Supporting collaboration in air traffic control through flight contracts

Research on user interaction on air traffic control can lead to dealing with new air traffic management (ATM) concepts. That is especially the case for research on collaboration tools between controllers. Focusing on collaborations quickly shows ATM as a workflow, that is an information-based process where many different actors interact in succession with the same pieces of information. In this paper, we propose a simple model of ATM that captures its essence as a workflow: the flight contract model. We show how various ATM concepts can be seen as different implementations of that model: variations on the terms of contracts, the way they are negotiated, and the way they are managed by air traffic services. We propose to build ATM systems based on that model, so as to allow a smooth evolution of ATC. We then focus on the bottom end of flight contract handling: the work of air traffic controllers and especially their coordinations between sectors. We summarise our research on collaboration tools and explain our current directions. We finally show how the collaboration tools we propose rely on and take advantage of the flight contracts model. Keywords— Air Traffic Management, workflow, groupware, Computer Supported Collaborative Work, flight contracts, direct collaboration