Design Study for a Virtual Work Station for Aerodrome Air Traffic Service Officers
Helena Opower, Jörn Jakobi · Transportation research procedia · 2022
Driven by the need for cost efficiency and a need for increasing the air traffic service (ATS) level the “Remote Tower” concept was developed and implemented the last years. By a relayed video stream from the airport to a remote location it allows the provision of ATS from a centralized Remote Tower Center, where valuable resources can be pooled and used more efficiently. The display of the video streams is usually realized by large panorama monitors but for cost and space reasons could also be performed via virtual reality head worn glasses for certain use cases. This design study investigates possible interface concepts for such virtual reality environments. The aim was to design a complete air control traffic (ATC) tower work station for a virtual reality environment. Previous research has primely relied on representation of the video stream and first interaction concepts in a virtual environment. By means of a contextual interview with an ATS officer and a subsequent usage context analysis, requirements for the system were defined. As a result, a basic design structure of an ATC Tower work station in VR was developed in form of mock ups. The design and its interaction concept were tested in a user survey with very positive feedback from ATS officers. In further studies an implementation of the prototypes in VR will be sought and further evaluated.