Future air traffic management: technology, operations, and human factors implications

Abstract

The NASA, the FAA and Eurocontrol have initiated programs of research and development to provide flight crew, air line operators and air traffic managers with automation aids to increase capacity in enroute and terminal areas, to support the goals of safe, flexible, predictable and efficient operations, and to ensure, and to enhance the safety of operations in the response to demands for capacity enhancement. Achievement of these goals is enabled by increased precision of knowledge of aircraft and asset position in space and time, by increased density and bandwidth of transmitted information among the airspace assets and users, and by increased service and information to the flight deck, ATC and airline operations centers. These aiding technologies are intended to support exploitation of timely and dynamic information on atmospheric hazards, traffic fluctuations, and airspace utilization. These systems are intended to support the human operators who maintain the authority and responsibility for safe, efficient operations through cognitive aiding technologies, to serve as cognitive orthoses (Reason, 1988) [12].