Exploring human factors issues for urban air mobility operations

Urban air mobility (UAM) is currently receiving increased attention in the aviation literature as a new entrant into the airspace. Although the introduction of UAM offers the potential for significant benefits, it also creates the potential for fundamental change to the current air traffic management system. Several concepts are being explored to enable the development of a safe and efficient UAM system for near, mid and far term operations. A concept of operations for near term operations proposes several assumptions. Concepts for roles and responsibilities of human operators such as air traffic controllers propose different degrees of involvement. Identifying and exploring human factors issues is therefore a critical next step in the forward progression of concept development. A human in the loop air traffic control simulation was used to investigate the effect of UAM traffic density and changes in current airspace routes and communication procedures on subjective controller workload and efficiency-related task performance. Findings indicate that although subjective workload was manageable for low density operations, medium and high density operations led to unmanageable levels of workload, leading to refusals to allow more vehicles into controlled airspace. By implementing a letter of agreement, verbal communications were reduced which were associated with reduced workload. Optimized routes were also associated with reduced workload and increased performance efficiency. Although these adjustments can positively support controller performance, workload still remained high during the high density UAM traffic scenarios. It is therefore suggested that, in order for UAM operation to become scalable, human operators will be required to work differently compared to current air traffic controllers. Future research should focus on the level and type of human operator or controller involvement and interaction with automated systems, to ensure safety and efficiency within UAM operations.