摘要: |
This report presents descriptive and explanatory analyses of (a) the sources and uses of information and of (b) the organizational structure at the Traffic Management Units (TMUs) of several AirRoute Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs) as they existed during the summer of 1999.The descriptive analysis addresses the nature of TMU tasks,the allocation of those tasks across Traffic Management Coordinators (TMCs), and the sources and uses of information for performing those tasks. The discussion of the sources and uses of information focuses on the interaction between the TMCs and the Traffic Situation Display (TSD). It pays particular attention to TMC interaction with the Monitor Alert Function (MAF) of the TSD. The discussion of TMU tasks focuses on TSD utilization in support of collaborative decision-making (CDM). The analysis is intended to serve as a baseline for future analyses of the impact of CDM on TMC decision making and of the technology that will support it.The explanatory analysis builds upon the theoretic framework for ARTCC decision making and action proposed by Smith (1999).That framework described the tasks performed at the TMU as cycles of feedforward control that anticipate and regulate traffic flow forthe purpose of managing sector controller workload. The analysis presented here elaborates the account of feedforward control by examining the differential allocation of tasks across TMUs in the light of the disparate constraints on the air spaces they manage. When integrated with the framework for feedforward control, the analysis forms the first comprehensive account of a truly collaborative, distributed decision-making system. |