In this essay one has been investigating some of the reasons why aviation incidents take place and also examine what strategies there are to minimize the risks - primarily regarding miscommunication which often seems to be a contributing element or a direct cause in aviation mishaps. The aim of this study is to highlight and raise awareness about this field of study from a communicative point of view.The study has been performed using qualitative interviews with pilots, Air Traffic Controllers and other professionals within the aviation industry. The research has been somewhat hampered by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic but not to an extent that would have corrupted the findings.The key results have indicated that miscommunication still is a problem in the aviation industry, but less so on the local national stage than in a global perspective. Two particular occurrences that have been given extra attention are runway incursions and the use of Controller Pilot Data-Link Communications.One has established that there are technical systems available on the market to improve communication performance and that runway incursion is a problem that grows with the complexity of the airport environment. One has also been made aware of the fact that human factors can only be mitigated so far with technology. The principal question has been: How can Miscommunication in Aviation be reduced? / I denna uppsats har vi tittat på några av de bakomliggande orsakerna till att incidenter fortfarande sker inom trafikflyget samt undersökt vilka strategier som föreligger för att minimera dessa risker - primärt pga felkommunikation vilken ofta tenderar att vara en bakomliggande eller direkt utlösande faktor i flygolyckor. Syftet med denna studie är att uppmärksamma och öka medvetenheten om dessa fenomen från en kommunikativ synvinkel.Studien har genomförts medelst en kvalitativ intervjumetod med piloter, flygledare och andra initierade yrkesgrupper inom flygindustrin. Forskningen har hämmats något pga utbrottet av COVID-19 pandemin men inte i en sådan omfattning att resultatet har förvanskats.De huvudsakliga resultaten har indikerat att felkommunikation fortfarande är ett problem inom flygbranschen, men i en långt mindre omfattning på lokal nationell nivå än i ett globalt perspektiv. Två specifika företeelser som har getts extra uppmärksamhet är rullbaneintrång samt användandet av CPDLC (datalänk).Vi har konstaterat att det finns tekniska system på marknaden för att förbättra prestandan på kommunikationen samt att rullbaneintrång är ett problem som växer med flygplatsens storlek och komplexitetsgrad. Vi har också uppmärksammats på att den mänskliga faktorn endast delvis kan undanröjas med hjälp av teknologi. Den huvudsakliga fågeställningen har varit: Hur kan felkommunikation inom flyget reduceras

In my Master´s thesis I am concerned with the questions of the human factor in air traffic control. The work is mainly focused on the air traffic controller and discusses the influences that directly or indirectly affect the air traffic controller. Considerable attention is paid to the errors that may occur during the management, their analysis and proposals for their elimination, respectively their complete disposal. The main idea is to understand the thinking of the air traffic controller as the human element in an organization and applying theories to reduce the errors in the air traffic control.

Die Flugsicherung in Europa befindet sich im Wandel, denn der Europäische Luftraum und die damit verbundenen Prozesse werden seit einigen Jahren harmonisiert. Eine Vielzahl der Forschungsprojekte, die diese Entwicklung begleiten, zielt darauf ab, eine orts- und außensichtunabhängige Arbeitsumgebung für Fluglotsen zu entwickeln. Insbesondere für kleinere Regionalflughäfen besteht die Idee, eine Fernüberwachung in einem Control Center zu bündeln, da die Fluglotsen bis auf die üblichen Peak-Zeiten häufig nicht ausgelastet und teilweise unterfordert sind. Dies ermöglicht nicht nur die Fernüberwachung eines Flughafens, sondern auch die gleichzeitige Überwachung und Kontrolle aller Flugbewegungen von mehreren Flughäfen. Neben den bisherigen Aufgaben eines Fluglotsen, wie das Überwachen des Verantwortungsbereichs und die Gewährleistung einer sicheren und zügigen Abwicklung des Flugplatzverkehrs, ist bei einer Mehrfachkontrolle (Multi-Airport-Control) die Planung des Verkehrsflusses auf den zu kontrollierenden Flughäfen von entscheidender Bedeutung. Neben Systemen zum Außensichtersatz ist hierbei daher auch ein System erforderlich, dass dem Fluglotsen bei der Planung der Flugbewegungen aller Flughäfen unterstützt. Unter Berücksichtigung eines nutzerzentrierten Ansatzes, Richtlinien für einfach bedienbare Benutzerschnittstellen und mit der Intention, auch im Arbeitskontext eine hohe User Experience (UX) zu bieten, wurde das Assistenzsystem MasterMAN entwickelt. Das Konstrukt der User Experience verfolgt einen ganzheitlichen Ansatz und beinhaltet nicht nur sachbezogene Aspekte wie die Usability des Systems sondern auch hedonische Aspekte wie Nutzeremotionen. Folglich wurde eine interaktive grafische Benutzeroberfläche gestaltet, die sowohl einen leichten und sicheren Umgang mit dem System als auch ein anspruchsvolles, positiv empfundenes Look and Feel gewährleistet. Bei der Evaluierung des Systems wurden neben der analytischen Inspektionsmethode Heuristische Evaluation nach Nielsen (1994) auch die ästhetischen Aspekte der grafischen Benutzerschnittstelle mit dem Fragebogen VisAWI (Visual Aesthetics of Websites Inventory) nach Thielsch & Moshagen (2014) adressiert. Acht Usability-Experten bewerteten das Assistenzsystem, notierten alle Auffälligkeiten und Usability-Probleme und führten ein dazugehöriges Severity Rating durch. Unter Zuhilfenahme dieser Vorgehensweise wurden insgesamt 56 Probleme identifiziert, die im weiteren Verlauf der Entwicklung korrigiert wurden. In einer abschließenden Gruppendiskussion mit allen Evaluatoren und den Entwicklern wurden nach dem Vorbild des Pluralistic Walkthrough die Probleme besprochen und Lösungsansätze mit den Usability-Experten erarbeitet. Hinsichtlich der ästhetischen Gestaltung der Benutzerschnittstelle ergab die VisAWIBewertung ein überdurchschnittliches Ergebnis und bestätigte damit ein ansprechendes Design. Weitere Untersuchungen zur Zufriedenheit von Fluglotsen beim Umgang mit dem System sind geplant.

This research is concerned with the modeling and development of algorithmic approaches for solving airport operational problems that arise in Air Traffic Control (ATC) systems within the terminal area at hub airports. Specifically, the problems addressed include the Aircraft Sequencing Problem (ASP) for runway operations, the Network Assignment Problem (NAP) for taxiway operations, and a simulation model for the evaluation of current or proposed ATC system in detail. For the ASP, we develop a mathematical model and apply the Reformulation-Linearization-Technique (RLT) of Sherali and Adams to construct an enhanced tightened version of the proposed model. Since ASP is NP-Hard and in fact, it is a variation of the well-known Traveling Salesman Problem with time-windows, sub-optimal solutions are usually derived to accommodate the real-time constraints of ATC systems. Nevertheless, we exhibit a significant advancement in this challenging class of problem. Also for the purpose of solving relatively large sized problems in practice, we develop and test suitable heuristic procedures. For the NAP, we propose a quasi-dynamic assignment scheme which is based on the incremental assignment technique. This quasi-dynamic assignment method assumes that the current aircraft route is influenced only by the previous aircraft assigned to the network. This simplified assumption obviates the need for iterative rerouting procedures to reach a pure equilibrium state which might not be achievable in practical taxiway operations. To evaluate the overall system, we develop a microscopic simulation model. The simulation model is designed to have the capability for reproducing not only the dynamic behavior of aircraft, but also incorporates communication activities between controllers and pilots. These activities are critical in ATC operations, and in some instances, might limit the capacity of the facility. Finally, using the developed simulation model named Virginia Tech Airport Simulation Model (VTASM) in concert with ASP and NAP, we compare the overall efficiencies of several control strategies, including that of the existing control system as well as of the proposed advanced control system. / Ph. D.

This work will study intelligent systems for traffic control and will design an application which will control existing traffic junction. From formal specification to an implementation. It will be a real time application. That means it will work in real time. We will also study real time operating systems and we will choose the most suitable for our application and we will implement our application on this operating system.

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A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Organisational Psychology), 2017 / The aim of the present study was to utilise a mixed methods design as a means of investigating the relation between job demands, job resources, safety, and burnout in Air Traffic Management (ATM) technicians. It was also of interest to determine participants’ perspectives on the job demands and resources that may be present in their occupational environment, their participation in safety behaviours, and their perceptions regarding their work and safety performance. Non-probability, convenience sampling was employed to acquire the participants of the present research study. Participants included 33 ATM technicians (50.77% response rate) who took part in the quantitative component of the research study and 14 ATM who took part in the interview process. Participants’ ages ranged from 27 to 55 years (M = 38.91; SD = 8.76) and 90.1% were male (n = 30). Jackson and Rothmann’s (2005) original Job Demands-Resources Scale was used for the assessment of the job demands and resources sixteen items were also added to the original JDRS scale. Sixteen items were added to incorporate the possible job resources and demands experienced by ATM technicians, which were separated into the following sub-scales: shifts, weather conditions, travel, and equipment. Schaufeli, Leiter, Maslach, and Jackson’s (1996) Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBIGS) was used to assess ATM technicians’ burnout. Safety behaviours were assessed through the integration of items found within two safety behaviour scales developed by Neal and Griffin (2006) and Hofmann and Morgeson (1999). A semi-structured interview process consisting of open-ended questions was used to discuss the following issues: job tasks, job demands, job resources, burnout, job safety, work-family spillover, and job performance. The findings depicted a weak, positive correlation between the perception of job demands and the experience of burnout (r = .376, p < .05) and a weak, negative correlation between the perception of job resources and the experience of burnout (r = -.383, p < .05). Job resources significantly predicted the experience of burnout (β = -.494, p = .002), as did job demands (β = .489, p = .003). A moderate, positive correlation between the perception of job resources and safety behaviours was obtained (r = .514, p < .01). The participants’ perceptions of job resources explained 26.5% of the variance in safety behaviours, (R2= .265, F(1, 31) = 11.16, p < 0.05. ATM technicians took part in the following safety behaviours: they consistently communicated with both management and air traffic controllers as a way of knowing exactly what the problem is before they went to a site, they took part in training programs as a means of keeping up to date with the latest technological knowledge, attended safety meetings, always communicated with management on how to increase safety, and made sure that a first aid kit was always available. ATM technician’s safety and performance appeared to be heavily influenced by their own personal understanding of the occupation’s risks, the weather conditions that take place on each specific site, the safety equipment that is worn, the knowledge of the possible repercussions that may arise from making any mistakes, and their own individual mood or disposition. / XL2018

No description available.

No description available.

A challenge in today's society is to handle a large amount of vehicles traversing an intersection. Traffic lights are often used to control the traffic flow in these intersections. However, there are inefficiencies since the algorithms used to control the traffic lights do not perfectly adapt to the traffic situation. The purpose of this paper is to compare three different types of algorithms used in traffic control systems to find out how to minimize vehicle waiting times. A pretimed, a deterministic and a reinforcement learning algorithm were compared with each other. Test were conducted on a four-way intersection with various traffic demands using the program Simulation of Urban MObility (SUMO). The results showed that the deterministic algorithm performed best for all demands tested. The reinforcement learning algorithm performed better than the pretimed for low demands, but worse for varied and higher demands. The reasons behind these results are the deterministic algorithm's knowledge about vehicular movement and the negative effects the curse of dimensionality has on the training of the reinforcement learning algorithm. However, more research must be conducted to ensure that the results obtained are trustworthy in similar and different traffic situations. / En utmaning i dagens samhälle är att hantera en stor mängd fordon som kör igenom en korsning. Trafikljus används ofta för att kontrollera trafikflödena genom dessa korsningar. Det finns däremot ineffektiviteter eftersom algoritmerna som används för att kontrollera trafikljusen inte är perfekt anpassade till trafiksituationen. Syftet med denna rapport är att jämföra tre typer av algoritmer som används i trafiksystem för att undersöka hur väntetid för fordon kan minimeras. En tidsbaserad, en deterministisk och en förstärkande inlärning-algoritm jämfördes med varandra. Testerna utfördes på en fyrvägskorsning med olika trafikintensiteter med hjälp av programmet Simulation of Urban MObility (SUMO). Resultaten visade att den deterministiska algoritmen presterade bäst för alla olika trafikintensiteter. Inlärningsalgoritmen presterade bättre än den tidsbaserade på låga intensiteter, men sämre på varierande och högre intensiteter. Anledningarna bakom resultaten är att den deterministiska algoritmen har kunskap om hur fordon rör sig samt att dimensionalitetsproblem påverkar träningen av inlärningsalgoritmen negativt. Det krävs däremot mer forskning för att säkerställa att resultaten är pålitliga i liknande och annorlunda trafiksituationer.