Team Task Modeling on En-route Air Traffic Controllers with Communicative NGOMSL

Abstract

This study proposes cognitive team task modeling for an Air Traffic Controller (ATC) team using Communicative NGOMSL and a modified cognitive model. The conversations of 12 professional ATCs during an ATC task simulation with three sectors were transcribed. As the first step of the Communicative NGOMSL method, the Hierarchical Task Analysis (HTA) of ATC is created from the transcriptions, and the communication pattern is figured out by applying a UML sequence diagram. The communicative NGOMSL can be utilized for teamwork analysis by analyzing the grounding process, the ratio of communication time to execution time for each team member to assess the efficiency of communication, and comparing learning time and mental workload among team members to understand the degree of balance in workload and capability. The results show that radar controllers (R) spend a higher execution time ratio than coordinators (C) do, and this difference depends on the sectors and the distribution of flight phases. Team Workload factor and the learning time ratio between roles show a high negative correlation, which means that the smaller the difference in learning time between R and C, the higher the team workload. A modified cognitive model that includes a grounding process is proposed.