Table Of ContentAutomation and Systems Issues
in Air Traffic Control
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Series F: Computer and Systems Sciences Vol. 73
Automation and Systems Issues
in Air Traffic Control
Edited by
John A. Wise
Center for Aviation/Aerospace Research
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Daytona Beach, FL 32114-3900, USA
v.
David Hopkin
RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine
Farnborough, Hampshire GU14 6SZ, United Kingdom
Marvin L. Smith
Airway Science Simulation Laboratory
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Daytona Beach, FL 32114-3900, USA
Springer-Verlag
Berlin Heidelberg New York London Paris Tokyo
Hong Kong Barcelona Budapest
Published in cooperation with NATO Scientific Affairs Division
Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute on Automation and Systems
Issues in Air Traffic Control, held in Acquafredda di Maratea, Italy, June 18-29,
1990.
ISBN-13: 978-3-642-76558-2 e-ISBN-13: 978-3-642-76556-8
001: 10.1007/978-3-642-76556-8
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whetherthe whole or part of the material is concerned,
specifically the rights oftranslation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations. recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
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and a copyright fee must always be paid. Violations fall under the prosecution act of the German Copyright Law
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1991
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1991
45/3140-543210-Printed on acid-free-paper
Preface
In recent years, increases in the amount and changes in the distribution of air traffic have been
very dramatic, and are continuing. The need for changes in the current air traffic systems is
equally clear. For example, the impact of air traffic systems on the economic well-being of a
country can be demonstrated by the fact that, in the United States alone, delays due to air traf
fic problems were responsible for an estimated loss of over five billion dollars in 1988 (for
excess fuel, time losses, etc.). Losses of over ten billion dollars per year are expected by 1998
if dramatic changes are not made. As a result, members of the NATO Alliance are all in vari
ous stages of modernizing and automating their air traffic control systems.
While automation is generally accepted as a method of improving system safety and per
formance, one of the conclusions of the 1986 NATO Advanced Research Workshop on
information system failure (Wise and Debons, 1987) was that high levels of automation in
complex human-machine systems can have a negative effect on total system performance and
have been identified as contributing factors in many accidents and failures. Examples of this
effect can be found in the operation of most complex systems such as aircraft and nuclear
power plants. As a result, there is a growing body of theoretical and systems knowledge that
attempts both to explain these events and to provide guidance on how to avoid similar prob
lems in new systems. For example, at the 1989 International Symposium on Aviation
Psychology, several researchers identified critical issues and problems associated with the
proposed increases in automation in air traffic control systems throughout the NATO
countries. Morrison and Rosenthal, in separate papers, identified communications and human
information processing loads as highly correlated with air traffic control system errors.
Woods, in a counterpoint, presented a wide range of current examples where automation
introduced to address those problems actually generated an entirely new set.
In addition, significant advances have been made in understanding the different types of
cognitive errors that people make in complex, time-constrained, real-world decision making
that is typical of air traffic control. This knowledge is critical not only to the design of the
system hardware and software, but equally to the selection and training of operators. Like
wise, the understanding of the impact of of automation-induced stress on system effectiveness
has also advanced to the stage where it can assist in the analysis of failures and the design of
more effective systems.
Those responsible for designing the advanced air traffic control systems to be
implemented throughout the Alliance during the next decade need to be aware of recent
progress concerning the most effective application of automation and artificial intelligence in
human-computer systems. This need is critical. Design decisions made in the next few years
will affect the safety and vitality of air transport in and between the nations of the Alliance.
The application of the above information to those decisions will result in safer, much more
efficient air transportation.
Acknowledgements
The editors would like to acknowledge the work of those individuals whose untiring effort
and dedication to the Advanced Study Institute made possible the publication of these
proceedings. In a certain sense, each of them should have his or her name on the cover, be
cause without anyone of them, this volume would not exist.
For the success of the Institute, we must thank a large number of people and organiza
tions. First, we must thank our sponsors, without whom the Institute could not have taken
place. These included:
• NATO Scientific Affairs Division
• U. S. Federal Aviation Administration
• Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
• Research Institute for Information Science and Engineering
We also must thank the U. S. National Science Foundation which supplied financial
support for several participants, and Transport Canada which assisted the Institute in every
way it could.
We must thank the Institute's staff who worked hard before, during and after the meeting,
particularly Barbara Gibson, whose administrative skills impressed everyone (and without
whom, chaos could have easily broken out). We want to thank Jan Goodrich, whose skill
with the written word helped everyone produce a paper to meet the goal of high information
transfer. We also want to thank Kevin Norris for his outstanding work in recording the
Institute, and Mr. Peter McAlindon for his technical and administrative support.
All of the participants owe a debt of gratitude to the staff at the Hotel Villa del Mare, who
provided the ideal environment for exchange of current ideas and the generation of many new
ones.
We also must thank a great number of people who assisted in a variety of ways to get the
papers into the final electronic form that allowed their publication. At Embry-Riddle Aero
nautical University, they include: Sandy Oliver, Mike Graves, Joan Sullivan, Tammy Clem,
Kevin Minton, Carol Liptak, and Laura Hammond, Brian Pape. At the RAF Institute of
Aviation Medicine, they include: Natalie Mitchell, Margaret Fawcett, and Jon Coldwell.
While our names are on the cover, we respectfully share whatever credit arises from this
volume with all of the above.
John A. Wise
V. David Hopkin
Marvin L. Smith
Table of Contents
Editors' Summary ....................................................... xiii
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
The Impact of Automation on Air Traffic Control Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 3
V. David Hopkin
Assumptions and Automation in Air Traffic Systems. .............................. 21
John A. Wise
Perspectives on Air Traffic Control Automation ................................ 29
Computerization and Automation: Upgrading the American Air Traffic Control System ... 31
Arthur A. Simolunas and Howard S. Bashinski
The Canadian Automated Air Traffic System (CAATS): An Overview ................. 39
Paul Stager
The Implementation and Impact of Automatic Data Processing
on UK Military ATC Operations ............................................... 47
S. E. J. Lane
From Under the Headset: The Role of the Air Traffic Controllers' Professional
Association in Present and Future Air Traffic Control Systems Development. ........... 55
John Levesley
A Collation of Approaches to Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 61
Air Traffic Control and Systems Issues .......................................... 63
Anthony Debons
ICAO and Future Air Navigation Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 79
John N. Bradbury
Social, Political, and Regulatory Issues Concerning Harmonization of
Interacting Air Traffic Control Systems in Western Europe ......................... 101
Randahl N. Lindgren
Aircraft Traffic Forecast and Communications Requirements in the Year 2000. . . . . . . .. 107
PeterJ. McAlindon
VIII
Automation in Environmental Engineering ...................................... 121
Nefdet Alpaslan
The Role of Automation and Control Systems in Water Resources Engineering. ........ 127
Nilgun Harmancioglu
Automated Aids and Their Evaluation ....................................... 135
Intelligent Dialogue in Air Traffic Control Systems ............................... 137
Jack L. Edwards
Close Ground/Air Cooperation in Dynamic Air Traffic Management. ................ 153
Andre Benoft
Multi-layer Queuing Model to Check Automated Air Traffic Control Systems .......... 161
J. C. Sargis andA. V. Sebald
Application of Planning Aids for Air Traffic Control:
Design Principles, Solutions, Results. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 169
Uwe Volckers
Artificial Intelligence and Human Factors in ATC:
Current Activity at Eurocontrol Experimental Centre .............................. 173
Hugh David
Meeting the ATC Challenge through Simulation ................................. 181
W. K. Sandiford
Human Attributes, Representatives, and Requirements ......................... 185
in Relation to Automation
The Aims of Human Factors and Their Application to Issues
in Automation and Air Traffic Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 187
P. A. Hancock
Human Factors in System Design. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 201
PaulO. Day
Automated Systems: The Human Factor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 209
Daniel J. Garland
Modelling Control Tasks in Complex Systems ......................... : ......... 217
Morten Lind
Mental Models in Air Traffic Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 235
Richard H. Mogford
IX
The Controller in Human Engineering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 243
Michael Tonner
Acceptance of New Systems by Air Traffic Controllers ............................ 249
Egbert Seidel
Effects of the System on the Human: Stress and Workload ...................... 253
Stress and Workload Management in Air Traffic Control. .......................... 255
AndrewJ. Tattersal~ Eric W. Fanner, andAndrewJ. Belyavin
Shiftwork and Circadian Variations of Vigilance and Performance. .................. 267
Giovanni Costa
Operator Workload as a Limiting Factor in Complex Systems. ...................... 281
P. G. A. M. Jorna
Attention, Workload, and Automation. ......................................... 293
Barry P. Goettl
Approaches to Error and Failure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 299
ICAO and Civil/Military Coordination. ........................................ 301
JohnN. Bradbury
Error Models for Operating Irregularities: Implications for Automation ............... 321
Paul Stager
Cognitive Failures in Military Air Traffic Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 339
Jacob Empson
Human Factors in ATC Communication. ....................................... 349
Ioannis Fokas
Results of a Perceptual Study on Human Error in Computer Systems
Based on Bailey's Research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 353
Esther E. Horne, Jo Lee Pierce and Douglas A. White
Organizational and Cultural Aspects of Air Traffic Control Automation. . . . . . . . .. 365
Automation, Information, and Consciousness in Air Traffic Control. ................. 367
Ron Westrum
Issues in Cultural Ergonomics. ............................................... 381
Michael Kaplan
x
Air Traffic Controller Working Conditions and Organization: Suggestions
for Analysis and Improvements from a Psychological Point of View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 395
Claudia Harss, Jitzchack Lichtenfeld, Michael Kastner, andJan Goodrich
Automation as an Influence on Controller Selection ............................ 407
Selecting for Air Traffic Control: The State of the Art. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
Hilda Wing
Selection of Air Traffic Controllers for Automated Systems:
Applications from Today's Research. .......................................... 429
Pamela Della Rocco, Carol A. Manning, and Hilda Wing
Automation Issues for the Selection of Controllers ................................ 453
Gill Nyfield
Automation in ATC: How Does It Mfect the Selection of Controllers? ............... 461
Hinnerk Eif3feldt
Consequences of Automation for Training and Resource Management ............ 467
Training Requirements for Automated ATe. ................ '" ................. 469
Rod Baldwin
Adaptive Training to Accommodate Automation in the Air Traffic Control System ...... 481
Marvin L. Smith
Resource Management Training for Air Traffic Controllers ......................... 497
Daniel A. Herschler
Non-Technical Training for Technocrats: Resource Management at Canadian Airlines ... 505
Nicole Svatek
Critical Issues for Decision Makers in Providing Operator and Maintainer
Training for Advanced Air Traffic Control Systems ............................... 513
RichardB. ChobotandMary C. Chobot
Speculations on Automation and Air Traffic Control ........................... 527
A Modest Proposal for Future Systems ......................................... 529
JohnA. Wise
The Blue Sky Challenge: A Personal View ...................................... 535
John Levesley
