The Influence of Errors in Visualization Systems on the Level of Safety Threat in Air Traffic

Abstract

Air traffic management is carried out by air traffic controllers assisted by complex technical systems that provide them with visualization of the traffic situation. In practice, visualization systems errors sometimes occur. The purpose of this paper is to determine the impact of errors of different types on the safety of the air traffic. The assessment of the threat level is influenced by subjective factors and cannot be expressed precisely. Therefore, the fuzzy reasoning theory has been used. The developed fuzzy model has been used to obtain a tool for simulation of the impact of various factors on traffic safety assessment. The results obtained indicate that the most important determinants of safety are the time when the air traffic controller remains unaware of the breakdown and the total time he/she does not have full knowledge of the traffic situation. It has been found that the key role for the proper operation of the air traffic visualization system and the restoration of full situational awareness is played by self-diagnostic systems that can restore the system’s correct functioning without even the controller being aware of the error occurrence. Their role in ensuring safety might be even greater than redundancy which is commonly used.