The design of FACET to support use by airline centers

Abstract

NASA's FACET (future ATM concepts evaluation tool) is a software package that predicts air traffic patterns. Such predictions are of potential value to a number of decision makers in the National Airspace System (NAS), including FAA traffic managers and airline dispatchers. In the study to be reported here, data was collected to: 1) Identify uses of the functions embedded in FACET for Airline Operations Centers (AOCs), 2) Determine enhancements of FACET (in terms of its underlying functionality or its interface) that might better support the needs of dispatchers and air traffic control coordinators at AOCs. To address these goals, a series of structured interviews with practicing airline dispatchers were conducted. As part of these interviews, the participants were introduced to the current capabilities of FACET and asked to consider: 1) Potential uses of the functionality contained in FACET for AOCs, 2) Potential extensions of the functionality of FACET to enhance its use by AOCs, 3) Potential enhancements in the interface design of FACET to better support AOC tasks. A total of 19 dispatchers were interviewed, representing experience at 5 different airlines and the US Air Force. The findings fall into five categories: 1.) AOC tasks that could make use of FACET, 2.) Using FACET to predict which flights are moved by ATC/TFM, 3.) Adapting FACET to support different AOC/Dispatch strategies Combining FACET trajectory predictions with other available data. Developing task-specific interface designs to support AOCs.