THE AUTOMATION EVOLVES: CONCEPT FOR A HIGHLY AUTOMATED CONTROLLER WORKING POSITION

Kurzfassung

Air traffic controlling demands planning, coordination, and active management of airspace for safe flight operations. Human air traffic controllers are a highly skilled and trained workforce to perform air traffic control tasks augmented by system support. However, the growing air traffic volumes push human controllers to their limit in safely managing air traffic, compounded by difficulties in increasing the controller workforce. A feasible solution to meet the growing demand is to automate controller tasks by introducing the latest technology such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. Therefore, we propose a concept for highly automated Single Controller Operations (SCO) that provides a roadmap for future air traffic management systems to address this challenge, which was conceived as part of the project The Individual and Automated Air Traffic (DIAL)1. The most important ideas in the proposed concept are the introduction of the Digital co-Controller (DC) as an integral element of the new controller working position and the reduction of the number of human controllers to a single person. This paper describes the three-stage approach to evolve from a setting with two controllers (radar and planning) to a system consisting of a team with one human and one digital co-controller. Our paper presents the grouping of controller tasks along with the distribution of roles, responsibilities, and achievable automation levels in each stage. Furthermore, it discusses the necessary automation tools, the evolution of the role of the air traffic controller, and the technical background supporting the newly defined controller working position. Finally, fallback solutions are discussed in case the DC is unable to cope with an unexpected and complex situation.