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The Future of Air Traffic Control: Human Operators and Automation
THE FUTURE OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL
HUMAN OPERATORS AND AUTOMATION
Christopher D. Wickens, Anne S. Mavor, Raja Parasuraman, and James P. McGee, editors
Panel on Human Factors in Air Traffic Control Automation
Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
National Research Council
NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
Washington, D.C.
1998
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The Future of Air Traffic Control: Human Operators and Automation
NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
2101 Constitution Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20418
NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.
This study was supported by Grant No. 94-G-042 between the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Department of Transportation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the organizations or agencies that provided support for this project.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The future of air traffic control: human operators and automation/Panel on Human Factors in Air Traffic Control Automation, Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, National Research Council; Christopher D. Wickens … [et al.,], eds.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-309-06412-0
1. Air traffic control—Automation. 2. Aeronautics—Human factors. I. Wickens, Christopher D. II. National Research Council (U.S.). Panel on Human Factors in Air Traffic Control Automation.
TL725.3.T7F88 1998
387.7'40426—dc21 97-45303
Additional copies of this report are available from:
National Academy Press
2101 Constitution Avenue, NW, Lock Box 285 Washington, DC 20055 Call 800-624-6242 or 202-334-3313 (in the Washington Metropolitan Area).This report is also available online at http://www.nap.edu
Printed in the United States of America
Copyright 1998 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
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The Future of Air Traffic Control: Human Operators and Automation
PANEL ON HUMAN FACTORS IN AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL AUTOMATION
CHRISTOPHER D. WICKENS (Chair),
Aviation Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
CHARLES B. AALFS,
Federal Aviation Administration/Air Traffic Control Service
(retired),
Fountain Valley, CA
TORA K. BIKSON,
RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA
MARVIN S. COHEN,
Cognitive Technologies, Inc., Arlington, VA
DIANE DAMOS,
Damos Research Associates, Los Angeles, CA
JAMES DANAHER,
National Transportation Safety Board, Washington, DC
ROBERT L. HELMREICH,
National Aeronautics and Space Administration/University of Texas Aerospace Crew Research Project, Austin
V. DAVID HOPKIN,
Centre for Aviation/Aerospace Research, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, FL
TODD R. LAPORTE,
Department of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley
RAJA PARASURAMAN,
Department of Psychology, Catholic University of America
JOSEPH O. PITTS,
VITRO, Rockville, MD
THOMAS B. SHERIDAN,
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
PAUL STAGER,
Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto
RICHARD B. STONE,
Bountiful, UT
EARL L. WIENER,
Department of Psychology and Industrial Engineering, University of Miami
LAURENCE R. YOUNG,
Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
ANNE S. MAVOR, Study Director
JAMES P. McGEE, Senior Research Associate
JERRY S. KIDD, Senior Adviser
SUSAN R. McCUTCHEN, Senior Project Assistant
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The Future of Air Traffic Control: Human Operators and Automation
COMMITTEE ON HUMAN FACTORS
WILLIAM B. ROUSE (Chair),
Enterprise Support Systems, Norcross, GA
TERRY CONNOLLY,
Department of Management and Policy, College of Business and Public Administration, University of Arizona, Tucson
COLIN G. DRURY,
Industrial Engineering Department, University of Buffalo
WILLIAM C. HOWELL,
American Psychological Association Science Directorate, Washington, DC
DANIEL R. ILGEN,
Department of Psychology and Department of Management, Michigan State University
BONNIE E. JOHN,
Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Carnegie Mellon University
TOM B. LEAMON,
Liberty Mutual Research Center, Hopkinton, MA
DAVID C. NAGEL,
AT&T Laboratories, Basking Ridge, NJ
KARLENE H. ROBERTS,
Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley
BENJAMIN SCHNEIDER,
Department of Psychology, University of Maryland
LAWRENCE W. STARK,
School of Optometry, University of California, Berkeley
EARL L. WIENER,
Department of Management Science, University of Miami
GREG L. ZACHARIAS,
Charles River Analytics, Cambridge, MA
ANNE S. MAVOR, Study Director
JERRY S. KIDD, Senior Adviser
SUSAN R. McCUTCHEN, Senior Project Assistant
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The Future of Air Traffic Control: Human Operators and Automation
Contents
PREFACE
ix
SUMMARY
1
PART I: AUTOMATION ISSUES AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
9
1
AUTOMATION ISSUES IN AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT
11
Levels of Automation,
13
System Performance,
17
Human Performance,
28
Adaptive Automation,
38
Design and Management Influences,
44
Team Performance and Coordination,
45
2
EMERGING TECHNOLOGICAL RESOURCES
48
Visualization,
48
Intelligent Decision Aiding,
50
Computer-Supported Cooperative Work,
56
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The Future of Air Traffic Control: Human Operators and Automation
PART II: CURRENT AND ENVISIONED AUTOMATION OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL TASKS
63
3
SURVEILLANCE AND COMMUNICATION
85
Surveillance Technologies,
85
Communication Technologies,
100
4
FLIGHT INFORMATION
111
Flight Management System,
111
Flight Information Processing and Presentation,
118
5
IMMEDIATE CONFLICT AVOIDANCE
127
Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System,
128
Converging Runway Display Aid,
135
Precision Runway Monitor and Final Monitor Aid,
139
Automation for Conflict Avoidance on the Ground,
147
6
STRATEGIC LONG-RANGE PLANNING
156
Center TRACON Automation System,
156
Conflict Probe and Interactive Planning,
164
Four-Dimensional Contracts,
173
Automated Support for Airport Operations: The Surface Movement Advisor Program,
179
7
SUPPORT FUNCTIONS
184
Training,
184
Maintenance,
186
PART III: INTEGRATION
201
8
INTEGRATION OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
203
Appropriate Applications of Research Methodologies,
204
User and Human Factors Practitioner Involvement in System Design,
211
Incremental Development,
214
System Installation,
215
Harmonization of Multiple Systems,
217
Commercial Off-the-Shelf and Nondevelopmental Items,
219
Management of the Human Factors Program,
220
9
AIRSPACE SYSTEM INTEGRATION: THE CONCEPT OF FREE FLIGHT
225
History,
228
System Elements and Functions,
230
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The Future of Air Traffic Control: Human Operators and Automation
System-Level Issues
232
Human Factors Issues
234
Research Approaches
237
The Panel's Vision for Applications of Automation
238
10
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
243
Automation Issues and Emerging Technologies
243
Current and Envisioned Automated Systems
249
Integration
257
REFERENCES
262
APPENDIXES
A
AVIATION AND RELATED ACRONYMS
289
B
CONTRIBUTORS
294
C
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
296
INDEX
305
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The Future of Air Traffic Control: Human Operators and Automation
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts is president of the National Academy of Sciences.
The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. William A. Wulf is president of the National Academy of Engineering.
The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Kenneth I. Shine is president of the Institute of Medicine.
The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts and Dr. William A. Wulf are chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the National Research Council.
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The Future of Air Traffic Control: Human Operators and Automation
Preface
This report is the work of the Panel on Human Factors in Air Traffic Control Automation, which was established in fall 1994 at the request of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The panel was appointed to conduct a two-phase study of the human factors aspects of the nation's air traffic control system, of the national airspace system of which it is a part, and of proposed future automation issues in terms of the human's role in the system. The impetus for the study grew out of a concern by members of the Subcommittee on Aviation of the House Public Works and Transportation Committee, then chaired by Congressman Oberstar, that efforts to modernize and further automate the air traffic control system should not compromise safety by marginalizing the human controller's ability to effectively monitor the process, intervene as spot failures in the software or environmental disturbances require, or assume manual control if the automation becomes untrustworthy. Panel members represent expertise in human factors, decision making, cognitive psychology, organization structure and culture, training and simulation, system design, controller operations, and pilot operations. The primary focus of the study is the relationship between humans and the tools provided to assist in accomplishment of system tasks.
The first phase of the panel's work focused on the current air traffic control system and its development and operation within the national airspace system from a human factors perspective. The specific purposes of the first phase were to understand the complexities of the current system that automation is intended to address, characterize the manner in which some levels of automation have already been implemented, and provide a baseline of human factors knowledge as it relates to the functions of the air traffic controller in the system and the
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The Future of Air Traffic Control: Human Operators and Automation
organizational context within which these functions are performed. The results of the panel's deliberations for the first phase were reported in Flight to the Future: Human Factors in Air Traffic Control.
The second phase has assessed future automation alternatives and the role of the human operator in ensuring safety and efficiency in the air traffic control system. In the second phase we examined the human factors aspects of automation both for the general development of new systems and for specific, key subsystems at various stages of testing and implementation. A critical focus of the second phase has been the interaction between the automation and the controller on the ground and the automation and the pilot in the cockpit.
This report provides the results of the panel's deliberations during the second phase. The first part of the report discusses fundamental human factors issues pertaining to automation of air traffic control functions and reviews several emerging technologies that may support automation of future air traffic control functions. The second part of the report reviews current and future initiatives and programs that automate functions for surveillance, communication, flight information, immediate conflict avoidance, strategic long-range planning, training, and maintenance. The third part of the report discusses the integration of research and development as well as human factors issues with respect to the free flight initiative, and also presents the panel's vision of the evolution of automation in the national airspace system in the next decade. The final chapter presents the panel's key conclusions and recommendations. Research results available after August 1997 were not reviewed by the panel for this report.
We direct this report to a broad audience, including those interested in the air traffic control system and its operation and policy as well as those interested in general issues of aviation psychology research and air safety. We direct the attention of our policy making readers to the Summary and Chapter 10, which present our conclusions and recommendations; to the introduction to Part II, which provides an overview of the trend toward automation in the national airspace system; and to Part III, which presents discussions of management issues, program development issues, free flight, and a future vision.
Many individuals have made contributions to the panel's thinking and to various sections of this report by serving as presenters, advisors, and liaisons to useful sources of information; all of these individuals provided us with valuable information. A list of contributors and their affiliations is presented in Appendix B. A few people played a more direct role in the coordination of information used in the preparation of this volume, and they deserve special mention. We extend our gratitude to several individuals in the Federal Aviation Administration: to Mark Hofmann and to Maureen Pettitt for their consistent support of the panel's activities; to David Cherry for helpful and timely responses to numerous requests from the panel for documentation and technical information, and for arranging visits to FAA facilities and discussions with subject-matter experts; and to Michael McAnulty for providing and for coordinating presentations to the
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The Future of Air Traffic Control: Human Operators and Automation
panel at the FAA Technical Center. We are especially grateful to Neil Planzer, director, Air Traffic System Requirements Service at the Federal Aviation Administration, for his continued interest in and guidance to the panel.
We would also like to extend our thanks to Brian Hilburn, at the National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) in the Netherlands, for contributing to the section on interactive planning and for providing materials on European developments in air traffic control automation; and to Jonathan Taylor, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for contributing to the section on the global positioning system.
This report is the collective product of the entire panel, and each member took an active role in drafting sections of chapters, leading discussions, and/or reading and commenting on successive drafts. The first part of the report, which discusses automation issues and principles, as well as emerging technological resources, reflects significant contributions by Raja Parasuraman, Thomas Sheridan, Tora Bikson, Robert Helmreich, Todd LaPorte, Marvin Cohen, and David Hopkin. The second part, which reviews current and envisioned automation initiatives for air traffic control, reflects significant contributions by Paul Stager, Earl Wiener, Charles Aalfs, Richard Stone, Joseph Pitts, James Danaher, Laurence Young, and Diane Damos.
Staff at the National Research Council made important contributions to our work in many ways. As study director, Anne S. Mavor managed the overall course of the study, ensured that the work was done carefully and well, and made intellectual contributions that can be found in every chapter of the report. James P. McGee worked closely with the study director on all aspects of the study, taking particular responsibility for drafting descriptions of a number of the systems presented in Part II as well as the material on integration of research and development. Jerry Kidd contributed insights across many areas of the report and drafted sections that address conflict avoidance technologies and the application of research methodologies. We would also like to express our appreciation to Alexandra Wigdor, director of the Division on Education, Labor, and Human Performance, for her valuable insight, guidance, and support; to Susan McCutchen, the panel's senior project assistant, who was indispensable in organizing meetings, arranging travel, compiling agenda materials, managing the exchange of documentation across the panel, and preparing the final manuscript; and to Christine McShane, who edited and significantly improved the report.
Christopher D. Wickens, Chair
Panel on Human Factors in Air Traffic Control Automation
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