CNS/ATM systems implementation: training and other Human Factors issues

Bert Ruitenberg

Human Factors Specialist

The International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations

Overview of presentation

This presentation consists of the following elements:

An introduction to IFATCA

IFATCA's involvement in the ICAO CNS/ATM concept

A snapshot of the CNS/ATM system today

Turning theory into practice

The road to CNS/ATM from here

An introduction to IFATCA

IFATCA is the independent non-profit, non-political, non-industrial, Professional Association repre senting more than 40,000 Air Traffic Controllers in over one hundred countries world-wide. The Federation actively participates in Working Groups and Panels of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). IFATCA also maintains a close working relationship with the International Federation of Airline Pilots' Associations (IFALPA), the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the International Labour Office (ILO), the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) and Working Groups on Aviation Matters of the European Commission. IFATCA is furthermore involved in the European ATC Harmonisation and Integration Programme (EATCHIP) and repre sented in the Informal South Pacific ATS Co-ordinating Group (ISPACG), the CAR/SAM Regional Planning and Implementation Group (GREPECAS), the African Planning and Implementation Re gional Group (APIRG) and the Asia/Pacific Air Navigation Planning and Implementation Regional Group (APANPIRG).

IFATCA's involvement in the ICAO CNS/ATM concept

The CNS/ATM concept originates from ICAO's Committee on Future Air Navigation Systems called FANS, in which IFATCA was represented. This Committee created some spin-offs of which I'll mention the Automatic Dependent Surveillance (or ADS) Panel and the RGCSP, which stands for Review of the General Concept of Separation Panel. Both panels are still active, and IFATCA is represented on them.

IFATCA was also afforded Observer-status at the second meeting of CASITAF, the high-level implementation task force chaired by Dr. Kotaite. We furthermore participate in what could be described as the successor of CASITAF, i.e. ALLPIRG, the high-level ICAO-meeting that oversees the activities of the various regional planning and implementation groups mentioned earlier.

With respect to the theme of today's presentations, Training and Human Factors, it can be mentioned that IFATCA attended two of the more recent TRAINAIR co-ordination meetings and also is represented in the ICAO Flight Safety and Human Factors Study Group. At the 1996 ICAO Global Symposium on Flight Safety and Human Factors, held in Auckland (New Zealand), IFATCA presented a paper called "Human Factors aspects in CNS/ATM Systems" that addressed a number of the issues that are being addressed at this Conference in Rio de Janeiro.

I hope this short overview illustrates IFATCA's commitment to the ICAO CNS/ATM concept. Compared to today's situation, many of our members stand to gain much in terms of improved equipment and enhanced job satisfaction from providing an even better service as a result of the transition to CNS/ATM. IFATCA's endeavours are therefore aimed at avoiding that such potential gains for controllers are negated by increased workload and perhaps even frustration resulting from poor design and training.

A snapshot of the CNS/ATM system today

Allow me to begin this section with a disclaimer: a snapshot by definition shows only a limited part of the whole situation as it exists at a specific point in time. Its content is very much dependent on where its creator, i.e. the photographer behind the camera, is pointing the lens at the moment the picture is taken. Yet it may serve to provide an impression of the whole situation at that moment in time if seen in the right context.

Navigation

Thanks to Russia and the United States of America global navigational satellite systems have been available to the civil aviation world and indeed other user-groups for a number of years already. These and future similar satellite systems are often referred to as the backbone of the CNS/ATM system. But just like a backbone in itself doesn't constitute a full skeleton, it should be realised that perhaps it would be wise to also retain an infrastructure of terrestrial-based navigation-aids. This point has been made by IFATCA representatives at various occasions and it was therefore interesting to read in a recent article in Aviation Week & Space Technology that the USA's FAA has decided that GPS will not be the only navigation-aid since it is vulnerable to solar activity and terrorist acts. By retaining selected terrestrial-based navigation aids in addition to the satellite systems the vulnerability of the overall system will be reduced and thus safety will be enhanced.

Surveillance

Automatic Dependent Surveillance (ADS) is increasingly being deployed, mainly in the Pacific and Asian coastal areas. This undoubtedly is bringing benefits to Controllers who now are able to see on a screen the traffic that without ADS they only had represented to them by means of paper Flight Progress Strips on a board in front of them. Ultimately this in turn will bring benefits to the airlines as well, for it is expected that separation-minima will be reduced and therefore capacity be increased once ADS becomes fully operational.

IFATCA has stated its concern with respect to the possibility of ADS being seen as an equivalent to radar. The difference for controllers between a radar target (determined by an independent source, i.e. the radar head) and an ADS target is that each aircraft communicates its position from its internal navigational system to the ADS display. Aircraft on radar are fixed relative to each other through the independent sensor, whereas aircraft ADS positions are not relative to each other apart from the accuracy of the information transmitted from air to ground.

As has been expressed by our representatives in previous and more technical forums, IFATCA believes this difference will need to be taken into account when establishing the separation-criteria that are to be applied when an ATC service is provided based on ADS.

Communication

Controller/Pilot Data Link Communications, or CPDLC, is thought to have an enormous potential to enhance safety, to increase efficiency and thus capacity, and to reduce pilot and controller workloads. IFATCA recognises this potential but is at the same time aware that the full-scale implementation of CPDLC will require a cultural change in the cockpit and on the ground. Related issues identified by IFATCA and others are adequate and appropriate training, and that of the cockpit/ground interface. For these and other reasons IFATCA has always maintained that voice communications between pilots and controllers will be required for the foreseeable future.

One of the world's first ATC-units to use CPDLC operationally is the Auckland Oceanic Control Centre, where the staff involved in the implementation of CPDLC currently has some two years' experience with what is called "the interim system". However initial results show that there may still be a long way to go in the testing and validation process. The Auckland Oceanic controllers estimate that the use of CPDLC so far has increased their workload by about 40% - and there was no corresponding increase in traffic-numbers to account for that figure.

Admittedly this figure applies for the interim system, in which controllers have to operate both the conventional system with High Frequency voice communication and the new CPDLC in a complimentary fashion. Furthermore, CPDLC-interchanges have only occurred between ATC and FANS-1/A equipped Boeing 747-400 aircraft that were using an on-board system that was not originally designed for this purpose. In an ultimate CNS/ATM environment CPDLC will take place via the Aeronautical Telecommunications Network (ATN) which hopefully will include dedicated CPDLC-displays in the cockpit and on the ground. The New Zealand Oceanic Control System will feature such dedicated displays and many automated functions that are expected to make life easier for the controllers. Yet the danger seems real that even the newer systems could harbour similar problems with respect to controller workstations and workload, unless all relevant Human Factors issues are considered and resolved at the appropriate time. And as highlighted in several of the ICAO workingpapers to this Conference, the appropriate time for that is during the design stages.

Our Federation is of the opinion that it is generally not a good idea to develop, test and conduct training on new equipment at the same time. This view however as a pre-implementation principle is apparently not always shared by the various authorities who are responsible for the implementation of new ATC equipment. It is as if there is an unwritten rule in ATC that says that whenever new equipment is being installed, that equipment is to be used operationally from the very moment the manufacturers release it to the new owners. IFATCA feels that the owners of new ATC equipment will need to allow for adequate transition training, which ideally should take place after solutions have been found to all problems related to installing, debugging, testing, validating and certifying the new equipment, and before the equipment is used operationally.

We furthermore believe that it is important to cater for the requirements of the operators when designing automated CNS/ATM systems such as CPDLC. As supported by documented evidence from both IFALPA and IFATCA the FANS-1/A data link system has exposed a number of unacceptable deficiencies to the pilots and controllers. These problems have seemingly resulted from various causes, some technical, some procedural, some related to the Human Machine Interface (HMI), and some related to user training and currency.

This has led IFATCA to accept the following Policy at its recent Annual Conference held in Toulouse, France: "FANS-1/A CPDLC has limitations. These shortcomings must preclude further proliferation of this technology, into states of the world where it is not currently deployed. Once the Aeronautical Telecommunications Network (ATN) data link system is deployed, use of the FANS-1/A CPDLC shall be replaced by the ATN system and FANS-1/A systems shall not be accommodated in the ATN, as this would seriously degrade the operational suitability of the ATN."

It is important to realise that the Policy just quoted is not an anti data link statement. The Policy is meant to emphasise the fact that the FANS-1/A CPDLC was intended as a trial but is meanwhile considered by aircraft operators to be a fully commissioned system, which from the users' perspective it clearly is not. IFATCA very much looks forward to the implementation of a mature ATN-supported data link system. The experience gained in the use of the FANS-1/A systems will be invaluable for the development of the future system, and even more so if that experience can be incorporated already in the design process of the future systems.

Air Traffic Management

The last element of our snapshot is ATM. From what was said before on the other three elements it will be evident that, since the supporting technology is still in development, the ATM side in reality has not had a chance to begin to develop yet. How are ATS providers supposed to plan for future staffing requirements and transition training when there still are so many uncertainties about equipment and procedures to be resolved? How can States establish national regulations when ICAO is still developing the SARPs and other guidelines for the use of ADS and CPDLC? And bear in mind that the introduction of the new systems will have to be processed in parallel with the continuous operation of the current system whilst handling increasing levels of traffic.

IFATCA doesn't claim to have the answers to these questions. We merely wish to make the point that there is more to the implementation of CNS/ATM subsystems than just fixing the technological problems, which are the Human Factors issues.

Turning theory into practice

The point made by IFATCA just now is not an original one. Other speakers from other organisations raised the same point before at other occasions. In one of the workingpapers for this Conference, presented by the Secretariat, are inter alia the following statements:

"In order to maximise safety and cost-effectiveness of CNS/ATM systems, the proactive management of Human Factors issues should be a normal component of the processes followed by designers, providers and users of these systems. The time to address Human Factors issues is during technology design, before technology is deployed into operational contexts."

"Furthermore, flight deck operational experience shows that once technology is deployed, it is too late to address Human Factors issues arising from flawed human technology interfaces, and such issues become endemic, hindering safety and efficiency of the system."

From the IFATCA Vision Document are the following quotes:

"Implementation of new equipment and procedures must be preceded by appropriate verification and validation followed by a reasonable period of stability to allow system bugs to be resolved. New equipment (…) must be proven safe and capable of supporting any reduction of separation minima."

"Throughout the evolving process of implementation, controllers and pilots must receive the appropriate level of training before using new procedures and equipment."

IFATCA expresses its sincere hope that the aviation-industry will heed this and similar advice as guidance for the transition to the CNS/ATM system.

To wrap up this part of my presentation I'd like to quote the IFATCA Vision Document once more: "There is an enormous amount of technology looking for business, and the danger is that it will proliferate to the detriment of harmonisation and standardisation. These factors, plus the principle that system safety must be improved to keep pace with the increase of traffic, are likely to mould the ATM development process to such an extent that it is almost impossible to forecast the final outcome."

The reason I introduce this quote is to underscore the point that, in order to keep control over the shape that our technology-driven industry will take, we must ensure that the system with all its components remains workable for the human operators in it. One way of achieving this may be to adhere to the principles of human centred design and also to allow for adequate training of the operators, as promoted by ICAO.

The road to CNS/ATM from here

In our view the road to the future CNS/ATM system from where we are doesn't significantly differ from what it looked like where we started. The aviation Human Factors and Training communities have been aware of the challenges facing the industry in the transition to the CNS/ATM system for a long enough time. But we may not yet have been sufficiently successful in getting our messages across to those communities that are masterminding the transition. To paraphrase an expression: we need to convince them to put their money where our mouth is. This will require commitment from all communities in the aviation industry alike.

Conclusion

Many view the voiced concerns of controllers as being barriers to progress. This viewpoint is unfounded as controllers accept the advances that the enabling technologies in CNS can bring to the way that they control air traffic. Controllers accept the technology as a progressive development in the evolution of the air transport industry.

However, to realise the advances will require co-operation:

co-operation in the form of consultation with the end users who have the operational knowledge with which to turn the capabilities of technology into a service;

co-operation with other system users to make it happen and realise their goals; and

co-operation with the system itself.

This co-operation must be both at the level of the workstation on the ground and in the cockpit. It is only by mutual co-operation with the systems and tools that will support ATM control activities that a control service can be provided with safety and efficiency, just like co-operation will provide the experience to grow in the future.

IFATCA once more pledges its allegiance to the CNS/ATM concept and looks forward to a continued co-operation with the other parties in the aviation industry in order to help create an even safer and more efficient Air Traffic System for tomorrow.

References

ICAO WP/30. Human Factors issues in CNS/ATM. Workingpaper for the World-wide CNS/ATM Systems Implementation Conference, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 11-15 May 1998.

IFATCA. Towards the 21st century - a vision document. IFATCA, 1255 University Street, Suite 408, Montreal, Quebec H3B 3B6, Canada.

IFATCA WP no. 82. Proposed Policy for FANS-1/A data link communications. 37th Annual Conference, Toulouse, France, 30 March-3 April 1998.

IFATCA. Report of Conference Committee B. 37th Annual Conference, Toulouse, France, 30 March-3 April 1998.