Task demand assessment – a measure of air traffic controllers' task capability in monitoring flights

• Main Author: Yeo, Kai Xiang
• Other Authors: Lye Sun Woh
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2024
• Subjects: Engineering; Air traffic controller; Aviation; Task demand; Task demand scoring index; Air traffic management; Human factors
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/177893
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

With the projected rise in air traffic following post-COVID-19 recovery, managing Air Traffic Controllers’ (ATCO) work schedules is paramount in ensuring efficient and safe skies. ATCOs are subjected to a high cognitive demand working environment, and understanding what the controllers’ perceive the demand of tasks is crucial in the understanding of how they can be rostered or assigned particular tasks to ensure efficacy and safety. The objective of this paper is to develop a Task Demand Scoring Index, which seeks to determine the task demand imposed on the Air Traffic Controller (ATCO) due to the type of tasks undertaken on a daily basis. It would provide an objective view and potentially act as precursor in the eventual determination of controllers’ workload. The adoption of clustering techniques for the radar positions of aircrafts coupled with the objective assessment of physiological data extracted, would formulate the Task Demand Score Index. Background information of Air Traffic Management (ATM) as well as workload and task-load are covered in the first part of this report. Subsequently, the methodology and approach taken will be delved into and examined, with novel clustering approaches undertaken in the determination of factors used in the scoring index formulation. It is followed by the analysis of statistical information of parameters defined and derived from the collected data and eventually the formulation of the Task Demand Scoring Index. The study concludes with the provision of a Task Demand Scoring Index, evaluated objectively with proven weightage methodologies.