Task Load Estimation for ATC Ground Control

Abstract

Increasing runway capacity is a key objective for many airports worldwide, including Schiphol Airport. One of the restricting factors that has become more prevalent throughout the years lies in the task load of the Air Traffic Ground Controllers. To overcome this limiting factor, it becomes essential to mitigate this high task load. This study proposes a methodology for estimating ground controller task load at Schiphol Airport, which is used for analyzing the effectiveness of a mitigation method employed at Schiphol Airport, namely the splitting of the combined North-Centre sector. To achieve this, the research adopts the concept of task load estimation via dynamic density modelling, which has primarily been explored when applying it to the airborne segments of Air Traffic Management. The task load estimation models for the different ground control sectors are developed through a multi-phase approach encompassing data collection, candidate independent variable selection, a double correlation analysis, and a sequential search regression for model building. The research successfully constructed task load estimation models for four out of the five analysed sectors. Furthermore, two of these models are employed in a case study to evaluate the task load reduction strategy. The findings highlight that splitting the combined North-Centre sector to alleviate the task load experienced by the North sector ground controller can be an effective mitigation strategy, particularly when the Centre sector experiences a significant level of traffic load.