Air traffic controllers aim to optimize airport capacity, that is to increase the number of aircraft movements per hour maintaining a limited delay. There are several definitions of capacity, which depend on the considered airport element. This study focused on the development of a method that allows evaluating the impact of tower air traffic controllers’ workload on airport capacity. It adapts a model for the workload of sector controllers designed by Eurocontrol to tower controllers and tests it on a heavily busy international airport. In order to collect controllers' working times, a campaign of data collection has been carried out from the radio frequency occupation. The results allowed us to extrapolate the hourly percentage of work of the various tower controllers using a fast-time simulation software. By imposing an hourly working threshold on tower air traffic controllers, it was possible to obtain a maximum number of manageable aircraft, which was compared with the airside capacity of the airport. The results show that the maximum traffic manageable from the airside would produce unacceptable workload for tower controllers, highlighting the link between airport capacity and the human component.

How the tower air traffic controller workload influences the capacity in a complex three-runway airport / Di Mascio, Paola; Carrara, Riccardo; Frasacco, Luca; Luciano, Eleonora; Ponziani, Andrea; Moretti, Laura. - In: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH. - ISSN 1660-4601. - 18:6(2021), pp. 1-14. [10.3390/ijerph18062807]

How the tower air traffic controller workload influences the capacity in a complex three-runway airport

Di Mascio, Paola;Moretti Laura
2021

Abstract

Air traffic controllers aim to optimize airport capacity, that is to increase the number of aircraft movements per hour maintaining a limited delay. There are several definitions of capacity, which depend on the considered airport element. This study focused on the development of a method that allows evaluating the impact of tower air traffic controllers’ workload on airport capacity. It adapts a model for the workload of sector controllers designed by Eurocontrol to tower controllers and tests it on a heavily busy international airport. In order to collect controllers' working times, a campaign of data collection has been carried out from the radio frequency occupation. The results allowed us to extrapolate the hourly percentage of work of the various tower controllers using a fast-time simulation software. By imposing an hourly working threshold on tower air traffic controllers, it was possible to obtain a maximum number of manageable aircraft, which was compared with the airside capacity of the airport. The results show that the maximum traffic manageable from the airside would produce unacceptable workload for tower controllers, highlighting the link between airport capacity and the human component.
2021
air traffic controller’s capacity; aircraft delay simulation models; airport capacity; fast time simulation; Pareto frontiers; tower air traffic controller; workload
01 Pubblicazione su rivista::01a Articolo in rivista
How the tower air traffic controller workload influences the capacity in a complex three-runway airport / Di Mascio, Paola; Carrara, Riccardo; Frasacco, Luca; Luciano, Eleonora; Ponziani, Andrea; Moretti, Laura. - In: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH. - ISSN 1660-4601. - 18:6(2021), pp. 1-14. [10.3390/ijerph18062807]
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/1525595
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