The Invisible Risk: Visual Discovery for Air Traffic Control Software Modernization

The most dangerous code in the world isn't a sophisticated virus; it's a 30-year-old Air Traffic Control (ATC) interface that no one alive knows how to document. In the high-stakes world of aviation, "technical debt" isn't just a line item on a balance sheet—it's a systemic risk. When a legacy terminal display system (TDS) relies on undocumented COBOL or specialized C++ variants, the path to modernization is often blocked by a lack of tribal knowledge.

According to Replay's analysis, 67% of legacy systems in highly regulated industries lack any form of up-to-date documentation. For ATC, this creates a "black box" effect where the UI logic—the very thing keeping planes separated—is effectively trapped in the past.

TL;DR: Modernizing Air Traffic Control (ATC) systems is historically slow (18-24 months) and prone to failure (70% fail rate). By utilizing visual discovery traffic control methodologies through Replay, organizations can reverse-engineer legacy UIs into documented React components, reducing modernization timelines by 70% and slashing manual effort from 40 hours per screen to just 4.

The High Stakes of Visual Discovery Traffic Control#

Modernizing an ATC system isn't like updating a retail app. You are dealing with sub-second latency requirements, extreme reliability, and a UI that must be readable in low-light environments. The process of visual discovery traffic control involves mapping every pixel-perfect interaction of a legacy radar screen or flight data block (FDB) and translating that into a modern, maintainable tech stack.

Visual Discovery is the automated identification of UI patterns, state transitions, and user workflows from recorded sessions of legacy software in action.

In the ATC context, this means recording a controller managing a heavy arrival bank and using that visual data to reconstruct the underlying architecture. Industry experts recommend this "outside-in" approach because it bypasses the need to decipher ancient, undocumented source code. Instead, you focus on the source of truth: the user’s experience.

The $3.6 Trillion Problem#

The global technical debt bubble has reached $3.6 trillion. In the public sector and aerospace, this debt is particularly acute. Traditional rewrites involve months of "discovery" meetings where developers try to guess how a legacy system handles edge cases—like a transponder failure or an emergency squawk.

Replay changes this dynamic. By recording these workflows, Replay’s AI automation suite performs the visual discovery, identifying components like altitude labels, vector lines, and weather overlays, and then outputs production-ready React code.

Why Legacy ATC Modernization Fails#

The industry standard for an enterprise-grade rewrite is 18 months. In reality, 70% of these projects either fail or significantly exceed their timelines. The primary culprit is the "Documentation Gap."

When you attempt visual discovery traffic control manually, you are asking engineers to sit behind controllers and take notes. This is inefficient and misses the nuanced state changes that happen under the hood.

Implementing Visual Discovery with Replay#

To modernize a high-stakes UI, we need to move from "screen-scraping" to "semantic understanding." Replay’s platform doesn't just take a screenshot; it understands the intent of the UI.

Step 1: Recording the Workflow#

The process begins by recording real-world usage of the legacy ATC terminal. This captures the "Flows"—the architectural map of how a controller moves from identifying a target to issuing a heading change.

Step 2: Component Extraction#

Replay’s AI identifies recurring elements. In an ATC interface, this might be the "Flight Strip." Even if the legacy system is a green-screen terminal, Replay identifies the data clusters and maps them to a modern Design System.

Step 3: Generating the React Library#

Once the visual discovery is complete, Replay generates a documented Component Library. Below is an example of how a legacy Flight Data Block (FDB) might be modernized into a TypeScript React component using the output from Replay.

typescript
// Modernized Flight Data Block Component generated via Replay
import React from 'react';

interface FlightDataProps {
  callsign: string;
  altitude: number; // In hundreds of feet (FL)
  groundSpeed: number;
  squawk: string;
  isEmergency: boolean;
}

const FlightDataBlock: React.FC<FlightDataProps> = ({ 
  callsign, 
  altitude, 
  groundSpeed, 
  squawk, 
  isEmergency 
}) => {
  return (
    <div className={`fdb-container ${isEmergency ? 'emergency-pulse' : ''}`}>
      <div className="fdb-row">
        <span className="callsign">{callsign}</span>
        <span className="squawk">{squawk}</span>
      </div>
      <div className="fdb-row">
        <span className="altitude">{altitude.toString().padStart(3, '0')}</span>
        <span className="trend-arrow">↑</span>
        <span className="speed">{Math.floor(groundSpeed / 10)}</span>
      </div>
    </div>
  );
};

export default FlightDataBlock;

This component isn't just a visual replica; it is a functional, typed building block that can be integrated into a new web-based ATC dashboard.

Architectural Mapping: From Flows to Blueprints#

A major challenge in visual discovery traffic control is understanding the "state machine" of the air traffic environment. When a controller clicks a target, what menus appear? What are the valid altitude inputs?

Replay's "Flows" feature maps these interactions visually. Instead of a 400-page PDF manual, you get an interactive map of the software’s logic. This is critical for regulated environments where every possible state must be accounted for during safety certification.

Video-to-code is the process of utilizing machine learning to interpret video frames of a software interface and programmatically generating the corresponding frontend code and assets.

Managing Real-Time Data Streams#

Modern ATC systems must handle high-frequency updates from ADS-B and radar feeds. Using the blueprints generated by Replay, architects can hook the new UI into real-time WebSockets or gRPC streams.

typescript
// Example: Hooking the modernized UI into a real-time radar stream
import { useEffect, useState } from 'react';
import { useRadarStream } from './api/atc-provider';

export const RadarCanvas = () => {
  const [targets, setTargets] = useState<Target[]>([]);
  const { lastMessage } = useRadarStream();

  useEffect(() => {
    if (lastMessage) {
      setTargets(prev => updateTargetArray(prev, lastMessage));
    }
  }, [lastMessage]);

  return (
    <div className="radar-screen">
      {targets.map(target => (
        <FlightDataBlock 
          key={target.id}
          callsign={target.callsign}
          altitude={target.alt}
          groundSpeed={target.gs}
          squawk={target.squawk}
          isEmergency={target.eventCode === '7700'}
        />
      ))}
    </div>
  );
};

Security and Compliance in ATC Modernization#

For organizations like the FAA, NATS, or Nav Canada, security is non-negotiable. Modernizing through visual discovery traffic control requires a platform that respects the air-gapped or highly secure nature of these systems.

Replay is built for these environments:

• •SOC2 & HIPAA Ready: While ATC doesn't use HIPAA, the same level of data privacy is applied.
• •On-Premise Deployment: Replay can be deployed within an organization’s own secure cloud or physical data center, ensuring no sensitive flight data ever leaves the perimeter.
• •Audit Trails: Every component generated and every workflow mapped is logged, providing a clear path for regulatory approval.

Industry experts recommend that any modernization tool used in critical infrastructure must provide "explainable AI" outputs. Replay's Blueprints allow developers to see exactly why a component was structured a certain way, linking the code back to the original video recording.

The Future of ATC: Web-Based Interfaces#

The transition from thick-client legacy apps to modern web-based UIs is inevitable. The browser is now a powerful enough runtime to handle complex canvas-based radar renderings. By using visual discovery traffic control, agencies can move to a "Web-First" architecture.

This shift enables:

1. •Remote Training: Simulators can be accessed via secure web portals.
2. •Rapid Iteration: UI tweaks that used to take months of recompiling can now be pushed via CI/CD pipelines.
3. •Hardware Independence: Controllers can move from specialized hardware to standardized, high-resolution displays.

For more on how this transition works in other sectors, see our guide on Modernizing Financial Services UI.

Conclusion: Reducing the Technical Debt Ceiling#

The $3.6 trillion technical debt problem won't be solved by hiring more developers to write more manual code. It will be solved by automation. For the aviation industry, visual discovery traffic control represents the most viable path to safety-conscious modernization.

By using Replay to bridge the gap between "what we have" and "what we need," enterprise architects can finally decommission the legacy systems that have been running on life support for decades. We are moving from a world where documentation is an afterthought to a world where the code is the documentation.

Frequently Asked Questions#

What is visual discovery traffic control in software modernization?#

Visual discovery traffic control is a methodology used to modernize complex Air Traffic Control interfaces by recording user workflows and using AI to reverse-engineer those recordings into documented React components and architectural maps. This ensures that even undocumented legacy systems can be accurately transitioned to modern tech stacks.

How does Replay handle the high-security requirements of ATC systems?#

Replay is designed for regulated industries and offers on-premise deployment options, SOC2 compliance, and air-gapped compatibility. This ensures that sensitive flight data and proprietary UI logic remain within the organization's secure environment throughout the modernization process.

Can Replay convert green-screen or terminal-based ATC systems?#

Yes. Replay’s visual discovery engine is agnostic to the underlying legacy technology. As long as there is a visual output (video recording) of the software in use, Replay can identify patterns, data fields, and workflows to generate modern, web-ready TypeScript and React code.

What is the average time savings when using Replay for UI modernization?#

On average, Replay provides a 70% reduction in modernization timelines. Specifically, it reduces the manual effort required per screen from approximately 40 hours to just 4 hours, allowing enterprise projects that typically take 18-24 months to be completed in a fraction of that time.

Does Replay generate the backend logic for ATC systems?#

Replay focuses on the "Visual Reverse Engineering" of the frontend and the architectural mapping of user flows. While it generates the React components and the "Blueprints" for state management, it is typically used to create the modern UI which then connects to existing or modernized backend APIs and data streams.

Ready to modernize without rewriting? Book a pilot with Replay