Live Trials with an Innovative Prototype Dedicated to Arrival Flow Management in Paris

In a previous paper, we presented the design of an innovative HMI adapted to air traffic flow management named IODA. Even though IODA was not initially foreseen to become an operational product, the very positive feedback by Flow Managers and ATM experts confirmed the potential to drive the product towards conducting live trials in an operational context. Today, Flow Managers, such as Tower/Approach Supervisors in Paris-CDG, Paris-Orly airports and Flow Management operators in Paris ACC, have to manage several interfaces to retrieve operational information, to monitor traffic flows and to manage arrival sequencing. This situation is making their tasks more difficult, the management of the different tools is complex and increases the risk of missing data and opportunities that would directly optimize the operational situation. Furthermore, current displays do not provide a full overview of the arrival traffic (i.e. geographical flows or metering points) nor do they propose combined tools or clear indicators to facilitate the monitoring. IODA enables the integration of multiple data sources coming from various origins and allows to present the information into a more integrated and innovative display, bringing the ability to access efficiently to the most relevant features to perform the tasks. As it had already been explained in a previous paper, user-centered and iterative design process, involving a multidisciplinary work team, enabled to design and to develop the final prototype. The prototype was then installed in Paris ACC (for the Flow Supervisor Position) and in Paris-Orly Control Tower (for the Tower Supervisor position) during planned runway works that required the closure of one to two runways. The associated decrease in arrival runway capacity gave a good opportunity to measure the benefits derived by the use of this new HMI during live Extended AMAN operations. In this paper, we are presenting the context of those 6-months live trials and the operational use that was foreseen when the prototype was designed. In a second part, we will address some considerations regarding the training and the installation of the prototype. Then, we describe the results of the experiments built thanks to questionnaires that were filled during the sessions, interviews, observations & debriefings. The live trials indeed demonstrated positive results, mainly in terms of improved collaboration, environment and flight efficiency. In a last part, we will address the foreseen evolutions of the prototype in the context of the arrivals for Paris-CDG airport. This context proposes new challenges and opportunities and the paper will highlight different scenarios where the IODA HMI could bring improvements to the current situation. In conclusion, we are highlighting the fact that even though there is room for improvements, the prototype definitively met the expectations and we propose an analysis of some of the reasons for its success.