John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (U.S.)

Tech Report

Final Report; Nov. 1989 - Aug. 1990

United States. Federal Aviation Administration

NTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-SAFETY AND SECURITY ; NTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Human Factors ; NTL-AVIATION-AVIATION ; NTL-AVIATION-Air Traffic Control ; NTL-AVIATION-Aviation Safety/Airworthiness ;

This study was conducted to examine the impacts of voice communications delays

characteristic of Voice Switching and Control System (VSCS) and satellite

communications systems on air traffic system performance, controller stress

and workload, and communications disruptions. To accomplish this a simulation

was developed and performed at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

Technical Center. The simulation used scenarios constructed from records of

live air traffic at five adjacent Atlanta Air Route Traffic Control Center

(ARTCC) sectors. Nine full performance level air traffic control specialists

from the Atlanta ARTCC sectors simulated participated as subjects. Four delay

levels were employed corresponding to: current equipment with and without

satellite link, and VSCS with and without satellite. Three levels of

communications workload were used based on 70 percent, 90 percent, and 110

percent of reference values for the actual sectors. VSCS delays were not

found to have any statistically significant impact on any measure. Satellite

delays were found to be associated with a statistically significant increase

in one kind of communication disruption (step-ons) at the highest level of

communications workload used in the study.

PDF

FA024/A0193

Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, Technical Reference Center