Modeling the effects of new automation capabilities on air traffic control operations: Approved for public release; Distribution unlimited. Case number 17-2692

When developing new automation capabilities, analysts must consider how those capabilities affect the air traffic controller's tasks. At the request of the FAA, MITRE examined how a future set of automation enhancements for the TRACON domain will impact air traffic controller workflow, task times, and mental effort. The MITRE team assessed these operational impacts to the controller through task modeling with a tool called Cogulator. We modeled tasks representing operations with today's tools (as-is) and use of the TRACON automation enhancements (to-be). Our modeling results show how a controller's workflow changes when the controller chooses to use the TRACON automation enhancements. These workflow changes include electronic communication in place of voice communication, as well as earlier notification of separation and spacing conflicts. Our results also demonstrate other impacts of using the automation enhancements: shorter task times associated with each capability and mental effort levels that decrease or stay the same.

I. Introduction

When developing new automation enhancements, key questions that arise are: how will the automation change what an air traffic controller does? Will the new automation make the controller's job easier? Will the new automation make the controller's job more difficult? Common ways to understand the operational impact to a controller include scenario walkthroughs and Human-In-The-Loop (HITL) simulations. In this paper, the MITRE team leverages the unique strengths of task modeling to describe operational effects of new automation capabilities on the air traffic controller. This can be used as an early concept assessment method, with more robust concept validation methods like HITL simulations and field trials, later applied