EVALUATION OF A FLIGHT DECK-BASED MERGING AND SPACING CONCEPT ON EN-ROUTE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL OPERATIONS

In an effort to reduce aircraft maneuvering, noise, fuel burn, and controller workload, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is developing, and UPS plans to implement, an Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) concept termed Merging and Spacing (M&S). M&S has two phases: a strategic set-up by a ground operator followed by tactical Flight DeckBased Merging and Spacing (FDMS). This paper focuses on FDMS and presents the subjective and objective results of a MITRE human-in-the-loop simulation that examined FDMS from an air traffic controller perspective. The simulation is part of a development and maturation process that is underway for FDMS. The simulation was designed to examine the impact of FDMS on the following en route controller topics: traffic efficiency, voice communications load, safety, workload, and situation awareness. The simulation has been termed FDMS 1 and was conducted in May and June of 2006. Results indicated general acceptability and improvements over current-day operations under normal and non-normal conditions. In comparison to current-day operations, FDMS showed a reduction in: the number of controller-issued maneuvers, the number of communications, and workload. A reduction of situation awareness was not observed. These results will be used to further refine the concept and to focus future simulations as the application moves toward operational approval.