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Complex Networks in Air Transport
Published in Andrew Cook, Damián Rivas, Complexity Science in Air Traffic Management, 2016
Fabrizio Lillo, Rosario N. Mantegna, Salvatore Miccichè
Finally, we mention a recent approach to construct networks of air traffic safety events (Lillo et al., 2009). When two aircraft are too close, an automatic alarm, termed the short-term conflict alert (STCA), is activated and the air traffic controller is supposed to give instructions to the two pilots to avoid a collision. One important question is whether these alerts are isolated events or whether the aircraft initially involved are likely to be involved in other STCAs with other aircraft in the near future and so on, creating a cascade of events. This possibility signals the fact that the controller suggests a local solution without forecasting unintended consequences of his or her instructions. By using a dataset of automatically recorded STCA, Lillo et al. (2009) mapped this problem in a network of STCAs. This in turn can be mapped in a network of aircraft, where two nodes (aircraft) are connected if they were involved together in a STCA. These networks show topological regularities and may shed light on the aircraft conflict resolution dynamics.
The impact of alerting designs on air traffic controller’s eye movement patterns and situation awareness
Published in Ergonomics, 2019
Peter Kearney, Wen-Chin Li, Chung-San Yu, Graham Braithwaite
The majority of alert activations in the COOPANS Air Traffic Management (ATM) system are Short Term Conflict Alert (STCA: a warning system designed to support air traffic controllers in preventing collision between aircraft) which represent 61% of all activated alerts and include 12% of false alerts (Irish Aviation Authority 2016). The COOPANS system is deployed in five countries within Europe: Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Austria and Croatia. ATCOs across these five countries operate a harmonised system which offers three critical alerts using the same acoustic alerting schema in support of the Single European Sky (Eurocontrol 2015). The COOPANS system provides three kinds of alerts which are designed to support air traffic controllers (ATCO) decision-making during critical situations such as conflict between aircraft (STCA), conflict between aircraft and terrain (Minimum Safe Altitude Warning – MSAW), and conflict between aircraft and airspace where airspace activities which are a risk to civil aviation exist (Area Proximity Warning – APW). Activation of any of these three alerts, signaled by a simple acoustic-designed alert (Beep-Beep-Beep-Beep) indicates either a potential conflict of two aircraft (STCA), the conflict between aircraft and prohibited airspace (APW) or conflict between aircraft and terrain (MSAW). The ATCO is then expected to judge and resolve the potential conflict as quickly as possible to prevent an incident or accident (Kearney, Li, and Lin 2016). The activation of the STCA alert on the COOPANS system provides a 90-second warning, that unless appropriate action is taken by ATCOs to resolve the conflict, a significant risk of collision between aircraft exists. If the ATCO does not detect this alert and does not issue control instructions to the flight crew to resolve the conflict, there is a risk of aircraft collision. In the current COOPANS ATM system, an activation of a STCA alert might be misinterpreted as another alert such as APW or MSAW due to the same acoustic stimulus (Beep-Beep-Beep-Beep). This may delay an ATCO’s problem identification thereby weakening ATC safety barriers. Therefore, the auditory alarms should be easily distinguishable from one another by varying frequencies and modulation (Ahlstrom 2003a).