Upper Airspace Skill-Level Index for Smart Competency Monitoring

Kurzfassung

The training and qualification of air traffic controllers (ATCO) is a lengthy and cost-intensive process. Almost all air navigation service provider (ANSP) worldwide select and train their junior staff. The selection process is a major challenge for school graduates, which more and more potential applicants seem unable or unwilling to face. Even for those who complete training, career mobility remains limited. Changing a controller's place of work within a country is time-consuming, but possible. Due to different requirements for licenses, professional experience, and health, it is difficult for controllers to move from one country to another. Therefore, ensuring the sufficient and nationwide availability of ATCOs remains a major challenge. Especially at times of high traffic, this results in flight delays and even complete cancellations, to the detriment of both airlines and passengers. The calculation of the Upper Airspace Skill-Level Index (UASLI) for air traffic controllers can be used to estimate the expected capabilities of a controller in any previously unknown upper airspace sector. 'Unknown' in this case means that it is a sector in which the respective controller does not have a unit endorsement and therefore has neither special training nor accompanied an on-the-job training. The determined skill level can be based on a single measurable parameter, but it can also be an index composed of several criteria. In air traffic management, there have already been approaches to establish a connection between the capacity of an airspace and the workload of air traffic controllers using complexity analysis with equations and weighted parameters. However, there are no existing approaches that aim to comprehensively measure capabilities in terms of experienced scenarios, in order to leverage them when assigning controllers to sectors based on the specific requirements of those sectors. This document presents seventeen skill parameters that could be used to summaries the actual experiences of air traffic controllers conducting area control services These can be used to assess whether and how they will be able to work safely and efficiently as part of a team in a sector at a particular time.