Researchers at the "Laboratoire d'automatique et de mécanique
industrielles" (LAMIH, Laboratory of Industrial Mechanics and
Automation), at the request of the Air Navigation Studies Center (CENA,
Athis-Mons), have been working for ten years on procedures to assist
air traffic controllers thanks to human-machine cooperation. With
a 7% annual increase in airplane traffic, controllers must not only
manage a growing number of parameters at once, but they must be able
to account for, and control, psychological factors as well.
The
LAMIH researchers are looking for ways of helping controllers during
periods of heavy traffic through simulation software that includes
an air conflict resolution system.
In
1995, experiments were conducted to share between humans and machines
all the tasks to be performed. They showed that the machine sometimes
hampered the controllers' ability to solve a problem, and that devolving
tasks to the machine could, in the long term, decrease human vigilance
and represent a safety hazard.
The
new project, called AMANDA, will be tested in 2001. It is based on
the principle of task delegation: the controller defines the problem
(a group of planes in conflict), then tells the machine his/her strategy
for resolving it. The machine makes the necessary calculations and
finds the instructions for rerouting the planes. The controller can
then decide to either do it him/herself or let the machine do it,
under his/her supervision.
