New Approaches for the Use of Extended Mock-ups for the Development of Air Traffic Controller Working Positions

Abstract

Today, integrating new functions into air traffic controller working positions or developing completely new displays are time-consuming and expensive processes. The users are often only included during the concept phase and after the main development phase is completed. Therefore, they do not have the chance to influence the design and development process by giving structural feedback. Any subsequent changes to the system after completing the main development phase will be expensive and slow. This paper proposes a new approach to integrate designers and users more tightly in the development process for digital air traffic control systems. By creating and reviewing realistic mock-ups in small iterative steps, the look and feel of future support functions can be validated in advance of the actual implementation and easily adapted if changes are requested. We performed a series of steps to evaluate the new workflow as a case study, including idea development, design, validation, and implementation into the target system. In a validation campaign with air traffic controllers, the developed design and functionalities received very positive feedback and the new workflow was successfully applied and evaluated as a case study.