Browsing by Author "Kearney, Peter"
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Item Open Access The analysis of occurrences associated with air traffic volume and air traffic controllers’ alertness for fatigue risk management(Wiley, 2020-09-13) Li, Wen‐Chin; Kearney, Peter; Zhang, Jingyi; Hsu, Yueh-Ling; Braithwaite, GrahamFatigue is an inevitable hazard in the provision of air traffic services and it has the potential to degrade human performance leading to occurrences. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) requires air navigation services which providers establish fatigue risk management systems (FRMS) based on scientific principles for the purpose of managing fatigue. To develop effective FRMSs, it is important to investigate the relationship between traffic volume, air traffic management occurrences, and fatigue. Fifty‐seven qualified ATCOs from a European Air Navigation Services provider participated in this research by providing data indicating their alertness levels over the course of a 24‐hour period. ATCOs’ fatigue data were compared against the total of 153 occurrences and 962,328 air traffic volumes from the Eurocontrol TOKAI incident database in 2019. The result demonstrated that ATCO fatigue levels are not the main contributory factor associated with air traffic management occurrences, although fatigue did impact ATCOs’ performance. High traffic volume increases ATCO cognitive task load that can surpass available attention resources leading to occurrences. Furthermore, human resilience drives ATCOs to maintain operational safety though they suffer from circadian fatigue. Consequently, FRMS appropriately implemented can be used to mitigate the effects of fatigue. First‐line countermeasure strategies should focus on enough rest breaks and roster schedule optimization; secondary strategies should focus on monitoring ATCOs’ task loads that may induce fatigue. It is vital to consider traffic volume and ATCOs’ alertness levels when implementing effective fatigue risk management protocols.Item Open Access The benefits of integrated eye tracking with airborne image recorders in the flight deck: a rejected landing case study(Elsevier, 2020-06-10) Li, Wen-Chin; Braithwaite, Graham R.; Wang, Thomas; Yung, Morris; Kearney, PeterAircraft accident investigation has played a pivotal role in improving the safety of aviation. Advances in recorder technology, specifically Cockpit Voice Recorders (CVRs) and Flight Data Recorders (FDR) have made a huge contribution to the understanding of occurrences for accident investigators. However, even these recorders have limitations such as the evidence they provide about pilots' situation awareness or behaviours. Supplementing audio and data recordings with video has been discussed for many years and whilst there continues to be debate among regulators, operators, manufacturers and pilot unions, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has mandated Airborne Image Recorders (AIR) from 2023. The purpose of installing such systems is to provide evidence of crew operational behaviours in terms of both human-human and human-computer interactions (HCI) on the flight deck. Video alone is unlikely to provide sufficient evidence for investigators. This study examines the additional value that eye-tracking technology may provide through the case study of an accident involving an Airbus A330-300 aircraft which experienced a rejected landing. Currently, the investigation of such events, where crew interaction with automation is critical to their situation awareness, relies heavily on interview data. Such data may be unavailable (in the case of serious injury) or unreliable (based on hindsight bias). By integrating eye tracking technology into an AIR, accident investigators will potentially gain a better understanding of pilots’ visual scan patterns across flight deck instrumentation. This has implications for flight deck and procedural design as well as training and simulation.Item Open Access Data supporting: 'Quick coherence technique facilitating commercial pilots' psychophysiological resilience to the impact of COVID-19'(Cranfield University, 2022-11-23 16:29) Li, Wenliang; Zhang, Jingyi; Braithwaite, Graham; Kearney, PeterEighteen commercial pilots voluntarily participated in a two-day training on quick coherence technique (QCT) following a two-month self-regulated practicing QCT during the controlled rest breaks in the flight deck and day-to day life. There are subjective and objective assessments to evaluate the effects on QCT biofeedback.Item Open Access Data supporting: 'The influence of augmented reality interaction design on Pilot's perceived workload and situation awareness'(Cranfield University, 2022-11-23 15:59) Li, Wen-Chin; Zhang, Jingyi; Court, Samuel; Braithwaite, Graham; Kearney, PeterThis work explored the potential for Augmented Reality (AR) rendering information superimposed over the flight deck to increase a pilot€™s situation awareness (SA). This emerging technology introduced novel human-computer interaction paradigms that would have impact on pilot€™s cognitive demands.Item Open Access How much is too much on monitoring tasks? Visual scan patterns of single air traffic controller performing multiple remote tower operations(Elsevier, 2018-05-26) Li, Wen-Chin; Kearney, Peter; Braithwaite, Graham; Lin, John J. H.The innovative concept of multiple remote tower operation (MRTO) is where a single air traffic controller (ATCO) provides air traffic services to two or more different airports from a geographically separated virtual Tower. Effective visual scanning by the air traffic controller is the main safety concern for human-computer interaction, as the aim of MRTO is a single controller performing air traffic management tasks originally carried out by up to four ATCOs, comprehensively supported by innovative technology. Thirty-two scenarios were recorded and analyzed using an eye tracking device to investigate the above safety concern and the effectiveness of multiple remote tower operations. The results demonstrated that ATCOs' visual scan patterns showed significant task related variation while performing different tasks and interacting with various interfaces on the controller's working position (CWP). ATCOs were supported by new display systems equipped with pan tilt zoom (PTZ) cameras allowing enhanced visual checking of airport surfaces and aircraft positions. Therefore, one ATCO could monitor and provide services for two airports simultaneously. The factors influencing visual attention include how the information is presented, the complexity of that information, and the characteristics of the operating environment. ATCO's attention distribution among display systems is the key human-computer interaction issue in single ATCO performing multiple monitoring tasks.Item Open Access Human performance assessment of a single air traffic controller conducting multiple remote tower operations(Wiley, 2019-11-13) Kearney, Peter; Li, Wen-Chin; Zhang, Jingyi; Braithwaite, Graham; Wang, LeiThe innovative concept of multiple remote tower operations (MRTO) can maximize cost savings by applying video panorama‐based remote tower working positions, which can facilitate fewer air traffic controllers (ATCO) to provide the air traffic services (ATS) function for more airports. Five subject‐matter experts, qualified remote tower ATCOs, participated in this research work by applying the human error template (HET) and comparing workload between physical tower operations and MRTO using NASA‐TLX (Task Load Index). The results demonstrate that augmented visualization provided sufficient technical support for a single ATCO to perform tasks originally designed to be performed by four ATCOs, however, the demands of the associated multiple tasks induced significant workload. There were significant differences in ATCOs’ mental demand, temporal demand, effort, and frustration between MRTO and physical tower operations. This innovative technology may induce human–computer interaction (HCI) issues that impact ATCO's perceived workload. This creates a need for further research on how to manage ATCO's workload in a multiple remote tower environment. This research work provided scientific evidence that MRTO can achieve the objectives of Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research program. The findings can be applied to both ATCO training design and remote tower system design.Item Open Access Human-centred design for next generation of air traffic management systems.(Cranfield University, 2019-08) Kearney, Peter; Li, Wen-ChinDesigning and deploying air traffic management systems requires an understanding of cognitive ergonomics, system integration, and human-computer interactions. The aim of this research is to develop an effective Human-centred design for Air Navigation Services Providers to permit more effective air traffic controller training and regulations. Therefore, this research consists of both evaluating human-computer interactions on COOPANS Air Traffic Management system and multiple remote tower operations. The COOPANS Alliance is an international cooperation among the air navigation service providers of Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Ireland, Portugal and Sweden with Thales as the industry supplier. The findings of this project indicate that the context-specified design of semantic alerts could improve ATCO’s situational awareness and significantly reduce response time when responding to aircraft conflict resolution alerts. Civil Aviation Authorities, Air Navigation Service Providers and Air Traffic Management System Providers could all benefit from the findings of this research with a view to ensuring that Air Traffic Controllers are provided with the optimal context-specified alerting schemes to increase their situational awareness during both training and operations. The EU Single European Sky initiative was introduced to restructure European airspace and propose innovative measures for air traffic management to achieve the objectives of enhanced cost-efficiency and improved airspace design and airport capacity whilst simultaneously improving safety performance. There is potential to save approximately €2.21 million Euro per annum per installation of remote tower versus traditional control towers. However, ATCO’s visual attention and monitoring performance can be affected by how information is presented, the complexity of the information presented, and the operating environment in the remote tower centre. To achieve resource-efficient and sustainable air navigation services, there is a need to improve the design of human-computer interactions in multiple remote tower technology deployment. These must align with high technology-readiness levels, operators’ practices, industrial developments, and the certification processes of regulators. From a regulatory perspective the results of this project may contribute to European Aviation Safety Agency rulemaking activity for future Air Traffic Management Systems. Overall, the results of this research are in line with the requirements of Single European Sky and facilitate the harmonisation of European ATM systems.Item Open Access The impact of alerting design on air traffic controllers' response to conflict detection and resolution(Elsevier, 2016-09-23) Kearney, Peter; Li, Wen-Chin; Lin, John J. H.Purposes: The research aim is to develop a better design of auditory alerts that can improve air traffic controllers’ situation awareness. Method: Participants are seventy-seven qualified Air Traffic Controllers. The experiment was conducted in the Air Traffic Control operational rooms of the Irish Aviation Authority at Shannon and Dublin. Participants were advised that the trials were in relation to the COOPANS Air Traffic Control. ANOVA with two between-subject factors (alerting designs and experience levels) were conducted to analyze the ATCO’s response time for three critical events. Bonferroni test was performed for post-hoc analysis on mean differences of response time. Results: There is a significant difference in ATCO’s response time between acoustic alert and semantic alert across STCA, APW and MSAW. No significant main effect of controllers’ experience on ATCO’s response time for STCA and APW. Also, there is no significant interaction between alerting design and experience level on ATCO’s response time across STCA, APW and MSAW. Conclusion: The results demonstrated that the acoustic alert deployed within the COOPANS ATM system provides level-1 Situational Awareness to ATCO’s compared with an semantic alert which provides not only level-1 of situational awareness for perceived alerts, but also level-2 and level-3 of situational awareness to assist ATCO understanding of critical events and therefore develop more suitable solutions. Consequently, human-centered design of a semantic alert can significantly speed up ATCO’s response to STCA, and APW. Furthermore, the sematic alert could alleviate expertise differences by promoting quicker response times for both novice and experienced air traffic controllers.Item Open Access The impact of alerting designs on air traffic controller's eye movement patterns and situation awareness(Taylor & Francis, 2018-06-26) Kearney, Peter; Li, Wen-Chin; Yu, Chung-San; Braithwaite, GrahamThis research investigated controller’ situation awareness by comparing COOPANS’s acoustic alerts with newly designed semantic alerts. The results demonstrate that ATCOs’ visual scan patterns had significant differences between acoustic and semantic designs. ATCOs established different eye movement patterns on fixations number, fixation duration and saccade velocity. Effective decision support systems require human-centred design with effective stimuli to direct ATCO’s attention to critical events. It is necessary to provide ATCOs with specific alerting information to reflect the nature of of the critical situation in order to minimize the side-effects of startle and inattentional deafness. Consequently, the design of a semantic alert can significantly reduce ATCOs’ response time, therefore providing valuable extra time in a time-limited situation to formulate and execute resolution strategies in critical air safety events. The findings of this research indicate that the context-specified design of semantic alerts could improve ATCO’s situational awareness and significantly reduce response time in the event of Short Term Conflict Alert activation which alerts to two aircraft having less than the required lateral or vertical separation.Item Open Access The impact of out-the-window size on air traffic controllers’ visual behaviours and response time on digital tower operations(Elsevier, 2022-06-24) Li, Wen-Chin; Moore, Peter; Zhang, Jingyi; Lin, John; Kearney, PeterDigital tower using video-panorama display permits the provision of air traffic services remotely without the need for a local physical tower. The recent growth of visual science has demonstrated the popular concept in respect of the size of display “bigger is better”. The aim of this research is to examine the sizes of Out-the-Window (OTW) panoramic displays and how they affect controller's visual behaviours, response time and workload. There are two validated OTW (43-inch vs 55-inch) which can potentially be implemented in the digital tower module. It is critical to investigate air traffic controllers’ cognitive demand and monitoring performance while interacting with different sizes of OTW in the digital tower module. This research recruited 15 qualified controllers working at a European regional airport. The results demonstrated that a 43-inch display was a better human-computer interaction in target identification than a 55-inch OTW panorama display. The subjective and objective approaches revealed that controllers’ visual behaviours and response times were difference while interacting with different sizes of OTW, but controllers’ workload did not show difference. The bigger screen presents bigger stimuli which are easier spotted by ATCOs, but it induces bigger amplitude of head and eye movements, bigger distortion on both edges of screen and longer response time on target identifications. System designers should be aware of the effects of peripheral vision and visual distortion on panorama displays while designing digital tower modules for the provision of future air traffic services.Item Open Access The influence of augmented reality interaction design on Pilot's perceived workload and situation awareness(Elsevier, 2022-11-04) Li, Wen-Chin; Zhang, Jingyi; Court, Samuel; Kearney, Peter; Braithwaite, GrahamThis work explored the potential for Augmented Reality (AR) rendering information superimposed over the flight deck to increase a pilot's situation awareness (SA). This emerging technology introduced novel human-computer interaction paradigms that would have impact on pilot's cognitive demands. The objective of this research was to evaluate both the pilot's perceived workload and SA while interacting with an AR device using different interactive modes. Participants performed traditional landing checklists as a baseline to compare with the AR gesture-command and voice-command checklists. The research results showed that gesture-commands created additional cognitive and physical demands. Conversely, voice-command checklists could constitute a significant improvement in terms of reducing participants' perceived workload and maximising SA performance. The findings provided evidence that the interactive modes of AR user interface design could influence participant's cognitive information processing and perceived workload in flight operations. However, there were some limitations with AR applications that included latency on response time, narrow field of view, accuracy of voice recognition, calibration within dynamic environment and inexplicable movements of the head position that required further investigation. An AR device can be a great tool for training at the initial stage to increase cost-efficiency in flight operations. Furthermore, the implementation of an AR design may provide part of the potential solution for single pilot operations in the future.Item Open Access Multiple remote tower for Single European Sky: The evolution from initial operational concept to regulatory approved implementation(Elsevier, 2018-06-18) Kearney, Peter; Li, Wen-ChinThe European Union project of Single European Sky initiated a reorganization of European airspace and proposed additional measures for air traffic management to achieve the key objectives of improving efficiency and capacity while at the same time enhancing safety. The concept of multiple remote tower operation is that air traffic controllers (ATCOs) can control several airfields from a distant virtual control centre. The control of multiple airfields can be centralised to a virtual centre permitting the more efficient use of ATCO resources. This research was sponsored by the Single European Sky ATM Research Program and the ATM Operations Division of the Irish Aviation Authority. A safety case was developed for migration of multiple remote tower services to live operations. This research conducted 50 large scale demonstration trials of remote tower operations from single tower operations to multiple tower operations for safety assessment by air navigation safety regulators in 2016. A dedicated team of air traffic controllers and technology experts successfully completed the safety assessment of multiple remote tower operations in real time. The implementation of this innovative technology requires a careful balance between cost-efficiency and the safety of the air traffic control in terms of capacity and human performance. The live trial exercises demonstrated that the air traffic services provided by the remote tower for a single airport and two medium airports by a single ATCO with ‘in sequence’ and ‘simultaneous’ aircraft operation was at least as safe as provided by the local towers at Cork and Shannon aerodromes. No safety occurrence was reported nor did any operational safety issue arise during the conduct of the fifty live trial exercises.Item Open Access Psychophysiological coherence training to moderate air traffic controllers’ fatigue on rotating roster(Wiley, 2022-02-24) Li, Wen-Chin; Zhang, Jingyi; Kearney, PeterThe nature of the current rotating roster, providing 24-h air traffic services over five irregular shifts, leads to accumulated fatigue which impairs air traffic controllers’ cognitive function and task performance. It is imperative to develop an effective fatigue risk management system to improve aviation safety based upon scientific approaches. Two empirical studies were conducted to address this issue. Study 1 investigated the mixed effect of circadian rhythm disorders and resource depletion on controllers’ accumulated fatigue. Then, study 2 proposed a potential biofeedback solution of quick coherence technique which can mitigate air traffic controllers’ (ATCOs’) fatigue while on controller working position and improve ATCOs’ mental/physical health. The current two-studies demonstrated a scientific approach to fatigue analysis and fatigue risk mitigation in the air traffic services domain. This research offers insights into the fluctuation of ATCO fatigue levels and the influence of a numbers of factors related to circadian rhythm and resource depletion impact on fatigue levels on study 1; and provides psychophysiological coherence training to increase ATCOs’ fatigue resilience to mitigate negative impacts of fatigue on study 2. Based on these two studies, the authors recommended that an extra short break for air traffic controllers to permit practicing the quick coherence breathing technique for 5 min at the sixth working hour could substantially recharge cognitive resources and increase fatigue resilience. Application: Present studies highlight an effective fatigue intervention based on objective biofeedback to moderate controllers’ accumulated fatigue as a result of rotating shift work. Accordingly, air navigation services providers and regulators can develop fatigue risk management systems based on scientific approaches to improve aviation safety and air traffic controller's wellbeing.Item Open Access Quick coherence technique facilitating commercial pilots’ psychophysiological resilience to the impact of COVID-19(Taylor and Francis, 2022-10-18) Li, Wen-Chin; Zhang, Jingyi; Braithwaite, Graham; Kearney, PeterThis study investigates the effect of quick coherence technique (QCT) on commercial pilots’ resilience to the unprecedented impact of a pandemic. Eighteen commercial pilots voluntarily participated in a 2-day training course on QCT followed by 2 months of self-regulated QCT practicing during controlled rest in the flight deck and day-to day life. There are subjective and objective assessments to evaluate the effects of QCT on commercial pilots’ psychophysiological resilience. Results demonstrated that QCT training can significantly increase pilots’ psychophysiological resilience thereby improving their mental/physical health, cognitive functions, emotional stability and wellness on both subjective (PSS & AWSA) and objective measures (coherence scores). Moreover, pilots who continued practicing self-regulated QCT gained the maximum benefits. Current research has identified great potential to enhance pilots’ mental/physical health via QCT training. Operators can develop peer support programs for pilots to increase resilience and maintain mental and physical health using the QCT technique. Practitioner summary: QCT breathing has been proven to increase commercial pilots’ resilience by moderating psychophysiological coherence, strengthening mental/physical capacity and sustaining positive emotions to deal with the challenges both on the flight deck and in everyday life.