1. Computerised Air Traffic Management Tools - Benefits and Limitations OMAR BASHIR (March 2005)

2. Sequence ● Air Traffic Management ● Key Objectives of Air Traffic Management Tools ● Application of Computer-based Tools ● Benefits of Computer-based Tools: Systems Development ● Benefits of Computer-based Tools: Operations ● Benefits of Computer-based Tools: Training and Support ● Key Issues in Computer-based ATM Tools

3. Air Traffic Management (ATM) ● Air Traffic Management consists of a ground component and an aerial component. ● ATM is comprised of the Air Traffic Control (ATC) system. ● ATM functions include, – Air Traffic Control (ATC), – Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM), – Airspace Management ● The above mentioned functions contribute to achieve the ATM objectives during different phases of flight.

4. Air Traffic Management Tools ● Devices and systems that assist air traffic controllers in monitoring and managing air space to ensure an orderly and safe flow of aerial traffic. ● Key objectives, – Provide optimum air space visibility, ● Accurate and timely visualisation of appropriate air space segments facilitates decision making. – Optimise air space utilisation, ● Non-optimum air space utilisation translates to financial losses. ● Congestion avoidance and control is necessary to provide an orderly flow of traffic. – Increase safety, ● Higher air space utilisation reduces tolerance to errors. – Allow flight crews to adopt efficient trajectories, ● Conflict resolution performed as far ahead as possible. – Provide scalability and support extensibility for evolution.

5. Application of Computer-based Tools ● Collection, communication, storage, compilation and presentation of data. ● Systems integration and multi-sensor data fusion. ● Data refinement, integration and tracking. ● Simulations – Predicting aircraft positions and conflict/violation alerts. – Operator training. – Research and development. ● Decision support. ● ATM tool frameworks and Integrated Development Environments (IDE).

6. Benefits of Computerised ATM Tools: Systems Development ● System scalability and fault tolerance. – Parallelism and distribution ● System integration. – Heterogeniety management ● Integration of sensors and C 3 I systems using different data formats and communication protocols. – Multi-sensor data fusion ● Fusion of tracks generated by sensors and location and status information provided by the aircraft via air to ground links.

7. Benefits of Computerised ATM Tools: Systems Development (Contd.) ● Data modeling and integration. – Track and plot data – GIS – Weather information – Flight plans ● COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) hardware and software. – Economic and convenient system administration and maintenance. ● Extensible systems development. – Patterns, frameworks and components.

8. Benefits of Computer-based Tools: Operations ● Improved visualisation – Colour coding – Overlays – Visual modeling ● Decision support – Flight planning, – Conflict prediction and resolution, – Flight conformance monitoring. ● Computer Supported Collabotive Working (CSCW) to support team functions. ● Reduced overall operator workload due to reduced manual coordination and communications.

9. Benefits of Computer-based Tools: Support ● Simulations – Operator training, – Research and development. ● Recording and replay for evaluation and investigations. – Recording and replay of local and global data and console switch operations. ● Automatic statistics generation for – Performance evaluation of operators, – Analysis of traffic patterns to determine and investigate abnormalities.

10. Key Issues in Computerised ATM Tools ● Visualisation techniques require on-going research and development, – Representation of multi-dimensional data on a two dimensional display. – Data visualisation in dense environments. ● Striking a balance between information starvation and information indigestion. – Overlaying certain information may cause confusion. ● Performance and reliability requirements complicate system design and implementation. – Complexity of ATM applications further complicates system verification and validation. ● Trade-off of simulation speed with simulation detail.

11. Key Issues in Computerised ATM Tools (Contd.) ● Variation in ATCO (ATC Operator) job and skills. – Reduced overall understanding of the processes and procedures due to automation. – Automation may mask human professional inadequacies. – Striking a balance between trusting the system and verifying its operation. ● Essential to ensure reduced overall operator loading while ensuring correct system operation – a key issue in early ATM automation. ● Organisation change management. – Introducing automation with minimum organisational impact. – Understanding and managing the impact of automation on the organisation. ● Define a suitable implementation strategy. ● Managing the “initial dip”.