“In automation we trust” - Australian air traffic controller perspectives of increasing automation in air traffic management

Kieran Langford, Tarryn Kille, Seung-Yong Lee, Yahua Zhang and Paul R. Bates

Transport Policy, 2022, vol. 125, issue C, 352-362

Abstract: This study investigates the views of Australian Air Traffic Controllers (ATCOs) on increasing levels of automation in Air Traffic Managements Systems (ATMS). An online survey of current and former Australian ATCOs was conducted to identify what tools are considered useful and to what extent automation should be used within ATMS, as well as how increasing automation is expected to impact ATCOs situational awareness. The results highlighted that automation tools that supported and assisted the controller were more likely to be accepted by ATCOs. Automation tools that assumed/replaced the decision making and authority of the ATCO, had lower levels of acceptance by controllers. Increased automation (electronic strips) was considered to have both a positive and negative effect on ATCO situational awareness dependant on the type of role performed by the controller. When transitioning to systems with increased automation, the lack of system understanding/training, skill degradation and the changing role of controllers were considered the three biggest safety risks. By considering this research, the aviation industry can focus on the introduction of automation tools that can best assist ATCOs. Additionally, this study provides invaluable research from ATCOs to inform Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs) when implementing more automated ATMS.

Keywords: Air traffic management systems; Aviation automated systems; Air traffic controllers; Australia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X22001822
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:trapol:v:125:y:2022:i:c:p:352-362

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
https://shop.elsevie ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2022.07.001

Access Statistics for this article

Transport Policy is currently edited by Y. Hayashi

More articles in Transport Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().