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Assessing Operational Validity of Remote Tower Control in High-Fidelity Simulation

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Virtual and Remote Control Tower

Part of the book series: Research Topics in Aerospace ((RTA))

Abstract

In this chapter, results from simulation studies are presented which were conducted to assess the operational validity of the remote tower concept at a very early maturity level. The goal was to gain empirical evidence to lead further developmental activities and to learn about the critical design issues and human factors of the remote tower control concept. A high-fidelity simulation study with 12 tower controllers was conducted to assess the operational validity of an experimental workplace for remote tower control. The core of this workplace is a panoramic display, presenting high resolution video data of the remotely controlled airport. Besides the feasibility of the concept, the study addressed the relevance of the view outside the tower window and the benefit of information augmentation. Eye tracking, questionnaire, and interview data were gathered. Results indicate that the concept is valid for control of smaller airports with little air traffic. The augmentation of callsigns onto the video panorama reduced head-down times for the radar display.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In this chapter, the term controller refers to both male and female operators. For ease of reading, the male personal pronoun will be used.

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Acknowledgements

A number of people have contributed to this study with their commitment and work: Maik Friedrich, who developed and constantly improved the EyeTA; Tristan Schindler, who dedicated himself to the calibration of the eye-tracking system; Michael Rudolph and Markus Schmidt, who realised the RTO-CWP; Sebastian Schier, who set up the simulation, scenarios and trained the pseudo pilots; Norbert Fürstenau, who managed research in remote tower; and last but not least all tower controllers, who took part in this study and provided invaluable feedback.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Flight Guidance, Lilienthalplatz 7, 38108, Braunschweig, Germany

    Anne Papenfuss M.A. Media Sciences & Christoph Möhlenbrink Dr. Ing.

Authors
  1. Anne Papenfuss M.A. Media Sciences
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  2. Christoph Möhlenbrink Dr. Ing.
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anne Papenfuss M.A. Media Sciences .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Flight Guidance, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Braunschweig, Germany

    Norbert Fürstenau

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Papenfuss, A., Möhlenbrink, C. (2016). Assessing Operational Validity of Remote Tower Control in High-Fidelity Simulation. In: Fürstenau, N. (eds) Virtual and Remote Control Tower. Research Topics in Aerospace. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28719-5_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28719-5_5

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28717-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28719-5

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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