Air Traffic Services Research Articles

Workload Features inside Air Traffic Control Electronic Transfer Environment

Air Traffic Control (ATC) unit responsibilities during the traffic control start with the finalisation of the handover procedures and they finish by passing these responsibilities to following Air Traffic Services. So called Hand/Take over procedures. These activities could be assure by the Electronic handover/takeover device or manually. While inside the civilian ATC environment, there are precise working positions of planning controllers, who are responsible for the preparation of flight planning and all information for Executive Controller, inside the military ATC facilities, the Executive controller will prepare and provide all activities him/herself. Our research on this domain focuses on Workload analysis and a new approach to dynamic Workload SW products available for the military ATC Environment.

Digital Training in the Aeronautical Industry: Measuring the Usability of Two Mobile Applications

The air traffic control industry is highly regulated, with stringent processes and procedures to ensure that IP (Intellectual Property) and workplaces are kept secure. The training of air traffic controllers (ATCs) and other roles relating to air traffic services is a lengthy and expensive process. The rate in which trainees can be trained is projected to fall significantly short of the demand for staff to work in the air traffic industry. This paper focuses on two prototype mobile training applications - Location Indicators (LI) and the Aircraft Control Positions Operator (ACPO) Starter Pack. LI and the ACPO Starter Pack have been produced to explore how air traffic control training could be improved and supported using digital applications. Each application explores a key learning area for trainees in the air traffic control industry and presents an alternative to the equivalent training that is currently in use. The two prototypes that have been designed focus on producing a succinct user experience alongside gamified elements to improve engagement. As part of this paper, usability testing has been undertaken with LI and the ACPO Starter Pack. A total of nine usability tests have been undertaken at four different locations. These usability tests consisted of participants from differing demographics, varying experience with the current training and differing amounts of time with both applications. The System Usability Scale (SUS) was adapted and used to quantify participant’s reactions to the usability of each application. Usability scores for both applications were collected and then averaged to produce an overall score for each application. We can conclude from both usability scores and qualitative feedback that digital applications have the potential to engage future trainees in the air traffic services industry.

PENGARUH KOMPETENSI, PENGALAMAN DAN BUDAYA KERJA TERHADAP KINERJA KARYAWAN DINAS TOWER DAN GROUND CONTROL MAKASSAR AIR TRAFFIC SERVICE CENTER (MATSC).

Influence of competence, experience and work culture concerning work performance of employe tower and ground control unit at Makassar Air Traffic Service Center (MATSC). The purpose of this research was to examine the influence of competence, experience and work culture concerning work performance of employe tower and ground control unit at Makassar Air Traffic Service Center (MATSC). Sampling methode used total sampling with 50 employe of air traffic controller who has valid of licence and rating related tower and ground control unit at Makassar Air Traffic Service Center (MATSC). The result of this research is indicate that there is a positif and significant relation of variable work culture and experience concerning employe working performance tower and ground control unit at Makassar Air Traffic Service Center (MATSC). While competence variable does not have signifacant relation concerning employe working performance tower and ground control unit at Makassar Air Traffic Service Center (MATSC). Keyword : competence, experience, work culture, work performance

LEGAL REGULATION OF THE SUBJECTS OF AVIATION ACTIVITIES

The purpose of the article is to determine peculiarities of the aviation activity and, on the basis of the analysis of legal literature and normative legal acts, to propose an author’s definition of the said concept. Research methods: the following methods are applied. Formal-logical – for the formation of new concepts, their classification; eliminating inaccuracies and contradictions, etc. Formal dogmatic, or legal method, based on the use of rules of formal logic for knowledge of law, is a traditional, inherent in legal science, since it proceeds from its nature. Its essence is in the formulation and disclosure of legal concepts, the construction of legal structures, and clarification of the actual content of the law. At all stages of scientific research the dialectical method is used. This method determines the paths of any scientific study. It helps to explore all the phenomena in the relationship, interdependence. Comparative method involves comparing single-order legal concepts, phenomena and processes to establish similarities and account for differences between them. Results: based on the analysis of legal literature and the current national, aviation legislation, the author suggested his own definition of the subject of aviation activity. The subject of aviation activity is physical and legal entities of any organizational and legal form and departmental subordination, which create conditions and use airspace with the help of aircraft and other fly machine, including air traffic services, airspace management and flow management, air traffic, which is performed safely, economically and efficiently by providing facilities and continuous service in cooperation with all parties and with the involvement of airborne and ground functions, act on the basis of the provisions of general and special aviation legislation and are able by their actions to acquire rights and exercise them independently, as well as to perform duties and be liable in case of non-compliance. Discussion: features of functioning of subjects of aviation activity, problems of classification of subjects of aviation activity.

La actuación de las Cortes Generales durante el estado de alarma para la gestión de la crisis del COVID-19

Mediante el Real Decreto 463/2020, de 14 de marzo, el Gobierno declaraba el estado de alarma en todo el territorio nacional para la gestión de la situación de crisis sanitaria ocasionada por el COVID-19. Esta figura, con antecedentes en nuestra historia constitucional y prevista ahora en el artículo 116.2 de la Constitución, cuenta con el único precedente de 2010 cuando, el 4 de diciembre, se declaró el estado de alarma para la normalización del servicio público esencial del transporte aéreo, como consecuencia de la crisis de los controladores aéreos. Sin embargo, la peculiaridad que subyace a la actual declaración, pues son razones de salud pública las que han llevado a su adopción, obliga a una nueva reflexión en torno a esta institución. En particular, se hace preciso un estudio de cómo el Parlamento, institución democrática por excelencia, ha tratado de adecuar su funcionamiento, exigido por el artículo 116.5 de la Constitución, a las medidas sanitarias impuestas. Asimismo, se concluye con el análisis de una serie de cuestiones constitucionales que, como consecuencia de la declaración del estado de alarma, se han ido planteando. En concreto, se abordan tres cuestiones principales: la adecuación de la declaración del estado de alarma, el efectivo funcionamiento de las Cortes durante su vigencia y la articulación de sesiones telemáticas.

The Correlation between Controllers’ Aviation Knowledge, Listening Comprehension, and IELP at JATSC

The aim of this research is to find the correlation between controllers’ aviation knowledge mastery, listening comprehension and ICAO English Language Proficiency (IELP) at Jakarta Air Traffic Services Centre (JATSC). This research focused on controllers as the homogeneity respondent hence the random sampling was the suitable way to get the data. Respondents were selected without taking account of anything. The researcher used quantitative approach method to carry on the project because it was believed that the data would be numerical thing. Meanwhile variable instrument that researcher deployed namely a test. The test itself provided for respondents was implemented into three items. Having got the data after finalising the test, it was analysed by using Product Moment Correlation. The data then was calculated using that method and the result was r calculation 0.371535165 and it was higher than 0.349 and it meant that there was correlation between controllers’ aviation knowledge mastery, listening comprehension and IELP.

The effect of progressive muscle relaxation on decreasing work stress in air traffic controller

This study aims to determine the effect of relaxation on reducing stress levels in Air Traffic Controller (ATC). The study design used quasi experimental research with pre-test post-test control group design. The sample of the research was ATC employees in Makassar Air Traffic Service Center, which amounted to 60 people consisting of 30 people given relaxation therapy interventions and 30 people as a control group. Datacollection using questionnaires and blood pressure measurements. Data collection was done using the stress scale questionnaire (Perceived Stress Scale) and using the job stress NIOSH questionnaire. The results of the statistical test at the pretest and posttest with the Wilcoxon Sign Rank Test showed a value of z=-2670 and a value of p=0.008 (p<0.05). The conclusion that there were significant differences in work stress between pre-test and post-test in the intervention group, so there was a significant decrease in work stress after being given relaxation therapy.

Evaluation of CO2 Emission at Airports from Aircraft Operations within the Landing and Take-Off Cycle

The importance of airport emission inventory is more specific in the local context as it directly affects the local air quality. The specific gap addressed by this research is evaluating the CO2 emission from aircrafts within the landing and take-off (LTO) cycle. Using currently available methodologies for assessing emission within the LTO cycle in the Sri Lankan context has significant limitations, such as unavailability of relevant operational data and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)-specified “time-in-mode”(TIM) (e.g., take-off, climb-out, idle, and approach) estimates at different phases of the LTO cycle being inconsistent with local conditions. Such industry-wide standards have been found to over or underestimate actual volumes specific to local conditions. In this research, data collected from online flight-tracking services and daily aircraft movement record (DAMR) data maintained by the local air traffic service provider were used to estimate TIM values according to site-specific conditions. Existing literature to some extent addresses the assessment of CO2 emission levels under different phases of flight separately. In this research, a methodology was developed with available data sources to estimate CO2 emission levels under different phases of flight separately within the LTO cycle. The methodology was applied to Bandaranaike International Airport, Sri Lanka. This approach can be applied to similar scenarios in which operational data limitations exist as elaborated in the study.

Overcoming Sovereignty for Space Traffic Management

The question of sovereignty, or authority over the space domain has created a barrier to development of space traffic management regimes, particularly those seeking to use air traffic control or air traffic management (ATM) as an operational model. States exercise control over sovereign airspace as the airspace over a state and its territorial waters is recognized as within its authority. States provide air traffic services over high seas airspace that is delegated to them by the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization under the provisions of the Chicago Convention. This concept of air traffic management is built on a foundational understanding that a single authority is responsible for each defined volume of airspace.In the space domain, there is no specific delegation of volumes of space to specified authorities. The Outer Space treaty clearly reflects that no claim of sovereignty is to be made. Without the authority to exercise sovereign control over the domain, is space traffic management possible?Consider that space activities are launched from sovereign territory, transit through sovereign airspace, progress through high altitude/near space regions where sovereignty is ambiguous, and operate in orbits where no sovereignty exists; is too much emphasis placed on the sovereignty question? If we make a clear distinction between regulation and control, can we eliminate the sovereignty barrier? To apply the model of air traffic management to a space traffic management concept that is applicable from the on-orbit regime, down to the near space transition, to regulated airspace, a comprehensive understanding of the elements of ATM is needed to identify relevant tools that can be exported to STM. The concept of air traffic control over instrument flight rules (IFR) flights is less relevant to STM than other regulatory and advisory elements of ATM including flight services, traffic information services, and safety alerts. Similarly, dividing STM into its component parts allows for comparisons to elements of ATM that may provide operational models for the provision of a safety service that does not depend on sovereign authority or exclusive control over a volume of space. This paper will examine the legal, policy and technical barriers to the implementation of a space traffic management regime and specifically how the sovereignty barriers can be overcome to construct and implement a global safety service in space.

The Analysis of Airspace Infringements Over Complex Airspace in Europe and the United States of America

The increase in the number of commercial flights highlights the need for air traffic to follow air procedures. Unfortunately, general aviation aircraft used for recreational purposes keep entering controlled and restricted airspace without obtaining permission from air traffic services. Given the safety and operational problems this could potentially cause, this paper examines the underlying reasons for these incidents occurring. In particular, it analyses airspace infringements between 2008 and 2017 involving general aviation flights that were recorded in airspace in which a large number of commercial flights also fly in Europe and America. The reports were analysed based on an initial assessment of their quality. Information was latent in the narrative and subsequently both qualitative (content analysis) and quantitative methods (descriptive statistics) of analysis were used. The analysis revealed that airspace infringements were related to the pilot's flight planning, that is, flight-route choice, navigation skills and communication, in addition to requirement to adhere to airspace procedure. The findings could be used by national authorities and flying clubs to promote safe flying in these regions.

Identification of Key Flight Conflict Nodes Based on Complex Network Theory

The air traffic density in the terminal area is high and the traffic situation is relatively complex by the development of aviation, which brings great challenges to controller. In order to understand the flight situation and provide decision basis for controllers, this paper proposes a key flight conflict nodes identification method based on complex network theory and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)-entropy weight method. Firstly, an aircraft state network is established with aircraft as nodes and Airborne Collision Avoidance System (ACAS) communication relations as connecting edges. On this basis, four parameters, node degree, node weight, clustering coefficient and betweenness, are selected as evaluation indexes of node importance, and the weight of each index is determined by using AHP. And entropy weight method is introduced to revise the results. Node importance is calculated through multi-attribute decision-making method to determine key conflict aircrafts. The simulation and experiment on the artificial network and the aircraft state network of a certain day in the terminal area of Kunming Changshui Airport show that the method proposed in this paper can identify the key flight conflict nodes in the aircraft state network, allocate the selected node deployment can effectively reduce the complexity of the aircraft state network, can provide reference for air traffic control services (ATCS), and reduce the allocation difficulty of controller.

ANALYSIS OF TRAINING PROGRAMS FOR THE TRAINING OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS FOR DETERMINING THE FIELD OF DIGITIZATION

The article emphasizes the high demands that are put forward to the professional knowledge and skills of air traffic controllers. Attention is drawn to ICAO's civil aviation training policy, which supports the human resource development strategies developed by Member States and the aviation community and provides access to a sufficient number of qualified and competent professionals. Based on this, the feasibility of research and improvement of the educational process of training air traffic controllers is substantiated. As a research method, the collection, processing and analysis of statistical data is used. As the subject of the study, educational programs for the training of aviation specialists of higher educational institutions of the USA, the Russian Federation, the Czech Republic, the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Uzbekistan were adopted. The article presents the results of the analysis of curricula, arguing the choice of the most relevant areas of the educational process, in which it is advisable to digitalize educational and methodological support. The analysis concerns the content of curricula, the composition of academic disciplines and the motivations established for them. Based on the analysis, the dominant requirements are identified that determine the specifics of education for the training of specialists for air traffic management and services. It has been established that in the structures of curricula of specialized disciplines the greatest attention is given to knowledge of regulatory legal documents. This became the evidential basis to make a conclusion about the relevance of digitalization of educational and methodical manuals related to regulatory legal documents and the use of electronic educational technologies in the training process of air traffic controllers.

IMPLEMENTATION PROSPECTS OF THE REMOTE TOWER CONCEPT IN UKRAINE

The real cost of the air travel and air transportation has been decreasing over the past years making air transportation more accessible and thus leading to an increase in the demand for it. This allowed to expand the air connectivity network and provide more destinations for the air travel, including smaller regional airports. One of the components of the cost of the air travel is air navigation service costs for the provision of services by air navigation service providers and these costs are flat-rate costs. For small regional airports with low and/or irregular traffic these costs might be a burden limiting their development. Remote tower concept developed as part of the Single European Sky air traffic management Research program aims at optimising and reducing costs for the provision of air navigation services at small airports allowing them to better utilise resources and improve their profitability. Most of the air traffic in Ukraine is handled by a few strategic airports while small regional airports handle only a few flights a day and in order to provide air traffic services for those flights the regional airports are equipped with local aerodrome control service facilities. Due to the low traffic at the regional airports, resources and facilities aren’t used in the most efficient way. The purpose of this work is to investigate the feasibility of implementation of the remote tower concept at Ukrainian airports to improve the cost efficiency of the provision of air traffic services at the airports and correspondingly decrease the cost of the air travel to the regional airports in Ukraine.

Liberalisation of airport air traffic control: A case study of Spain

Liberalisation of air traffic management (ATM) through tendering of airport air traffic control services has occurred in selective countries. While there have been a few studies which have analysed the theoretical concepts of competition to provide ATM services, there has been limited evaluation of the experience of liberalisation on an individual country basis. Using secondary data from literature and primary data collected from interviews, this research reviews the experience of introducing competition in airport ATC services, using the experience in Spain as a case study. The study investigates barriers that hinder the development of an effectively competitive market structure and pro-competition policies to reduce them. The study finds that introducing competition in airport air traffic control is a complex process. In Spain, efficiency benefits have been achieved without compromising safety and economic regulation of the larger liberalised airports has been avoided. Access to qualified air traffic controllers is a critical barrier to the introduction of competition in airport air traffic control services in part related to the complex licence conditions which are unique to specific airports and functions.

RISK MANAGEMENT IN AIR NAVIGATION SERVICES

The need to develop and adopt legal standards for safety management was identified at the Conference of General Directors of Civil Aviation dedicated to the global strategy of aviation safety (Montreal, March 20-22, 2006) and additionally supported by the recommendations of the Safety Conference (Montreal, March 29 - April 1, 2010). The year 2006 saw the introduction of issues related to the safety management system to the Convention’s annexes. The existing fundamental rules related to SMS were included in the annexes: 1 - Personnel licensing, 6 - Operation of Aircraft, 8 - Airworthiness of Aircraft, 11 - Air Traffic Services, 13 - Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation, and 14 - Aerodromes. In addition, due to the dynamic development of aviation and, at the same time, the growing need to create the highest standards in the field of safety management systems, the Air Navigation Commission established the Safety Management Panel (SMP) to develop the content of Annex 19. After several years of reconciliation and consultation, this document was finally adopted by the ICAO Council in 2013. It has become the ipso facto document that provides the basis for creating an effective safety management system, as it is compatible and also adapted to the most effective practices indicated in the ICAO Doc 9859 Safety Management Manual. Annex 19 sets out the responsibility of States, the safety management system and the collection of information related to safety. The National Civil Aviation Safety Programme and the structure of this system were also dealt with. The whole idea is to support states in the process of hazard identification and risk management. The purpose of the article was: to highlight selected elements of the risk management process in a practical dimension, to present the principles for assessing the degree of risk by an air navigation service provider, and to identify ways of improving this process. Searching for an answer to the main research problem contributed to achieving this goal. The research problem was expressed in the form of a question: How does the air navigation service provider manage the risk under the air traffic safety management system in order to achieve compliance with regulatory requirements and to achieve the assumed parameters (indicators) in the area of safety? With regard to the main research problem, the following research hypotheses were formulated: 1. I believe that an air navigation service provider undertakes an assessment of the degree of possible danger in civil aviation to identify hazards in air traffic as part of a safety management system. 2. I suppose that the air navigation service provider manages the risk in a manner consistent with the provisions of law and by using procedures included in normative documents.

Мотиваційно-ціннісний компонент розвитку професійної комунікативної компетентності диспетчерів управління повітряним рухом

The article is devoted to the flight safety on the international airlines. ICAO Assembly has signed Resolution А 32-16, relating to the role of language factor in aviation incidents and accidents. The professional (foreign language) communicative competence of air traffic controllers is defined, especially its development. This kind of professional competence is the union of professional and special foreign language communicative knowledge, skills and habits and the ability of their usage in the process of professional interaction during radiotelephony with aircraft crews on the international airlines in the conditions of any types of professional interaction and activity. It’s motivation-and value component defines it’s development during professional activity and work, in other way the result will be the number of incidents and accidents with the proper reason lack of mentioned above competence. The scientific methods of analysis, synthesis, description and comparison have been used in order to describe the motivation-and value component relating to the competence of air traffic controllers mentioned above. In this work the motivation-and value component, its plot and the components of the learning process itself are described. The motivation component and its elements, the value component and its elements, the motivation and value buildings were covered by this article. As a result it is proved that the motives and valuable orientations are the important psychological characteristics of personality. The valuable orientations, as the complex units, includes the different forms and ways of professional, social and individual interaction in personality. These orientations are being formed under the influence of external professional environment through the mastering of any forms and ways of activity. ATCO professional position forming takes place along with these processes. The results of this research were implemented in the training process, which takes place on the base of Training and Certification Center of Ukrainian Air Traffic Services Enterprise (UkSATSE). Moreover it was paid attention to the fact that the peculiarities of motivation-and value component functioning are dependent on the demands of ICAO Docs №9432 and №9835.

System approach to organization of aeronautical air traffic service

The article substantiates the need for technological, organizational and economic modernization of the domestic system for the provision of air navigation services. The characteristic of the organization of air navigation services for air traffic as a high-tech system that is ergatic in nature is given. It is shown that ergatic functions serve as the basis for the professional activity of an aviation dispatcher, providing a reduction in the uncertainty in the relationships between the intra-system elements and external conditions in order to minimize risks during flights. The importance of creating an adequate job post for the dispatcher based on the SHEL model is disclosed. The measures of maximizing the approximation of operational training of duty dispatcher shifts to the conditions of actual flight operations are substantiated. It is proved that for a systematic solution to the problems of organizing state air navigation services, it is necessary to supplement their heterogeneous regulatory acts with the development of a full-fledged Federal Law «On Air Navigation Services in the Russian Federation».

Human performance assessment of a single air traffic controller conducting multiple remote tower operations

AbstractThe innovative concept of multiple remote tower operations (MRTO) can maximize cost savings by applying video panorama‐based remote tower working positions, which can facilitate fewer air traffic controllers (ATCO) to provide the air traffic services (ATS) function for more airports. Five subject‐matter experts, qualified remote tower ATCOs, participated in this research work by applying the human error template (HET) and comparing workload between physical tower operations and MRTO using NASA‐TLX (Task Load Index). The results demonstrate that augmented visualization provided sufficient technical support for a single ATCO to perform tasks originally designed to be performed by four ATCOs, however, the demands of the associated multiple tasks induced significant workload. There were significant differences in ATCOs’ mental demand, temporal demand, effort, and frustration between MRTO and physical tower operations. This innovative technology may induce human–computer interaction (HCI) issues that impact ATCO's perceived workload. This creates a need for further research on how to manage ATCO's workload in a multiple remote tower environment. This research work provided scientific evidence that MRTO can achieve the objectives of Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research program. The findings can be applied to both ATCO training design and remote tower system design.

Quality Assessment of Air Traffic Control System Proximity Control Service Process Based on Principal Component Analysis and Grey Comprehensive Analysis

Aiming at the operational process of air traffic control service, aiming at improving safety and efficiency, this paper analyses the main factors affecting the process of air traffic control service, chooses corresponding indicators, eliminates the indicators with correlation and information overlap by using principal component analysis, determines the key indicators system, and then uses grey comprehensive analysis method to analyze the quality indicators system of air traffic control service process. Through the evaluation, the number of conflict risks of the aircraft in the sector, the sorties flown simultaneously with the aircraft in the same area, the sorties flown simultaneously with the aircraft on the landing route, and the total time occupied by the aircraft on the runway have the most significant impact on the air traffic approach control. This is the case. Finally, the feasibility of this method is verified by an example analysis.

Quality Assessment Model of Air Traffic Management Service Process Based on TFN-ANP

The ATM operation quality assessment model is the core component of the ATM process quality management. The existing model cannot accurately and completely describe the key indicators of performance in actual work due to the outdated concepts and strong subjectivity. After analyzing the characteristics of ATM process quality, we use TFN-ANP method to establish new assessment model. Each element in this model obtains its own weight and relevance to others. This method further reduces the subjectivity compared with the traditional assessment model. Finally, through the analysis of actual examples, the scientific and practicality of the new assessment model is indicated.