Research shows that although the representation of women in the workforce has increased over the past couple of decades, there are many industries that still remain male dominated. In addition, it is generally known that such male-dominated industries have minimal female representation at their managerial levels. One such male-dominated industry in South Africa is the air traffic control (ATC) industry. Women represent about 30 percent of the industry, which suggest their status in the industry is still quite low. The purpose of this study was to examine male and female air traffic controllers’ perceptions of factors that facilitate and constrain women’s career advancement, and to determine whether there were any significant differences in their opinions. The study also identified what male and female air traffic controllers (ATCOs) think the industry can do to help prepare women for leadership positions in the industry, and how to eliminate barriers that may exist to women’s career advancement. Data for this study were collected through an online questionnaire adapted from Zhong’s (2006) study on a convenience sample (N = 147) of male and female ATCOs in South Africa. The data analysis was executed by using factor analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Content analysis was used to analyse the two open-ended questions. The findings from the ANOVA suggest that there were four significant gender differences in perceptions of the Personal effort/External support, Attitude/Internal character, Equity, and Family issues. There also were significant differences in opinion on External support/Personal effort, Attitude/Internal character, Equity and Family issues, depending on the number of children the respondents had, and significant differences of marital status on the External support/Personal effort and Family issues. Finally, significant differences were found in the years’ experience variable for Attitude/Internal character. In response to the open-ended questions, most of the respondents suggested that the ATC industry should offer training programmes to improve awareness of possible barriers within the industry, as well as to offer advice on how to overcome them and improve their leadership skills. This could be done by creating programmes on the knowledge and skills needed to advance one’s career or by providing mentors or role models. Future research could compare the perceptions of employees from different race groups and their perceptions of women’s career advancement in male-dominated industries. It is also recommended that researchers conduct in-depth qualitative interviews together with the current questionnaire to evaluate perceptions of the career advancement of women more critically. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

In der heutigen Zeit ist die effiziente Nutzung aller verfügbaren Ressourcen von zentralem Interesse. Im Bereich der Flugführung hat die Fernüberwachung von Flughäfen aus diesem Grund über die letzten 10 Jahre immer mehr Bedeutung erlangt. Die größten Vorteile der Fernüberwachung liegen in der geringeren Abhängigkeit von Flughafengebäuden und deren Instandhaltung, einer vereinfachten Personalplanung (vor allem bei kleinen Flughäfen) sowie dem möglichen Hinzufügen von zusätzlichen Informationen beim Arbeitsplatz zur Fernüberwachung. Insbesondere das Designen eines Arbeitsplatzes zur Fernüberwachung hat in diesem Zusammenhang eine Schlüsselrolle eingenommen. Die größte Herausforderung bei dieser Umsetzung ist ein Mensch-Computer-Interaktionsmodell, das die Verlagerung der Arbeitsplätze unterstützt, indem es die Einflüsse auf den Operateur und dessen Aufgaben beschreibt. Die vorliegende Dissertation fokussiert sich auf die Anwendung und Verbesserung eines Mensch-Computer-Interfacemodells zur Umwandlung eines Arbeitsplatzinterfaces ohne Beeinflussung der Aufgabe des Operateurs. Das präsentierte Modell konzentriert sich auf den Informationsfluss am Arbeitsplatz, anstatt technisch machbare Konzepte zu präsentieren. Es besteht aus 3 Teilen, welche sich separat mit dem Einfluss des veränderten Interfaces auf den Informationsfluss auseinandersetzen. Das Modell wird für die Thematik der Fernüberwachung spezifiziert und angewendet. Nur wenige Publikationen beschäftigten sich bisher mit Strategien, mit denen Towerlotsen Flugführung durchführen. Daher ist das Ziel dieser Arbeit, einen soliden Beitrag zur Entwicklung der Psychologie im Bereich Mensch-Computer-Interaktion zu leisten, welcher durch praktische Anwendungen und Erweiterungen der Methodik untermauert wird. Der Hauptunterschied zwischen dem konventionellen Arbeitsplatz und dem Arbeitsplatz zur Fernüberwachung ist der Verlust der Außensicht und des Fernglases und deren Ersatz durch Kamerasysteme. Neue Systeme in der Flugsicherung können die menschliche Leistung beeinflussen. Daher hat die Fernüberwachung besonderen Einfluss auf die Bereiche Ausrüstung des Arbeitsplatzes, das Benutzerinterface und menschliche Leistungsfähigkeit. Die Herausforderung für die Ausrüstung des Arbeitsplatzes besteht darin, Informationen zu identifizieren, welche durch die Fernüberwachung reduziert wurden und diese durch zusätzliche Informationensysteme bzw. Assistenzsysteme zu ergänzen. Für den Faktor Benutzerinterface ist das Ermitteln und Analysieren von dynamischen Informationen besonders wichtig. Für die menschliche Leistungsfähigkeit besteht hier die Frage, wie sich Arbeitslast und Situationsbewusstsein kombiniert auf die Leistung auswirken und welche Konsequenzen das auf die Arbeit an einem Arbeitsplatz zur Fernüberwachung hat. Alle Herausforderungen wurden im Detail analysiert. Für den Faktor Ausrüstung des Arbeitsplatzes zeigen zwei Analysen die große Vielzahl an Indikatoren, welche verwendet werden können, um die Veränderung des Informationsflusses zu bestimmen. Die detaillierte Analyse des Windsack Indikators liefert ein Beispiel, wie die verschiedenen Indikatoren angewendet werden können. Die zweite Analyse zeigt, wie die bestehenden Indikatoren zur Lotsenaufgabe um spezielle Wetterindikatoren erweitert werden, um den Aspekt der Überwachung des Luftraums vollständig abzudecken. Für den Faktor Benutzerinterface wurde eine besondere Blickanalyse mit dem Namen Integration Guideline for Dynamic Areas of Interest (IGDAI) entwickelt. Diese erlaubt, die dynamischen Informationen innerhalb des Interfaces eines Arbeitsplatzes zu analysieren. Sie wird auf den Arbeitsplatz zur Fernüberwachung angewendet. Für den Faktor menschliche Leistungsfähigkeit zeigt eine detaillierte Analyse, wie Arbeitslast und Situationsbewusstsein die Leistung bei niedriger und hoher Aufgabenlast beeinflussen. Durch das Anwenden von IGDAI konnten zwei Kontrollstrategien in Abhängigkeit zur Aufgabenlast identifiziert werden. Das bereitgestellte Model für die Veränderung des Interfaces ohne Beeinflussung der Operatoraufgabe stellt einen Sonderfall in Bereich der Mensch-Computer-Interaktion dar. Der Übergang vom konventionellen zum Fernüberwachungsarbeitsplatz ist ein sich immer noch fortsetzender Prozess. Weitere Entwicklungen im Bereich der Fernüberwachung von Flughäfen sind notwendig, um den zukünftigen Herausforderungen an die Flugführung zu begegnen. Deshalb stellen die in dieser Dissertation dargestellten Konstrukte, erarbeiteten Methoden sowie Ergebnisse eine solide Basis für zukünftige Forschungsarbeiten bereit.:Table of Contents I Synopsis 1 1 Introduction 2 2 Research framework and goals 4 2.1 Human-computer interaction 4 2.2 Remote Tower Operations 4 2.3 Remote Tower Research 6 2.4 Embedding into HCI 7 2.5 Research goals of the dissertation 8 3 The development of a new workplace 9 3.1 Redesign of a workplace 9 3.2 Design factors in Aviation 10 3.3 Remote Tower Metrics 11 3.4 Dynamic Areas of Interests 11 3.5 Adaptation and strategy shifts 11 4 Methodological aspects of the dissertation 13 4.1 Identify and evaluate remote tower metrics 13 4.2 Evaluate dynamic areas of interest 13 4.3 Measuring Situation Awareness 14 5 Discussion and implications 16 5.1 Summarising the findings 16 5.2 Theoretical implications 17 5.3 Implications for the application 19 5.4 Critical reflection of the methodology 20 5.5 Revenue for psychological research 22 6 Literature 24 II Article 1: How to Evaluate Remote Tower Metrics in Connection to Weather Observations. An Extension of the Existing Metrics 28 III Article 2: A Guideline for Integrating Dynamic Areas of Interests in Existing Set-up for Capturing Eye Movement: Looking at Moving Aircraft 53 IV Article 3: The Influence of Task Load on Situation Awareness and Control Strategy in the ATC Tower Environment. 84 V Contributions to conferences 116 VI Curriculum vitae and publications 117 / The efficient usage of all available resources is a central interest of our time. In air traffic management, the topic of remote tower operations has increased in importance over the last 10 years. Herein, the design of a remote tower workplace plays a key role in the successful implementation of remote tower operations. Less dependency on building and maintaining airport control towers, an improved human research planning (especially for small airports) and an increase in available information to the conventional tower workplace are central advantages of remote tower operations. However, a potential challenge for this approach is an HCI model that supports the transition by describing the influence on the operator task. This dissertation focuses on the application and improvement of an HCI approach to redesign a workplace by changing the interface without influencing the task of the operator. The presented model focuses on the flow of information rather than the presentation of technical possibilities. It consists of three parts that each individually measure and analyse the influence that a redesigned interface has on the flow in information. This model is specified and applied to remote tower operations. Prior to this dissertation, there were only a few publications connected to the strategies that air traffic control officers (ATCO) in the tower use to control traffic and virtually no publications connected to the practical implications for working at a remote tower workplace. Therefore, the goal was to provide a well-founded contribution to the development of psychology in the area of human-computer interaction by applying the psychological theories and extension of the methodology. The main difference between the conventional and the remote tower workplaces is the replacement of out-the-window view and binoculars by camera systems. Based on what influences the human performance in connection with new systems developed in air traffic control, most changes afflict the general workstation and equipment, the user interface, and human resource management. The challenge for the factor workstation and equipment is to identify the information decrease at the remote tower workplace and its replacement with additional information whilst simultaneously ensuring that this information can be tested in a standardised manor throughout a variety of research projects and several different prototypes. The challenge for the factor user interface was the analysis of the dynamic information presented at the remote tower workplace. The challenge for the human resource management is to identify how workload and situation awareness influence performance. In sum, all challenges are analysed in detail. For the factor workstation and equipment, two analyses showed a large variety of indicators that are applicable to evaluate the difference in the flow of information between the conventional and the remote tower workplace. The first analysis of the windsock indicator provided an example of how the different metrics can be applied. The second analysis showed that the weather remote tower metrics extend the existing remote tower metrics and thereby complete the aspects of the monitoring that an ATCO has to perform. For the factor user interface an advanced gaze analysis, called Integration Guideline for Dynamic Areas of Interest (IGDAI) was developed. This allows for a detailed analysis of the dynamic information presented at the remote tower workplace. For the factor human resource management, a detailed analysis shows how situation awareness and workload influence performance within low and high task load phases. By applying IGDAI, the existence of two control strategies for the Air Traffic Control (ATC) environment that are each related to the task load phases could be identified as well as the extent to which these might afflict remote tower operations. The provided model of redesigning only the interface presents a detailed approach for a special case in HCI. The transition from the conventional to the remote tower operations is an ongoing process that will be continued. The development in the domain of remote tower operations seems to be stable and necessary to keep up with the challenges of future air traffic management. Therefore, the analysed constructs, developed methodologies and presented results from this dissertation provide a seminal basis for the necessary future research.:Table of Contents I Synopsis 1 1 Introduction 2 2 Research framework and goals 4 2.1 Human-computer interaction 4 2.2 Remote Tower Operations 4 2.3 Remote Tower Research 6 2.4 Embedding into HCI 7 2.5 Research goals of the dissertation 8 3 The development of a new workplace 9 3.1 Redesign of a workplace 9 3.2 Design factors in Aviation 10 3.3 Remote Tower Metrics 11 3.4 Dynamic Areas of Interests 11 3.5 Adaptation and strategy shifts 11 4 Methodological aspects of the dissertation 13 4.1 Identify and evaluate remote tower metrics 13 4.2 Evaluate dynamic areas of interest 13 4.3 Measuring Situation Awareness 14 5 Discussion and implications 16 5.1 Summarising the findings 16 5.2 Theoretical implications 17 5.3 Implications for the application 19 5.4 Critical reflection of the methodology 20 5.5 Revenue for psychological research 22 6 Literature 24 II Article 1: How to Evaluate Remote Tower Metrics in Connection to Weather Observations. An Extension of the Existing Metrics 28 III Article 2: A Guideline for Integrating Dynamic Areas of Interests in Existing Set-up for Capturing Eye Movement: Looking at Moving Aircraft 53 IV Article 3: The Influence of Task Load on Situation Awareness and Control Strategy in the ATC Tower Environment. 84 V Contributions to conferences 116 VI Curriculum vitae and publications 117

Air traffic networks are essential to today’s global society. They are the fastest means of transporting physical goods and people and are a major contributor to the globalisation of the world’s economy. This increasing reliance requires these networks to have high resilience; however, previous events show that they can be susceptible to natural hazards. We assess two strategies to improve the resilience of air traffic networks and show an adaptive reconfiguration strategy is superior to a permanent re-routing solution. We find that, if traffic networks have fixed air routes, the geographical location of airports leaves them vulnerable to spatial hazard.

This study was conducted at the Swedish Defense research agency as an attempt to understand affordances and limitations in visualizing altitude information for fighter controllers. The fighter controllers are subject to large quantities of numerical information from multiple sources simultaneously. Their duties are highly stressful and require large mental workload and situational awareness. Today, a large portion of information is represented visually, except for altitude. The altitude of a jet is represented only numerically on the screen, next to the icon representing an airplane. This thesis attempts to aid the users in their tasks, by determining if interactive visual information could benefit the current system. This study resulted in one prototype, where height was represented in three different ways, one using color coordination, one using different sizes and one mimicked the current numerical representation. These variations were evaluated in a user study, consisting of semi structured interviews along with benchmark tests. None of the suggested visual cues could be demonstrated as more efficient than the current representation, but a majority of participants preferred the version using varying sizes as this was considered more intuitive and held less limitations than the other version. Future research is encouraged as to successfully determine if altitude information can be visually represented for a decreased mental workload. / Denna studie genomfördes vid Totalförsvarets Forskningsinstitut som ett försök att utreda möjligheter och svårigheter med att visuellt presentera information om altitud för flygstridsledare. Flygstridsledare utsätts för stora mängder numerisk information, från ett flertal olika källor simultant. Derad uppgifter utförs under hög stress och kräver stor mental belastning samt situationsmedvetenhet. Idag representeras en stor mängd information visuellt, på flygstridsledarens radarskärm, med undantaget för höjden. Ett objekts altitud på skärmen representeras alltid numeriskt, bredvid ikonen för flygplan. Detta arbete har gjorts i avsikt att hjälpa flygstridsledaren i dennes uppgifter, genom att utreda om interaktiv visuell information kan vara av nytta för deras nuvarande system. Denna studie resulterade i en prototyp, i vilken höjd representerades på tre olika sätt. Genom färg med varierande opacitet, genom olika storlekar på objekten, samt den nuvarande numeriska metoden. Dessa versioner utvärderades i en användarstudie, bestående av semistrukturerade intervjuer samt benchmark test. Ingen av de föreslagna visualiseringarna kunde påvisas mer effektiv än det nuvarande systemet, men en majoritet av deltagarna föredrog versionen med varierande storlekar, eftersom detta ansågs mer intuitivt samt hade färre begränsningar. Vidare studier uppmanas för att med framgång avgöra om altituden kan representeras visuellt, för en minskad mental belastning.

Using a new implementation of a NASA flight simulation of the Quiet Short-Haul Research Aircraft, autopilots were designed to be capable of flying both straight in (ILS) approaches, and circling (SNI) approaches. A standard glideslope coupler was sufficient for most conditions, but a standard Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) based localizer tracker was not sufficient for maintaining a lateral track on the SNI course. To track the SNI course, a feed-forward system, using GPS steering provided much better results. NASA and the FAA embrace the concept of a Simultaneous, Non-Interfering (SNI) approach as a way to increase airport throughput while reducing the noise footprints of aircraft on approach. The NASA concept for the SNI approach for Short Takeoff and Landing (STOL) aircraft involves a straight in segment flown above the flight path of a normal approach, followed by a spiraling descent to the runway. As this is a procedure that would be utilized by regional airliners, it is assumed that it would be conducted under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR). GPS or INS guidance would be required to fly this approach, and it is likely that it would be necessary to fly the approach with a coupled autopilot: a stabilized, curving, instrument approach to decision altitude would be exceedingly difficult to fly. The autopilots in many current commuter and general aviation aircraft, however, were designed before the event of GPS, and do not have provisions for tracking curved paths. This study identifies problem areas in implementing the SNI circling approach on aircraft and avionics as they stand today and also gives examples of what can be done for the SNI approach to be successful.

With unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, becoming readily available and affordable, applications for these devices have grown immensely. One type of application is the use of drones to fly over large areas and detect desired entities. For example, a swarm of drones could detect marine creatures near the surface of the ocean and provide users the location and type of animal found. However, even with the reduction in cost of drone technology, such applications result costly due to the use of custom hardware with built-in advanced capabilities. Therefore, the focus of this thesis is to compile an easily customizable, low-cost drone design with the necessary hardware for autonomous behavior, swarm coordination, and on-board object detection capabilities. Additionally, this thesis outlines the necessary network architecture to handle the interconnection and bandwidth requirements of the drone swarm. The drone on-board system uses a PixHawk 4 flight controller to handle flight mechanics, a Raspberry Pi 4 as a companion computer for general-purpose computing power, and a NVIDIA Jetson Nano Developer Kit to perform object detection in real-time. The implemented network follows the 802.11s standard for multi-hop communications with the HWMP routing protocol. This topology allows drones to forward packets through the network, significantly extending the flight range of the swarm. Our experiments show that the selected hardware and implemented network can provide direct point-to-point communications at a range of up to 1000 feet, with extended range possible through message forwarding. The network also provides sufficient bandwidth for bandwidth intensive data such as live video streams. With an expected flight time of about 17 minutes, the proposed design offers a low-cost drone swarm solution for mid-range aerial surveillance applications.

Kontroll av trafik på och kring flygfält är ett krav för att få industrin och dess relaterade tjänster att upnå den säkerhet och effektivitet som krävs i dagens samhälle. Detta har traditionellt gjorts med bemannade kontrolltorn med full utsikt över fältet. Dessa torn är dock kostsamma både i konstruktion, drift och bemanning. Flygtrafik kontroll på distans har varit i utveckling under de senaste åren. Dessa projekt har som mål att sänka kostnader och låta avlägsna flygplatser med lite eller säsongsbaserad trafik att ändå ha tillgång till flygkontrollanter vid behov året om. Sådan teknologi kräver att kamera och positionsbestämning arbetar tillsammans med ett användargränssnitt som presenterar all relevant information på ett effektivt och intuitivt sätt. Denna rapport täcker designval och teknologier använda i utvecklingen av ett gränssnitt som använder augumented reality för att binda renderade element till ett objekt i bild igenom att utnyttja dess GPS koordinater. Projektet har som mål att visa ett produktkoncept som realistiskt sett skulle kunna utvecklas till en kommersiell produkt. Den färdiga applikationen använder ett set av tidsstämplade GPS koordinater från fordon i trafik på ett flygfält samt video av området. Applikationen använder kamerakalibrering för att bestämma kamerans position och orientering för att sedan omvandla GPS position till skärmposition så att man kan binda grafiska element till GPS koordinaterna vilket i detta fall är fordonen i drift. Projektet utnyttjar OpenGL samt fritt tillgängliga bibliotek för att hantera uppspelning av videofil, avkodning av bildformat och projektion av koordinater inom applikationen. Resultatet visar ett troligt produktkoncept som kan utnyttjas inom framtida produkter och system samt hur ett sådant systems användargränssnitt kan se ut, då projektet använder välkända kalibreringsmetoder och bibliotek som används inom industrin. / Air- and ground traffic control of any airport or airfield is a vital task necessary to ensure the safety and reliability of the services it provides and the efficiency of the infrastructure. Traditionally done through manned towers with an outlook over the field where operators can guide the traffic into safe takeoffs and landings. This traditional air-traffic control tower is, however, costly to build, maintain and staff. The remotecontrolled tower has been in development for some time now, meant to reduce cost and provide operators to any field utilizing the technology when need arise, even in remote locations with season dependent usage. However, with such technology one needs a camera, geographic locators, and information interfaces to all work together. This report covers the design and technologies used to develop an Augmented Reality interface that anchors its position based on a geographic locator using the GPS system. Its objective is to showcase or conceptualize a product that could realistically be developed further into a commercially viable system. Used within the application is a subset of timestamped GPS data of moving vehicles and a recorded video of the same area. Using Camera Calibration algorithms to find the location of the camera and line up the position of calibration points and their viewed position in the video one can later track the vehicles and attach AR-interfaces over them. All of which is rendered using OpenGL and freely available libraries for video playback and more. The result showcases a viable conceptualization of what future products might look like using current graphical guidelines and well-known calibration methods using a graphics library that is well used within the industry and multiple application or game engines.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is continuously assessing the operational performance of the National Airspace System (NAS), where they analyze trends in the aviation industry to help develop strategies for a more efficient air transportation system. To measure the performance of various elements of the aviation system, the FAA and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) developed nineteen key performance indicators (KPIs). This dissertation contains three research studies, each written in journal format, addressing select KPIs. These studies aim at answering questions that help understand and improve different aspects of airport operational efficiency. In the first study, we model the flight times within the terminal airspace and compare our results with the baseline methodology that the FAA uses for benchmarking. In the second study, we analyze the efficiency of deicing operations at Chicago O'Hare (ORD) by developing an algorithm that analyzes radar data. We also use a simulation model to calculate potential improvements in the deicing operations. Lastly, we present our results of a clustering analysis surrounding the response of airports to demand and capacity changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings of these studies add to literature by providing a methodology that predicts travel times within the last 100 nautical miles with greater accuracy, by providing deicing times per aircraft type, and by providing insight into factors related to airport response to shock events. These findings will be useful for air traffic management decision makers in addition to other researchers in related future studies and airport simulations. / Doctor of Philosophy / The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the transportation agency that regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the United States. The FAA is continuously analyzing trends in the aviation industry to help develop a more efficient air transportation system. They measure the performance of various elements of the aviation system. For example, there are indicators focused on the departure phase of flights measuring departure punctuality and additional time in taxi-out. On the arrivals side, there are indicators that measure the additional time spent in the last 100 nautical miles of flight. Additionally, there are indicators that measure the performance of the airport as a whole such as the peak capacity and the peak throughput. This dissertation contains three research studies, each one aims at answering questions that help understand and improve a different aspect of airport operational efficiency. The first study is focused on arrivals where we model the flight times within the last 100 nautical miles of flight. Our model incorporated factors such as wind and weather conditions to predict flight times within the last 100 nautical miles with greater accuracy than the baseline methodology that the FAA currently uses. The resulting more accurate benchmarks are important in helping decision makers, such as airport managers, understand the factors causing arrival delays. In the second study, we analyze the efficiency of deicing operations which can be a major source of departure delays during winter weather. We use radar data at Chicago O'Hare airport to analyze real life operations. We developed a simulation model that allowed us to recreate actual scenarios and run what-if scenarios to estimate potential improvements in the process. Our results showed potential savings of 25% in time spent in the deicing system if the airport changed their queueing style towards a first come first served rather than leaving it for the airlines to have their separate areas. Lastly, we present an analysis of the response of airports to demand and capacity changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this last study, we group airports by the changes in their throughput and capacity during two time periods. The first part of the study compares airports operations during 2019 to the pandemic during the "shock event" in 2020. The second part compares the changes in airports operations during 2020 with the "recovery" time period using data from 2021. This analysis showed which airports reacted similarly during the shock and recovery. It also showed the relationship between airport response and factors such as what kind of airlines use the airport, airport hub size, being located in a multi-airport city, percentage of cargo operations. The results of this study can help in understanding airport resilience based on known airport characteristics, this is particularly useful for predicting airport response to future disruptive events.

<p dir="ltr">The Air Traffic Management (ATM) system encompasses complex and safety-critical operations which are mainly managed by Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs) and pilots to ensure safety and efficiency. This air traffic operation becomes more complex and challenging as demands continue to increase. Indeed, the demand for air transport is expected to increase by an average of 4.3% annually over the next 20 years, and the projected number of flights is expected to reach around 90 million by 2040 [1]. This continuous growth of demands can lead to an excessive workload for both ATCs and pilots, thereby resulting in the degradation of the ATM system. To effectively respond to this problem, a lot of effort has been put into developing decision support tools. This dissertation explores and focuses on the development of algorithms for decision support tools in air traffic control, emphasizing specific desirable properties essential for tasks such as tracking the position of aircraft and monitoring air traffic. The primary focus of this dissertation is to combine a data-driven model and a physics-based model systematically, thereby addressing the limitations of previous works in trajectory prediction and anomaly detection. Through a literature review, important properties, including real-time applicability, interpretability, and feasibility, are identified and pursued for practical applications. These properties are integrated into the proposed algorithms which combine data-driven and physics-based models to address dynamic air traffic scenarios effectively. To meet the requirement of real-time applicability, the algorithms are designed to be computationally efficient and adaptable to continuously changing conditions, ensuring timely provision of immediate information and near-instantaneous responses to assist ATCs. Subsequently, interpretability allows controllers to understand the reasoning behind the algorithm’s predictions. This is facilitated by the use of attention mechanisms and explicit physics-based guidance, making the predictions more intuitive and understandable. In addition, anomaly detection algorithms provide human-readable decision boundaries for flight states for a clear understanding. Lastly, feasibility ensures that the algorithms generate realistic aircraft trajectory predictions based on current flight states and air traffic conditions. This is achieved by physics-guided machine learning which leverages both data-driven and physics-based approaches, accounting for the aircraft dynamics and uncertainties. Moreover, practical and operational considerations are integrated into algorithms for real-world applications. This includes developing anomaly detection models that are adaptable to dynamic trajectory patterns to address the complexities of flexible area navigation airspace. Additionally, to reduce the workload of ATCs, providing immediate advisories for anomaly resolution and arrival sequencing is targeted by learning from historical data. By considering these properties with practical considerations, the dissertation presents a suite of algorithms that can effectively support human operators for air traffic control. </p>

Air traffic services (ATS) play an important role for flight safety. Remote air traffic services (RATS) represent a novel, more digitalized, ATS solution. In some aspects, RATS can be argued to outperform conventional ATS. However, as it entails various sociotechnical obstacles, making RATS the dominant solution for ATS is challenging. An inadequate awareness of such sociotechnical obstacles potentially impedes the competitiveness of RATS in general and the RATS providers in particular. This study intends to - from a sociotechnical perspective - identify main obstacles as faced by RATS when aspiring to become the dominant solution for ATS. In order to identify such obstacles, an abductive case study has been conducted. Empirical data was primarily gathered by semi-structured interviews with 10 key stakeholders involved, directly or indirectly, with RATS. The study is delimited to principally gather empirics from Sweden and the United Kingdom. Theoretical concepts of Large Technical Systems (LTS) and the Multilevel Perspective (MLP) are employed to understand and analyze the empirical data. The identified obstacles faced by RATS are mapped into the different levels of the MLP. Obstacles have been identified in all levels of the MLP. The most prominent obstacles seem to lay in social aspects of change processes, a proposition-perception gap, and connectivity infrastructure dependency. / Flygtrafiktjänster (ATS) spelar en viktig roll för flygsäkerhet. Fjärrstyrda flygtrafiktjänster (RATS) representerar en ny, i högre grad digitaliserad, lösning för ATS. I vissa avseenden kan RATS anses prestera bättre än konventionellt utförda flygtrafiktjänster. Vägen mot ett tillstånd där RATS är den dominerande lösningen för RATS är dock kantad av olika sociotekniska utmaningar. En otillräcklig medvetenhet om dessa utmaningar kan potentiellt minska konkurrenskraften för RATS i allmänhet och för utvecklare av RATS i synnerhet. Denna studie syftar till att, från ett sociotekniskt perspektiv, identifiera utmaningar som RATS står inför i, en situation där RATS ämnar ta steg mot att bli den dominerande lösningen för ATS. För att identifiera sådana utmaningar har en abduktiv fallstudie utförts. Empirisk data samlades huvudsakligen in genom semi-strukturerade intervjuer med 10 intressenter, direkt eller indirekt involverade, i RATS. Studien är avgränsad till att huvudsakligen samla in empirisk data från Sverige och Storbritannien. Teoretiska ramverk och begrepp beträffande Large Technical Systems (LTS) och Multilevel Perspective (MLP) används för att förstå och analysera empirisk data. De identifierade utmaningarna kopplas till de olika nivåerna i MLP. Utmaningar har identifierats i alla nivåer av MLP, och de mest framstående utmaningarna tycks ligga i sociala aspekter av förändringsprocesser, ett gap mellan proposition och perception, samt ett beroende av uppkopplingsinfrastruktur.