ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the historic events leading up to and through the development of communications, navigation and surveillance/air traffic management (CNS/ATM) systems, and describes the CNS/ATM system elements and expected benefits. The decision of the Council was to establish the Special Committee on Future Air Navigation Systems (FANS). FANS membership was initially drawn from twenty two International Civil Aviation Organization Contracting States and several international organizations, eventually being comprised of members from some forty nations and international organizations in what would become a collaborative effort on a global scale. The FANS Committee determined that it would be necessary to develop new systems that would overcome limitations and allow ATM to develop on a global scale. The FANS Committee recognized that the evolution of ATM on a global scale using CNS concepts would require a multi-disciplinary approach because of the close inter-relationship of its many elements.
