My personal feeling is that they are using too much technology for an operation that needs to remain simple. too many IT connections, fiber connections and so on. "keep it simple stupid" AM analog is the best for aircraft, don't need any digital BS. what the air traffic control operations don't need is a bunch of young ass whipper snapper IT types wanting to reinvent the wheel!
You know that digital outpaces analog in most of its necessities. All your radio stations on your car are transmitting in HD digital -- hence the crisp clear and high quality sounds you are hearing. The ADSB Exchange we are using comes to us via digital -- thus the instantaneous demand for "real-time" is reliant on the necessity of the digital platform.
Now apply that to the antiquated ATC running on a dedicated mainframe dating to before some of us were born, you will see that it is not capable to be patched to handle digital data or the influx of information packets to provide said "real-time" application. As the SecDOT said, Controllers should not be passing "notes" (aircraft strips) to each other rather that forwarding the electronic strip to each other.
Otherwise lets begin tossing all that digital stuff out, starting with this threat followed by the radios and so forth.
www.transportation.gov
