Florian Hafner

Title
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Email
Department
School of Engineering
College
College of Aviation

Dr. Hafner has over 25 years of experience in the aviation industry, where he has held roles as a planner, engineer and manager. His diverse expertise includes airport and airspace planning, aviation data analysis, software and systems engineering and operations research. As an expert in aviation operations planning, particularly with simulation and modeling tools, Dr. Hafner has served as a project manager and principal investigator on many government and industry projects. He also has a significant background in aviation data analytics and the development of tools and applications focused on airport and airspace situational awareness, safety and capacity planning.

In addition to his role as an Adjunct Professor with Embry-Riddle, Dr. Hafner currently serves as VP and Chief Technology Officer for Cignus Consulting, LLC, a transportation planning company headquartered in Northern Virginia. At Cignus, he leads technology R&D efforts, defines and manages quality processes and assurance practices across all company endeavors and supports airport and airspace planning projects.


  • Ph.D. - Doctor of Philosophy in Industrial Engineering, University of Central Florida
  • M. - Master in Software Engineering, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
  • B.S. - Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

  • SYSE 610: Sys Archit Design and Modeling
  • SYSE 625: System Quality Assurance
  • SYSE 697: Systems Engineering Project

LGMT420

SYSE505

SYSE515

SYSE530



Hafner, F. (2019). Simulation Options for Airport Planning. ACRP Synthesis 11-03/Topic S03-14. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Washington, DC

Yang, S., Wilson, I., Huang, P., Bernstein, M., Hafner, F., Layton, T. (2016). A Platform for Securing Inter-Agency Flight Information Exchange. 35th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC). Sacramento, CA, USA, September 2016

Yang, S., Hafner F., Layton, T., Gerberick, G., Sweet, D., Wilson, I., Taylor, M., Ayhan, S. (2016). Safe and Efficient Flight Operations for Securely Enhanced Global Interoperability. Integrated Communications Navigation and Surveillance (ICNS), Herndon, VA, USA, April 2016

Wilson, I., Hafner F. (2012). Network Enabled Operations Information Sharing. ICNS - Integrated Communications, Navigation and Surveillance Conference, Herndon, VA, USA, April 2012

Ayhan, S., Comitz, P., Sweet, D., Robinson, L., Arkebauer, P., Hafner, F. (2011). The NEO Spiral II Program: An FAA/industry exploration of Unmanned Aircraft System integration in the National Airspace System, IEEE/AIAA 30th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC), Seattle, WA, USA, October 2011

Hafner, F. (2009). Enjoying the Consultancy Challenge. Flight International, 175(5195), pg. 51

Hafner, F. (2006). ATC Modernization, Invited Lecture, Embry-Riddle Congressional Aviation Staff Seminar #2, U.S. Congress, Washington, DC, April 2006

Klein, A., Hafner, F. (2005). Computation and Analysis of Aircraft Proximities in the NAS using ETMS data, IEEE/AIAA 24th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC), Washington, DC, USA, October 2005

Wilson, I., Hafner F. (2005). Benefit Assessment of Using Continuous Descent Approaches at Atlanta International Airport, IEEE/AIAA 24th Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC), Washington, DC, USA, October 2005

Hafner, F., Mahmoud, M. (2005). Simple Voice Communication System for Human-In-The-Loop Air Traffic Control Simulations, Summer Computer Simulation Conference (SCSC), Cherry Hill, NJ, USA, July 2005

Hafner, F. (2004) Applied ATM Research Concepts, Invited Lecture, International Center for Air Transportation (ICAT), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, October 2004

Hafner, F. (2004) NASA-SATS Airport Management Module (AMM) Sequencer Throughput Evaluation, South-East SATS Lab Final Report, NASA Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS), Program, March 2004


Certified Project Management Professional (PMP)