iCAS-aligned.
▸Route display, closed headings, CFL / XFL inputs.
▸Replay mode on real traffic snapshots.

Who it's for

Trainees VATSIM / IVAO Hobby controllers Stakeholder demos

tango-lab · simulator · exercise-06

Live replay of Exercise 06 — 7 aircraft, mixed climbers and descenders, real trajectories.

02 · USE CASE

The lab.

A rapid prototyping environment for new controller tools. An idea becomes a working prototype in days, not quarters — and gets validated against real traffic, not a requirements document.

▸Swap in a new label, a new HMI, a new safety net in one file.
▸Replay the same scenario before and after the change.
▸Feel it in your hands — not argue about it in a meeting.
▸Every interaction is a data point for the scoring model.

The agent is the feature.
The data is the product.

— project mantra

tango-lab · priority advisor · live

Priority advisor halo pulse on a descending aircraft

Priority Advisor — soft halo pulse on the aircraft that wants your attention next.

Currently in flight

SHIPPED Priority Advisor v1 Action × Time urgency scoring, halo pulse

IN BUILD Controller Input HMI Drag-vector headings, label-field clicks

NEXT Route Stability Stage 1: is next waypoint far enough away?

RESEARCH Traffic-density threshold Below N aircraft the advisor stays silent

03 · UNDER THE HOOD

Transparent by default.

No black boxes. Here's what runs today, what's pending, and what we genuinely don't know yet.

Data

OpenSky Network OAuth2, live positions
AirLabs route enrichment
703 snapshot replay 2s frame cadence
Mode S EHS (planned) selected altitude as clearance proxy

Engine

Node.js + Express proxy, caching, OAuth refresh
Vanilla JS frontend no framework, no build step
Google Maps today — MapLibre on the roadmap
Custom ATC label overlay drag, status colours, leader lines

Open questions

Alert hierarchy STCA / APW / MSAW override vs. advisor
Pulse intensity human factors sweet spot
Density threshold when does the advisor help vs. add noise
Input modality mix drag-vector vs. label-field click vs. command bar

04 · GET IN TOUCH

Working the sector? Let's talk.

If you're a controller with an idea worth prototyping — or a trainee who wants an upper-airspace sandbox — reach out. No newsletter, no tracking, no sales pitch.

Mail tango-lab@karlifornia.de

Status Active prototype · invites by request

Built with 25 years on position · a lot of coffee

Built by a controller. For controllers.