ATT 3811 Air Traffic Control Systems is an upper-division survey of the systems behind air traffic control: how the National Airspace System is built and why it works. It covers surveillance, navigation, communications, aircraft guidance and control, and collision avoidance, all treated as one system analysed for capacity and safety. The University of West Florida is its only carrier in the state. It is taught by the Department of Commerce in UWF's Lewis Bear Jr. College of Business, alongside UWF's pilot ground-school courses (ATT 1100, 1110, 1120, 3134).
UWF's catalog description: the course "introduces learners to the various aspects of Air Traffic Control (ATC) systems. Topics discussed include a systems-analysis approach to capacity and safety, surveillance, including the National Airspace System and Automated Radar Terminal Systems, navigation subsystem technology, aircraft guidance and control, communications, collision avoidance systems and sequencing and spacing in terminal areas including runway incursion." It ends with "a critical discussion of past proposals and of probable future problem areas."
ATT 3811 is about how the system works, not about working a radar position. In the United States, air traffic controllers are hired and trained by the FAA. The usual route is an FAA hiring announcement, the Air Traffic Skills Assessment (ATSA), medical and security clearances, then training at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City and on-the-job certification at a facility. ⚠⚠ Applicants must generally apply before their 31st birthday (there are exceptions, chiefly for some veterans with prior controller experience). Controllers face mandatory retirement at 56.
Florida's state colleges run the controller-preparation courses:
| Institution | Air traffic control courses in the state file |
|---|---|
| Broward College | ATT 2818 Basic ATC, ATT 2820 Introduction to ATC, ATT 2821C ATC Radar Procedures with Lab, ATT 2824C ATC En Route Operations with Lab, ATT 2890 ATC Capstone |
| Miami Dade College | ATT 2820 Air Traffic Control, ATT 2821 ATC Radar, ATT 2823 ATC Non-Radar |
| Florida State College at Jacksonville | ATT 1810 Environment of the Air Traffic Controller, ATT 2820 Air Traffic Control |
| Northwest Florida State College | ATT 1810 Introduction to Air Traffic Controller |
| Pasco-Hernando State College | ATT 1820 Introduction to Air Traffic Control |
⚠ The FAA works with selected schools through its Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative (AT-CTI), and it has been widening what partner-school graduates can skip. If becoming a controller is your goal, check the FAA's current AT-CTI school list before choosing a college. ATT 3811 is good background for that path. It is not a substitute for it.
The description names Automated Radar Terminal Systems (ARTS). The FAA has since replaced ARTS in its terminal radar facilities with STARS (Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System), and en route centres now run ERAM. Surveillance has also moved toward ADS-B, which aircraft broadcast themselves and which has been required in most controlled U.S. airspace since 1 January 2020. Expect a current offering to teach the modern systems and treat ARTS as history. The description's own closing clause, on "past proposals" and "future problem areas", suggests that is the intent.
The first six are UWF's stated student learning outcomes.
| Institution | Its title | Credits | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of West Florida (UWF) | Air Traffic Control Systems | 3 | Department of Commerce. "May not be repeated for credit." No prerequisite published. |
The only carrier is UWF, at 3 credits. UWF does not publish a contact-hour figure; 45 hours is the Florida convention for a three-credit lecture course.
⚠ UWF's catalog does not name this course as a requirement of a specific degree, and it is not among the four courses of UWF's Aviation Supply Chains and Logistics certificate (TRA 3440, TRA 3444, MAR 3202, TRA 4202). Treat it as an upper-division elective, and ask the Department of Commerce whether it counts toward your degree before you register.
Air traffic control is a field where automation is introduced cautiously, because the system must keep working when a tool fails. Decision-support tools for sequencing and spacing arrivals are already in use. Research into machine learning for traffic-flow prediction, conflict detection and speech recognition of controller instructions is active. ⚠ The course's systems-and-safety framing is the right lens for judging any such proposal: what fails, how a human notices, and what the fallback is. The description's call for "a critical discussion of past proposals" applies directly.
Generated October 1, 2026 · Updated October 1, 2026