Simulation Study of the Effects of Communication Delay on Air Traffic Control

摘要

The study was conducted to examine the impacts of voice communications delayscharacteristic of Voice Switching and Control System (VSCS) and satellite communications systems on air traffic system performance, controller stress and workload, and communications disruptions. To accomplish this a simulation was developed and performed at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Technical Center. The simulation used scenarios constructed from records of live air traffic at five adjacent Atlanta Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) sectors.Nine full performance level air traffic control specialists from the Atlanta ARTCC sectors simulated participated as subjects. Four delay levels wereemployed corresponding to: current equipment with and without satellite link, and VSCS with and without satellite,Three levels of communications workloadwere used based on 70 percent, 90 percent, and 110 percent of reference values for the actual sectors. VSCS delays were not found to have any statistically significant impact on any measure. Satellite delays were found to be associated with a statistically significant increase in one kind of communication distruption (step-ons) at the highest level of communications workload used in the study.