Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Planning Remote Multi-Airport Control—Design and Evaluation of a Controller-Friendly Assistance System

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Virtual and Remote Control Tower

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

Abstract

A number of research projects aim at air traffic control independent from the controller’s location and his outside view. In the context of one of these projects—VICTOR (Virtual Control Tower Research Studies), which was initiated by the German air navigation service provider Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS), a completely new concept of Aerodrome Remote Control Center (ARCC) was investigated. In contrast to previous approaches, the ARCC concept broadened the monitoring and controlling capabilities of the tower controller towards several airports at the same time. It thereby created new requirements for air traffic control, i.e. an eminent need for planning the air traffic flow of multiple airports. For this additional task, the concept of a planning tool was developed taking into consideration a user-centered approach, the guidelines for usable interfaces and a well perceived user experience. Following these Human Factors standards, our planning tool was developed to be useful and ensure safe handling, but also to look and feel good. For its evaluation, an analytical inspection method, i.e. heuristic evaluation, has been used as well as a questionnaire assessing the aesthetics of the graphical user interface. Eight usability experts assessed the tool, taking notes of any peculiarities and usability problems and carrying out the associated severity rating. With the help of this methodology, 56 issues were identified and corrected. Furthermore, results from additional qualitative statements of the experts for development and optimisation of the user interface were subsequently used for redesign. In terms of looks, the planning tool scored above average in aesthetics ratings. This chapter briefly introduces the tool and its design, and subsequently focuses on our evaluation procedure and results.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • AIRBUS SAS (2013) Global Market Forecast 2013–2032. http://www.airbus.com/company/market/forecast/. Accessed 4 Jan 2014

  • Baumann K, Lanz H (1998) Mesch-Maschine-Schnittstellen elektronischer Geräte. Leitfaden für Design und Schaltungstechnik. Springer, Berlin

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bergner J, König C, Hofmann T, Ebert H (2009) An integrated arrival and departure display for the tower controller. In: Proceedings of 9th AIAA aviation technology, integration, and operations conference, Hilton Head, SC, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • DIN EN ISO 9241–11:1999–01. Teil 11: Leitsätze an die Gebrauchstauglichkeit. Beuth-Verlag, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • DIN EN ISO 9241–110:2008–09. Teil 110: Grundsätze der Dialoggestaltung. Beuth-Verlag, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • DIN EN ISO 9241–210:2010–06. Teil 210: Prozess zur Gestaltung gebrauchstauglicher interaktiver Systeme. Beuth-Verlag, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Dumke R (2001) Software engineering, 3rd edn. Vieweg-Verlag, Braunschweig

    Book  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • EU (2004) Regulation (EC) No. 550/2004 of the European parliament and of the council of 10 March 2004 on the provision of air navigation services in the single European sky (the service provision regulation). Off J Eur Union No. L 96/10, 31 Mar 2004, p 10

    Google Scholar 

  • Hassenzahl M (2003). The thing and I: understanding the relationship between user and product. In: Blythe M, Overbeeke C, Monk AF, Wright PC (eds) Funology: from usability to enjoyment. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 31–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Hassenzahl M (2008) User experience (UX): towards an experiential perspective on product quality. In: Proceedings of the 20th international conference of the association francophone d’interaction homme-machine, pp 11–15. doi:10.1145/1512714.1512717

  • Hassenzahl M, Tractinsky N (2006) User experience—a research agenda. Behav Inform Technol 25:91–97

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirschfeld G, Thielsch MT (2015) Establishing meaningful cut points for online user ratings. Ergonomics 58(2):310–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • IATA (2014) New IATA passenger forecast reveals fast-growing markets of the future. Press Release No. 57, 16 Oct. http://www.iata.org/pressroom/pr/pages/2014-10-16-01.aspx. Accessed 6 June 2015

  • Karat C-M (1994) A comparison of user interface evaluation methods. In: Nielsen J, Mack RL (eds) Usability inspection methods. Wiley, New York, pp 203–233

    Google Scholar 

  • Karat C, Campbell R, Fliegel T (1992) Comparison of empirical testing and walkthrough methods in user interface evaluation. In: Bauersfeld P, Bennett J, Lynch G (Hrsg) Proceedings of ACM CHI’92 conference on human factors in computing systems. ACM, New York, S 397–404

    Google Scholar 

  • Karrer K, Glaser C, Clemens C, Bruder C (2009) Technikaffinität erfassen—der Fragebogen TA-EG. Der Mensch im Mittelpunkt technischer Systeme 8:196–201

    Google Scholar 

  • Lehr AT (2011) Lernen am Computer. Reihe Technologie-gestütztes Lernen, Band 1–2011. Steinbeis-Edition, Stuttgart

    Google Scholar 

  • Leitner R, Jürgensohn T (2014a) Entwicklung einer grafischen Benutzeroberfläche zur Fernüberwachung mehrerer Flughäfen. In: Wendemuth A, Jipp M, Kluge A, Söffker D (Hrsg) 3. Interdisziplinärer Workshop Kognitive Systeme: Mensch, Teams, Systeme und Automaten, März 2014, Magdeburg, pp 25–27

    Google Scholar 

  • Leitner R, Jürgensohn T (2014b) MasterMAN—Assistenzsystem zur Fernüberwachung von Regionalflughäfen im Multi-Airport-Betrieb. In: Grandt M, Schmerwitz S (Hrsg). 56. Fachausschusssitzung Anthropotechnik der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt—Lilienthal-Oberth e.V.: Der Mensch zwischen Automatisierung, Kompetenz und Verantwortung, Ottobrunn, 14.-15.Oktober. DGLR-Bericht 2014–01

    Google Scholar 

  • Leitner R, Oehme A, Schulz-Rueckert D (2011) Planning multi-airport traffic control—requirements and design implications. In: Schmid S, Elepfandt M, Adenauer J, Lichtenstein A (Hrsg). Reflexionen und Visionen der Mensch-Maschine-Interaktion—Aus der Vergangenheit lernen, Zukunft gestalten.- 9. Berliner Werkstatt Mensch-Maschine-Systeme, Berlin, 5.-7. Oktober 2011. Fortschritt-Berichte VDI, Düsseldorf, VDI Verlag

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindgaard G, Dudek C (2003) What is this evasive beast we call user satisfaction? Interact Comput 15:429–452

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moser C (2012) User experience design. Springer, Berlin

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Moshagen M, Musch J, Göritz AS (2009) A blessing, not a curse: experimental evidence for beneficial effects of visual aesthetics on performance. Ergonomics 52:1311–1320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen J (1992) Finding usability problems through heuristic evaluation. Proceedings ACM CHI’92 Conference, S. 373–380, 3. -7. Mai, Monterey, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen J (1993) Usability engineering. Academic, Cambridge, MA

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen J (1994) Heuristic evaluation. In: Nielsen J, Mack RL (eds) Usability inspection methods. Wiley, New York, pp 25–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen J, Landauer TK (1993) A mathematical model of the finding of usability problems. In: Proceedings of ACM INTERCHI’93 conference, 24–29 Apr, Amsterdam, Niederlande, S 206–213

    Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen J, Molich R (1990) Heuristic evaluation of user interfaces. In: Proceedings ACM CHI’90 conference, 1–5 Apr, Seattle, WA, S 249–256

    Google Scholar 

  • Norman DA (1988) The psychology of everyday things. Basic Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Oehme A, Schulz-Rückert D (2010) Distant air traffic control for regional airports. In: 11th IFAC-symposium: analysis, design, and evaluation of human- machine systems, vol 11(1), Valencienne, France, S 141–145

    Google Scholar 

  • Oehme A, Leitner R, Wittbrodt N (2013) Challenges of multiple airport control—experimental investigation of a multiairport control concept. In: Harris D (Hrsg) Aviation psychology and applied human factors, Hogrefe, Göttingen, S 1–8

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosson MB, Carroll JM (2002) Usability engineering: scenario-based development of human-computer interaction. Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • Sarodnick F, Brau H (2011) Methoden der usability evaluation. 2. Überarbeitete Auflage. Verlag Hans Huber, Bern

    Google Scholar 

  • Shneiderman B (2002) User interface design. 3. Auflage (Deutsche Ausgabe). mitp-Verlag, Bonn

    Google Scholar 

  • Shneiderman B, Plaisant C (2010) Designing the user interface: strategies for effective human-computer interaction, 5th edn. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Somervell J, McCrickard DS (2005) Better discount evaluation: illustrating how critical parameters support heuristic creation. Interact Comput 17(5):592–612

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tan W-S, Liu D, Bishu R (2009) Web evaluation: heuristic evaluation vs user testing. Int J Ind Ergon 39:621–627

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thielsch MT, Moshagen M (2011) Erfassung visueller Ästhetik mit dem VisAWI. Usability Professionals, 260–265

    Google Scholar 

  • Thüring M, Mahlke S (2007) Usability, aesthetics, and emotions in human-technology interaction. Int J Psychol 42(4):253–264

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tullis T, Albert B (2008) Measuring the user experience. Collecting, analyzing, and presenting usability metrics. Morgan Kaufmann, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Virzi RA (1992) Refining the test phase of usability evaluation: how many subjects is enough? Hum Factors 34(4):457–468

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson C (2014) User interface inspection methods: a user-centered design method. Morgan Kaufmann, Boston, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Wittbrodt N (2012) Bord-Boden-Kommunikation im Multi-Flugplatz- Betrieb. Dissertation, Technische Universität Berlin. Available at: http://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-tuberlin/frontdoor/index/index/docId/3588

  • Woolrych A, Cockton G (2001) Why and when five test users aren’t enough. In: Proceedings of IHM-HCI 2001 conference, 2, 10–14 Sept, Lille, Frankreich, S 105–108

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. HFC Human-Factors-Consult GmbH, Köpenicker Strasse 325, 12555, Berlin, Germany

    Rodney Leitner Dipl.-Ing. & Astrid Oehme Dr.

Authors
  1. Rodney Leitner Dipl.-Ing.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Astrid Oehme Dr.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rodney Leitner Dipl.-Ing. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

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

    Norbert Fürstenau

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Leitner, R., Oehme, A. (2016). Planning Remote Multi-Airport Control—Design and Evaluation of a Controller-Friendly Assistance System. 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_7

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28719-5_7

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28717-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28719-5

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation