An Information Tool for Planning in Air Traffic Control

Abstract : An investigation of how en route air traffic controllers solved sequencing problems using paper flight progress strips led to the development of a new software interface to aid planning. The primary feature of the new interface involved replacing the strips with virtual tokens that were dynamically linked to their radar targets. In addition, an automated tool was developed that provided a tentative sequencing of the tokens. The current experiment evaluated the automated sequencing tool. Utilization of the tool facilitated the development of the controllers' plans and reduced the workload of the tacticians who implemented the plan.