600-FKM (FYP1-PR-Rev.

01)

FAKULTI KEJURUTERAAN MEKANIKAL

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA

Final Year Project

Progress Report
PROJECT TITLE
Evaluating Controller Ease while using Procedural Control
System
with Radar Information

MUHAMMAD HAZIQ IZZUDDIN BIN MOHD SHUKRI

IC NO: 940820105087
STUDENT ID: 2013641868

SEMESTER 07 SESSION 2016

600-FKM (FYP1-PR-Rev.01)

FAKULTI KEJURUTERAAN MEKANIKAL

BACHELOR DEGREE PROJECT PROGRESS

A. PROPOSED PROJECT

Evaluating Controller Ease while using Procedural Control

System with Radar Information
1. PROJECT TITLE:

2. STUDENT NAME:

3.

STUDENT ID :

Muhammad Haziq Izzuddin bin Mohd Shukri

2 0

SUPERVISOR NAME: Dr. Siti

4.

5.

COURSE
CODE :
MEC601

Mariam bt Abdul Rahman

CO-SUPERVISOR (if available) :

...
(Students Signature )

Name

: Muhammad Haziq Izzuddin bin

Shukri

Date

: ....

...
(Supervisor Signature & Cop)
Mohd

Date

: ....

Ext. Line

: ....

Cut Here

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT SLIP

I hereby acknowledge receipt of a copy of a report entitled _________________________

_____________________ submitted by _______________________________________
at _ _ _ _ am/pm and the date __/__/2014.

.
Received by:

.
Chop

..
Date

600-FKM (FYP1-PR-Rev.01)

INSTRUCTION FOR PANEL

1. DO NOT ACCEPT THE PROGRESS REPORT WITHOUTH VERIFIED BY

SUPERVISOR.
2. PLEASE CHECK THIS REPORT AND PUT REMARKS AT ANY PLACE
SUITABLE TO HIGHLIGHT YOUR IDEAS FOR IMPROVEMENT OR
CORRECTION.
3. PLEASE WRITE YOUR SUMMARY OF COMMENTS OR SUGGESTIONS
INSIDE THE PROVIDED COLOUMN.
4. PLEASE MARKS THIS PROPOSAL TOGETHER WITH PRESENTATION
IN FORM 600-FKM.FYP (PPE1-02).R1 - FYP1 PANEL EVALUATION
(WILL BE PROVIDED DURING THE PRESENTATION DAY).
5. DO NOT ALLOWED THE STUDENT TO PROCEED FOR PRESENTATION
WITHOUT PROVIDING THE PROPOSAL ATLEAST ONE WEEK BEFORE
THE PRESENTATION DAY.

PANEL COMMENTS

...
(Panel Signature & Cop)
Date: ....
Ext. Line: ....

600-FKM (FYP1-PR-Rev.01)

A. PROJECT ABSTRACT
(Abstract of the proposed project in not more than 200 words):

(20 MARKS)

600-FKM (FYP1-PR-Rev.01)

B. PROJECT BACKGROUND
(Describe the background of your project)

(20 MARKS)

In the world of globalization, the flight demands have increased from time to time. Each
flights movement must be managed and controlled smoothly by the air traffic. Air traffic is
an important driver in airborne. At the airport tower, air traffic controllers monitor for the
safe and efficient aircraft movements in the airport vicinity on ground and also in air. [1]
Air traffic control plays vital roles to ensure the safe flight separation in air, provide full
support with the pilots, and guide the flights direction until they land in their destination.
Edwards et al stated that the air traffic control (ATC) is a safety critical environment, while
its controllers are at the sharp end of this safety critical system.[2] Thus, in order to ensure
flight safety, the controllers are required to maintain a high level of human performance
consistently with the aid of tools. One of the conventional or basic tools that usually
controllers used is Flight Progress Strip (FPS). According to Truitt and Hackworth, the
Flight Progress Strip (FPS) includes the information about a particular flight which is
entered and modified by controller. The FPS is placed in a plastic strip holder and all the
holders are sequenced and manipulated in vertical bays next to radar scope.[3] The main
focus in this project is to evaluate and analyse in terms of human performance for
controller ease while using the flight progress strip (FPS) with radar information. The
information of flight radar from the selected flight sector is presented through the
MATLAB software. A simulation test is conducted in real working environment of air
traffic controller in order to evaluate the level of ease towards the controller.

Figure 1:Flight Progress Strip[3]

600-FKM (FYP1-PR-Rev.01)

C. PROBLEM STATEMENT
(Please state clearly the problem of the proposed project)

(20 MARKS)
The air traffic controller duties are definitely challenging, and the biggest challenge for
them is the life risk of flight crews and passengers onboard. The air traffic controllers have
to sustain situation awareness in condition of rapidly changing information and also
retrieved from a wide array of information sources. This situation can be observed in a very
busy airport with flood of flights in a certain period of time. Recently, a lot of researches
have been carried out to investigate the controller duties and it all has been categorized as
cognitive work load of controllers. A tremendous of cognitive work load happens when
they have to decide with conflicting goals and high responsibility under time constraints.
[4] Important and quick decisions need to be done on the spot such as flight separations
and the correct flight routes to prevent from collisions in airways. Plus, the controllers also
must detect safety infringements like runway incursions in order to ensure the runway is
really safe to use.[1] Those skills are included in cognitive complexity of a controller,
which it describes as the relationship between the controller tasks to handle traffic and the
corresponding mental workload.[5] All of these difficulties are affecting on controllers
work performance as well as give a high stress-peak to the controllers. Previous studies on
cognitive analysis have demonstrated that controllers are related with high pressure
monitoring on the air traffic while interacting with the pilots.[6] Controllers are not robots,
but they are normal humans and will not escape from doing mistakes. Hence, a lot of
unwanted consequences may occur due to the controllers error. Human errors may occur
during interactions between pilots and controllers which are most likely to jeopardize flight
safety.[7] For instances, there were approximately 100 go-around incidents and 14
mistakes caused by the air traffic controllers which fortunately did not lead to any major
flight accidents during year 2010 in Taiwan.[7]

600-FKM (FYP1-PR-Rev.01)

D.

OBJECTIVES & EXPECTED RESULTS

(Please state the objectives and expected results of the proposed project)

(40 MARKS)
Objectives:
1. To understand the taskload of air traffic controller.
2. To develop Procedural Flight Strip with radar information using Matlab.
3. To evaluate controller ease through heartrate sensor and NASA Task Load Index
(TLX).
Expected results:
1. The maximum taskload that controller can handle at one time.
2. Integrated radar information in Matlab.
3. Evaluation of controller ease through data analysis.

E. SCOPE OF WORK
(Describe the scope of the project)

(20 MARKS)

600-FKM (FYP1-PR-Rev.01)

F. PROJECT METHODOLOGY
(Describe the procedures and methods to be used to achieve the project objectives)

(40 MARKS)

600-FKM (FYP1-PR-Rev.01)

G. LITERATURE REVIEW & REFERENCES

(Previous work done on the field of study and anything that you consider to be relevant to the hypothesis or research
question and to its investigation.)

(60 MARKS)

2.1

Air Traffic Control

Air traffic control is the service provided by the air traffic controllers who are responsible
for assisting, dispatching and maintaining a secure and systematic flow of aircraft traffic.
[6]
2.2

Controller Duties

Generally, there are three different levels of air traffic operations that correlate to the major
phases of flight, which are: (i) Aerodrome control of air traffic and ground movement of
aircrafts, (ii) Approach control of arriving and departing aircrafts, and (iii) Area control for
handling the en-route phase from central air traffic control unit.[8] This project will be
focus on the duties of controller in the en-route phase of area control.
2.2.1

En-Route Controllers

En-route controllers monitor aircraft once they leave an airports airspace. They work at air
route traffic control centers located throughout the country, which typically are not located
at the airports. Basically, each center is assigned an airspace based on the geography and
altitude of the area in which it is located. As an airplane approaches and flies through a
centers airspace, en-route controllers guide the airplane along its route. In short, en-route
traffic control is to maintain safe and ordered the trajectory of aircrafts.[9]
Nowadays, it has becoming the main task for en-route controllers to maintain the
separation rules between aircrafts. The separation standards mandated by International
Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), ensuring that the aircraft are separated by at least
2000 feet vertically above 29 000 feet and 5 nautical miles horizontally.[10] Thus, it is
obviously shown that the en-route controllers have a great responsibility of work and
require a total of 100 percent focus in every seconds of working hours. Due to that reason,
the en-route airspace sector is usually occupied by two controllers per one shift of working
hours. Plus, a systematic scheduling framework must be introduced in order to enhance
collaboration on en-route traffic control problems with flow-based flight planning.[9]

600-FKM (FYP1-PR-Rev.01)

2.3

Flight Progress Strips with Radar Information

Flight Progress Strip (FPS) contains of thirty-one fields for information which is printed on
a rectangular-shape of paper strips. The information is based on the particular airplane such
as call sign, planned route, filed airspeed, assigned altitude, time of arrival and others.[11]
The strips depend on the air traffic condition in a particular time. If it is on the packed
flight schedules, the en-route controllers will have to manage all of the flight strips
simultaneously. Apart from that high-pressure works, there were regression models from
previous studies that have been developed to predict flight progress strip activities (writing,
manipulating, and looking) at different levels of traffic complexity for individually and
also for the controllers team.[12]
According to Edwards, Fuller, Vortac and Manning (1995), the en-route airspace sector is
usually handled by a team of two controllers: the Radar-side (R-side) controller is
primarily responsible for observing the radar screen and communicating with pilots, the
Data-side (D-side) controller who is seated next to the R-side, assumes primary
responsibility for preplanning and updating of flight information.[12] Hence, the flight
progress strips are always work together with the radar screen to accommodate the en-route
controllers in dealing with air traffic complexity.

2.4

Methods to Evaluate Controller Ease

Controllers are human. To evaluate on them, it must be related with the human
performance measures. In the study of air traffic control, many previous researches have
been conducted through the human modeling in order to evaluate on controllers
performance in work simulation. Generally, the evaluation can be investigated under
several concepts such as human behavior rather than human workload, and measurement
techniques which are subjective rather than objective, or scientifically in physiological
rather than psychological.[13] Besides, the evaluation methods also can be classified
between two types, which are intrusive and less/not intrusive method.
2.4.1

The SHEL Model

In 2010, both Chang and Yeh demonstrated a conceptual model of human factors that was
used by ICAO, known as the SHEL model. They described that the SHEL model was a

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system comprising four interactive components, including Liveware (L-human), Software

(S-rules, procedures, computer, programs, symbology), Hardware (H-machine) and
Environment (E-the situation in which L-H-S system must function).[14] However, their
research findings are only provide the practical insights in managing human performance
interfaces in air traffic control, including internally and externally.
2.4.2

Model Based Simulations (MBS)

The Model Based Simulations (MBS) techniques have been carried out by Duca and
Attaianese (2012) purposely for a preliminary demonstration for addressing the intricacy of
the assessment of alternative airspace organizations, controller working methods and
automation strategies.[13] Nevertheless, the reliability of MBS results depend on the
accuracy and significance of modeled human factors.
2.4.3

SPAM Probe Method

Recently in 2015, Keeler et al. introduced a probe method which is called as Situation
Present Assessment Method (SPAM). The method is to measure the situation awareness
(SA) and workload of air traffic controllers by executing questions pertaining to the current
scenario as the controllers performing their tasks.[15] Thus, the controller would not have
to undergo two visual tasks simultaneously and it will remove the nuisance variability from
the probe method. The results of that study from a sample of 54 student controllers
showing that probe questions were not intrusive and could be used as a method for
measuring situational awareness in experimental studies.
2.4.4

Doppler Radar Operating Band

From Lee, Pathirana and Caelli (2013) studies, they have demonstrated the efficiency of
Doppler Radar of 2.7 GHz Operating band in analyzing breathing patterns under various
breathing forms such as normal breathing, fast breathing, as well as different rate of inhale
and exhale.[16] This type of evaluation tool is a non-contact measurement for
physiological parameters. Similarly, non-contact methods of evaluation also can be
performed using thermal infrared imaging technology to collect physiological data from
human faces such as Heart Rate (HR) and Heart Rate Variability (HRV), which are the
reliable inputs to quantify different forms of stress.[17] Both case studies unfortunately
have not yet been conducted on the air traffic controllers.

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600-FKM (FYP1-PR-Rev.01)

References:
[1]
P. G. Manske and S. L. Schier, Visual Scanning in an Air Traffic Control Tower A
Simulation Study, Procedia Manuf., vol. 3, no. Ahfe, pp. 32743279, 2015.
[2]
T. Edwards, S. Sharples, J. R. Wilson, and B. Kirwan, Factor interaction influences
on human performance in air traffic control: The need for a multifactorial model,
Work, vol. 41, no. SUPPL.1, pp. 159166, 2012.
[3]
T. R. Truitt, C. A. Hackworth, C. A. Albright, and M. K. Bleckley, Reduced Flight
Progress Strips in En Route ATC Mixed Environments, 1998.
[4]
T. Hofmann, C. Knig, R. Bruder, and J. Bergner, How to reduce workload Augmented reality to ease the work of air traffic controllers, Work, vol. 41, no.
SUPPL.1, pp. 11681173, 2012.
[5]
S. Surez, N;Lpez,, P; Puntero, E;Rodriguez, Quantifying Air Traffic Controller
Mental Workload, Fourth SESAR Innov. Days, no. November, pp. 16, 2014.
[6]
Y. Wang, Q. Zhang, C. Zhu, M. Hu, and V. Duong, Human activity under high
pressure: A case study on fluctuation scaling of air traffic controllers
communication behaviors, Phys. A Stat. Mech. its Appl., vol. 441, pp. 151157,
2016.
[7]
R.-C. Jou, C.-W. Kuo, and M.-L. Tang, A study of job stress and turnover tendency
among air traffic controllers: The mediating effects of job satisfaction, Transp. Res.
Part E Logist. Transp. Rev., vol. 57, pp. 95104, 2013.
[8]
S. Malakis and T. Kontogiannis, A sensemaking perspective on framing the mental
picture of air traffic controllers, Appl. Ergon., vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 327339, 2013.
[9]
Q. Li, Y. Zhang, and R. Su, A Flow-based Flight Scheduler for En-route Air Traffic
Management, IFAC-PapersOnLine, vol. 49, no. 3, pp. 353358, 2016.
[10] S. C. Corver and O. N. Aneziris, The impact of controller support tools in enroute
air traffic control on cognitive error modes: A comparative analysis in two
operational environments, Saf. Sci., vol. 71, no. Part A, pp. 215, 2015.
[11] T. R. Truitt, C. A. Albright, A. B. Barile, O. U. Vortac, and C. A. Manning, How
Controllers Compensate for the Lack of Flight Progress Strips, 1995.
[12] M. B. Edwards, D. K. Fuller, O. U. Vortac, and C. A. Manning, The role of flight
progress strips in en route air traffic control: a time-series analysis, International
Journal of Human-Computer Studies, vol. 43, no. 1. pp. 113, 1995.
[13] G. Duca and E. Attaianese, The realistic consideration of human factors in model
based simulation tools for the air traffic control domain, Work, vol. 41 Suppl 1, pp.
145150, 2012.
[14] Y.-H. Chang and C.-H. Yeh, Human performance interfaces in air traffic control.,
Appl. Ergon., vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 123129, 2010.
[15] J. Keeler et al., May I Interrupt? The effect of SPAM Probe Questions on Air
Traffic Controller Performance, Procedia Manuf., vol. 3, no. Ahfe, pp. 29983004,
2015.
[16] Y. S. Lee, P. N. Pathirana, and T. Caelli, Doppler Radar in Respiratory Monitoring:
Detection and Analysis, pp. 224228, 2013.
[17] F. Bousefsaf, C. Maaoui, and A. Pruski, Remote detection of mental workload
changes using cardiac parameters assessed with a low-cost webcam, Comput. Biol.
Med., vol. 53, pp. 154163, 2014.

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H. PRELIMINARY OUTCOME
(Discuss the current status & expected outcomes of the project)

(80 MARKS)

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600-FKM (FYP1-PS-Rev.01)

I.

PROJECT PLANNING

(List the main activities of the project. Indicate the length of time needed for each activity.)

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Project Activities

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