To accommodate future demand and reduce delays, the FAA is planning to implement a new form of air traffic control called NEXT GEN. Our current system is analog and uses voice communications, radar, and ground beacons to communicate with pilots (the details of this were covered in the past two posts).
NEXT GEN would use Global Positioning Systems (GPS), communications satellites, peer-to-peer microwave wireless communications between the ground and other aircraft to create a network, displaying the exact location of each aircraft and allowing real-time communication between the avionics system of aircraft and the ground-based computers.
This creates the ability to generate new flight routes, like curved approaches, and to reduce the separation distances between aircraft, thus increasing the capacity of the region's airports without making any physical improvements.
@BetterAirports