Impacts of a Mixed Media Air Traffic Control Communiation Environment on Aviation Efficiency. Yenson, S. & Rakas, J. In 12th Air Transport Research Society (ATRS) World Conference, Athens, Greece, 2008.
Impacts of a Mixed Media Air Traffic Control Communiation Environment on Aviation Efficiency [pdf]Paper  abstract   bibtex   
As the number of aircraft in a sector increases, voice channel usage also increases. As a result, air traffic controllers experience a workload increase; this larger workload leads to an increase in distances flown by potentially conflicting aircraft. Flight plan deviations, in addition to further increasing controller workload, also increase inefficiencies in the air traffic system. To reduce the voice usage, the use of a mixed media voice and datalink system has been proposed. It is postulated that by reducing voice usage, controller workload and, by extension, the inefficiencies in the system, will be decreased. This study develops a controller workload model for a voice-only and a mixed-media environment. Enroute air traffic control communication data are used as empirical inputs to determine qualitative values for controller workload, and these values are correlated with vector deviations from assigned flight paths to determine the degree of inefficiencies associated with the workload. This research demonstrates increased efficiency with the use of a mixed-media environment, as increasing efficiency in the air traffic system would have wide reaching impacts in many aspects of the aviation community, including economic, environmental, and customer service arenas.

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