Multimodal Controller Working Position,Integration of Automatic Speech Recognition and Multi-Touch Technology

Abstract

The following thesis was conducted in the German Aerospace Center, specifically in the department Controller Assistance of the Institute of Flight Guidance. The aim of the thesis is the conception of a multimodal controller working position that incorpo-rates automatic speech recognition (ASR) and the multi-touch interaction technology in order to confront current challenges of the air traffic management like the in-creased frequency congestion and high workload of the controller. To this end, the air traffic management environment is described; especially radiote-lephony and data link connection as means of interaction between controllers and pilots are considered in detail. Consequently to an investigation on the topics multimodality, ASR and multi-touch, the main part of this thesis will then be the structured development of the multimod-al concept. The resulting concept enables the controller to alternatively input commands via speech or multi-touch gestures. As the commands given via multi-touch require the usage of the not real-time capable data link, time-critical commands are to be sent via radiotelephony as regular. Following, a corresponding multimodal prototype is developed. The subsequent pre-liminary usability evaluation with 4 colleagues of the department Controller Assis-tance can determine a good acceptance and usability of the system and a considerable reduction of frequency congestion by the usage of the multimodal concept.