EAST Methodology for Air Traffic Control
Abstract
The report is structured around the EAST (Event Analysis of Systemic Teamwork) methodology proposed in HFI DTC Work Package 1 (Baber & Stanton, 2003). The report uses the methodology to derive results from five air traffic control scenarios observed live at National Air Traffic Service’s (NATS) London Terminal Control Centre (LTCC) at West Drayton, Middlesex. The results of the individual EAST analysis methods provide multiple perspectives on key Command & Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4I) constructs.
The findings highlight the structure of the controller’s task, where it is broken down into manageable analysis units based upon the transit of individual aircraft through a radar sector. Task success in these scenarios is reliant on two-way communication, decision-making and coordination involving human and non-human agents, where a complex and distributed communication network is in place.
The findings demonstrate:
- The prominent role of team-working, and within this the role of Situational Awareness, communication and mission analysis,
- The role of verbal communications and the influence that existing technical means to mediate this have,
- The role of human and non-human agents,
- The geographical dispersion of agents and knowledge, and how knowledge is represented, and
- The role of fixed procedures and implicit communications.
The integration of seven Human Factors techniques into one comprehensive methodology provides these multiple perspectives on the analysis of the Air Traffic Control work domain. The wider goal of the report is to use this analysis within the development of a generic model of C4I. The results gained from this scenario appear to be compatible with this broad aim.
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